Fallon: No independent bid for governor was weighed

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

(Des Moines Register)By THOMAS BEAUMONT
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Democratic congressional candidate Ed Fallon said Monday that he never considered running for governor as an independent in 2006, although records show a top aide told a state official a third-party bid was a "possibility."

"I absolutely never, ever considered running for governor as an independent," Fallon, a former state representative from Des Moines, said in news release. He said any statement to the contrary in any state record would be "an error."

The news release and similar comments Fallon made at a news conference Monday were aimed at rebutting a Des Moines Register article published Saturday. The article referred to a document filed with the state ethics board indicating Fallon had weighed a third-party bid after losing the gubernatorial primary.

Fallon is challenging Rep. Leonard Boswell, also a Des Moines Democrat, in the June 3 primary in Iowa's 3rd U.S. House District.

The question of whether Fallon considered a third-party gubernatorial candidacy is relevant in light of Boswell's accusation that Fallon has not been a loyal Democrat.

Boswell, who is seeking a seventh term, has repeatedly mentioned Fallon's support for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader for president instead of Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

The Boswell campaign also has raised questions about Fallon's role as the head of a political advocacy organization called I'M for Iowa.

Fallon has said the questions are aimed at discrediting him on campaign finance reform, which Fallon supports.

A document on file with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board shows a Fallon aide reported there had been a possibility Fallon could launch a third-party campaign after the 2006 primary.

"After the primary campaign, Ed Fallon continued to work on campaign-related business," Lynn Heuss, then Fallon's top campaign communication aide, wrote to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board in October.

"He had a great deal of clean-up on the database. Along with the administrative tasks, there was also the possibility that he would decide to run as a 3rd party candidate," an e-mail from Heuss to ethics board auditor Linda Andersen said. "And finally, he continued to push the issues that he worked on in his campaign."

Heuss was responding to questions from the board about Fallon's having drawn a salary from his gubernatorial campaign account after the primary. Fallon lost the three-way fight, but endorsed the Democratic nominee, Chet Culver, the same week.

It is legal in Iowa for a candidate to get paid from a campaign account, as long as the work is related to the campaign. Fallon received $13,750 from his campaign account from July through December 2006.

According to the e-mail from Heuss, the possibility of a third-party run was among the issues that warranted Fallon's receiving salary from the campaign.

Fallon said Monday that he was unaware of any record with the ethics board showing his interest in an independent bid and that any such indication "would be an error."

Heuss said Monday that her note to the ethics board was imprecise. "My language was sloppy, but Ed's decision (to endorse Culver) was not," said Heuss, who is now Fallon's campaign manager.

"During the campaign for governor, I made it really clear that if I did not win I would support the nominee and, in fact, did a lot to try to help Chet Culver," Fallon said. "To make it clear, too, in this campaign for Congress, should I not win the nomination, I will support Congressman Boswell."

Ethics board Director Charlie Smithson said Fallon's statement that he never considered running as an independent did not appear to make his receipt of campaign money as salary a violation of regulations.

"I don't think it tilts the other way, as long as he was shutting down his old campaign," Smithson said.