February LWV Forum

February LWV Forum

Good morning from Harvat Hall at Iowa City Hall and a special thanks to Janelle Rettig and crew for saving my favorite chair. (My battery will last, but I prefer plugging in) It's the monthly League o Women Voters legislative forum.

Our cosponsor is the faculty senate. Our legislators (all D) are Sens. Bob Dvorsky, Joe Bolkcom and Becky Schmitz; Reps. Mary Mascher, Vicki Lensing, Dave Jacoby, Nate Willems. Interestingly, Larry Marek's not here, he was last month. Also Jeff Kaufmann's not here, though he was scheduled to be in town this AM.

Mascher: 2% allowable growth passed "Many were of the opinion that should be zero, but that would have sent a bad message" to districts. Stimulus money should help.

Other electeds I see here: Supervisors Rod Sullivan and Pat Harney, Patti Fields of the school board, Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey.

Willems: Prevailing wage "would have been biggest victory for Iowa working families in 30 years," on back burner and regrouping. Has a bill on changing city election hours from 7 AM to noon. (I'll need to check the details on that one)

Jacoby: The budget is very serious so I won't tell my usual joke here. People are really passionate about the driving with cell phone bills on both sides.

Lensing: We're stuck in the twilight zone of committees with the next funnel Friday the 13th. Pay equity, open meetings, wind energy tax credits. Atalissa investigation on hold pending the criminal investigation.

I don't see the junior high kids, which would be a first.

Dvorsky: Budget targets came out Thursday. Still trying to work out differences with the Guv. Notes May 5 sales tax vote.

Bolkcom: Senate first funnel on Thursday. Working on health care. Senate has passed his bike safety bill amid "contentious" debate. Predatory lending in subcommittee.

Larry Marek has arrived. So we have 8 of 10, missing only Kaufmann and Hahn. Marek was one of the Democratic nays on prevailing wage, and there are a lot of labor people here to greet him.

Bolkcom continues: a lot of energy bills and flood plain management.

Schmitz: Economic Growth has tweaked the film industry bill. Should be abl to hold the line on Medicaid, if not expand efforts.

Marek: Budget's tough. We're very limited on revenue. Vets bill that would expand forfeiture protection to reserve troops. Transportation: gas tax would raise revenue but slow economy. (Doesn't bring up the prevailing wage vote. I suspect someone else will.)

First question from league: payday loan caps. I bet Bolkcom takes this and yes he does. Bills are introduces capping at 36 to 150 percent. Current average is 350 percent States that have passed 36 percent have seen the industry leave the state and Iowa needs to decide if we want to do that. "I'm not convinced at this point that we should drive this industry out of the state but I might be convinced." Car title companies now largely out of state. Jacoby: payday loan will be a tougher fight than car title. Payday loans took your $ but car title people took your car too.

Marian Wilson Kimber of Univ. Profs asks about budget. Dvorsky: everyone on this panel is supportive of the regents institutions; should take their share of the cuts but not more than that. Notes Sally Mason turning down her raise. Bolkcom: we managed state finances poorly during last economic downturn (2000-04) while tuition skyrocketed, and we continued to cut taxes in that era. There's a lot of tax cut proposals now but virtually none to raise $. Need to figure out how to fund important public services. Schmitz: Legislators find it easier to give away $ than to collect it. "People say we have a spending problem but really it's a revenue problem." Jacoby: The regents took a cut before the cut hit, in the last two years. Mascher: as much as $600 million in tax credits with little accountability as to if they work. They should all be sunset in 2 years and then you make the case for keeping them. I hupe UI does not hire more adjuncts. They fill a hole but are not there for the long term and that hurts quality.

Dave Redlawsk, wearing a faculty senate hat: faculty understands the budget challenge. Flood is still a major issue for UI. Not just physical buildings; hard to recruit students without the facilities esp. music and art. I agree with Mascher on the adjuncts, but that's different than grad student/TAs. UI has impact on whole state.

