Dignity in politics

Writing in The New York Times, David Brooks has a must-read on dignity in not only life but politics. For those of us tired of public life in the national confessional, this column is spot on ...

Today, Americans still lavishly admire people who are naturally dignified, whether they are in sports (Joe DiMaggio and Tom Landry), entertainment (Lauren Bacall and Tom Hanks) or politics (Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King Jr.).

But the dignity code itself has been completely obliterated. The rules that guided Washington and generations of people after him are simply gone.

We can all list the causes of its demise. First, there is capitalism. We are all encouraged to become managers of our own brand, to do self-promoting end zone dances to broadcast our own talents. Second, there is the cult of naturalism. We are all encouraged to discard artifice and repression and to instead liberate our own feelings. Third, there is charismatic evangelism with its penchant for public confession. Fourth, there is radical egalitarianism and its hostility to aristocratic manners.

The old dignity code has not survived modern life. The costs of its demise are there for all to see. Every week there are new scandals featuring people who simply do not know how to act. For example, during the first few weeks of summer, three stories have dominated public conversation, and each one exemplifies another branch of indignity.

Palin's 'crazy' move may position her well in Iowa

We can't gauge Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with conventional political measurements.

Her appeal with Iowa Republican caucus-goers is precisely what was on display today -- an absolute thumb-nosing of establishment politics, conventional thinking, and on the day before the Fourth of July when Cable TV's heavy-hitting lampooners were out of the office on their first or fifth holiday drinks no less.

Yes, at first blush, this announcement of her imminent resignation as governor, with its epic nonsequiturs and mom-unleashed-at-the -school board-meeting quality, hand-delivers ammunition for Palin's fleet of detractors.

And as several journalists have noted already, there does seem to be a piece, perhaps a big one, missing from this story. Will she have to make an Appalachian-sized amendment to the story as her fellow GOP governor Mark Sanford did just recently?

If not, this may work for Palin.

What made Palin popular with Iowans was not her resume of experience in Alaska. Those who cheered her in Sioux City last fall, with the most vocal applause for a Republican I saw in Iowa in the 2008 presidential cycle, knew little about it.

The boys with the Blackberrys tell us that Palin should have stayed in Alaska to finish her term. Then perhaps, as she is only 45, take a shot at the U.S. Senate. Build some credentials, burnish that resume.

That would put Palin on the same playing field as other politicians, and by that measure, she loses.

Palin is already a political figure too large for the office she holds. That speech today was clumsy but what matters is how Iowa Republicans will her now.

Will they hold it against Palin that she quit her job as Alaska governor to become a national advocate, a visible and likely effective one, for their values? It's hard to think of someone as a quitter when you see them more on television and at party dinners and in other venues than you did before.

Then there's this to consider: Many in the national media have this mistaken sense that Iowa Republicans are seeking a new indentity, that they'll reach out to moderates and carve out more widely palatable positions. Having been to two major GOP events in just the last 10 days in Iowa I get the distinct sense that the party is growing smaller, more insular, more angry -- and that it is likely to double-down on a candidate like Palin -- damn the torpedoes and the media and conventional wisdom -- and Gov, Haley Barbour who tried the other night in Des Moines (to no avail) to get rank-and-file Republicans to accept new demographics and dynamics of life in America.

Palin is exactly what many Republicans want. A time machine. We know that machine goes back, but whether there's a switch in it for the future remains to be seen.

Senator Behn, Mr. Vander Plaats: What should penalty for abortion be?

It's a line of a questioning most pro-life candidates don't like.

When I ask it, they often claim they never thought about it, that they don't answer hypotheticals.

That question: If your views prevail and abortion is made illegal, what should the penalty be for a woman who has an abortion and a doctor who provides one?

Should they be fined - like we do with speeders on our highways - or should they be strapped into an electric chair?

Misdemeanor or felony?

There's a big difference.

But pro-life candidates never talk about this.

"This may surprise you," Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats tells us. "I haven't thought through the whole 'what's the penalty piece of that.'"

That said, if abortion were made illegal, Vander Plaats, a Sioux City businessman who is strongly pro-life, thinks at the very least doctors should lose their licenses if they provide the procedure - if it is made illegal.

"I think for a doctor I would say he's violating the law and you take away his practice," Vander Plaats said.

And the woman who has an abortion? Should she be sent to prison or to death row?

Is having abortion a pre-meditated murder?

"It would have to be premeditated," he said.

But Vander Plaats didn't prescribe a punishment for the aborting mother.

"As far as the woman I really need to think that through," Vander Plaats said. "That's a very, very tough question."

If his side of the most divisive social issue in modern America carries the day, should the doctors be in Anamosa or Fort Madison, Iowa's two toughest prisons, for life if they do abortions?

"I think the first debate we need to have, I mean we as society need to have, is when does life begin," Vander Plaats said. "When is this life and why are we for the sanctity of human life?"

When pressed some more, Vander Plaats said that if legalized abortion is overturned, the state of Iowa would need to look at consequences and see if an aborting mother or abortionist is akin to the man who allegedly shot to death Ed Thomas, the beloved coach of the Aplington-Parkersburg football team.

Vander Plaats may find some pressure from his political right (if you can imagine that) on this issue.

One person who does have the stomach to talk about punishment in a Roe-revoked world is our former state senator, Jerry Behn, a Boone Republican who is considering running for governor.

In his two campaigns for the Senate here, Behn focused heavily on his passionate opposition to abortion. He stopped me after a Sac County Republican fundraiser last Saturday and recalled a previous interview we did in which Behn left no doubt about his views on punishment should abortion become illegal again.



He made it a point, with no prompting, to tell me that he stands by his remarks then - and would take the same position today.

In that earlier interview, Behn said he "hadn't really gone there in his mind either" when I asked him what penalties should be meted out for abortion.

But Behn, never one to dodge a question, quickly pointed out that "I frankly do believe it's murder."

In the case of the doctors who provide the abortion, Behn said, they are, in his mind, guilty of "premeditated murder."

"It's going to make it look like I'm a warmonger running around looking for doctors to execute," he said as the interview progressed.

But Behn said, "In principle it's the doctor I really get frustrated with. It is as premeditated and cold-blooded as you can get."

The Boone Republican said he'd stand by the statement that the doctor's action is murder.

"I'd be willing to have somebody make the argument that it isn't," he said.

Vander Plaats: Election can turn on marriage, smoking

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats says the 2010 election can be won on opposition to same-sex marriage and the one-year-old Iowa smoking ban, issues that provoke powerful feelings on their own but also serve as metaphors for increasing government intrusion into Iowa life.

"Those are issues that resonate with people and resonate quickly, and to be quite honest, are emotional issues, issues that I think can win an election or lose an election," Vander Plaats said.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Times Herald that moved from the economy to the future of the Republican Party itself to other matters, Vander Plaats said gay marriage and smoking would be swing issues with Iowans in the governor's race.

"There's a couple of issues I think people are really starting to wrestle with," Vander Plaats said. "One is the marriage issue and separation of powers."

He added, "That's a huge issue that they understand and understand big-time."

Vander Plaats argues that the Iowa Supreme Court outreached its authority in early April and made law with a decision allowing gay marriage.

"It's not just about marriage," Vander Plaats said. "It's a court overstepping its bounds from the bench."

Vander Plaats has suggested a controversial remedy, saying that if governor he would issue an executive order staying same-sex marriages until the Legislature - and therefore the people - can deal with it.

"That's part of the balance of power," he said. "But what we've done too long I think in this country and in this state is we've said whatever the Supreme Court says goes. They can't do certain things."

Some conservatives have challenged Vander Plaats' proposal as a dangerous usurping of power that would give the governor's office, including possible future ones peopled by liberals, too much power. Legal scholars also have questioned the executive stay that Vander Plaats defended in the interview as appropriate.

"The people of Iowa didn't get to vote on this," Vander Plaats said. "I guarantee you so many people in Carroll woke up on April 4 or April 3, whatever, and said, 'What? We're a same- sex marriage state? Are you kidding me? When did that come about?'"

Vander Plaats said Gov. Chet Culver should have done everything in his power to prevent gay marriage from becoming legal.

"I believe he displayed absolutely no executive leadership," Vander Plaats said. "It was within his power to hold them in check and he chose not to and I believe the reason he chose not to is because of the far left wing of his party."

In terms of tapping into voter frustration, Vander Plaats said, "No. 2 is the smoking issue."

Vander Plaats himself doesn't smoke, although he said in the interview that contrary to popular portrayal, he will have a beer now and again.

Vander Plaats said the smoking ban, which turned a year-old July 1, is a direct assault on private-property rights served with a heaping helping of government hypocrisy with a casino exemption.

"You mean all these private establishments can't have smoking but your state-run casinos can?" Vander Plaats said.

Vander Plaats said he "would deal" with the smoking ban as governor.

"Freedom is really founded in private property," Vander Plaats said.

He added, "With the smoking issue, that should be a marketplace decision. That's how we operate."

All of that said, Vander Plaats acknowledged the challenge of repealing or altering existing law, particularly one that is so high profile and on which most people have an opinion.

"There is a lot of legislation that I wish never came to be," Vander Plaats said. "To go back and change legislation, that is a very difficult task."

A Sioux City businessman Vander Plaats is currently president and CEO of MVP Leadership Inc. MVP specializes in strategic vision and executive leadership for business and industry, economic development, education, health care, human services, and private foundations.

Vander Plaats, a Sheldon native who graduated from Northwestern College in Orange City, is a former teacher and a head basketball coach in Jefferson. He and wife, Darla, have four sons.

The 2010 race will be Vander Plaats' third consecutive run for governor. He was in the last primary for a time before signing on as Republican Jim Nussle's lieutenant governor candidate. Vander Plaats also ran for his party's nomination in 2002.

While he's been unsuccessful in three political runs, Vander Plaats built considerable political clout in the 2008 Iowa Caucuses as he chaired the campaign of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the first-in-the-nation Republican presidential nominating contest.

"I believe we have a great network throughout the entire state of Iowa," Vander Plaats said. "We have really good name identification throughout the state of Iowa in particular with Republican voters."

Vander Plaats said he senses the mood today among Iowans is one of wanting people in political office with "real life leadership" and "real life experience."

"I think what they're saying is we'd like to get back to a citizens' form of government," Vander Plaats said.

Other GOP candidates in the emerging field, such as State Rep. Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, and State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll, have legislative records that can be easily attacked by Culver.

"I believe Chet Culver does not want to run on his record," Vander Plaats said. "I believe he wants to run by attacking somebody else's record."

Vander Plaats said while he may agree with the voting records of Roberts or Rants he thinks they make his fellow Republicans more vulnerable to negative advertising.

"There's always something in a bill that you can exploit," he said.

He added, "Culver with Jim Nussle, all he did, was hang Jim Nussle with his record."

Vander Plaats said another defining political choice Iowa Republicans face when sending a candidate to challenge Culver is this: do they stick to core values or moderate or water down positions in an attempt to reach out to independents and Democrats.

"One of the reasons I'm a Republican is because I'm pro-life," Vander Plaats said. "One of the reasons I'm a Republican is I'm pro one man-one woman marriage. Those are vital planks to our party."

Last week, at a major GOP event in Des Moines, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour urged his party to open a "big tent" and accept candidates and members who are pro-choice on abortion.

"From what I've heard, when he made those comments, it was eerily quiet," Vander Plaats said.

That's an accurate description of the response about 1,000 Republicans activists gave Barbour at the Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines.

"I am not going to compromise my stance on who I am for the sanctity of life, who I am for the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, the way it was designed," Vander Plaats said.

Vander Plaats warns the GOP about compromising with a moderate Republican, someone who could be a "Manchurian candidate" for liberal forces looking to cripple conservatism in the state from within the Republican Party.

On the economy, Vander Plaats said the state has an environment that is hostile to business. He pledges to focus on streamlining government and creating competitive tax and regulatory climates.

Specifically, he advocates simpler tax forms and a system that is "more flat."

Vander Plaats advocates corporate state income tax reduction with an aim of eliminating it.

"We need venture capital in this state," he said.

Vander Plaats also said property taxes are killing small-town businesses.

He said instructional money for K-12 public schools and mental health services now provided by the counties should be funded by the state, not through local property taxes.

