Dear Friends,

I almost never send out two messages in a week, but the reprehensible mailings against mayoral candidate Josh Mandelbaum demand a response.

Here’s one voters in Des Moines received last week, front and back:

Here’s the other:

They’re sent by an entity created just two weeks ago called “Citizens for Des Moines,” whose president is Doug Gross. Here’s what I found on  the Iowa Secretary of State’s website:

Who is Doug Gross? He’s a Republican politician who served as Governor Branstad’s chief of staff and ran for governor against Tom Vilsack in 2002.

He’s a lawyer who’s represented many controversial clients, including Iowa Select, one of the biggest hog-confinement corporations in Iowa, and Lederman Bail Bonds, which opposed common-sense criminal justice reforms in Polk County.

In 2015, Gross offered to represent landowners opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline. He took their money, yet did almost nothing in return, according to several landowners I spoke with.

He was also one of the driving forces behind a lake project in Madison County that would have taken several farmers’ river-bottom land through eminent domain. Not coincidentally, Gross owned a home that would have been on the lake had it been built.

For Gross — the poster child of special interests — to call Mandelbaum a “special interest lobbyist” is laughable. What special interest does Josh represent through his work with the Environmental Law and Policy Center? Iowa’s rivers and forests. Renewable energy. The public well being. The planet.

It’s also disturbing that Mandelbaum’s main opponent, Connie Boesen, hasn’t (to my knowledge) condemned the mailings, which are clearly intended to help her campaign. It doesn’t speak well of Boesen that she remains silent on such an egregious assault on decency and truth.

I’m voting for Josh, and Gross’s attack only inspires me to speak out more loudly about the importance of electing someone of Josh’s passion and integrity as mayor of Des Moines. If you live in Des Moines, I hope you’ll vote for him, too. If you don’t live in Des Moines, perhaps you know someone who does, and you could pass this message along to them.

Finally, if you live in Des Moines Ward 2, I hope you’ll vote for Chelsea Lepley. I’ve known Chelsea for over 20 years. She worked with me when I ran for governor in 2005/2006. She’s a dynamo, and will bring a much-needed progressive perspective to the council. Thank you.

Ed Fallon