JCR Blog

I saw this article when I stopped by my parent's house in Davenport earlier this week. Charlotte Eby of the various Lee Enterprises newspapers profiled the Muscatine-based Iowans for Tax Relief. The group is regularly criticized by commenters over at Krusty for having a poor record at getting its issues through the legislative process. However ITR boasts a 90% victory rate in candidates they endorse.

Any time an organization backs a challenger in a primary, you're going to get people invoking Ronald Regean's 11th Commandment, and this time is no exception. The candidates ITR backed in Bettendorf had paticular sucess, with both Rep. Joe Hutter and Sen. Maggie Tinsman falling to ITR-backed primary challeges. Outgoing (presumably) State Rep. Joe Hutter is quite bitter about the group's involvement in his primary. He claims he's contemplating an independent candidacy (though such thoughts didn't deter him from attending the state convention a couple weeks back).

I guess I just thought it was a decent read. Check it out.

Maybe we should rename our congressional delegation the "Vice Squad." Senator Grassley's finance committee will consider a bill that would impose significant tax penalties on people working in the sex trade. From CNN:

Currently, the IRS has to prove a prostitute's or pimp's income to pursue a tax law violation. But under Grassley's proposal, a pimp could get up to 10 years in prison for each prostitute for whom the pimp hasn't filed a W-2, which means a pimp caught with 10 unregistered prostitutes faces a century in prison.

Curiously, there is opposition to the legislation.

Carol Leigh, a representative of the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network in San Francisco, California, called the proposal short-sighted.

"Forced labor, kidnapping should be targeted. But this legislation broadly targets the sex trade in general, and could target your local strip club," Leigh said. "We want laws enforced against those who abuse us, against those who are violent, and enforcement of labor regulations. That is the only truly effective way to protect the welfare of the women who work in the industry."

If the local strip club is engaged in prostitution, I would hope it would be targeted. To be fair to Ms. Leigh, she's not the only one who doesn't seem to understand this legislation. Brian at Iowa Voice doesn't get it either.

It's not clear whether this will be included on the American Values Agenda with Jim Leach's gambling bill, but it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Congressman Leach's bill to apply gambling laws to internet casinos has made it on to the Republican Party's American Values Agenda. As anyone who has heard the congressman speak recently can attest, this is an issue Leach has been pushing for awhile. You can catch a summary of what else is included in the agenda here.

Here's who the Hotline thinks you should keep your eyes on moving toward the '08 election. These are Iowans who have not committed themselves to a presidential contender but whose influence and advice will be highly sought by the Romneys, McCains, Huckabees, et al as the caucuses approach:

Leg. house campaign dir. Tim Albrecht

Nussle comm. dir Maria Comella

Nussle pol. dir. Andrew Dorr

IA businessman John Gilliland

Ex-IA 72-Hour Task Force dir. Hans Gullickson

Nussle senior counsel/ex-Hastert aide Pete Jeffries

State Sen. Pres. Jeff Lamberti (recently appeared at fundraiser for Giuliani's Solutions America in NYC and at a
fundraiser with Pataki)

Ex-IA GOP chair Michael Mahaffey

GOP co-chair Leon Moseley

IA Fed. GOP Women Pres. Kathy Pearson

Nussle coalitions dir. Marlys Popma

IA State Rep/Speaker Christopher Rants

State Sen. Kitty Rehberg, liaison to social conservatives

BC04 IA chair David Roederer

Nussle mgr. Nick Ryan

IA Christian Alliance pres. Steve Scheffler

Current IA GOP exec. dir. Cullen Sheehan

BC04 regional pol. dir Karen Slifka

WH Pol. Dir. Sara Taylor

Jim Nussle and running-mate Bob Vander Plaats were in Iowa City today, touring the University of Iowa Campus and announcing his education plan at a press conference. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate for the planned event in front of the Old Capitol, but nonetheless over 30 supporters showed up at the Advanced Technology Lab to visit with Jim and Bob and show their support.