This first appeared in Carroll Daily Times Herald.

Vander Plaats: Republicans should be held to higher standard on family values

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City tells the Carroll Daily Times Herald that his party should be held to a higher standard when it comes to values questions of the sort now swirling around South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, an admitted adulterer.

While extra-marital affairs occur in both parties, it is fair to judge Republicans more harshly on such matters, Vander Plaats said.

"I think its an added dimension for our party," Vander Plaats said. "The reason I say that is we highlight one man-one woman marriage. We highlight family values. And if we do that that's where the trust comes in. Are you going to walk the walk or just talk the talk."

He added, "As Republicans if we are going to highlight that, that puts us to higher standard."

The party is searching for ways to attract new voters and authenticity is key, said Vander Plaats.

"We talk just recently family values and we get Governor Sanford," Vander Plaats said.

Should Sanford resign?

"I think what it is is a compromise of his leadership and I think honestly he has a family in crisis," Vander Plaats said. "I think he needs to put his attention on the family right now. If I was counseling him I would say, 'Governor Sanford, not only for your state but I believe for you and your family I'd resign.'"

32-year-old Cedar Rapids political newcomer files as Republican for governor's race

Campaign press release ...

(Cedar Rapids, IA) Cedar Rapids businessman Christian Fong has launched his campaign for Governor, calling for a restoration of the Iowa Dream.

Fong is the son of a Chinese immigrant who fled Communist China as his family was being killed for their Christian faith. “I’ve been blessed to live the Iowa Dream where hard work and determination are rewarded. But sadly, today I see that dream being put farther out of reach for future generations. And that’s why I’m going to spend the next year traveling the state asking for Iowans’ support, because I believe I can provide the leadership needed to restore the Iowa dream,” said Fong.

Fong continued, “Restoring the Iowa Dream starts by replacing the CEO of our state. I share the belief of the majority of Iowans that we are in desperate need of new leadership in state government. The current administration thinks we can overspend and bond and borrow our way to prosperity. As a businessman, I know that’s the wrong approach to pull Iowa through this recession.

The experience I would bring to the Governor’s office is not the experience of elected office, not the experience of broken government, but the experience of commonsense private sector conservative principles to lead our state.”

Fong was instrumental in helping Cedar Rapids recover from the devastating floods of 2008. He led over 5,100 volunteers as the CEO of Corridor Recovery, offering his leadership skills to help people in need during the 4th largest natural disaster in U.S. history. In addition, Governor Culver also appointed Christian to serve on the Generation Iowa Commission, where he has worked with peers to address Iowa’s “brain drain”.

Fong concluded, “Iowa families cannot shoulder the burden that state government is placing on them. State government is broken, and we need new leadership. I’m going to spend the next year applying for the job with the people of Iowa.”

Fong graduated from Underwood High School in Southwest Iowa at the age of 16 and then attended Creighton University, graduating at age 19. After college he and his wife, Jenelle, located in Cedar Rapids and Christian started work at AEGON. After locating in Cedar Rapids, Fong attended Dartmouth. After earning his MBA, Christian and his family returned to AEGON and Cedar Rapids, where they reside today and attend River of Life Ministries church. The Fongs have three children.

GOP 'stars' can't shine without ideas, party identity

Is our nation so polarized that even prayers are overtly partisan?

At last week's Iowa Republican Party "Night of the Rising Stars" at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines our own state senator, Steve Kettering of Lake View, and state Sen. Linda Upmeyer, R-Garner, handled the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer.

Kettering, the Senate Republican whip, did his job on the pledge without a hitch.

But in the prayer Upmeyer took what was a clear shot at Gov. Chet Culver and President Barack Obama when she said, "We are frustrated with the current leadership" for taking us down a path we don't want.

I had to paraphrase part of that because, with head bowed, it's challenging to take notes. There are limits even in journalism.

To be fair to Upmeyer this was a crowd of 1,000 Republican activists. Still, you'd think they could wait until after the prayer to start hurling rhetorical grenades.

Overall, the young Iowa Republican Party chairman Matt Strawn deserves accolades for the event. He's seeking to reach out to younger voters with new media and plenty of pizzazz while not alienating, or dare we say, confusing, older stalwarts in the party.

At the beginning of the night, the Iowa GOP urged all those in attendance to "tweet" the event - to use the social-networking or hyper-blogging tool, Twitter, to move the message from this historic Sherman Hills mansion to cell phones and computer screens all over the state.

Strawn came on to the stage to the trendy beats of Tomoyasu Hotei's popular song from the edgy film "Kill Bill Vol. 1" - which perhaps was a little overboard considering the audience. But it was part of an effort to choreograph a new face for the party.

My friend Chuck Offenburger, the accomplished Iowa journalist, author and Republican, prepared me for the night by saying it would be like no other GOP one I'd attended in Iowa. He was right.

All of this said, while reaching out to young voters, the party couldn't go too far. When keynote speaker Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, led into a great line about hotel magnate Conrad Hilton he asked the assembled if they recalled "The Ed Sullivan Show." Most people clapped in the affirmative.

The great Hilton line: When Sullivan asked what message he'd have for the millions of Americans watching the show Hilton didn't hesitate when he urged people to put the shower curtain in the tub.

The GOP used the evening to introduce a number of new leaders "or stars." Locally, State Rep. Jason Schultz of Crawford County made the list.

For my money, an elected official to watch in the party is at the county level right now. Republican Story County Auditor Mary Mosiman had a natural presence and clean, charismatic delivery on the stage. If you can do the financial books and speak that well, there surely must be a bright future.

Strawn's party still has long way to go to reach out to the significant voting block of independents in Iowa - or to pull any Democrats.

"We don't need to change who we are to win elections," Strawn said at one point in his remarks.

Just a few minutes later he noted that the Iowa GOP for the first time had a booth at Des Moines' Asian American Festival.

Strawn spent a good deal of his speech criticizing Obama. The GOP chair characterized U.S. economic policy as "Barack's bailout." Employing the commander in chief's first name in a cheap reach for casual alliteration, or calling the governor "Chet" in an effort to diminish him, is not the stuff of an energized party. It's annoying and alienating, and Strawn can do better.

Republican strategist Tim Albrecht told me the GOP needs to find "ideas" candidates and leaders.

This is possible. The party has time to rebuild itself for 2010 and 2012.

But it must get beyond psychological breastfeeding for the base. There's room for red-meat barbs for Obama and Culver to be sure. But right now there is an absence of those big ideas of which Albrecht talks.

I left Hoyt Sherman and a Sac County GOP fund-raiser last week with the distinct sense this is a party that is more energized by what it against than anything else. They provided no new ideas for the media to cover. And we were there looking for those storylines.

"We can't just point out the negative," Strawn himself acknowledged.

Here's a suggestion for Republicans: Call a brief moratorium on attacks on Democrats and stay on message with well-crafted, thoughtfully articulated Iowa GOP policies, principles and pledges.

They already have the playbook for this. It was such an approach that fueled a national GOP resurrection, or Republican revolution, in 1994.

(Photo: GOP Iowa chairman Matt Strawn (left) with Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour in Des Moines)

Rural Iowa must avoid 'majority-minority' isolation

Soon, if the time is not at hand, white Iowans won't have the luxury of being racists.

Rapidly changing demographics mean that places like Carroll, even if they remain largely lily white, will need to become more accepting of cultural diversity for economic reasons: people in other cities with whom we must interact in business are increasingly going to look less like us.

It used to be the argument against racism was made on moral and religious grounds. They still stand.

But those who haven't been persuaded may want to reconsider. A May census report shows that 47 percent of the nation's children under age 5 are minorities - and 25 percent of all kids in America that age are Hispanic.

The census is projecting that by 2042 the United States will be a "majority- minority" nation. In other words, whites of European descent will make up less than 50 percent of the population. For young people those numbers will change more quickly.

Which raises a concern: In areas with little diversity, like Carroll, is there a danger of a sort of cultural isolation that could hamper businesses here, prevent new development as decisions increasingly will be made by minorities?

Are there steps we can take to foster an accepting environment that will make a dramatically changed America in 2030 comfortable with what likely will remain a white Carroll?

"We all know that economic development is about building relationships," says Paul Lasley, chairman of the sociology and anthropology departments at Iowa State University. "If we do not have the ability to build relationships, we are going to be disadvantaged.

An expert on rural issues, Lasley is urging students to look at the imminent changing of the colors in the U.S. population as an opportunity.

"I have been telling students at ISU for years that unless they have a second language they are going to find themselves increasingly disadvantaged," Lasley said.

In particular, rural Iowans with agricultural interests should heed this advice as it can benefit trading opportunities.

"Companies need folks who are conversant in either Spanish or Chinese," Lasley said.

I asked Lasley if largely white rural communities like Carroll were in jeopardy of losing business and jobs and opportunities simply because we can't relate or connect to a new world that won't look like ours.

Not so fast, Lasley said.

Money still talks.

Lasley expects that in the future the divide in America will be less about race than education and income levels.

"Skin color is going to become less important. but social class may become more important," Lasley said. "I see that among young people."

Rants calls for special session

SIOUX CITY, IA – Rep. Chris Rants made the following statement today in response to the numbers released by the Department of Revenue and Finance on tax receipts collected for the fiscal year.

“Governor Culver has allowed the budget mess to become far too problematic for him to handle on his own – we have gone from having a projected deficit to an actual deficit. He needs to call the Legislature back for a special session to balance the budget. He then needs to ask the Legislature to reduce the budget for the coming year by an equal amount.

“Everyone in the state has seen this day coming, except for Governor Culver. Taxpayers and local governments cannot afford a ‘wait and see’ approach any longer. Action is needed now.

“It is time to quit worrying about the political ramifications of admitting that we have a deficit and get about the business of fixing it. Governor Vilsack put aside partisan politics and called a special session in 2001 and 2002 to balance the budget after revenues declined; Culver needs to do the same."

Roberts makes first foray into governor's race

Carroll legislator joins four other likely candidates for GOP nomination at Sac County event

SAC CITY - State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll, made his first public appearance Saturday as a potential candidate for governor. Roberts urged more than 50 party activists in Sac City to hold firm on core principles but understand that Republicans can't alienate independents and conservative Democrats if they are to take Terrace Hill.

"We need to be as thoughtful and considerate about the messenger who carries the message as the message itself," Roberts said.

Roberts noted that in representing Carroll County and parts of Sac and Crawford counties, he has a district with a high combined percentage of independent voters and Democrats - but he's still run unopposed in the last four elections.

"People have taken note of that," Roberts said.

He said Republicans can stand on principle but also need to be approachable and engaging in term of political style - traits Sac County Economic and Tourism executive director Shirley Phillips credited Roberts with possessing in her introduction on him.

Roberts, who is close to announcing an exploratory committee, was one of four likely GOP candidates for governor to speak at the Sac County Republican Central Committee's "Breakfast With Gubernatorial Candidates" in the historic Chautauqua Building in Sac City.

Bob Vander Plaats, a Sioux City businessman who has already announced his intention to run, State Rep. Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, who has formed an exploratory committee, and State Sen. Jerry Behn, R-Boone, who said he's closer than ever to formally entering the race, attended the event.

For his part, Roberts said Iowans appear ready for a change from Democratic control of the Legislature and governor's office.

"I can detect that people are very interested in a change of direction," Roberts said.

Roberts, a five-term legislator, said Iowa government needs structural changes and promised to downsize bureaucracy.

Hitting on a theme that ran through all the GOP speeches Saturday, Roberts said the people of Iowa, not the state's seven-member Supreme Court, should make a decision on the definition of marriage. The Court ruled in April that gay marriage in Iowa is legal.

Gov. Chet Culver should allow Iowans to vote on the matter, Roberts said.

"What that signaled to a lot of Iowans is our leaders do not respect the people," Roberts said.

On that issue Behn urged voters to say "no" on judicial retention for the justices who are in the next ballot. Their decision to legalize gay marriage is the type of move that should be left to the elected lawmakers, the Boone Republican said.

"Let 'em run for the Legislature," Behn said.

Vander Plaats said marriage is a winning issue for Republicans in 2010. He says 70 percent of Iowans are with him on it.

"Republicans need to start talking about marriage between one man and one woman," Vander Plaats said.