Dvorsky: It's the University of Iowa, not the University of Iowa City. UI has dealt with flood commendably. Some west campus bildings will be replaced others wont. (Aside: I've heard as long as 2 years on Hancher.)

Room is standing room only even without the junior high.

Dvorsky: Sales tax vote will be important, we need to make sure we have enough funds here. "I hope people support that. I don't think there's really any other funding source." "I had hoped it would have been five years but we couldn't get that through the Board of Supervisors."

Pat Harney: Please look at the roads the states turned over to counties a few years back. "We have to address those costs." Road costs are becoming prohibitive, and there's not a fair cost share. Jacoby: We're woking on an antiquated road tax formula and we need to change that to reflect population and revenue shifts before we raise gas tax. Lensing and Marek note gas price disparities across state. Dvorsky: levels of govt. worked together so well on flood, now less so; notes again that Iowa City wanted 5 years on sales tax but BOS voted for four.

Peter Fisher: state budget and federal stimulus. Talk me down here (he must be a Maddow fan. SEIU's Sarah Swisher is next in line.) Mascher: if stimulus money is a one time thing we create a hole for 2012. The stimulus money is for a 27 month period. Jacoby: state still needs to learn which fed. strings are attached. Some people were looking at negative allowable growth. Dvorsky: "I have great faith in President Obama and the stimulus. If Gov. Jindal doesn't want the stimulus money in Louisiana we'll take it here."

Swisher: "Every one of these issues can be aided by a strong organized labor movement in Iowa." Atalissa: "If there had been a strong labor movement at West Liberty, and the union there was defeated twice, this would not have happened." Do you have a moral obligation to support labor? Jacoby: "I think fair share is fair but I don't think we have the votes in the House. I think prevailing wage certainly would have raised the 44 cents an hour those people (in Atalissa) were getting." Dvorsky: By not having prevailing wage, we drive down wages (applause). We need prevailing wage AND fair share. (more applause). Bolkcom: income disparity is a esult of long-term anti-labor policy in thsi country. Tax code, too. "We have some modest labor proposals, really worker proposals, that we can't seem to move." Schmitz: very disappointed in vote last weekend.

Last in line, by chance, is Marek: "I know I disappointed many here today. But the people I live with have concerns about this, including many small contractors." Concerns about immigration status. "I can see where labor's coming from, but I've got to represent the views of people who voted for me." Murmurs in audience, but folloups are directed to end of line.

Bob Oppliger: bike bill in House. Jacoby: some house members concerned that there also be rules on the biker side. Bolkcom: it got partisan in Senate. When drivers don't follow rules, we don't see the same indignation we see directed at bikers.

Paul McAndrew: workers comp bill. Willems: I support some sort of doctor choice bill, hope we can get a bill. But it's very hard to get 51 in House. There is a connection between doc choice bill and prevailing wage. Bills getting watered down. Lensing: Labor needs to educate both public and legislators. Some of our colleagues on both sides don't understand. "Our vision of labor is back in the 40s."

Jason Norris of Carpenter's Union: UI gets millions of tax dollars, but current practice depresses wages because bid drive down wages. Need responsible bidder criteria on wages, health care, retirement. Small contractors aren't competing on big state bids, and wages get returned to communities.

Marek: some of these local contractors do school projects. "I admit I don't understand labor as well as some of you do. There needs to be more communication with areas that are more conservative like mine." Local contractors are using good, legal labor "and they just do not want to go that direction, and until they are educated it is very hard for me to go that direction. I have to listen to what they say and I was very hesident to be the vote that made the difference." Mascher to Marek: every state that had prevailing wage has better worker safety. Jacoby: we saw over 100 full time construction workers treated at UIHC on Medicaid because they were uninsured. This bill had big support from young people.

Royce Peterson, another carpenter: How can I help Larry educate his constituents? What amendments would change your vote? Marek: the people in my area just don't want to see it happen. Contractors say their employees are happy. Mentions illegals again. Schmitz: I've been trying to educate people (her district overlaps Marek's). Prevailing wage helps apprenticeships.