Check back soon for photos, until then, you can check out coverage in the Press Citizen, the Gazette, the Daily Iowan and KCRG (which also includes video).

Lt. Gov. Nominee Bob Vander Plaats

Our Next Governor, Jim Nussle

You can check out these photos, as well as some others below in the descriptions of speakers. Thanks so much to Denny Eilers of Iowa Photo Farm and a Clayton County Delegate, for passing them along to share on our site.

You know, you want to give a guy the benefit of the doubt, but when the rumors keep getting confirmed over and over again, you've gotta believe there's something to it all. The Hotline blog is all over Culver's latest act of buffoonery.

Here's how the AP, in its daily story about the campaign, covered Nussle. The writethru crossed the wire at about 4:14 PM CT.

In a statement issued Friday, Nussle said he'll continue to push for raising teacher pay. ''My priority is to have Iowa set the standard for world class education and that starts by raising teacher pay above the national average,'' he said. ''As governor, I will work to ensure more reliable and more predictable funding for education so we have the best and brightest teachers in the classrooms teaching our children.''

The Nussle campaign noticed that the following appeared on Culver's site about 5:40 pm on Friday.

Chet Culver has been endorsed by the Iowa State Education Association. The union, represented by more than 32,000 members, chose Chet because he will fight for educators all over the state. "My priority is to have Iowa set the standard for world class education and that starts by raising teacher pay above the national average," he said. "As governor, I will work to ensure more reliable and more predictable funding for education so we have the best and brightest teachers in the classrooms teaching our children."

Krusty's got the whole release.

Yeah, it's important, but it's tedious as all you-know-what...

Stresses the grassroots activity of his organization and give free advice to the candidates

Raise money
Put it to good use. Use what would work for you. Ignore idle platitudes. Pay attention to the applause in this building. Eminent domain is a fundamental issue that resonates. Illegal immigration resonates - We check the bags of all the little old ladies in airports, but we have millions of people pouring across our border with whatever they want to bring with them.
Make a picture of your opponent and show why you're running against them.

Whalen: Two visions - We believe in low taxes and investment, puting consumers in charge of their healthcare, their vision of creating wealth is to sue our businesses, contributing to the flow of jobs overseas, and giving Hillary Clinton and government control of our health. They're for amnesty for aliens, they want you to show ID to get on a plane, but not to vote or get a job. Braley has already said he wants to cut and run in Iraq, I'll stay with President Bush and see that the job gets done.

ED: I've met Mike, informally, several times but have never heard him speak. He does it really well. Watch out Braley.

** Photo by Denny Eilers, Iowa Photo Farm **

Lamberti hammered on Boswell's ineffective representation of Iowa's 3rd District. Boswell was rated 302 in terms of effectiveness in Washington.

I missed the first half of Congressman Leach's speech, but at least the end was classic Leach. I don't know you could find two people in this hall more different in in style (and politics for that matter) that Leach and King.

The Democratic nominee said the focus on this election should be on beating Jim Nussle. I reject that. The focus should be on Iowa.

1. Energize Iowa's education
2. Energize Iowa's economy
3. Revitalize Iowa's healthcare
4. Energize Iowa's confidence in our government
5. Promote and maitain Iowa's quality of life

On Kelo: "I will resepect and I will protect your property rights in this state."

Many politicians believe they are the be all end all of idea. Bob and I have heard so many great stories and great ideas, that we've started a project called 99 Iowa Ideas.

Chet Culver wants to bring the state more of the leadership of Tom Vilsack. We've had enough.

[[I can't keep up and my batery's drianed. More later hopefully...]]

UPDATE: O. Kay Henderson is a much swifter typist than me and she got most of the speech down as well as much of the other AM activity at our convention. She spent the afternoon with the Dems.

** Photos by Denny Eilers, Iowa Photo Farm **

New introductory video. If it's up on the campaign site, I'll link it later.