Vander Plaats repeated a statement that has drawn fire from within his own party in saying he would issue an executive order as governor to stay the Court's decision on same-sex marriage until the Legislature can weigh in on the matter. Critics contend such a move, if legal at all, would confer too much power in the executive branch that could be exploited by future liberal governors as well.

Behn spent some of his remarks using Carroll as an example of a city in Iowa where competition between public and private K-12 education benefits both. He called for increasing the tuition tax credit for private schools - but didn't spell out a specific dollar figure. Additionally, Behn said, Iowa should establish a scholarship fund that would allow parents to get the same amount of money the state spends on their children for public education to help pay for private school.

Vander Plaats, who earned the most frequent and sustained applause at the event, said he would not retreat from socially conservative positions.

"You don't win the governorship by selling out who you are," Vander Plaats said. "Republicans need to be trusted."

Without specifically referencing the situation of South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, who acknowledged an extra-marital affair last week, Vander Plaats made it clear he believes such episodes need to be scrubbed from the party.

"If we campaign on family values, we better walk the walk of family values," Vander Plaats said.

Earlier in the week, Vander Plaats told the Daily Times Herald Republicans should be held to a higher standard on personal behavior because they often run on family-values issues.

In terms of a broader platform, Vander Plaats said Republicans can go after Culver's base with well-articulated policies in the arenas of health care and education.

Rants, the political veteran of the GOP's Saturday morning political foursome, focused his speech primarily on the economy, saying he would work on key indicators such as property-tax burden and friendliness of business starts.

The Democrats are making the state less competitive with its neighbors by advancing an aggressive anti-business agenda, Rants said.

At the same time, Rants said, he has a strong record in opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

The next GOP candidate for governor must cobble a coalition of fiscal and social conservatives, said Rants, a former House speaker now is his ninth term in the Legislature.

"I'm a Republican who has my feet planted squarely in both camps," Rants said.

After hearing the speeches, Sac County Republican Party chairman Brian Krause, pastor of Faith Bible Church in Sac City, told the Daily Times Herald, "It's going to be a tough choice."

Krause said Vander Plaats clearly had the strongest connection with the crowd, and Rants owns the credentials debate, having been elected as House speaker at just age 25. Krause said Roberts presented himself as "approachable" - something that is vital in winning independent voters.

"I think they all threw out a good message," said Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure.

This story first appeared in The Carroll Daily Times Herald.

Indiana's Pence now in Iowa presidential mix

Add another name into the mix of Republicans wading into Iowa presidential politics.

The Iowa Republican Party has just announced that U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., will travel to Iowa in July for events in the Cedar Rapids area.

As GOP House Conference chairman Pence is the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House and recently has been outspoken on Iran and the climate change bill.

A former talk-radio show host in Indiana, Pence has been mentioned by Iowa GOP insiders as a potentially formidable candidate.


”Throughout his career in public service, Congressman Pence has been a forceful advocate for our party’s principles of limited government, personal responsibility, and political, economic and religious freedom,” said Iowa Republican Party chairman Matt Strawn, adding that he anticipates this message resonating with many Iowans and Republicans.

A John Edwards sex tape?

The New York Times today has a story on a former John Edwards aide inking s tell-all book deal. The aide says Edwards asked him to take the fall -- or paternity -- for the pregnancy of the presidential candidate's paramour.

The aide, Andrew Young, sold his book proposal to St. Martin’s Press for an undisclosed price late last week. In his proposal, Mr. Young quotes Mr. Edwards, a Democrat who was his party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2004 and ran for president last year, as begging him to confess to fathering Ms. (Rielle) Hunter’s baby.

“ ‘You know how much I love you,’ Edwards said. ‘You know I’d walk off a cliff for you, and I know you’d walk off a cliff for me,’ ” Mr. Young wrote in the book proposal. “ ‘I will never forget this. And I will always be there for you.’ ” The proposal was shared with The New York Times by a book publishing industry executive. Portions of it were reported over the weekend by The Daily News of New York.

But in a case of burying the lead we learn that Young contends there is an Edwards sex tape.

Mr. Young’s proposal states that he was writing the book because he had become disillusioned with Mr. Edwards’s behavior and recklessness, which he said included participating in the production of a sex tape with Ms. Hunter that Mr. Young later discovered.

Roberts: GOP must reach out to independents, Dems

Potential Republican gubernatorial candidate Rod Roberts says simple math will make for some complicated political choices in 2010.

Roberts, a veteran state representative from Carroll who is close to forming an exploratory committee for a run at Terrace Hill, says the candidate who emerges from what could be a large GOP primary must not be so entrenched with the base to be hamstrung in efforts to appeal to other voters.

“The price can’t just be winning the nomination,” Roberts said.

According to the Associated Press, voter registration in Iowa as of June 1 showed 684,443 registered Democrats, compared with 577,645 Republicans. Iowans who registered without a party preference outnumbered both groups, with 694,397 people, The AP reported.

An ordained pastor (although he hasn’t been behind the pulpit for 20 years) Roberts is development director for the 125-congregation strong Christian Churches/Churches of Christ in Iowa. Roberts is a skilled orator who uses consensus-building language, measured words, not the vitriol of some in his party. His votes may be the same as many hot-blooded conservatives on social issues but Roberts says “some of the hyperbole goes to excess.”

“Having a healthy dose of humility is helpful,” Roberts said. “There’s still something very powerful about the spoken word.”

While the GOP is at a voter registration disadvantage in Iowa — and President Barack Obama likely will be a crucial campaign surrogate for Democratic Gov. Chet Culver — Roberts said the race is winnable.

“Governor Culver is vulnerable,” Roberts said. “I think he can be defeated.”

Republicans may have to do it with less campaign money than Culver, Roberts said.

Roberts has been meeting with potential advisors and supporters from a geographic diverse cross-section of Iowa.

As he’s unannounced a Roberts platform is still very much evolving but he makes it clear economic issues will be primary.

Roberts will be one of what is expected to be a handful of potential candidates for governor to attend a Sac County GOP fund-raiser on Saturday.

UC Davis Prof: Absence of rural voice on Supreme Court does matter

In a story published Monday in the Center For Rural Strategies' Daily Yonder, I wrote about the lack of any significant rural connections in the biographies of the likely next U.S. Supreme Court, one that would appear to replace Justice David Souter and his rural New Hampshire background with Judge Sonia Sotomayor from the Bronx, N.Y.

Lisa Pruitt, a University of California Davis School of Law professor who contributes to the Web log Legal Ruralism, picked up the story on the Internet and added expertise to my pedestrian instincts. Among Pruitt’s specialties is an area she calls law and rural livelihoods.

“Some judges are clearly more sensitive to rural realities than others, and this sensitivity influences their decision making,” Pruitt writes on the Web log. “Whether this sensitivity is due to those judges’ rural upbringings or other rural exposure, I cannot say. But rural difference from what has become an implicit urban norm is often legally relevant — as I’ve often argued in my scholarship.

“I have no doubt that we need judges (and justices!) who have a capacity to recognize that, judges who — at a minimum — are open to learning about rural realities when presented with them.”

In theory, judges born in Trenton, N.J, — such as Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia — should be able to apply the law and follow the Constitution in cases that pit urban interests against rural.

That said, I’d agree with U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who while supporting Sotomayor, is urging President Obama to make his next Supreme Court appointment with consideration given to candidates outside the Ivy League, maybe even someone who went to night law school in a heavily rural state.

Hopefully, Professor Pruitt and others involved with scholarship at the intersection of rural life and law will follow our urban-dominated Court to see if any decisions show bias to-ward their collective citified biographies.

If Hispanics are cheering probable newfound representation with Sotomayor on the Court shouldn’t rural Americans be troubled (if not outraged) at the absence of anyone with our geo-graphic orientation?

Cityview publishes column on Rod Roberts

By DOUGLAS BURNS

When Rod Roberts embarked on his first Statehouse bid in 1998, I was skeptical. In fact, the candidacy of this ordained Christian conservative pastor frightened me.

With a passionate belief in separation of church and state, I had visions of Rod as something of a localized Pat Robertson, an evangelical bent on Bible-beating his view of life and Christianity into his politics, his representation of us. Most of all I feared that if Roberts, a Republican, shirt-sleeved his brand of Protestantism, he’d expose rifts in this city that we’ve long since repaired to make way for collective progress and respect.

After hundreds of interviews and interaction with Roberts over the last decade, I can now say that my initial suspicions, which I think Rod himself would admit were fair and not borne out of any malice, were dead wrong.

Simply put, Roberts has demonstrated himself to be a member of that proud tradition of Christians in politics, those whose private faith informs their public acts.

Over his nine years in the Iowa House, Roberts, the Iowa development director with the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, has been a reliable vote on social conservative issues to be sure. He’s vehemently opposed to abortion and is steadfast in his religiously based view that marriage should be between one man and one woman. Organizations such as the decidedly right-of-center Iowa Family Policy Center know this and tell us they’re quite comfortable with the prospect of a Governor Rod Roberts. They trust him.

But it is not with social issues that Roberts has made his name in the Legislature and Iowa politics. Specifically, Roberts fought for legislation that has dispersed money from casino-rich counties to the rest of the state through Endow Iowa. Rural areas without slot-machine-fed streams of cash benefit enormously from this. It is a signature accomplishment.

The full column is published in Cityview

A moving take on late-term abortion

Lynda Waddington, the talented eastern Iowa journalist and essayist, has a thought-provoking and exceptionally moving piece in the London Guardian newspaper about her decision to have a late-term abortion some years ago. It was a baby this mother of three wanted. Lynda explains her painful situation and in so doing explodes some of the myths about late-term abortions.

This should be read with an open mind -- and a heart.

Here is The Guardian:

The death of a child is like a shotgun blast to your chest. In the beginning, you just numbly stare at the raw hole, wondering what happened. Then the pain takes hold and every other aspect of life is obliterated. With time, the raw edges scab over, but it never fully heals. Unfortunately for American women living in such a politically charged climate, such wounds are often reopened.

According to the popular wisdom spouted by anti-abortionists, women like me who have late-term abortions are promiscuous, neglect birth control and are then either too lazy or too ignorant to schedule an earlier abortion. This rhetoric, elevated to obscene levels, has become even louder since the killing of Dr George Tiller, the US abortion doctor who was shot last month in Kansas, where I had my termination.

Roberts close to announcing exploratory committee

State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll, says he’s close to announcing the formation of an exploratory committee for a gubernatorial campaign in 2010.

“I’m pretty much 95 percent decided to do this with the exploratory committee,” Roberts said.

At this point the veteran legislator said he was not prepared to release names of those who would serve on an exploratory committee.

The ability to reach voters in Iowa’s vast geography will play a major role in Roberts’ ultimate decision, he said.

“There’s a lot of ground,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of folks.”

The key charge of the exploratory committee will be to determine if Roberts has the fund-raising muscle to be competitive. He would look for a green light on that before announcing a run.

A large field is emerging of possible GOP candidates to challenge Democratic Gov. Chet Culver. As it stands that Republican list would include: Sioux City business consultant Bob Vander Plaats (who ran in 2006 before joining forces with the eventual nominee, Congressman Jim Nussle) U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, State Rep. Christopher Rants of Sioux City, former State Sen. Jeff Lamberti, an Ankeny lawyer and board member of Casey’s General Stores, State Sen. Jerry Behn of Boone and Vermeer Corp. president Mary Andringa of Mitchellville.

Roberts knows he doesn’t go into the starting gate with the best odds. That suits him just fine.

“I kind of like being the darkhorse person in the mix of names,” Roberts said.
Roberts has been receiving more media attention around Iowa in recent weeks.

WHO-TV’s Dave Price ran a Web log post titled “Don’t forget about Rod Roberts” which went on to analyze some of the possible field and Roberts place within it.

Roberts will be one of what is expected to be a handful of potential candidates for governor to attend a Sac County GOP fund-raiser on Saturday, June 27.

Last week, Roberts attended the Iowa Association of Business and Industry event in Arnolds Park in which former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was the featured speaker. Roberts said the event gave him an opportunity to further network with leaders in Iowa and potential supporters.