Bill Gerhard, construction trades: Iowa's one of 8 states that have never had prevailing wage, notes apprenticeship again and safety. Prevailing wage does not increase costs; increased safety and productivity offsets wage costs. "This is bigger than a half dozen small contractors in Washington county." "The people in this room, Johnson County, carried you in the election, and we want to have you carry our water in the state house."

Nancy Porter, Iowa City teacher: collective bargaining and open scope. Mascher: Working with Guv on drafting the language. "You're going to see a different kind of partnership than last year"; we don't want another veto. "It's open-ING the scope, it's not total open scope" and bill will likely be more narrow. Dvorsky:discipline/discharge still an issue. Marek: "We need our local schools to have authority, and I'm going to have to see the details."

Mental health parity. Schmitz: working on gathering support. Working in house first, senate likely to approve. Willems: Still hard to get to 51; the same people who were on the fence on labor will be the ones on the fence here.

Just one student; cancellation of school ski trip. Mascher: this was a local decision; district decided they couldn't justify it as an academic thing (though some would say it would qualify as PE). Jacoby: an unintended consequence of No Child Left Behind.

Gender equity on commissions. Lensing hopes to get it out of committee next week with one small amendment.

Brian Flaherty notes Democratic platform in support of Fair Share. And that's the end of the show.

Iowa Election Bills

No Big Action in Iowa Election Bills

There's no election bills on the docket of the Iowa Legislature that are as big as 2007's election day registration law, 2008's elimination of even-year school board elections, or the pre-trifecta era Republican efforts at requiring photo ID to vote. But there's still a few interesting proposals sitting at the subcommittee stage.

Thursday I looked at the recall bill, which probably got the oomph knocked out of it on Friday when the Linn County Supervisors reversed course and took their pay cut. Yesterday I noted Mark Kuhn's bill requiring special election rather than appointment for U.S. Senators, but that was mostly an excuse for old war stories.

There's a few other irons in the fire. Each year some Republican makes the move to close the polls at 8 p.m. in primary and general elections, like we do in local elections. This year it's Rep. Rod Roberts of Carroll, who the mentioner is mentioning as a possible governor candidate, has the annual Republican bill to close the polls at 8 instead of 9.

Iowa has one of the later poll closing times, as you may have noted last November when we went up on the board at the same time as most of the Mountain Zone states. Some states close as early as 6 local time.

Johnson County saw nearly 600 voters in the last hour. There were spikes in new-growth precincts like North Liberty, where more people needed more time to find out where to go; some surprising rural precincts, where long-commute folks who work in town needed extra time; and the off-campus student precincts.

The voting age for primary elections would drop to 17 ½ under Des Moines Democrat Wayne Ford's proposal. The principle is good—if you're voting in November you should be able to help choose the nominees—and is analagous to the caucus process, where you can participate if you'll be 18 on Election Day. But as it's written there's a gap of kids born in May who could vote in a primary, but not in November.

I'd like a simpler bill: if you turn 18 by November general election day, you can register and vote that whole year. That would also get rid of that weird gap of kids who are old enough to caucus but not old enough to register to vote. Probably no one cares about that but election office staffers and credentials committee chairs, which means I probably care more than anyone else in the state.


Iowa would join Nevada in adding None Of The Above to the ballot under a bill sponsored by Republicans Jeff Kaufmann and Soctt Raecker. But unlike Nevada, this plan would be binding. If NOTA wins, there's a new election with new candidates.

I've always had a problem with None Of The Above. There's a lot of ways to Make A Statement, but the ballot is about making real world, final choices, and one of the principles of a democracy is we agree to live with those choices. Even including the option sends a “government is bad and all politicians are crooks” message. The place, time, and way to address those things is through the filing and nominating process, or in the worst case by a write-in (a legitimate one, not Mickey Mouse). If you don't like your choices, do it yourself. That's what I did. My legislative race was literally a case of “if you don't do it, he's unopposed.” So I guess in that sense I was none of the above.

