A Democrat who’s spent the past two weeks trying to qualify as a candidate in Iowa’s third district congressional primary has ended her campaign. Theresa Greenfield of Des Moines launched her campaign last summer and was a leading fundraiser, but her campaign manager confessed he forged some signatures on Greenfield’s first set of nominating petitions. She launched a second effort to gather the required signatures, but fell short.

On Monday, members of the Democratic Party’s third district governing board nominated her for congress. Late yesterday (Wednesday), Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said Iowa law “does not permit” Greenfield to qualify for the ballot that way. Greenfield says shutting down her campaign is “a tough pill to swallow” but she accepts the attorney general’s decision.

Greenfield says it would have been wrong to “look the other way” and let the petition with forged signatures stand. Attorney Jerry Crawford represented Greenfield Tuesday as a state panel reviewed her nominating petitions. “I think this is crucial. If Theresa had just kept quiet…she’d be a candidate and no one would know any different,” Crawford said. “It’s only because she did the right thing…that anybody knows anything about this.”

Three other Democrats did make the primary ballot for a shot at challenging Republican Congressman David Young in November.

(Radio Iowa)