BVP Summary: Six years ago, I stood before the convention and said, "This state needs leadership!" I told my wife Darla, "This state needs leadership!" She asked me, "What are you going to to about it?" We were taught to get on the field and fight for what we need, and that is why I'm here and that is why Jim Nussle is here. We have a positive vision of Iowa's future, something you can vote for. Chet Culver and Patty Judge are offering only things to vote against.
As a basketball coach we had four rules, rules that we'll apply to this race.

Respect your opponent.
Focus on fundamentals.
Stick to the game plan.
Know that you can win.


** Photos by Denny Eilers, Iowa Photo Farm **

Steve King got a huge response when he was introduced. Can you say red meat?

Great King quote #45,367: "There are probably not 72 virgins in the hell Al-Zarqawi is in. If there are, the probably all look like Helen Thomas."

He spoke on the Kelo amendment "The Supreme Court is the last place the US Constitution should be amended, and that's exactly what they did." Here's a prayer King offered us: I pray that Justice Ginsberg and Justice Kennedy fall madly in love with eachother and elope to Cuba, giving President Bush two more appointments to the Supreme Court.

King pushed the fair, flat tax: "Challenge the presidential candidates as they come through Iowa to take a stance on the fair, flat tax."

King panned Bush's immigration plan. Did he miss the "suck it up and move on" part of Grassley's speech? He got a good response. King wants to build a 2000 mile long fence. 12 American citizens are killed every day by illegal aliens and $65 billion in illegal drugs come across each year. We're spending $4 million a mile on the boarder. "I'd tell the president that if you give me $4 million a mile, you wouldn't see a cockroach get across the boarder."

Our success is not tied just to bushels per acre, it is tied to what we do with those bushels. We have opportunities in value-added agriculture that will provide growth for all of Iowa's 1.9 rural residents and 1 million urban residents.

In summary: We must win this office for the GOP. Since Chet Culver took office, we have seen a decline in the integrity of the elections process: more third party courrier, no way to identify qualified, registered voters on election day, and blanket restoration of voting rights to felons. Chet Culver has been successfully sued twice for campaign improprieties while secretary of state. We must keep Mike Mauro and the corrupt Polk County machine (the folks who brought us CIETC) from taking the office.

Chuck Allison will keep elections clean and fair: "I don't want participation without respiration."

Dave Vaudt is up. "My first term has been about fiscal accountability and government accountability... Iowans are outraged at the excessive salaries and bonuses at CIETC. This misuse of taxpayer dollars (under the Democratic leadership [or, more accurately, lack thereof] Tom Vilsack) cannot continue."

The nit-picker's moment to shine. A Cox supporter (I assume) asked to amend the rules to allow all "declared candidates for the 2008 Presidential election" to speak for 5 minutes. Resoundingly defeated.

Credientials committee report. He's actually reading off all 99 counties. Maybe I should get a muffin...

Congressman Latham was seated just in front of us with Congressman King.

UPDATE: State Auditor Dave Vaudt is sitting here now. Chuck Allison and Bill Northey joined him. We appear to be the staging area for the speakers.

The election of President Bush has given us two Supreme Court Justices who interpret the law, not legislate from the bench. This contribution will make the nation a better place for 25 years.

Looking at the corruption in Des Moines, Vilsack's vetoes, Vilsack's priorities, we need Nussle as our Governor.

Mike Whalen is a whale of a candidate. Jeff Lamberti is going to beat Boswell. Elections matter. Nancy Pelosi owes her allegance to extremists: Moveon.org, and George Soros. Nancy Pelosi would cut and run in Iraq. The GOP and the country needs these seats.

The Senator got a huge response for his call for legislation to protect private property at the Federal and state level. Vilsack's veto will cost Democrats this fall.

In 1986, Grassley agreed to a compromise on immigrations. "We gave amnesty to 2 million illegal aliens, solving all our immigration problems." *laughs* "I was wrong in 1986, and I won't be wrong again. If we give amnesty to today's 12 million illegal aliens, 20 years frm now, we'll have 25 million."