Raecker also joins Democrat Geri Huser in proposing campaign contribution limits. Meaningful campaign finance reform would be one of the biggest improvements in our political system (the other would be meaningful redistricting reform but Iowa already has that). But there's a case to be made that the Deam-Obama model of lots and lots and lots of small donors already is the change we need.

I suspect this Iowa bill won't fly, because of its limits on contributions from parties and (mostly) because leadership is really, really proud of the money it can raise. But it's a more realistic hope than the pipedream of the public finance VOICE bill. Public finance advocates are still at the early, early stages of public education on the issue and need to overcome the “taxpayer subsidy for politicians” mindset. Plus it's still an insider-y issue.

For now, Regular Folks don't care about campaign finance, but they really hate robocalls. A trio of bills take on this unpopular but apparantly effective tactic. Ray Zirkelbach would ban them outright, Roger Wenthe takes on the issue of how calls are identified, and Bruce Hunter is after push-polling and mandatory disclosure.

I'm of mixed mind here. Push polls often indulge in the worst sort of "have you stopped beating your wife" innuendo, but as a free speech absolutist I'm reluctant to ban anything. Robocalls will stop only if and when they stop working.

What I don't see here is the National Popular Vote Plan bill that Joe Bolkcom had last year, which would give Iowa's electoral vote to the nationwide popular vote winner, effective when states representing an Electoral College majority do the same.

It's still early in the session, and we all know the real action happens at end game, so more stuff may yet land on the table.

Iowa Senate appointments

History Lesson: Iowa Senate appointments

U.S. Senate appointments are a hot issue these days. Assuming Judd Gregg's confirmed, an unusually high total of five Senators will be sitting by appointment, and we've seen all kinds of scenarios: the blatant placeholder in Delaware, the deal-making in New Hampshire, the Caroline Kennedy song and dance in New York and the Blagojvich-Burris opera buffa.

So it's not a shocker that proposals to ban the practice are in the works. Russ Feingold wants to do it at the federal level by constitutional amendment, and Mark Kuhn wants to do it at the state level through legislation.

It's not an issue that's come up in Iowa since great-grandfather's day, when we saw a run of three Senate vacancies and two appointments in 14 years.

Iowa's first vacancy in the era of popular Senate election came in 1922 when William Kenyon became a federal judge. Charles Rawson was appointed, did not run, and served nine months. Progressive Republican Smith Brookhart took over for the last two years of the Kenyon term.

Brookhart appears to have been quite the character. The great political cartoonist Ding Darling, pioneer of the now-dead Des Moines Register front page editorial cartoon, protrayed Brookhart as a blowhard isolationalist, alongside LaFollette, William Borah of Idaho, and California's Hiram Johnson.

And Brookhart plays a central role in the next vacancy, in 1926. In April of that year, the Senate reversed the result of Iowa's 1924 election, unseated Brookhart, and seated conservative Democrat Daniel Steck in his place. (This case gets pointed to now in light of the Franken situation, as proof the Senate could provisionally seat a member and then reverse course later.) Officially it was about election conduct, but what it was REALLY about was that Brookhart had supported Fightin' Bob LaFollette over Calvin Coolidge. Which kind of makes Brookhart the Ed Fallon of 1924. How contentious was it? The Iowa Republican Party backed Steck in the challenge.

Undeterred by his unseating, Brookhart challenged longtime Sen. Albert Cummins in the primary for the other Senate seat. It was a rematch; Cummins had fended off a 1920 primary challenge from Brookhart, but this time Brookhart won.

In late July, Cummins died. A special election was set to coincide with the 1926 general election – but only for the few months remaining on Cummins' term. After a five-ballot Republican convention nominated David Stewart in early August, he was appointed to the seat. Stewart ran for and won the short term, while Brookhart won the full term and went back to DC to serve alongside his old pal Daniel Steck. Awk-ward...

Brookhart lost his 1932 primary, and in the November FDR landslide the seat went to Democrat Richard Murphy, who created Iowa's most recent Senate vacancy when he died in a July 1936 car accident. This time, the seat stayed vacant until the November election, when Democrat Guy Gillette won a special election for the last two years of the term.

