Iowa GOP official outlines Dem’s plot to frame him

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz says a Democratic operative convicted of identity theft sent him a phony e-mail in an attempt to falsely implicate him in a corruption scheme.

Schultz says Zachary Edwards sent him the e-mail last year pretending to be his brother, Thomas Schultz.

Schultz says the e-mail falsely suggested that he and his brother were receiving illegal payments from Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign. He says he did not respond, immediately recognized it as a phony, and turned it over to criminal investigators.

Edwards pleaded guilty in March to misdemeanor identity theft and was sentenced to one year of probation. Until now, the details of what he did had been kept secret. Edwards is a former Obama campaign staffer who worked for a Democratic consulting firm.