** Photo by Denny Eilers, Iowa Photo Farm **

Bush is doing what the Commander in Cheif should do. Clinton shot missiles at an asprin factory in the Sudan and claimed vitory. President Bush is takinging the fight against terrorism to the terrorists.

** Photo by Denny Eilers, Iowa Photo Farm **

Johnson County earned the privledge of front row seats by having the largest increase in Republican registrations in the 2nd Congressional District.

From Todd Versteegh, Johnson County Chair: "Johnson County didnt get front row seats becaue of having the largest increase in Republican registrations in the 2nd Dist..we got it because we had the largest percentage increase in votes for Bush between 2000 and 2004.

4400 more votes in 2004 as compared to 2000...made up nearly half of Bush's victory total in Iowa."

Sen. Grassley was just in front of us. Grassley motored to the podium when he was announced, pretty quick for an old guy. He's pretty fiesty today. Opening theme is "Your differences with the President, your differences with me, suck it up!" It's time to unite.

I'll be doing my best to live blog the convention today. Stay tuned. After the convention, I'll rearrange things to show in proper chronological order.

Romney impressed me earlier this morning with his speech and breakfast. I'll have some pictures when I get home.

Governor Mitt Romney announced the formation of his Iowa Advisory Committee yesterday. Though he says it is 50-members strong, doesn't appear that he's publicly releasing the names yet. Perhaps we'll see something at the convention today. For now, the individuals he specifically mentioned, include:

Sen. Brad Zaun, state senator and former mayor from Urbandale
Joni Scotter, veteran Linn County activist

And Don't forget State Chair, Doug Gross.

Register also has a brief sidebar about the announcement, which also includesDave Mulker and state Rep. Ralph Watts.

Seems there's a bit of a pre-convention buzz blitz on the WH'08 front. Mike Glover reports that Pataki has announced the following team of Iowans, who will be working for his leadership PAC, the 21st Century Freedom PAC. Here's lineup, according the Press Release from the PAC:

Iowa Chairman: Stewart Iverson (former Senate Republican Leader)
Senior Political Advisor: Ed Failor, Jr. (Executive VP of Iowans for Tax Relief)
Iowa Executive Director: Diane Crookham-Johnson (former RPI finance chair)
Leadership Team Members: Loras Schulte (State Central Committee Member / Benton County Chair / former Iowa Campaign Manager for Pat Buchanan and Gary Bauer) and JoEllen Hill (an IFRW leader, and former Leonard for Ag Secy Campaign Manager)

More than you'd ever want to know about their bios is available on the PAC site, and Krusty, as always has some interesting (if sometimes nasty) comments from his readers.

Looks like he's gonna be working the state hard.

Gee, that's not a sentence I ever thought that I'd write. Yet with yesterday's news that Democrat Congressman Patrick Kennedy had pled guilty to his DUI, I couldn't help but think how he was setting a good example for our own drunk driver, Democrat State Senator Bob Dvorsky. Of course, it doesn't appear that Senator Dvorsky will be doing anything so sincere.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has hired Eric Woolson to coordinate his Iowa activities. The story also notes that Huckabee changed the name of his PAC from Healthy America PAC to Hope for America PAC. Good call on that -- people might have thought he was running for Surgeon General or something.

UPDATE: Also caught the attention of the Hotline, who calls Woolson a well-regarded sherpa.

The Johnson County Republicans were out in force for the first big parade of the summer on Friday, June 9 at North Liberty Fun Days.

Over two dozen Republican volunteers enjoyed the great walking weather -- handing out candy and stickers, sporting Nussle-Vander Plaats or Leach t-shirts, and showing their support for our Republican team. (Jim Leach's feathered headbands were saved for the hearty souls who braved the rain and cold in Kalona on Saturday).

In addition to the volunteers, County Supervisor Candidate Rich Benn was driving his appropriately-hawkeye-colored car, and fellow County Supervisor Candidate Alan Curry was walking the route greeting voters.

As always, North Liberty had a huge turnout along the parade route with kids and adults of all ages taking part in a great community tradition.