January LWV Liveblog

January LWV Liveblog

The Johnson County tradition kicks off for the session: the last Saturday of the month League of Women Voters forum. Cosponsor is Iowa City school district.

Who's here: Reps. Marek, Mascher, Jacoby, Lensing, Willems, and Sens. Schmitz, Dvorsky. Sen. Bolkcom is at an environmental conference and notes that it's his first absence in 11 years. Other notables here" Mayor Regenia Bailey, Supervisor Rod Sullivan, and Patti Fields from the school board. Hahn and Kaufmann are MIA, so attendance is Dems, 7 of 8, GOP, zero of 2.

Marek leads off and calls himself "the senior freshman." Voted no on the sales tax bill: "I voted my district, and for the people of my district who go north to shop it would have been a tax increase. But for the people of Johnson and Linn I'm glad it passed."

Lensing next. Budget's rough, UI flood recovery is rough.

Willems: looking at campaign finance reform, perhaps through constitutional amendment. Doing non-headline work on Judiciary and court/corrections budget. Wants to push Fair Share and prevailing wage on Labor. "There are constitutional implications" to indigent defense and public defender cuts proposed by Guv. "We will have a debate in Des Moines as to what the purpose of the rainy day fund is."

Schmitz: Chairing Education where allowable growth, dropout age and writing assessments are big.

Dvorsky: "Johnson County will probably have sales tax on the ballot on May 4." "There's not enough resources from the state or even the feds" for flood recovery, but "finally after all these years we have a partner in DC."

Mascher says the flood recovery and sales tax bills were passed "with record speed" and now it's up to voters. "There are many, many needs out there." IPERS lost $4 billion last quarter. Menal health parity finally moving ahead.

Jacoby says Iowa's "sitting better than 46 other states" because of rainy day fund, Predicts a 27-24 Arizona win tomorrow.

Education questions lead off. Mascher talks about 7% allowable growth and says the instructional support levy is good because "it's an income tax based on ability to pay." (As for my ability to write, laptop heat issues are interfering.) Legislators are split on dropout age. Fields says fully funding the instructional support levy would be $900k to Iowa City district.

The anti-smokers don't give up even though they won last year, but the question focuses on funding cessation programs rather than the casino ban. Mascher says $'s tough, but the tax increase helped. Says some of the rural legislators are getting pressure to repeal. Lensing says border areas too especially quad cities.

Interesting: the anti-smokers seem more sympathetic to me now that they have the ban. Last year they couldn't talk more than three sentences without seeming contemptuous of smokers. But now their concern for cessation seems sincere.

Sullivan talks mental health funding: "there's no way we can more forward without a waiting list." Mascher: "I look at this as a federal issue, we need health care for all" including mental health. She offers praise for Daschle (who's in a little hot water now; part of me hope's he won't survive and Howard Dean will get his role yet). Willems notes his frustration: county supervisors came up to him at campaign time saying, raise the property tax cap so we can deal with mental health funding, we'll take the heat. But now that he's in the legislature, it's a nonstarter because "ooh, that's a tax increase."

Susan Enzle continues the mental health thread.

Mike Carberry next with the Sierra Club's general spectrum of environmental question. Marek talks wind energy; "Every nine turbines is a job." As for CAFOs, "there's a few bad apples but most farmers are doing a good job. We need one set of rules across the state." The bikers continue the environmental discussion. Mascher says bike-friendly stuff is moving, but Bolkcom's the point guy on that.

One of the traditions is that the junior high kids ask the last questions. Interesting questions usually, even though they sometimes slop over into non-state issues. Special ed funding, water pollution, smoking, DNR funding, economy, flood recovery, feed lots, fair trade. All the legislators take a crack at one or two. "You've done more homework on these questions than some of our colleagues," Lensing tells the kids.

Iowa Legislative Committees

Johnson County House Delegation Gets Prominent Roles

All five Iowa House Democrats representing Johnson County districts will have prominent committee assignments when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

Iowa City's two Democrats will both chair full committees. Mary Mascher will chair the State Government committee and Vicki Lensing will head the Government Oversight committee.