Supreme Court will lack a rural voice

By DOUGLAS BURNS

With the swirl of barbs and recriminations over Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s U.S. Supreme Court nomination centering on race, little attention is being paid to what is a glaring lack of representation on the high court: Rural America.

If Sotomayor is confirmed, she will break a barrier as the first Latino to be seated on the Supreme Court. But as she joins the court and Justice David Souter, who grew up in Weare, N.H., leaves, the Court’s collection of nine biographies will be decidedly urban, Eastern and heavy on Ivy League education.

Of the nine justices, only Clarence Thomas can lay claim to any real rural ties. He was born in Pin Point, Ga., a rural community founded by free slaves. But Thomas lived there for only six years (albeit without indoor plumbing) before his house burned and a grandfather took him to the nearby city of Savannah. Thomas’ wife is from Omaha, Neb., and as the Omaha World-Herald pointed out this weekend, he does know University of Nebraska Husker football.

The full story is published at The Daily Yonder.com.

Q&A with possible GOP White House candidate

SIOUX CITY - The Daily Times Herald and La Prensa, an Iowa Spanish-language newspaper, inter-viewed U.S. Sen. John En-sign, a Nevada Republican, this week in Sioux City.

Ensign, chairman of the Republican Policy Commit-tee, delivered an American Future Fund lecture in Sioux City after visiting Blue Bunny ice cream in Le Mars and Trans Ova Genetics in Sioux Center. The senator is viewed by some in the party as an "ideas" leader, and his visit to northwest Iowa sparked much speculation about a possible presidential bid in 2012. Ensign has not announced such a move.

Daily Times Herald: On your way here from Le Mars and Sioux Center you went through farm fields and saw wind turbines that are sub-sidized by the federal gov-ernment. You've advocated free-market principles, keeping the government out of as much business as pos-sible in your view. What should the federal govern-ment's role be in Iowa agri-culture?

Senator Ensign: First of all, let's look at energy. We subsidize oil with our mili-tary. That is the bottom line. I think we subsidize oil to a great degree. So for a period of time to subsidize some of the alternative energies until they can become more competitive, I don't have a problem with that. If oil was truly a free market and we didn't have to use our mili-tary to subsidize it, then put everything on a level play-ing field.

But because we do subsi-dize that right now I have no problem subsidizing some of the renewables.

As far as farm subsidies, you have to remember I come from a state that gets no farm subsidies, even for our farmers that we have. We don't grow any of the crops that get that so I've voted against farm bills in the past because they don't benefit Nevadans and I rep-resent Nevada.

Daily Times Herald: (Joking) Just make flights cheaper from Omaha to Las Vegas.

Senator Ensign: (Laugh-ing) Well, we have a new airline that at least makes it reasonable for people to come Las Vegas called Alle-giant Air. I encourage peo-ple to check it out.

La Prensa: In 2007 you opposed the immigration reform bill. Your state is one with more immigrants. What are your thoughts on that issue for the Hispanic com-munity?

Senator Ensign: That bill itself was actually never voted on. That bill was pulled from the floor. What I believe should have hap-pened with that bill, if we would have taken the so-called amnesty, the green card, out of the bill so we could have proven that we were securing the borders, that we were sanctioning employers that were not following the law, and that the program was working, that for instance people who were here were getting signed up - we were doing background checks, elimi-nating people who were criminals. A certain per-centage are going to be criminals. We want them out of the country.

And then we also want to encourage people, for in-stance, with work visas to give them more time in this country that they learn Eng-lish, they learn it well, that they learn what it means to be an American, that they have a job with health insur-ance. Reward them for things that are good for America that are also good for the immigrants.

In six, seven, eight years down the road, once we've proven all those things work, then revisit the issue of green cards and citizen-ships and things like that.

The problem is in 1986 all of those reforms were prom-ised when they gave am-nesty but they never did the reforms. So let's prove to the American people that the reforms are working first and then we can talk about the green-card issue and things like that down the road.

Daily Times Herald: Senator, do you think the United States is less safe today than it was on January 20 of this year and what evi-dence would you have to support you answer.

Senator Ensign: I be-lieve that certainly we've put ourselves in a much more difficult position to keep us safe because we've taken away some of the tools that potentially could be used. Enhanced interroga-tion techniques without a doubt have kept us safer. We have stopped several terror-ist attacks against the United States using en-hanced interrogation tech-niques. We no longer have those tools available. So if we get a situation to prevent the next 9/11 and now we don't have those, could it potentially? It's potentially less safe because we don't have the tools that kept us safer in the past.

Rants is wrong about fallout from a Roberts bid

Last week in Sioux City I had the chance to talk with a state representative from there, Christopher Rants, a Republican who is considering running for governor.

It's quite possible that Rants could face State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll, and many other GOP candidates in what promises to be a crowded gubernatorial primary field as the party works to redefine itself in the wake of a 2008 thrashing. Roberts is mulling his own Terrace Hill bid.

Rants applied the expected niceties to his fellow Republican, calling Roberts a swell fella and holding true to Ronald Reagan's famous 11th commandment: Never speak ill of another Republican.

But Rants told me a Roberts announcement for governor would open the door for Democrats to run for his House seat, that if Roberts entered the primary, and lost, voters here wouldn't be accommodating and send him back to the Legislature.

I'll be direct: Rants is wrong.

First, I have heard no rumblings about a Democratic contender for Roberts' seat.

Both Roberts and State Sen. Steve Kettering, R-Lake View, ran unopposed in their last races in districts in which Carroll is the dominant city. This is an embarrassment for the local Democratic Party.

Voters in Carroll should have no problem giving Roberts a chance to run in a gubernatorial primary next summer and keep his name up for re-election to the House should he fall short with his greater ambition.

The truth is voters probably won't have a choice. I'll be surprised if a viable Democrat steps forward even though there are several highly qualified potential candidates here.


This appeared in Carroll Daily Times Herald.

Nevada senator's Iowa visit fuels White House speculation

SIOUX CITY - U.S. Sen. John Ensign, a conservative Republican from Nevada, said Monday in Sioux City his party can appeal to women and minorities on educational choice.

"This is an issue we can actually take back," Ensign said.

Stirring speculation about a potential presidential run in 2012 the telegenic, silver-haired veterinarian spoke to more than 100 people in attendance for an American Future Fund lecture at the main library in downtown Sioux City. Earlier in the day Ensign toured the Blue Bunny ice cream plant in Le Mars and Trans Ova Genetics in Sioux Center.

Before he entered politics, getting elected to Congress in 1994, Ensign opened the first 24-hour animal hospital in Las Vegas.

"We need new idea leaders, new conservatives, that come out with brand-new ideas, new solutions for the challenges America faces," said Tim Albrecht, communications director for American Future Fund, a conservative, free-market political advocacy organization. "Senator Ensign is definitely an ideas guy and that's what conservatives are thirsty for."

The chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, a top position in his party's leadership structure, Ensign is not a declared for the presidency. But his visit to northwest Iowa drew CNN and Fox News cameras - as well as early vetting from Republicans eager for an alternative to President Barack Obama.

"We need as a party new ideas," said State Rep. Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City. "That's the Republicans' way back to the majority. It's not just saying 'We're Republicans. It's 'We're Republicans with ideas on energy, with ideas on health care, that are reaching out to younger voters, to minority voters.'"



Rants, a possible gubernatorial candidate who had dinner with Ensign Monday night, said the Nevadan is doing all the right things to position himself as a national voice for the party.

Ensign touched on many conventional GOP themes, and strongly criticized Obama, but didn't do so in harsh or shrill terms, an approach not lost on Rants.

"You can be just as conservative as anybody else out there, but you need to deliver that message in a non-threatening way," Rants said. "It doesn't change your values. It changes in how you deliver it to people."

Ensign drew some his most sustained applause at the event, peopled by a decidedly conservative crowd, with his call for changes to the American educational system.

"I think more choice in education will lead to better schools," Ensign said, making the case for vouchers and other programs aimed at creating private school options for more young people in the K-12 range.

Ensign said bad teachers shouldn't be able to hide behind strong unions.

And he sees educational choice as the "new civil right." Too many families are mired in underachieving school districts, he said.

"We can take that issue away from the Democrats," Ensign said.

Ensign joked that his political orientation was as a Democrat - one who at age 18 voted for President Jimmy Carter. But Ensign said he changed his political allegiances quickly.

"Once you learn to meet your own payroll you certainly understand why limited government is a good idea," Ensign said.

Ensign said Obama's stimulus plan, bailouts of the auto industry and budget plans, amount to a modern-day New Deal.

"I don't think we (the federal government) should be owning auto companies," Ensign said.

Of Obama's budget Ensign said: "That was the scariest thing I've ever seen come to Washington, D.C."

Ensign acknowledged that "there's a crisis going on in the United States" with health care.

But he said the Democrats under Obama are steering the nation toward a Canadian or European model of health care in which the Republican senator thinks bureaucrats will be positioned between doctors and patients.

On the energy front, Ensign favors federal support for transitioning biofuels and other renewables into viability but he argues that the nation needs more clean coal and nuclear power in the mix.

Albrecht said Ensign's remarks resonated with the audience in Sioux City.

"It was like a sea of bobble heads because there was a lot of nodding going on," Albrecht said.

Added Albrecht, "Conservatism, despite reports to the contrary, is alive and well. We saw it tonight in Sioux City."

This story first appeared in The Carroll Daily Times Herald.

Behn, former senator for Carroll, considers gov run

BOONE - Republican State Sen. Jerry Behn of Boone, who represented Carroll County for most of two terms before redistricting after the 2000 elections, says he's "seriously considering" running for governor in 2010.

Behn said he's talking with supporters and others about a possible bid. He joins what is a growing list of potential candidates that includes State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll.

Behn said he had no firm timetable in mind at this point for making an announcement.

A social conservative with strong credentials in the pro-life community, Behn spent much of the interview hammering Democratic Gov. Chet Culver on fiscal and economic matters. Culver is borrowing too much money and spending the state's future away, Behn contends.

"I really want to leave an Iowa to my children and grandchildren that is every bit as good as the Iowa left to me by my parents," Behn said.

He said Iowans instinctively know the state is heading in the wrong direction and are looking for a turnaround.

"If you look at the Titanic, if it was aiming the other way, it wouldn't have hit the iceberg," Behn said.

Specifically, Behn hammered Culver's $830-million bonding plan, which is aimed at creating jobs and improving infrastructure. The borrowed money will be paid back through certain gambling revenues over 20 years.

Behn was first elected in 1996 in a Senate District that included Carroll and Greene counties. Four years later he defeated Democratic challenger Joan Phillips, then of Manning, and represented Carroll until being redistricted into a more central Iowa region, District 24, that includes Boone, Waukee, Perry and Adel.

"Carroll County has a special place in my heart," Behn said. "You essentially put me in the Senate."

Conservative voters only have to look to Behn's voting record on social issues, the Boone Republican said.

Behn thinks he can hold the GOP base while reaching out to independents on the economy.

"I think the economy moves voters," Behn said. "The independents are worried about money - pure and simple."

This doesn't mean Behn won't use the issue of recently legalized gay marriage in Iowa in a potential campaign.

Behn makes the case that the three branches of government shouldn't be equal, that the courts should take a lesser role to the legislative and executive branches, the latter two of which he says are closer to the people.

"Absolutely," he said, when asked if that's the power structure he favors in Des Moines.

"The judiciary was supposed to be the weakest of the three," Behn said.

In April the Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.

Republicans need to return to the "ABC's," said Behn who said that should stand for "anyone but Culver."

"You have to have someone who fundamentally disagrees with the direction we're headed," Behn said.

Behn, 55, is a longtime grain farmer who lives just south of U.S. 30 in Boone. He and his wife have four children, three grown and living in Iowa and the other 13 years old.

Besides Behn and Roberts a GOP gubernatorial field is emerging that includes some well-known politicians and candidates with big-time business credentials and bases. As it stands that list would include: Sioux City business consultant Bob Vander Plaats (who ran in 2006 before joining forces with the eventual nominee, Congressman Jim Nussle) U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, State Rep. Christopher Rants of Sioux City, Bettendorf businessman Mike Whalen, former State Sen. Jeff Lamberti, an Ankeny lawyer and board member of Casey's General Stores and Vermeer Corp. president Mary Andringa of Mitchellville.