(PHOTOS ABOVE CENTER: Sam Langholz and Chuck Seberg carry the Johnson County Republican Banner / ABOVE LEFT (L to R): Jim Polaschek, Larry Ihde, and Mark Skerjan all working hard along the route / BELOW: The Versteegh Family Van has transformed into the patriotic Republican-Mobile)

Vilsack finishes fourth in a poll of likely Democratic caucus participants. Only 1 in 10 Democrats from Iowa would support him and yet he spends so many of his waning days as governor in other states auditioning for a job so obviously beyond his grasp. Vilsack should be cleaning up the mess in his own back yard instead of galavanting all over the nation. Ending the scandalous cronyism of Des Moines Democrats would be a great project. Start with CIETC and move on to the great real-estate swindle (Starring Chet Culver's election committee chair!).

Iowa Ennui over at Things Going Round & Round has some great analysis of the first volley in the governor's race. As you probably know, our candidate, Jim Nussle has been promoting a plan to bring Iowa's teacher salaries above the national average. Chet "Sucessfully sued twice for campaign violations while Secretary of State" Culver takes the bait and tries to attack Nussle on budget principles, missing the more sophisticated angle (Anyone suprised?). Here's TGR&R's take:

It’s not hard to see how a promise of an aggressive pay increase for teachers, classroom instruction money, translates into a larger discussion of the dysfunction in Iowa’s educational bureaucracy. Just spend an hour attempting to figure out where and how the AEAs acquire & use their funds.

The only surprise is the Culver comment. It suggests that this particular funding nuance is lost on our newly minted Dem gubernatorial candidate. As odd as it might seem, good politics begets good governing; it reflects on a politician’s ability to see things beyond the obvious.

I think this is hilarious. Jim Nussle was on the second day of his victory-swing around the state -- today, spending some time in the first congressional district with nominee Mike Whalen, and former candidates Brian Kennedy and Bill Dix. Volunteers were preparing for their stop at the Davenport Airport (a very small little general aviation terminal), putting up signs outside along the road and such.

Imagine the surprise when one volunter, Amanda Sebastion (a UI graduate and very active CR here in Johnson County these past years), walks outside to see a little old lady tearing down all the signs. When she went out to find out what she was doing, the lady was agast that the Republicans would be putting up their signs in front of the Democrats event. No, it's a Republican event, says the volunteer politely. Turns out that the good ole Chet had scheduled a press conference at nearly the same time, at the same place. Apparently Culver came and left pretty fast, Nussle was a little late, and so the two candidates didn't run into each other, but as one reporter wrote below, it made for some interesting moments:

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2006/06/09/news/local/doc44890cac26cc3610596128.txt

Today marked the beginning of the general election campaign season and Iowa's Republican candidates celebrated with a display of unity across the state. While the Democrats are fractured into thirds, (progressives for Fallon, establishment for Blouin, and ???? for Culver) the GOP has been ready to move forward with the leadership of Jim Nussle and Bob Vander Plaats.

See below for some photos of the candidates on the stump this afternoon at the Cedar Rapids rally outside of Kirkwood Community College.

Iowa's next Governor, Jim Nussle 

Iowa's next Lieutenant Governor, Bob Vander Plaats 

State Auditor, Dave "Still the only CPA running for State Auditor" Vaudt 

GOP Secretary of State nominee Chuck Allison. 

GOP Secretary of Agriculture nominee Bill Northey. 

The National Weather Service is reporting a tornado by North Liberty and funnel clouds along I-80. Hail from golfball to softball size has also been reported. We have a tornado warning here in JC until 4:00PM and one in Linn County just expired.

While I hope everyone in the path of this storm keeps safe, I can't help but wonder how today's earlier rains and this afternoon's severe weather will effect turnout, especially as it travels east into our neighboring congressional district.

3:49 PM UPDATE: KWWL reporting doppler indicated tornados over Iowa City.

3:53 PM UPDATE: Johnson Co. Sheriff reports rotating wall cloud (???) over Carver Hawkeye Arena. - I'm going for cover.