Dave Jacoby of Coralville will head the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Economic Development.

Johnson County's two freshmen will both be committee vice chairs. Nate Willems of Lisbon is number two on the Labor committee, and Larry Marek of Riverside will be vice chair of Agriculture.

The other committee assignments for Johnson County House Democrats:

Mascher: Education, Human Resources, Labor, Veterans Affairs

Lensing: Environmental Protection, Judiciary, State Government

Jacoby: Appropriations, Commerce, Economic Growth, Rebuild Iowa & Disaster
Recovery

Marek: Economic Growth, Natural Resources, Transportation, Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee

Willems: Education, Judiciary, ,State Government, Ways and Means,
Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee

Update: Republicans announced assignments a few hours after the Dems. The one House Republican representing Johnson County, Jeff Kaufmann of Wilton, will be on Rebuild Iowa, State Government, Judiciary and Ways and Means.

Recounts in Iowa Senate District 10, House 1, House 37

Looks like not one, not two, but three Iowa legislative districts will see recounts in the next few days:

In Black Hawk County, Republican Walt Rogers wants a recount in Senate District 10. An administrative recount of two precincts narrowed incumbent Democrat Jeff Danielson's lead in the Senate District 10 race to 14 votes.

Also with a 14 vote margin: Republican Renee Schulte in House District 37, where the Gazette reports that incumbent Democrat Art Staed wants a recount.

In Woodbury County, Republican Jeremy Taylor is asking for a recount. Taylor is 60 votes behind incumbent Democrat Wes Whitead in House District 1.

Some recount 101: Each candidate, the apparent loser and the apparent winner, names a representative to a recount board. The two representatives then name a third board member who is mutually acceptable and presumably neutral. (If they can't agree, a judge chooses someone.) The recount board makes the decisions, while the auditor's office provides assistance.

Woodbury County Concludes Counting

Dems Hold 3 of 4 Close Races as Whitead, Wendt Win in Woodbury

While recounts remain possible, incumbent Democrats appear to have won three of the state's four closest races while losing one seat.

In Woodbury County, Democrats held on to win two tight House races. In Iowa House District 1 incumbent Democrat Wes Whitead had 6,152 votes and Republican Jeremy Taylor won 6,092. At the end of Election Night, Whitead had a six-vote lead. In Iowa House District 2, incumbent Democrat Roger Wendt had 4,709, ahead of Republican Rick Bertrand with 4,429.

Whitead and Wendt were both showing up as losers for several hours on Election Night due to delays in counting absentee ballots, which leaned heavily Democratic across the state. The Sioux City Journal reports that Woodbury County had absentee counting problems related to the new state law requiring absentee ballots to be tabulated by precinct.

Late absentee results also had Rep. Elesha Gayman listed as a loser in House District 84 in Scott County for a while on Election Night, but the first-term Democrat regained the lead, and the seat, with the absentees.

In Linn County, four out of nine late-arriving absentees were postmarked on time and counted in House District 37. The Linn County Auditor's office reports that two went to Republican challenger Renee Schulte and two were for Democratic incumbent Art Staed, leaving Schulte with a 14 vote lead.

An email press release from House Democrats Wednesday afternoon began with the line "After expanding their majority to 56 in last week’s election"--math which would appear to exclude Staed.

At the Black Hawk County canvass, the formal meeting where county supervisors certify results, incumbent Democrat Jeff Danielson had a 17 vote lead over GOP challenger Walt Rogers in Senate District 10. The Waterloo Courier reports that Rogers was confident enough in his Election Night lead that he gave a victory speech, while "Danielson was dejectedly leaving the Democrats' party even before President-elect Barack Obama delivered his own victory speech."

Late Early Vote Shifts House Race Perceptions

Late Early Vote Shifts House Race Perceptions

The chronology of the election returns had it backwards.

Early election results showed incumbent state representatives Wes Whitead, Roger Wendt and Elesha Gayman losing their seats as the returns rolled in. A buzz of panic rippled through an Iowa City victory party: "Did we lose the House? Did we lose the House?"