Behn said that no "big name" - such as King - has announced. The Boone senator said that his decision isn't necessarily connected to the moves of other Republicans.

He worked closely with Carroll's Roberts, and Behn says he holds him in high regard.

"He's a quality candidate," Behn said. "I like Rod personally. I like Rod professionally."

Racing Committee recommendation makes sense

Prairie Meadows Racing Committee recommends that Iowa pass a law requiring all casinos in the state to simulcast horse races from the Altoona, Iowa, track.

This should pass. While not all Iowa counties can benefit directly from casinos, the equine industry does have a presence in them all. This law would be a way to spread the benefits from gambling beyond those locales with the political muscle -- or geographic good fortune -- to obtain licenses.

The fact that I love horse racing has nothing to do with this opinion.

Kaul: Enjoy American cars while you can

By DONALD KAUL

Packard, Studebaker, Hudson, Auburn, Oldsmobile, DeSoto, Pierce-Arrow, Stutz, Cord, Mammon, Dusenberg, Nash, Franklin, Edsel, LaSalle, Essex, Stanley, Graham, Reo, Crosley, Kaiser---the pages of automotive history are heavy with the obituaries of car nameplates that have gone on to that Great Junkyard in the Sky.

Why should Pontiac be any different, or Chrysler for that matter? It’s no great tragedy, at least not one that we haven’t experienced time and time again. It’s been obvious for some time that the global auto industry was overstocked in production capacity and understocked in customers. Some winnowing was inevitable.

Right now it seems that American manufacturers are the ones being winnowed. Chrysler is CURRENTLY on life-support, Italian style, and General Motors is undergoing a series of painful amputations. Whether either can survive remains an open question. It would be a tragedy to lose them. Not the bogus tragedy referred to earlier---an automotive icon of your youth disappears, so what? -- -but a real, practical tragedy; hundreds of thousands of jobs gone, whole towns dead.

It was and is worth trying to save these companies but there comes a time when the situation becomes hopeless and it’s time to cut your losses and move on. We’re not there yet, but you can see it from here. To one who grew up in mid-Twentieth Century Detroit the thought of GM collapsing is almost unimaginable. It was the all-powerful Ozymandias of the auto industry---“Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair,” it seemed to say.

But now we’ve moved to the close of that Shelley poem:

“Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

“The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Or, as we like to call it these days: Detroit.

Actually, downtown Detroit doesn’t look too bad; it’s got a pulse. Like so many center cities these days it exists primarily as an entertainment center, with extravagant athletic and cultural facilities as well as fine hotels, restaurants and casinos. But move off into the neighborhoods---former neighborhoods really---and Shelley’s desolate vision is made flesh. Much of the city is a wasteland of vacant lots and derelict buildings framed by weeds growing through long-unused sidewalks.

There’ll be dozens of other cities joining Detroit in the urban ash-heap if the automakers go down.

Car companies die for a variety of reasons, only sometimes because they make bad cars. More often it’s mismanagement that does them in. That’s pretty much been the case here in recent years. Our auto executives have been locked in a mindset that believed a decent profit could be turned only by making big cars, trucks and vans. Which was fine so long as the American public loved big, not so fine now with $4-a-gallon gas a recent memory. When the mood turned to small, the Japanese manufacturers moved in and ate their lunch.

You could make a case that Chrysler stopped being a car company years ago, that it invented the van and was content to make its money on them, with cars as an afterthought. Now it’s going to be run by an Italian company that makes its money on small cars, very small. We’ll see. General Motors was conceived nearly as century ago as an automotive giant that would have a specific car for every income class. Cadillac and Buick were the luxury brands with Chevrolet and Oldsmobile for the common man. Then they decided there was a hole to be filled in the luxury field and the LaSalle was born. The Pontiac was developed to fit between Olds and Chevy.

All of this demanded a huge dealer network and a vast bureaucratic superstructure. It worked, but to keep people buying cars they had to make cars that wore out quickly and “planned obsolescence” became the watchword. That was when old Ozymandias started to crumble.

I wish our car companies well, I really do. If they go away we will feel the pain in places we didn’t know we had places.

Distributed by Minuteman Media.

Why Rod Roberts should run for governor

When Rod Roberts embarked on his first Statehouse bid in 1998 I was skeptical to say the least. In fact, the candidacy of this ordained Christian conservative pastor frightened me.

With a passionate belief in separation of church and state I had visions of Rod as something of a localized Pat Robertson, an evangelical bent on Bible-beating his view of life and Christianity into his politics, his representation of us. Most of all I feared that if Roberts, a Republican, shirt-sleeved his brand of Protestantism, he'd expose rifts in this city that we've long since repaired to make way for collective progress and respect.

After hundreds of interviews with Roberts over the last decade and in interaction through Rotary and elsewhere I can now say that my initial suspicions, which I think Rod himself would admit were fair and not borne out of any malice, were dead wrong.

Simply put, Rod has demonstrated himself to be a member of that proud tradition of Christians in politics, those whose private faith informs their public acts. In hindsight this shouldn't have come as a surprise. Rod's father, Jack, now retired, was a longtime history and government teacher at the Colo-Nesco School District east of Ames. Rod probably learned about church-state separation somewhere around the time the training wheels came off his first bike.

Over his nine years in the Iowa House, Roberts, the Iowa development director with the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, has been a reliable vote on social conservative issues to be sure. He's vehemently opposed to abortion and is steadfast in his religiously based view that marriage should be between one man and one woman. Organizations such as the decidedly right-of-center Iowa Family Policy Center know this and tell us they're quite comfortable with the prospect of a Governor Rod Roberts. They trust him.

But it is not with social issues that Roberts has made his name in the Legislature and Iowa politics - or in Carroll. Specifically, Rod, a man who clearly keeps close counsel with successful economic-development leaders in Carroll, fought for legislation that has dispersed money from casino-rich counties to the rest of the state through Endow Iowa. Carroll County and other rural areas without slot-machine-fed streams of cash benefit enormously from this. It is a signature accomplishment.

On the education front, Roberts, a former member of the Carroll Community School Board, has shown a keen understanding of the state's public systems, which consume a lion's share of the tax dollars we send to Des Moines. What's more, he provided crucial advocacy for private schools with support of tuition tax credits and the rescue of logical state transportation programs for parochial students - funding that was under heavy assault at one point from former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.

With regard to constituent service, an underrated but perhaps the best measure of a legislator, Rod's performed diligently. He's listened and delivered, most recently where the city of Carroll and a much-needed traffic signal project at U.S. Highway 30 and Griffith Road is concerned. I've personally never seen Rod Roberts unprepared or ill-informed on legislation. This teacher's son does his homework.

In an in-depth analysis of a potential Roberts gubernatorial bid we published Monday, fiscal-issues-first Des Moines Republican David Oman, former state chairman of that party, described Rod as having "a winning personality." This is right on the money for Rod is that rarest of political creatures with whom one can disagree but still hold in esteem, for while he's a sharp tactician and not afraid to mix it up, Rod isn't guided by guile.

In 2010 the Iowa GOP has a barn-door opening provided by an at times stumbling Chet Culver and overreaching Democratic Party, which appeared more interested in political paybacks than governing. But Republicans face political Siberia if they can't nominate a competitive candidate for Terrace Hill and shape an agenda that reaches out from the ideological single-issue madness of fringe players to life in the middle of Iowa, where most of us live.

There's every reason to believe Rod Roberts can erect the political bridges Republicans so desperately need.

Rod has what GOP insider and influential blogger Tim Albrecht calls a "gentle mannerism." Because Rod is so comfortable with himself, with his beliefs, and the necessary reconciliation on soul-searching matters like abortion and the death penalty, he doesn't have to spit-scream like a broker on a New York trading floor to prove who he is. There's no worry of a magically morphing Mitt Romney with Roberts.

Practically speaking, Roberts should enter the GOP gubernatorial primary because he has everything to gain and nothing to lose if he runs a clean campaign full of ideas and scrubbed of insults - which if history is a guide, there's ample reason to believe he will.

There are three possible results should he enter. Roberts could connect the Robert Ray moderates and Steve King conservatives in his party to capture the nomination. Or he could find himself positioned nicely for the lieutenant governor slot should a central Iowa moderate emerge as the GOP's top candidate. The worst-case scenario is that Roberts, who could drop out of the June 2010 primary in time to keep his House seat, would boost his name recognition, setting up future runs, perhaps for Congress or another statewide office or a prestigious leadership role in the Iowa House as its speaker or ranking member.

In the end, Rod should run because if he doesn't, he'll always wonder what could have been. Rod's earned this shot and should take it with the support of the Carroll area he's admirably represented.

This column first appeared in The Carroll Daily Times Herald.

Does Roberts have right stuff for gov run?

Early GOP vetting starts for 2010 with Carroll-area legislator in mix

By DOUGLAS BURNS

Iowa Republican strategist Tim Albrecht sees a canyon-sized opening for his party in the 2010 gubernatorial race in which a potential double-digit-sized list of challengers to Democrat Chet Culver is building.

One legislator in the mix, although not formally announced, is State Rep. Rod Roberts, a Carroll Republican who has served west-central Iowa for a decade in Des Moines.

Albrecht said Roberts, a social conservative, has the style and skills to hold the GOP's right base while reaching out to moderates and Democrats.

"Rod has a way about him, a very gentle mannerism that could bring in some of those individuals," says Albrecht, a former statehouse staffer who now operates TheBeanWalker.com, a conservative Web site the Washington Post tabs as one of the tops for politics in Iowa.




An ordained pastor (although he hasn't been behind the pulpit for 20 years) Roberts is development director for the 125-congregation strong Christian Churches/Churches of Christ in Iowa.

Because of this background Roberts won't be forced to headline his candidacy with the twin towers of Hawkeye State conservatism: opposition to abortion and gay marriage. He's strong on both fronts.

"He doesn't have to lead with his faith because people already know him," says Bryan English, a spokesman with the highly influential Christian-conservative Iowa Family Policy Center.

English said the GOP must field candidates who can deliver a broad message. Roberts would seem to have that ability, English said.

"He's a very well-rounded representative," English said. "He does a great job. He's very good at what he does."

Following an electoral thrashing in 2008, the GOP, both nationally and statewide, is in the process of deep soul-searching, with some arguing for entrenchment with a robust, unapologetic social agenda and others calling for laser-like focus on economics in the form of policies aimed at reining in taxes and reducing the role of government.

For his part, Roberts says he's closer to a run than ever.

"I am still very seriously considering this question of running," Roberts said. "I am probably more interested in running than I have been up to this point."

Roberts said he will make a decision "sooner rather than later" and is eyeing the Fourth of July as a tentative date for deciding whether to establish an exploratory committee. That group then would determine if Roberts has enough fund-raising muscle to be competitive.

"The biggest hurdles are can he raise his profile and raise the money he needs," Albrecht said.

A field is emerging that includes some well-known politicians and candidates with big-time business credentials and bases. As it stands that list would include: Sioux City business consultant Bob Vander Plaats (who ran in 2006 before joining forces with the eventual nominee, Congressman Jim Nussle) U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, State Rep. Christopher Rants of Sioux City, Iowa Auditor Dave Vaudt, former State Sen. Jeff Lamberti, an Ankeny lawyer and board member of Casey's General Stores and Vermeer Corp. president Mary Andringa of Mitchellville.

Roberts knows he doesn't go into the starting gate with the best odds. That suits him just fine.

"I kind of like being the darkhorse person in the mix of names," Roberts said.

Roberts starts with much less of a geographic base than potential contenders with statewide, regional - or in the case of King - national name recognition.

A Carroll resident, Roberts represents House District 51, which includes Carroll County, part of Sac County (Wall Lake and Lake View) and eastern Crawford County (but not Denison).

The obvious question looms for Roberts: Can he build support outside of western Iowa? The short answer is yes.

"Name recognition and fund-raising will be a real challenge with such a large field," says Iowa State University political science professor Steffen Schmidt. "However, I think Roberts has good conservative credentials and roots in the faith-based community to go after the spot on the ballot."

Schmidt is also a commentator for InsiderIowa.com. An audio recording of Schmidt's complete vetting of Roberts as a possible candidate is posted on the The Daily Times Herald's Internet homepage, carrollspaper.com.

