More Drama for Teahen, Helland throws down on Lorenzen

My good friends over at Battleground Iowa have posted a letter from David Tredrea that was sent to a number people koncerning Peter Teahen. Since they have posted the email message which was sent to Teahen and the letter that was attached, I don’t see any need to post it again here.

Tredrea’s letter and the recent FEC komplaint filed against Teahen come at the worst konceivable time for his campaign. With just days before the June 3rd Primary everything from Teahen’s resume to his Funeral Home’s marketing practice are being questioned and it is beginning to have an impact on the race.

Just look at the Iowa Press Citizen which endorsed Miller-Meeks this weekend.

“But as nice as it would be to back a Corridor businessman, we're concerned about some of the reasons behind Teahen's history of switching party affiliations. Teahen said he needed to register as a Democrat for about nine years in order to serve on the state's governor-appointed Board of Mortuary Science. That bit of willingness to bend the rules to serve on a state board raises a red flag.

That's also why we're paying close attention to an ethics complaint recently filed against Teahen by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- claiming that television commercials for the funeral home owned by Teahen are disguised campaign spots paid for by corporate money.”

Tredrea’s letter is even more harmful to Teahen’s kampaign. While I’m not able to independently verify each of Tredrea’s claims, I did reach out to him via email and he answered some additional questions I had. One of the additional accounts he passed on to me was one from his time in Darfur with Teahen.

“On the classes he (Teahen) did teach and had a minor role, he would keep talking about events like 9/11 and show slides of US military. He was given very, very clear guidelines about the danger of talking of these events but was insistent he wanted to show the local people in East Africa that Americans are great people. Many are of course - but using the 9/11 example in this way is not appropriate.”

Tredrea went on to say, “Over the years I have worked with hundreds of US aid workers but never one nearly so problematic and disloyal and deceptive as Peter Teahen.”

If I didn’t have anything else to do I’d investigate these claims, but I’m not a reporter, I’m just a political hack. There are only 6 months after the June Primary to defeat Congressman Dave Loebsack. Do we want to spend more time talking about Teahen’s voter registration, support of Democrats, the FEC komplaint, or the merits of David Tredrea’s letter? I think the bettter option for 2^nd District Republicans is to vote for a kandidate that doesn’t have to deal with all this drama.

On June 4th we need our sites set on Dave Loebsack, and what it’s going to take to send him packing and not all this other garbage. The choice is simple, if you want a kandidate who has a shot to beat Loebsack, vote for Miller-Meeks.

Helland Unleashes Radio Smackdown on Lorenzen

I heard a great political ad on the radio this morning, this one dealing with Iowa HD 69 a/k/a the seat Walt Tomenga is vacating in northern Polk County. In this ad, Erik Helland lets loose both barrels on his GOP primary opponent Al Lorenzen. Here is the gist of the ad:

• Erik Helland is a lifelong Republican… his opponent Al Lorenzen, not so much. Lorenzen was a lifelong Democrat until this past year when he decided to run for office in this GOP stronghold. (What is up with this cycle? First Teahen, now Lorenzen)

• Erik Helland has been endorsed by all the major GOP and GOP-leaning groups such as Iowans for Tax Relief, Iowa Right to Life, and Iowa Farm Bureau. Lorenzen was endorsed by AFSME, the biggest union pushing to get rid of Iowa’s “Right to Work” law.

• Erik Helland’s financial contributions come from solid GOP sources. The major contributors to Lorenzen’s campaign include some of the biggest Dem donors, including one who is the state’s biggest contributor to Planned Parenthood.

Ouch. One would think I produced this ad.

I guess if we are looking for a konservative who’s not afraid to tell it like it is, one who’s not afraid of a fight, maybe Helland is it. One thing seems pretty certain… it probably not Lorenzen.

I also learned that Helland is giving Lorenzen hell on TV as well.

I love primary season!