4:05 PM UPDATE: I saw some suspicious looking cloud movements out my window as I was making the last update. Looks like we've got the all clear hear in Johnson County as far as tornados. A severe t-storm warning remains in effect.

4:11 PM UPDATE: The storm has pushed south towards Riverside. Tornado reported on the ground south of Kalona in Washington County between HWY 1 and 218.

4:15 PM UPDATE: We've got blue sky over my place. Another weather emergency averted here. Hopefully everyone else can say the same.

4:19 PM UPDATE: Primary voting suspended in Johnson and Linn Counties through the SOS office to be continued when the county auditors deem it appropriate.

4:34 PM UPDATE: Looks like the storm is going to hit south of Scott County. The Whalen and Kennedy campaigns can breath a sigh of relief.

4:37 PM UPDATE: I just got off the phone with the Johnson County Auditor's office. They told me that voting should be open at all polling stations. They're still in the process of contacting all the sites to make sure they are open again.

Don't forget to vote in the Primary Elections Today! Polls will be open in Johnson County from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. If you're not sure where to go, check out the list of polling locations.

As you're waiting anxiously for results, you can check out the precinct-by-precinct turnout in Johnson County, as updated at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m., and 8 p.m. For now, your tidbit of news is that Johnson County set a record for number of absentee ballots cast before the 6 p.m. deadline Monday -- 2, 601, topping 2,438 in 2004.

Looking for results tonight? Check out the following sites, which will be updated, as I find other good sites:

Johnson County Returns
(and precinct-by-precinct results for Dem Gov/SOA/SOS, Dem County, GOP SOA/SOS)

I imagine that the Secretary of State will be posting statewide results, but his website doesn't show any sign of where that will be yet.

KCRG is often good with getting info up on their election center fast. Also check out the KCRG/Gazette Election Day Blog.

Looks like Radio Iowa will be going up with current results on their site, stories, and streaming audio.

And though there's no sign of a special election section yet, don't forget to check the Register site.

See any other good sites? Post them in the comments.

Our "esteemed" Governor today vetoed legislation that would have reformed Iowa's laws concerning the use of eminent domain. Gov. Vilsack stated that he would bring Iowa legislators back for a special session to "improve" the legislation he vetoed today.

The legislation would have protected the private property rights of Iowa citizens, preventing goverment from using eminent domain to give land to other private developers for economic development purposes.

However, the Governor, in his attempts to make himself into a viable presidential candidate, has managed to veto legislation that garnered strong bipartisan support in both the Iowa House and Senate.

Speaker of the House Chris Rants has already stated that a legislative override of Vilsack's veto is a strong possibility and even Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal has stated his firm support for the legislation that Vilsack vetoed today.

Sounds like our Governor needs to be listening to our legislators and not to special interests to which he's answered to for the past 2 terms.

The Press-Citizen reported this morning that Democrat State Senator Bob Dvorsky pled not guilty to his drunk driving charges from back in April.

You may recall from my earlier post, that I'm a pretty sympathetic guy. I took him for his word, that he was sincere in his apology to me, one of his constituents. I believed him when he said that he was taking full responsibility for his actions:

"This is totally out of character. It's just a terrible mistake," Dvorsky
said. "I cannot erase what happened ... however, I can promise that it will
never happen again."

Now, imagine my surprise today when I open the paper (okay I don't really spend money to open the press-citizen, I read it online for free) and I see that he is pleading NOT GUILTY???

If he doesn't actually think he did anything wrong, and is not guilty of a crime, what did he apologize for? I must assume he was only apologizing for getting caught.

Where I come from, taking responsibility means owning up to the punishment, not denying your actions or trying to escape from your punishment with some technicality. Shameful.

O. Kay Henderson is a ubiquitous presence in Iowa political journalism. Her reports are broadcast to all four corners of the state, reaching even the folks who are only slightly interested in politics (unlike, say, some of our print journalists). This month she started blogging about the observations she makes on the way to bringing us the news. It's a great read. Check it out.

via Things Going Round and Round