Roberts' name has been discussed in the highest GOP circles.

Iowa's last two Republican governors, Robert Ray and Terry Branstad, said in earlier interviews that Roberts has the standing in the party to make a run.

"Personally and politically I think a lot of Rod Roberts and others do, too," says David Oman, who was executive assistant to Ray and Branstad, served as co-chair of the Iowa Republican Party from 1985 to 1993 and was a candidate for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 1998.

In an interview last week, Oman said Roberts has an intangible quality working for him, what the Des Moines Republican termed a "winning personality."

Roberts also can count his wife, Trish, development director at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll, as a major political asset, Oman said.

"His wife Trish is terrific," Oman said. "Iowans want to get to know a spouse. She certainly will be beneficial to Rod."

That said, Oman thinks geography will be the major challenge for a possible Roberts bid.

He'll need money and he'll need to get around the state - the latter of which is more challenging than it may seem, according to Oman.

"Iowa may look small on a map but whether you're driving or flying it is an expansive state," Oman said.

Because Iowa hosts first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses every four years voters expect high-level candidates to almost go door to door.

Additionally, Republicans must travel more aggressively to win statewide in Iowa as the party's base is more dispersed in rural, suburban and urban areas of the state - unlike Democrats who can pull off wins by running up margins in about two dozen counties, Oman said.

"With others from western Iowa in, that will make this opportunity perhaps more challenging," Oman said.

Oman is among those veteran politicos in his party urging a primacy of economics over fire-breathing right-wing social agenda rhetoric that alienates independents, moderates and conservatives Democrats - all of whom Oman thinks are ripe for the picking in 2010 because of dissatisfactions with Culver and fears about the growing role of government in Des Moines and Washington, D.C.

"I would come down on the side of suggesting we have to rally Republicans on core principles of limited government and sanity when it comes to spending and individual responsibility and freedom and growth," Oman said.

In eastern Iowa, top Republicans says they are familiar with Roberts but need to know more.

The Roberts "brand" is just not known there, said Tim Palmer of Cedar Rapids, a small-business man who chairs the Linn County Republican Party.

"The feedback I've heard from this side of the state is that no one is taking it seriously, but that's nothing against Rod," Palmer said. "He seems to be well thought of on your side of the state. He seems to have a good brand with the people who do know him."

Palmer, a social conservative who is the editor of a popular Web site called HawkeyeReview.com, says Roberts' biography is appealing to him.

To this point the Carroll person who rose the highest in state government is attorney Art Neu, a former lieutenant governor and an admirer of Roberts, although Neu is decidedly more moderate.

"I think he's about as reasonable a candidate as I could possibly expect from the Republican Party today," Neu said. "He's been a good legislator. I think he'd be a good governor."

This story first appeared in The Carroll Daily Times Herald.

Photo: Jeff Storjohann, Carroll Daily Times Herald

ISU professor Schmidt vets Roberts as gubernatorial candidate

InsiderIowa political commentator and ISU professor Steffen Schmidt reviews Mr. Roberts background and possibilities of getting the 2010 Iowa GOP nomination for governor. Roberts is one of twelve names that have surfaced as being interested in the job, according to Schmidt.

Schmidt says, "Name recognition and fund raising will be a real challenge wioth such a large field. However, I think Roberts has good conservative credentials and roots in the faith based commnity to go after the spot on the ballot."

IOWA TIES TO VIETNAM WALL FEATURED IN LATEST EPISODE OF LATHAM'S TELEVISION PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, DC – The latest episode of Iowa Congressman Tom Latham’s monthly television show has hit the airwaves and is now available online.

The May episode of the “Congressional Report” celebrates Memorial Day by focusing on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, and its traveling half-scale replica known as the “Wall that Heals.” For this month’s program, Congressman Latham interviewed Daniel Schenk, program manager for the “Wall that Heals,” about the importance of honoring veterans and the future of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

“Every American owes a debt of gratitude to the men and women who have served – or are currently serving – in the armed forces,” Congressman Latham said while filming the episode. “These brave Americans have put everything on the line to protect their families, communities and their nation.”

During the show, Congressman Latham pointed out that Featherlite Trailers, based in Cresco, Iowa, constructed a specialized trailer that carries the traveling replica wall as it crisscrosses the country. Congressman Latham visited an unveiling ceremony for the new trailer on the National Mall in March.

“The employees at Featherlite have played an important role in making this tribute more accessible to veterans and other Americans,” Congressman Latham said. “And for that, all Iowans should be proud.”

The “Congressional Report” airs throughout Iowa on Mediacom Channel 22 on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. and on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Episodes of the television show are also available on Congressman Latham’s Web site, www.latham.house.gov, and on his Youtube Channel, www.youtube.com/user/CongressmanTomLatham.

No gay marriages in Carroll County, Iowa -- yet

New forms here, recorder reports no applications

County Recorder Marilyn Dopheide reported that no gay couples had filed for marriage licenses in Carroll as of late this morning during the first hours such unions are legal in Iowa.

Dopheide said people had called the office this morning seeking information on the necessary legal forms for a marriage. Since no information has been filled out at this point, she can't tell if they are gay or heterosexual.

"They're both men and women, and I don't ask," Dopheide said. "They're asking because it's spring."

Dopheide said the Iowa Supreme Court's decision allowing gay marriage became official at her office at 8:10 a.m.

In larger, metropolitan counties, and ones along Iowa's borders, gay couples applied for licenses this morning. There were reports of lines of same-sex couples in Polk County seeking forms.

"The recorders are doing their jobs, Dopheide said.

On April 3, the seven-member Iowa Supreme Courts court ruled unanimously that the state's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, effectively establishing marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Dopheide said her responsibility is to follow the law.

And for now that means changing the paperwork in the office. The new certificates for marriage ask applicants to list themselves as "Party A" and "Party B" - and then, if they so choose, to select a small box on the side of the form identifying themselves as "spouse," "bride" or "groom." The older marriage certificates simply listed "bride" and "groom."

The Carroll County Recorder's Office collects a $35 fee for a marriage license, and that fee remains the same.

Dopheide said she expects some people will not be pleased with change in traditional terms on the marriage certificates

Some have made their distaste with legal gay marriage known.

"I would say it's more frustration than anything," Dopheide said.

Other Iowa county recorders, who are elected, have received threats from gay-marriage opponents who want them to join in protest of the law. Those threats have been of an electoral nature, Dopheide said.

For her part, Dopheide said some people who have called her clearly don't understand the law.

"They don't think the Supreme Court ruling is law," Dopheide said. "I think there's some confusion as to the Supreme Court making law."

Dopheide, who has been county recorder since 1995, said she's never had a gay couple come in and request paperwork for a marriage.

The Daily Times Herald has never had a request for publication of a gay-wedding announcement, although some obituaries list what are clearly homosexual relationships within the surviving families of the deceased.

In 2008 there were 127 marriage licenses issues in Carroll County, down from 139 in 2007 and 150 in 2006.

This story first appeared in The Carroll Daily Times Herald ...

Douglas Burns quoted in London Observer today on Obama's first 100 days

Writing in the London Observer today Paul Harris leads with material from Carroll Daily Times Herald columnist Douglas Burns on President Obama's first 100 days.

Here is The Observer:

Douglas Burns works on a newspaper in the small town of Carroll, Iowa, whose 10,000 souls live near the banks of the Middle Raccoon River amid a wide expanse of quintessential American farmland.

Burns is a columnist on Carroll's Daily Times Herald, a post that would not normally see him command the attention of those who aspire to occupy the White House. Yet Burns has interviewed Barack Obama a staggering six times. "It is remarkable, I suppose," he said. Burns's position of power comes from the unique role Iowa has played in the rise of Obama to the White House.

Throughout 2007, he followed Obama's Iowa's campaign for the Democratic nomination as it criss-crossed the state, stopping in dozens of tiny towns, just like Carroll, gradually building up to Obama's astonishing victory over Hillary Clinton for on 3 January 2008. That night went down as one of the most significant in recent American history. It showed that this farm-dominated, overwhelmingly white, midwestern state could be an unlikely springboard for Obama's journey to the White House.

That victory not only proved that he could beat the Democratic frontrunner - Clinton - but that white voters were more than willing to elect a black man as their commander-in-chief.

To cheering crowds in the state capital Des Moines, Obama delivered one of the most memorable speeches of his generation, which began with the words: "You know, they said this day would never come." When it was over, his supporters partied long into the night.

Since then, Iowa has featured strongly in Obama's team - several key members of his government hail from the state - and Obama has held an equally special place in the state's political folklore. "Obama's political life as president was essentially born here. He really is a president from Iowa," said Burns.

Later Burns is quoted on his assessment of how the 2010 governor's race may play in the 2012 Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa.

In Iowa, that fight is already playing out, as local congressman Steve King prepares to seek his party's nomination for the governor's race in 2010. King is deeply conservative and, if he gets the nod, it will be a signal that Iowa's conservative Republicans - probably boosted by the decision to legalise gay marriage - will be dominant.

That will have a national impact, because it will lay a powerful base for someone like Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, to run for the Republican nomination in 2012, using Iowa as a springboard, just as Obama did.

Not that the prospect worries Democrats. Many welcome the Republican party's drift rightwards as a sign it is losing touch with the centre ground that so often decides US elections. "They will really be defeating themselves for a generation," said Burns.

Porn industry looking for bailout -- joke's on us

We've all heard the punchlines and snickers about the porn industry seeking bailouts. Some real reporting on this from the American Prospect reveals it for it what it is: a cynical PR grab. Larry Flynt is perhaps unrivaled with such endeavors ...

Here is The American Prospect:

We all know that plunging home values and decimated 401(k)s are among the effects of the recession. But what about depleted sex drives? "People are too depressed to be sexually active," Hustler publisher Larry Flynt said in a January statement asking Congress for a $5 billion bailout of the adult industry. "This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such, but they cannot do without sex."

Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis, who is more likely to need bail than a bailout, told Hollywood gossip site TMZ that unlike spoiled, private-jet-riding auto executives, he would drive to Congress "in a white Prius" to ask for financial support for the porn industry. He could barely conceal his smirk.

But in a time of economic crisis, lawmakers are more likely to give the porn industry grief than gratitude. Legislators in California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Washington state recently proposed stemming budget losses through various skin tariffs, ranging from a Magnum-sized 25 percent sales tax on X-rated movies to a $5 "pole tax" on visits to strip clubs.

King GOP bid less likely, Roberts gets Eastern Iowa mention

Writing in The Cedar Rapids Gazette James Lynch reports on U.S. Rep. Steve King's comments today that he's not revved up to run for governor.

Lynch also gives Carroll's own Rod Roberts a mention as possible candidate for governor.

Here is The Gazette:

The Kiron conservative said on Iowa Public Television’s Iowa Press that a gubernatorial campaign is not uppermost in his mind. The program will air Friday night and Sunday forenoon.

“I don’t go to bed at night thinking about it nor getting up in the morning thinking about it,” the fourth-term congressman said.

King’s name is one of a handful mentioned as GOP nominee for governor. Others include Reps. Rod. Roberts of Carroll and Christopher Rants of Sioux City, state Auditor David Vaudt and Ag Secretary Bill Northey, but Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City is the only one with an active campaign at this time.

IMPACT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ECONOMIC POLICIES ON IOWA

This from The White House today:

Working Families:

Making Work Pay: The President’s tax-cut – which covers more Americans than any in history – is putting more than $600 million back in the pockets of more than 1.1 million hard-working Iowa families.

$18,120,842 to support child care for working families.

Energy:

$21,103,000 in block grants to foster energy efficiency in building, transportation, and a wide range of other improvements.

$80,834,411 to support the weatherization of homes, including adding more insulation, sealing leaks and modernizing heating and air conditioning equipment.

$40,546,000 to the State Energy Program, available for rebates to consumers for energy saving improvements; development of renewable energy projects; promotion of Energy Star products; efficiency upgrades for state and local government buildings; and other innovative state efforts to help save families money on their energy bills.

Education:

$682,859,389 potentially available to Iowa to lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save thousands of teaching jobs at risk due to state and local budget cuts.

