Essential Estrogen

The battle of words rages on in Iowa's 3rd District, with the campaign for incumbent U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell issuing a letter to Democratic primary challenger Ed Fallon railing on contributions from Democracy for America, a national progressive political action committee founded in 2004 by current Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

"In light of your criticism of Leonard Boswell for accepting support from Political Action Committees (PACs), I was rather dismayed to see you accepting support and soliciting money for your candidacy from a PAC," wrote JoDee Winterhof, a senior adviser for the Boswell campaign.

Her words in the letter were echoed by one of Iowa's state lawmakers.

"You can't bash PACs and then enlist their support in your campaign," said Des Moines State Rep. Bruce Hunter. "It's like having your cake and eating it too. By keeping the money, Ed is being disingenuous."

Fallon has refuted the charges that he took PAC money.

"I've never taken contributions from lobbyists or PACs, and I won't in this campaign either," Fallon said. "We're pleased to receive the endorsement of DFA, which urged its individual members to make contributions to my campaign through ActBlue, an online clearinghouse for donations to Democratic candidates."

Fallon was endorsed by DFA on Thursday. The national grass-roots organization encouraged its membership to contribute $20.08 to Fallon's campaign and to "support a Democrat with the backbone to stand up for progressive values." More than $10,000 was raised within two hours of the DFA's e-mail announcement to 675,000 supporters. Within the first 24 hours, according to Fallon, contributions neared $19,000.

Referring to Boswell as a "Bush" Democrat, the e-mail from DFA contrasted the two candidates' stands on the issues, citing favorably Fallon's record of opposition to the Iraq war, his refusal to take money from lobbyists, his consistent stand on the climate crisis and opposition to coal, his opposition to warrantless surveillance on Americans and his opposition to No Child Left Behind.

DFA is credited with helping Donna Edwards defeat incumbent Democratic Rep. Albert Wynn in Maryland's 4th District on Tuesday. In highlighting the newly organized DFA support, the Fallon campaign pointed to Winterhof's assertion in the Des Moines Register that Fallon "will not enjoy the backing of progressive organizations" that helped Edwards defeat Wynn.

In the letter to Fallon, Winterhof called upon Fallon to uphold his pledge not to accept donations from PACs and lobbyists by returning all DFA-generated funding. She also wrote a sample letter for Fallon to send to the DFA, requesting the organization stop all fund-raising efforts on his behalf.

"I'm disappointed that Boswell spokesperson JoDee Winterhof made a false accusation against me," Fallon said and noted that 75 percent of the money Boswell raised last year came from PACs. "Perhaps she wants to divert public attention from Boswell's support this week of immunity for telecom companies that cooperated with the Bush administration's spying on American citizens. Once again, Boswell is voting with Bush against his fellow House Democrats. This is bad news for the public and good news for Boswell's PAC contributors, such as AT&T, which contributed $5,000 to Boswell last year."

Boswell is also taking shots on the internet for co-sponsoring legislation introduced by Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich last spring. The legislation, which Boswell co-signed on Thursday, calls for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.

"It's a little late to start impeachment proceedings," said Fallon. "The time to impeach Cheney and/or Bush would have been when we first discovered the administration had misled us into the Iraq war. This current attempt by Kucinich was introduced in April of last year. If Rep. Boswell were serious about impeachment, why did it take him 10 months to sign on to the measure? It's clear to me that Boswell is trying to act more like a Democrat now hat he has an opponent."

Such sentiment was also echoed on the Internet Friday, with one journalist noting that Rep. Wynn also co-sponsored the legislation prior to his defeat in Maryland. Other journalists, however, pointed to Boswell's record of support on a variety of progressive issues.

"Unlike Ed Fallon, Congressman Boswell has been consistent in his positions, he clearly agrees with the legislation," said Mark Daley, adviser to the Boswell campaign. "Ed Fallon, on the other hand, rails against PACS and then takes their help. That's the height of hypocrisy. If he wants voters to believe a word of what he says he really must give that money back."