But the three incumbents had won re-election (assuming Whitead hold his six vote lead) before the polls even opened. When the absentee results were added in, their early vote totals overcame the Election Day leads of Republican challengers. It was like watching the second half of a ball game before seeing the score of the first half, making an early lead look like a come-from-behind win.

"We won on election night, and we lost when they opened the mailbox," House Republican Leader Christopher Rants told the Des Moines Register. "Election Day is no longer 24 hours, it's 24 days." 40 days, to be exact, as state law allowed any Iowa to vote early beginning Sept. 25.

Democrats carried a 92,000 voter lead into Election Day out of the record 533,000 absentee and early ballots. In places where absentees were reported first, rather than last, Democrats jumped out to a big lead fast and saw the margin narrow.

The early vote margin was less than Barack Obama's 160,000 vote margin in Iowa. But fast reporting of early ballots in big Democratic counties, including Johnson County's 23,000 vote absentee lead for Obama, may have contributed to the network's fast call of the state, almost as soon as polls closed at 9 p.m.

Senate backs $1 cig tax

Senate backs $1 cig tax

The Gazette has a nice play by play of unsuccessful GOP maneuvering to back away from the dollar. They tried raising the minimum price, they tried 62 cents, they even tried the killer tactic of five bucks a pack. I gotta admire the overkill of that one. Almost as good as the failed amendment to Steve King's English Only law in `02 that would have changed the name of Cerro Gordo county to Fat Pig County.

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Also under the dome, the Overrated One gives snarky but ultimately OK commentary to Joe Bolkcom:

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, an Iowa City Democrat, is proposing an additional solution: He wants to start turning off some of the lights at night.

He's even proposed hiring someone to do nothing but walk around the buildings on the Capitol complex and flick the off switches. Other state workers apparently can't do that when they leave work.

Imagine that. Turning off the lights when nobody is around. (Those radicals from Iowa City can always be counted on for their far-out ideas.) Bolkcom figures that even after paying the salary and nice benefits of an additional state employee, the government could save money in reduced energy costs. He's got a point.

Yepsen forgets to mention the latte. He also fails to note that while Bolkcom was a supervisor here in Johnson County, he got some automated light switches installed in the administration building's restrooms. We got a new bike rack, too.

No Water Required

No Water Required

The only upside to the Iowa Senate's vote to end the must-be-on-water rule for casinos: it helps fight global warming by reducing the driving distance for compulsive gamblers. Bring Touch Play back to every corner Casey's and the carbon footprint gets even smaller!

To restate a long-time Deeth talking point: the gambling economy is finite. Only so many Iowans will spend only so many dollars on gambling, and a certain number - like me - wouldn't cross the street to play slots. (And, let's face it, we're not a tourist destination for anyone except presidential candidates.) Building more casinos doesn't make the pie higher. It just makes the slices thinner and thinner till we hit the point of market over-saturation. We're probably at that point already and at some time the whole house of cards collapses.

Funnel Week

Funnel Week

Not to be confused with funnel cake week which is in August at the State Fair. Do or die time for legislation.

Bills that would bring back TouchPlay machines and scrap Iowa's official English law appear headed for the Legislature's discard pile.

Proposals to require beer keg registration, create a statewide preschool program and allow cities to ban public smoking remain in the tall stack of bills that legislators plan to tackle during the second half of the 2007 session.

Legislation championed by organized labor and strongly opposed by business groups - allowing the collection of fees from nonunion workers for services provided by unions - remains a wild card.

You all know the words: I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill...

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Nate covers HRC in DBQ for MyDD.

This week's email from Supervisor Rod Sullivan is highly quotable on Rick Dobyns' 21-bar referendum:

Regardless of how you feel on the issue, we all owe these two men a debt of gratitude. They are providing political cover for every council candidate. Now, every candidate, no matter how she feels, can simply say, "I will respect the results of the referendum."