Health Care:

$1,300,000 to fund a new Community Health Center, which will serve an estimated 7,950 patients and create a projected 60 jobs.

$3,175,923 to expand services at 13 existing Community Health Centers, which will expand service to an additional 17,988 patients and create or save a projected 84 jobs.

$1,033,962 to provide meals to low-income seniors.

$89,098,176 made available in Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) to protect health care for the families hit hard by the economic crisis and some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

$2,173,252 in vaccines and grants to ensure more underserved Americans receive the vaccines they need.

Transportation:

$357,722,231 in highway funds to help build and repair roads and bridges.

$36,483,617 to repair and build public transportation infrastructure.

$84,000 to address airport safety and security, infrastructure, runway safety, increased capacity, and mitigation of environmental impacts.

Law Enforcement:

More than $18.7 million for state and local law enforcement assistance available through the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. The JAG Program supports a variety of efforts such as hiring and support for law enforcement officers; multijurisdictional drug and gang task forces; crime prevention and domestic violence programs; and courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives.


REAL RESULTS IN IOWA

Thanks to the Obama Administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, real impact is already being felt across the state.

Stimulus Package Will Allow The State Of Iowa To Offer Health Insurance To All Children In Families Earning Up To Three Times The Federal Poverty Level. KAALTV reported, “Iowa is now one step closer to offering health care to all children thanks to President Obama's stimulus plan. The federal funds will allow state officials to expand the hawk-i program. Beginning July 1st, the state will offer health insurance to all children in families earning up to three times the federal poverty level. That's just over $66,000 for a family of four.” [KAALTV.com, 3/2/09]

Iowa-Based Website That Posts Jobs For Contractors Has Heard From 60 Contractors Looking To Hire (WITH VIDEO). “With hundreds of millions in the pipeline from Washington, Brian May, who posts jobs for contractors across Iowa on his Industry People Group, a career Web site for the construction industry, says contractors are hiring. ‘One company is looking for 30 to 40 workers this year,’ May said. ‘Anyone from flaggers, crane operators, truck drivers, foremen.’ In the five weeks that May has posted jobs, they've heard from 60 contractors who are looking to hire.” [ABC News, 3/4/09]

A Windmill Plant, Which May Be Using Stimulus Funding, Plans to Open in Iowa City, Hire 130 Local Workers, Could Draw More Green Businesses. “Iowa City officials are negotiating with a company seeking to open a manufacturing plant at the 420th Street industrial site on the city's east side that would bring 130 jobs. The company would purchase 18 acres of the 173-acre site. Local officials would not release the name of the company… The plant would manufacture windmill bases, according to Iowa City Planning and Community Development Director Jeff Davidson. It would bring 130 full-time jobs with ‘above-average wages and benefits,’ Davidson said. The company is choosing between Iowa City and Davenport for the location of the new plant... The city is willing to negotiate incentives with the company, including tax incentives, according to Davidson… Proximity to Clipper Windpower in Cedar Rapids and Acciona Windpower in West Branch also makes Iowa City a favorable location, according to Davidson. Lombardo said that the plant likely would attract more interest in the site. ‘If we're successful, we think others will come in,’ he said. Lombardo said that if a deal is reached the plant could be online next year. Asked if he was surprised that a business was considering expanding during an economic downturn, Davidson speculated that the company might be using federal stimulus package money. The package includes funds to support clean energy.” [Iowa City Press-Citizen, 3/3/09]

Nearly $30 Million In Stimulus Money Will Make Long-Discussed BNSF Bridge Repairs A Reality. “Enough stimulus money has been earmarked to upgrade the BNSF bridge in Burlington to make the project a reality. Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Dave Loebsack, both Democrats, announced Friday that $28.7 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used to convert the bridge's pivot span to a lift span. The long-discussed project has been targeted since the U.S. Coast Guard found that the it ranked third among bridges most often struck by barges. Between 1992 and 2001, the bridge was struck 92 times. So far, $55.5 million has been secured for the bridge project, whose estimated cost has increased to more than $56 million. The design has been completed for some time and once BNSF moves forward with its share of the funds, the bridge could be completed within two years, providing a substantial number of construction jobs…‘This is a win-win for our state: job creation for working families and a boost to our local economy from needed infrastructure improvements.’ Loebsack also praised the appropriation. ‘This $28 million in Recovery Act Funds builds on my ongoing fight to ensure that Burlington remains a hub for freight rail and a major transportation artery for years to come,’ he said in a statement.” [Burlington Hawk Eye, 4/18/09]

A Stimulus-Funded Project to Replace the Runway at the Iowa City Airport Will Create 50 to 60 Jobs. “A project to rebuild Iowa City Municipal Airport’s runway is finally taking off. Iowa City’s airport will receive $2.5 million in federal stimulus funds to reconstruct its more than 50-year-old runway, Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, announced on March 20… Federal funding will replace the runway — which has cracks, weather-related scaling of pavement, and fragmentation of its surface — with a brand new platform, said Tharp, who is also a licensed pilot. While the state of the runway isn’t extremely hazardous, the ancient strip has reached the end of its life cycle and is threatening to damage aircraft, he said. ‘Projects in general have various degrees of priorities,’ he said. ‘The ones that affect safety and use are among the top. And that’s what our runway system is.’ … Tharp said the airport makes room for several helicopter operations on any given day, including organ donors and critical patient transfers to the UI Hospitals and Clinics. In total, the air station has roughly 30,000 takeoffs and landings annually. Tharp said funding for the reconstruction will create 50 to 60 jobs…” [Daily Iowan, 3/26/09]

Iowa’s Title I Schools To Receive Over $50 Million for Hiring Teachers, Providing Tutoring and Additional Academic Support. “A $126,426 federal stimulus grant to Carroll Community School District for low-achieving students was among more than $50 million in Title 1 grants for Iowa schools announced by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin on Wednesday. Most Iowa school districts will receive such funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Harkin said the grants are for elementary and secondary schools with high percentages of children from low-income families. Schools will use the money - half of which is expected to arrive by the end of March, the other half in October - to provide additional academic support and learning opportunities to help low-achieving children master challenging curricula and meet state standards in core academic subjects. ‘In particular, Iowa school districts may use the funding to hire teachers and teacher assistants, provide tutoring, create school computer labs, fund parent involvement activities, purchase instructional materials, host professional development for teachers and create pre-kindergarten classes,’ Harkin said in a press release.” [Carroll Daily Times-Herald, 3/20/09]

Des Moines Transit Authority Will Use $7.88 Million in Stimulus Funds to Buy Buses, Upgrading Technology and Facilities Improvement, Creating Up to 750 Jobs. “Improvements to Des Moines' bus system will become a reality as early as this fall thanks to federal stimulus money. The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority plans to use $7.88 million in economic stimulus money to pay for six projects, including buying new buses, installing vehicle locator technology, completing a final design for the downtown transit hub project, improving rider communication and repairing the DART headquarters. The money is part of about $36.5 million released to Iowa from the Federal Transit Administration at the beginning of March. The DART projects are expected to generate up to 750 jobs, said DART General Manager Brad Miller… ‘We are very excited to use the stimulus funds to create ... jobs by advancing and modernizing our transit system,’ said DART Commission Chairwoman Angela Connolly, who also is chairwoman of the Polk County Board of Supervisors.” [Des Moines Register, 3/30/09]

Iowa Launched a Website for Disadvantaged Iowa Youth Seeking Jobs Through Recovery Act This Summer. “Iowa Workforce Development said Monday it launched a Web site, the www.YouthforIowa.org, for disadvantaged young Iowans seeking jobs through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal government's economic stimulus initiative. The statewide summer employment program gives young Iowans an opportunity to develop skills needed for successful employment. The program is for Iowans ages 14 to 24 who are considered low-income and meet one of these criteria: Deficient in basic literacy skills; a high school drop-out; homeless, runaway or foster child; pregnant or parenting; an ex-offender; or anyone needing additional assistance to complete an educational program or to secure and hold employment.” [Des Moines Register, 4/21/09]

Iowa Awarded $48.9 Million Worth of Stimulus Contracts for Repaving in 8 Counties. “The Iowa Department of Transportation has awarded an additional $48.9 million in road construction contracts using federal stimulus money , Gov. Chet Culver said today. The work will pay for repaving of roads in eight Iowa counties, including Calhoun, Chickasaw, Clarke, Decatur, Monona, Osceola, Page and Wapello. The projects are being financed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved by Congress. Iowa is expected to receive a total of $358 million for state and local road and bridge projects under the legislation.” [Des Moines Register, 3/20/09]

Webster, Iowa Will Use $600,000 to Replace an Aging Bridge, Contract Will Be Let in April. “It didn't take Hamilton County Engineer Danny Waide long to find a "shovel ready" project suitable for the recently-approved federal stimulus package. Sitting in the Hamilton County Secondary Roads five-year plan for about 10 years now has been replacement of the Rocky ford bridge, north of Webster City on the old Cashway blacktop. The design to replace the aging and narrow bridge on R-27 is already done, according to Waide. But with a $1.1 million estimated price tag, budget constraints had previously forced county supervisors to keep pushing it back on the Secondary Roads schedule. Now, with $600,000 in federal stimulus money on the way, bid letting is slated for April. With cooperative weather, the new bridge should be open for traffic by Nov. 1.” [Daily Freeman-Journal, 3/11/09]

Why Ashton Kutcher should run for Congress in Western Iowa

By DOUGLAS BURNS
Celebrity activist and new media pioneer Ashton Kutcher just beat CNN in a race for 1 million followers on the Internet social networking site Twitter.

A suggested next challenge for the Iowa native: move back to your home state - the western side, say Council Bluffs - and run for the 5th Congressional District seat.

As much as anyone in America Kutcher has brilliantly blended fame with substance to create an interactive organization that he's trained on fighting malaria and child sex trafficking.

An obvious new platform for the earnest Kutcher would be a run for political office. And the place to do it would be in heavily conservative western Iowa where U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, appears to have a Gordian knot on elections, anchored as he is with an eye-poppingly reliable GOP vote in many northwest counties.

Kutcher could raise truckloads of money - just a $5 donation from only half of the now 1.2 million people following him on Twitter - would yield $3 million. This doesn't take into account his own considerable assets - and those of wife Demi Moore, an American icon who was worth millions while Kutcher was still waiting to be discovered at the Airliner bar in Iowa City.

There's plenty of reason to think Kutcher would run as a Democrat. He campaigned visibly (check out YouTube) for President Barack Obama last year and John Kerry in 2004 - although the Cedar Rapids native voted for George W. Bush in 2000.

"I would say that I'm a fiscally conservative individual, in general, and probably very socially liberal, but there really isn't a party that exists for that," Kutcher said last November on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher." "So I'm a little bit in between. I wasn't that far away from looking at John McCain as a viable candidate for myself, because I sit somewhere in the middle. But, as soon as a Sarah Palin comes onto a ticket, it turns me away so feverishly."

Kutcher is largely known for zany roles in "That '70s Show," "Dude, Where's My Car?" and MTV's "Punk'd."



For much of his career, Kutcher, 31, offered no evidence, at least publicly, to suggest that he was anything other than the "dumb handsome guy," a description he laments in Details magazine.

But behind those Hollywood looks are some Iowa smarts.

Kutcher studied biochemical engineering at the University of Iowa before entering modeling and moving on to smashing success on TV and in film. In 2002, he founded Katalyst, a production company that has shepherded more than 10 feature films and television series to completion.

Until just recently I'd never considered Kutcher beyond the caricature he helped erect. But just after the election, he appeared on Maher's politically hot-blooded "Real Time," where even the most quick-witted of the professional chattering class are pushed to the limits.

Kutcher's clearly well-read and passionate about issues and got off one of the more memorable lines of the program about the flagging American auto industry, a suggestion more rhetorical than practical, but containing within powerful truth.

"You know who should bail them (auto companies) out, is the oil companies," Kutcher said. "The reason for their companies' decline is their allegiance to the oil companies."

For his part, Steve King, has made more rumblings, some of it right in Carroll a few weeks ago, about a possible bid for governor.

If he does that, the open congressional seat creates opportunities for many in both parties.

But should King remain in Congress a high-profile candidacy from Kutcher would have impact on the 2010 political season beyond Iowa as the star could in effect nationalize King, something the congressman has done to some extent with his uncommon artistry for soundbites.

