An ISU alumnus is behind the recent tension between U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and U.S. Rep. Greg Ganske, said university experts.

Brian Conley, 1976 graduate of Iowa State, took responsibility for secretly taping a Ganske campaign meeting in September and turning it over to the Harkin campaign, according to KCCI-TV.

“In Iowa, you can tape things without getting permission. That isn’t true for all states,” said Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science. “You can’t use the information to try to harm another person in some way or another.”

Conley was invited to the campaign update because he made a donation to the Ganske campaign, said Ann Warren, staff member for the Ganske campaign.

Conley changed parties from Democrat to Republican, then back to Democrat during last summer, Schmidt said. He said changing political affiliation isn’t unusual.

Anyone can change their affiliation several times a day if they wanted to, he said.

Warren said the Republican Party of Iowa and the Ganske for Senate campaign has requested an investigation into the taping of the campaign meeting.

The effects of the taping will last a lot longer if an investigation takes place, Schmidt said.

Warren said the taping was unexpected.

“Like all Iowans, [Ganske] was surprised this would happen,” she said.

Ganske is trying to stick to the issues for the rest of the campaign, Warren said.

Schmidt said there are still many questions to be answered.

“We cannot rule out the possibility of one of the parties being involved,” Schmidt said.

Time will tell whether the tape affects the Senate race, he said.

“Any time there is a scandal of some sort in the news media it can be either an advantage or disadvantage,” Schmidt said. “It depends on how it is presented in the media.”

Harkin’s campaign did not return phone calls.

Conley was unavailable for comment.