I, for one, am tired of the dishonesty. I am tired of students not telling the whole truth. I am tired of bar owners not telling the whole truth. I am tired of Bud & Miller not telling the whole truth. Perhaps a public vote will put the issue to bed once and for all. Yes, we will get a huge student turnout. That is fine. Students have a right to vote.

Personally, I think the solutions to these problems require some huge cultural shifts. But the first step is honesty on all sides. We have not gotten that yet.

What's The Bullying Bill About?

What's The Bullying Bill About?

The joys of the trifecta as the bullying bill, which I offered my personal perspective on last fall, moves to Culver's desk for a 100% certain signature. Looked like a near party line vote and the GOP got their last shots in:

Opponents, including Rep. Cecil Dolecheck, R-Mount Ayr, had argued that the legislation was less about protecting students than it was about foisting cultural views on schools.

'It has everything to do with a culture of acceptance,' he told the House. 'Not bullying.'

Well, no but yes. Bullying is important, but so is the statement "it's OK to be gay." I kid around about the Seinfeld Disclaimer a lot, but "not that there's anything wrong with that" is a powerful statement. That's part of what this is about, part of what marriage is about, part of what military is about. What Dolecheck and the Republicans want, the reason they opposed this, is the right to be bigoted. Glad you're being up front about that, Cecil.

Republican Idiocy and Futility Two-Fer

Republican Idiocy and Futility Two-Fer

Federal Edition: Krazy King kontinues his obsession with the way people talk.

A drive to make English the nation's official language once again has kicked off in Congress, spearheaded by Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa.

"Language is the bonding agent. It's the glue that holds us together."

The English-language bill draws intense opposition from groups that advocate on behalf of immigrants, who contend that English is not under attack and that a law is unneeded. What's necessary, they say, is more federal support for overcrowded adult education classes teaching English to immigrants.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., has expressed hesitation about an English-language law.

State Edition: Not satisfied with opposing Fair Share, Mary Lundby and the Senate GOP wants to actively insult labor.

They’ve introduced a bill to declare May 1 as Iowa’s Right To Work Day to remember the passage of Iowa’s anti-labor “Right To Work” Act.

Hat tip to Iowa Progress on this. May Day is Labour Day in most civilized countries of the world.

News bulletin, Republicans: You lost the last election. Actively insulting new Americans and working people may shore up your shrinking base, but it's no way to work your way to a majority. Divide no longer means conquer.

Under the Des Moines Dome: Stem Cells, Surge, Greiner

Under the Des Moines Dome: Stem Cells, Surge, Greiner

Stem cells move forward in Iowa Senate, 26-24:

Four Democratic senators broke party lines on the issue. Nay votes from Tom Hancock of Epworth, Bill Heckroth of Waverly, Brian Schoenjahn of Arlington, and Joe Seng of Davenport joined all 20 Senate Republicans in coming up just two votes short of the 26 needed to kill the measure.

What's the deal with these guys?



Also, 28 Dem Senators co-sponsor an anti-surge resolution. Obviously non-binding, but where are Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids and Steve Warnstadt from Sioux City? And why did they stop making Surge, anyway?

And lame duck Sandra Greiner gives the Register some remarks that sum up her whole attitude toward public service:

She said her decision has nothing to do with Republicans losing control of the Legislature. "Listen: This is the easiest money I've ever earned," she said. "Why would anybody walk away from an easy check like that? It has absolutely nothing to do with being in the minority."

Easy money, huh. That helps explain all those missed League of Women Voters legislative forums in Iowa City - she was off the clock! Just running for the Legislature was the hardest job I ever had, and our local folks keep up nonstop insane campaign-plus schedules during session weekends.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Sandy.

Greiner will not seek re-election

Greiner will not seek re-election

UPDATE: Mark Nolte responds, see comments below.

Sandra Greiner, GOP House 89 incumbent, stands down. Did Mark Nolte's 44% on a small budget give her a scare? Or was it Becky Schmitz knocking off Dave Miller on the same turf in the Senate 45 race? Either way this district is swinging and a great opportunity...

Hat tip to Garry.