(AP) — U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany said Wednesday a tea party group supporting his opponent, U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry, circulated a pamphlet that misrepresents Boustany’s record.
The pamphlet was produced by FreedomWorks for America and distributed by a Lafayette tea party chapter in the 3rd District congressional race. It offers several comparisons of Boustany and Landry, looking at endorsements and ratings by third party groups of the two Republican candidates.
Complaints center on claims that Boustany never signed Grover Norquist’s anti-tax-increase pledge and that Boustany wasn’t endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee. Both assertions are untrue, according to Boustany, whose campaign supplied documents to refute the pamphlet.
“There is absolutely no place in politics, specifically in south Louisiana, for any group to be perpetuating these lies,” Boustany said in a statement.
Landry said he had nothing to do with the third-party brochure and hadn’t seen it.
“That is an independent expenditure. We did not touch it, we didn’t approve it and we didn’t look at it and we’re not going to discuss it any further,” said Landry campaign manager Phillip Joffrion.
Ryan Hecker, chief operating officer of FreedomWorks, said the pamphlet has been reprinted and corrected. He said 250 were printed in the initial batch and only 100 were handed out. He described Boustany’s complaints as “trying to distract from his liberal voting record.”
Boustany and Landry were forced into the same congressional district when Louisiana lost a House seat after the latest federal census. They are among five candidates on the Nov. 6 ballot for the southwest Louisiana-based seat.