Dear Friends,

Sometimes the only way to hold elected officials accountable is to call them out. Today, we’re doing that with a press release about Governor Culver, and we’re releasing the record of our attempts to contact him and his office. The record shows eleven unreturned phone calls to a Governor’s staff person, Jamie Cashman, one returned call from Cashman and one abbreviated meeting with the Governor.

After efforts to do so in 2006 and 2007 failed, we recently tried again to establish a more positive working rapport with the Governor. After Ed’s primary loss in June, 2006, we agreed to help Culver in his campaign against Nussle. For his part, Culver promised that, as governor, he would take seriously some of the issues important to us and our supporters. Culver specifically promised to advocate for serious campaign finance reform, to support legislation to control urban sprawl, and to involve us in his work in a meaningful way. Nearly two-and-a-half years later, none of this has happened, and we don’t see anything to give us hope that things will change.

We know the unwritten rule, “thou shall not criticize a fellow Democrat.” But silence merely enables bad behavior to continue unchallenged. A significant core of the Democratic Party is deeply disappointed with Culver’s lack of leadership on many key priorities, and we constantly hear from Iowans who feel they have little or no access to either the Governor or his staff. We know how busy the Governor and his staff are, but it’s not right to ask for help and support during a campaign and then turn one’s back on your supporters once in office.

It’s not too late for the Governor to turn over a new leaf. We’re sorry we have to bring this problem to the public’s attention, though we know we’re not the first. If it helps create a more responsive, accessible and accountable administration, it will have been worth it.

Ed and Lynn Fallon

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