Cheap shot smears Fallon, misleads on crime policy

Thursday, May 29, 2008

(The Des Moines Register)

Cheap shot smears Fallon, misleads on crime policy

The Register's Editorial

Some Iowa Democrats must be seriously worried about Ed Fallon’s primary challenge to incumbent Congressman Leonard Boswell. Evidence? They have rolled out the cheapest of cheap shots in modern American politics: Fallon is so soft on criminals he even thinks it’s OK for sex offenders to live near schools.

The assertion is made in a direct-mail flier pointing out that Fallon cast the only “no” vote as a member of the Iowa House when the Legislature passed a law banning convicted sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools and other facilities serving children.

The ad has a staged photo of a man in a orange jumpsuit with “prisoner” on the back standing outside a schoolyard filled with kids. “Ed Fallon thought it was more important to cast his vote to make a political statement than to cast a vote that protects our kids from these dangerous predators,” the ad says.

The ad was paid for by a group calling itself “Independent Voices, Red Brannan Chair.” A Boswell campaign spokesman said of the ad, “That’s not ours,” but he said Boswell “stands with the overwhelming majority of the Legislature and the governor in supporting this measure.”

Fallon can say for himself why he voted against the bill, but opposition to the sex-offender residency law does not translate into support for sex offenders living near schools. In fact, leading county prosecutors, other law-enforcement officials and victims’ advocates oppose the law because they say it has made Iowa communities less safe by driving sex offenders underground. These groups have lobbied the Legislature to repeal the law and replace it with something more effective, such as a law preventing offenders from entering schools — something the existing law does not prevent.

The residency restriction is a classic example of feel-good legislation. It was passed when Republicans controlled the Legislature, but they were joined by Democrats terrified of the “soft-on-crime” label. Fear of the label has led to all sorts of bad legislation that does not make Iowans safer. It has, however, filled the prisons to record levels and driven up the cost of the criminal-justice system at the expense of K-12 and higher education.

It is time for lawmakers of both parties to have the courage to admit that the “tough on crime” mind-set has put state and federal government on a path to insanity. But that won’t happen as long as political parties take cheap shots at candidates — even within their own party — with simplistic and unfair campaign attack ads.

The residency restriction is a classic example of feel-good legislation. It was passed when Republicans controlled the Legislature, but they were joined by Democrats terrified of the "soft-on-crime" label. Fear of the label has led to all sorts of bad legislation that does not make Iowans safer. It has, however, filled the prisons to record levels and driven up the cost of the criminal-justice system at the expense of K-12 and higher education.

It is time for lawmakers of both parties to have the courage to admit that the "tough on crime" mind-set has put state and federal government on a path to insanity. But that won't happen as long as political parties take cheap shots at candidates - even within their own party - with simplistic and unfair campaign attack ads.

The Fallon attack ad was paid for by a group calling itself "Independent Voices, Red Brannan Chair." A Boswell campaign spokesman said of the ad, "That's not ours." Does that mean Boswell supports such tactics? If not, he should say so.