Democratic Missouri House candidate Tom Fann says he stopped distribution of about 1,500 campaign leaflets after St. Peters Mayor Len Pagano complained that they falsely implied that Pagano has endorsed Fann.

“I must emphatically state that I am not endorsing any candidate in that race,” Pagano said in letters to the Post-Dispatch and other publications.

Fann said about 3,000 of the leaflets, which also included  comments from Pagano that the mayor denies saying, already had been dropped off at homes in the 16th District.

Fann, who faces Republican Mark Parkinson in a Feb. 5 special election, blamed his own campaign aides. He said he hadn’t carefully reviewed the wording because he was preoccupied at the time with his daughter’s kidney infection.

“I entrusted some people to put a piece of literature out for me that probably wasn’t 100 percent on the mark,” Fann said. “It probably would have been best worded a little bit differently.”

He also said “I wasn’t trying to make it look like an endorsement. Somebody on my team got a little carried away there.”

Pagano isn’t just included in a long list of politician endorsements - a typical ploy in campaigns. In this case, the mayor is the only person mentioned in the flyer except for Fann and his family. There’s also a picture of Pagano with Fann.

When I initially contacted Fann about Pagano’s disavowal, Fann said the comment attributed with quote marks to Pagano in the flyer was a compilation of the gist of Pagano’s comments at a Dec. 13 Board of Aldermen meeting in St. Peters.

Pagano was responding to Fann’s comments clarifying Fann’s views on the city’s partial funding of health insurance for aldermen. In November, Fann had been on camera in a Channel 2 news story complaining about the aldermanic insurance.

Fann, at the December meeting, said his main point wasn’t to criticize the city but to say that every citizen should have access to affordable health insurance. He also commended city services.

The Fann leaflet makes no reference to the Dec. 13 meeting but quotes Pagano as saying: “Tom Fann, his wife, and his three children have been a vital part of St. Charles County for decades. Fann is right on the issues. It is a shame that families do not have health insurance, and I know that he will do a great job.”

Pagano said he never said that and didn’t give anyone permission to attribute those words to him.

Here’s what Pagano actually said in his response at the meeting to Fann’s remarks, as reproduced on a city-produced DVD of the meeting:

 ”Truthfully, I know you’re a very good person and a very honest person. And that particular station has a tendency to take this piece and that piece and destroy something that was not meant to be. And your character speaks well, and I do, speaking for the board and everyone, thank you for coming up on that issue. It was something that was really taken out of context and you’re correct, health insurance is a must for all citizens and that should be a priority. So I thank you on that. And also for the benefits of living in the city. And you’re a longtime resident of the city, and you would know.”

Pagano, whose office is elected on a nonpartisan basis, said last week he needs to maintain effective relationships with officials on various governmental levels across party lines and thus wouldn’t endorse anyone for the House.

Moreover, Pagano in 2002 ran (unsuccessfully) for the Republican nomination for St. Charles County assessor - making it unlikely he’d back a Democrat.