Kutcher could go a long ways toward making extreme right-wing King more of the face of the Republican Party - which would help Democrats in Iowa and perhaps even tilt the balance in the GOP presidential nominating process here in 2012 more toward the Sarah Palin-minded and away from candidates with stronger economic portfolios and intellectual ballast.

Right off the bat it important to note that the numbers in the 5th District don't appear to add up for any Democrat, even a resurrected John F. Kennedy.

That said, the power of celebrity should never be underestimated. And remember, Iowans in the western part of the state have fond memories of another television funny man-turned-pol representing them - Fred Grandy, who went from playing Yeoman-Purser Gopher Smith on "The Love Boat" to Congress and a near primary upset of Gov. Terry Branstad.

There are, of course, countless arguments against Kutcher running here.

He could be attacked from left, right and center as a Hollywood carpetbagger with exotic ways.

And in many respects a run for Congress - and status as a freshman legislator should he pull it off - would be awfully limiting for someone of Kutcher's wide-ranging talents.

What's more, some would suggest that as an eastern Iowan Kutcher would be better off going for Republican U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley's seat. But as a state of 3 million people Iowa is certifiable if it doesn't keep re-electing the senior senators, Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, the Democrat who chairs the Agriculture Committee.

Politically, Kutcher has the better angle here in western Iowa.

In the 2008 election, the Democratic candidate for the 5th District, Rob Hubler, was never able to take full advantage of King's continuing long line of provocative statements. (King called disgraced red-baiter Joseph McCarthy a "great American hero" and contended that Iraq is safer than Washington, D.C., and compared the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison to fraternity hazing.)

In short, this material, would be golden in the hands of someone with Kutcher's exceptional skills at, well, punking.

In the end, the best argument for Kutcher is what happened last week when he reached the watershed of a million followers on Twitter, a texting/blogging convergence tool that allows users to send information out in 140-character or less blasts to anyone interested in reading them.

In effect, Kutcher just built a muscular grassroots political machine that would be the envy of many a campaign pro.

He should now test it.

There's no better place to do that than in western Iowa's 5th District, where Kutcher would give King's loyal followers a royal headache at the very least, and maybe even provide the opposition a fighting chance.

This column first appeared in the Carroll (Iowa) Daily Times Herald.

Interesting interview with Iowa native Ashton Kutcher

Gay marriage ruling inspires native Iowan

By The REV. JAN CARLSSON-BULL

Editor's Note: This column was written by the Rev. Dr. Jan Carlsson-Bull, minister, First Parish Unitarian Universalist, Cohasset, Mass. The former Jan White graduated from Carroll High School in 1960.

I am so proud of my home state. Just moments ago I read online of the decision of Iowa's Supreme Court that the Iowa "Defense of Marriage Act" violates Iowa's Constitution. Welcome to the growing number of states that celebrate inclusive marriage.
Growing up in the heartland community of Carroll, amid the "amber waves of grain," I was clueless about straight, gay, lesbian, and all the other adjectives we visit upon ourselves to describe our sexual affinities. It took a long time for me to understand and appreciate that there are many ways of loving. My toughest lesson was a 10-year ordeal as the wife of a man who was gay.

He simply couldn't come to terms with it. His vacillation morphed into an anger that turned against me. With my then two young children, I fled. That was just over 30 years ago.

I have since remarried, am now the mother of three adult daughters, and the grandmother of a completely adorable 1-year-old little boy. I'm also a Unitarian Universalist minister in the coastal town of Cohasset, Mass. It's a profession I love and a faith I hold dear. I preside at weddings of bride and groom, groom and groom, bride and bride.

For any of you who are not cheering this recent court ruling, I ask you: If a straight woman is married to a gay man and they produce two beautiful children, but the frustration in that man who is fighting his identity escalates into lashing out at his spouse, is this a marriage that nonetheless conforms to the legal norms of 47 of our states? If inclusive marriage had been on the books of New York, where we then resided, if our society had affirmed the wondrous variation of sexual affinity, might there not have been an early and congenial parting of the ways with the knowledge that he had his options and I had mine? I'm ever grateful for the reality that brought two little girls into the world, but not for the societal and legal context that contributed mightily to the toxicity of this quite legal marriage.

When I bless a marriage between a man and a woman, a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, I bless a relationship defined above all by mutual love and respect - whoever, however. The lifestyle of many of our happily married (and sometimes unhappily married) gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender sisters and brothers is so much like that of our straight sisters and brothers that we could trade one for the other and not know the difference.

As a straight woman now married to a straight man, I think to myself, this isn't always easy. I love him, but if men are from Mars and women are from Venus, we don't even start out on the same planet. There's an argument to be made for options.

When I preside at weddings, I commonly say a prayer I wrote several years ago. It applies equally to bride and bride, groom and groom, or bride and groom:

As this is their day of love, so may it be their life of love. As this is their day of promises, so may it be their life of promises fulfilled.

As this is their day of hope, so may it be their life of hope realized.

We stand on the threshold of shared lives,knowing that not every day will feel like a wedding day.

We gather as family and friends, knowing that not every day will be a celebration of family or friends.

We affirm this day of love and promises and hope, trusting that the resilience granted by mutual affection and respect will be theirs, so that the lives they share and the family they form, will unfold and endure with grace and graciousness.

lt is this that we celebrate, this love that is deep and layered and true. lt is this love that will endure.

Amen.

Loving our neighbor as ourselves is that haunting commandment that calls us to love beyond category. I don't believe there were any "yeah, buts .." in that invitation. I don't believe it applies to all relationships except marriage. One of my most euphoric moments was joining a few years ago with 100 or so other clergy from across faiths in a procession across the Boston Common. In our clerical robes, we made our way across the Common to the Massachusetts Statehouse to advocate for civil marriage as a civil right.

I and so many of my clergy colleagues celebrated when that right was won; just as my now 100-year-old mother celebrated when, as a young girl growing up on an Iowa farm, she discovered that, as a young woman, she would go to the polls along with men to cast her vote; just as so many of us in this nation celebrated when the hard fight to attain voting rights across color lines was affirmed with the passage of the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Civil marriage is a civil right. Inclusive marriage is simply right.

I am so proud of Massachusetts and Connecticut and what will hopefully soon come to pass in Vermont. But today, I am prouder than proud of my home state, Iowa.

Reducing masquerades and fighting fair on gay marriage

Because much of society holds gays in contempt, they often try to pass off as heterosexual, engaging in a charade.

Many homosexuals go to the proms with opposite-sex dates. They get married and they have children. For a while, they may even believe they are straight.

But their true colors are eventually and painfully revealed, and the women they married and the chi1dren they bore are left to deal with the fallout of having been props in the heterosexual playacting of the "family man."

These families are the real victims in this cultural war against gays. As a result of the Iowa Supreme Court decision last Friday allowing gay marriages we can hope fewer Iowans suffer in these masquerade-ball families.

Many, of course, still will.

The court's ruling doesn't scrub our society of bigotry toward homosexuals.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, once compared gays with unicorns and leprechauns, suggesting that they are just liberal imaginings. He spoke in Carroll Wednesday but released much of his vitriol toward gays earlier in the week when he claimed in eastern Iowa that legalized gay marriages in Iowa would lead to incest.

"We have no residency requirement in Iowa law, which means that people can come from all over this country - a man and a man, a woman and a woman - it could be, I suppose, a father and a son or a mother and a daughter," King said Monday night in Cedar Rapids. "They can come to this state and get married and then go back to the state where they reside."

King should read the law before he comments on it.

In Iowa, incest is a Class D felony.

What's more, a state memorandum sent to county recorders makes it clear the associated charge that the court ruling will be a door opener for polygamy is just flat out false.

Iowa Code chapter 595 clearly defines marriage as a civil contract between two parties, and nothing in the court's decision alters that definition.

Many liberals, President Barack Obama most notably, agree with King's premise that marriage should be between one man and one woman. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, once told me that "all other things being equal" heterosexual couples should have preference over gays seeking adoptions.

It's fair to fight this way, to make the case that kids and families are stronger with a married man and woman at the helm. But it is cruelly inaccurate to raise the specter of incest and bestiality in connection with the gay marriage debate as it demonizes people.

At the end of the day gay marriage is a cultural firestorm because Americans are forever obsessed with other people's sex lives.

Each day we are flooded with news of celebrities' sexual doings, and you can't get from the first tee at the golf course to the fairway without hearing rumors of some sap's infidelity or bedroom conquests. It's as reviling as it is irrelevant, and this prurience is probably the most pathetic thing about the American state of mind.

The worst-reviewed movie in my lifetime, "Gigli," starring those one-time star-crossed lovers Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez (who gave us the first celeb-fusion name, Bennifer), still pulled in millions at the box office because people thought they might get to see some nocturnal gymnastics with the atrocious acting.

There's another angle to consider.

A marriage license - for gays or straights - is in the eyes of the state largely an economic pact tying people's fortunes together. In that sense, a homosexual union is essentially a free-market choice about who has access to one's money.

Moral judgments on homosexuality are better left to the churches, which don't have to perform gay marriages or even accept homosexual members.

Some churches denounce homosexuality as sinful.

Southern Baptists have been very vocal in their opposition to gay marriage.

Meanwhile, the Episcopalian Church confirmed an openly homosexual bishop.

Fortunately, you can attend either church.

And since opinions about homosexuality and marriage are at their core religious beliefs or lack thereof you should be able to marry someone of either sex.

This column first appeared in The Carroll Daily Times Herald.

Gay Marriage Debate: In Western Iowa city politics and protocol at issue

CARROLL, Iowa — As politicians and social activists despaired or rejoiced an Iowa Supreme Court decision this morning legalizing gay marriage within weeks, the owner of Bridal Country Ltd. In Carroll had a more practical concern.

How does she handle dressing-room arrangements and deal with what may be some changes in clientele?

"We're thinking it may be totally different for us now," said Jackie Pudenz "We have had men come in and try on gowns. I've pretty much seen a lot of things. Now that it's actually law, it takes on whole different aspect."

Pudenz, who has been in the wedding attire business for three decades, said she was talking about the Supreme Court decision's potential impact with an employee this morning.

"The dressing room situation will be more interesting - seriously," Pudenz said.

Pudenz said she hasn't had a run of gay couples appear at her Carroll store, but just last week, she said, a male wanted to try on a dress.

While it is a private business, and Pudenz does hold her own political views on the issue, she's come to the conclusion that "I have to be open as a business. I can't allow my opinions into my business."

At the Carroll County Recorder's Office, which collects a $35 fee for a marriage license, there haven't been any early requests from same-sex couples this morning.

"I've been just listening to the broadcast finding out what we can and can't do," said County Recorder Marilyn Dopheide.

Dopheide, who has been county recorder since 1995, said she's never had a gay couple come in and request paperwork for a marriage.

"I have not really had the phone calls of that nature," Dopheide said.

The Daily Times Herald has never had a request for publication of a gay-wedding announcement, although some obituaries list what are clearly homosexual relationships within the surviving families of the deceased.

Like Pudenz, Dopheide has a practical immediate concern. As it stands the marriage application forms list categories for "bride" and "groom." She is wondering how that terminology may be changed with same-sex couples who may not want to break down their relationship in those traditional gender-based terms.

"That particular topic was discussed," Dopheide said. "How do we determine the particular terminology on the form?"

Dopheide has been talking with the Iowa Department of Public Health, which manages marriage licenses, and other county officials about changes that may take place as a result of the cultural sea change today.

An elected official, Dopheide, a Democrat, said her position on gay marriage is necessarily this: "My opinion is what the Supreme Court says I am required to do."

State Sen. Steve Kettering, R-Lake View, was on the phone this morning with GOP leaders planning a response to the politically explosive news.

Kettering said Republicans and their Democratic allies on this issue will seek to change the Iowa Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

"Monday morning I would expect we will go down and proceed that way," Kettering said.

That process requires a simple majority vote of both chambers in two consecutive Iowa Legislatures followed by a public referendum.

State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll, said this morning that those legal requirements may stretch out an attempt at enshrining opposite-sex marriage in Iowa until 2012, when it could be a major issue in the outcome of state races and even the presidency because of its mobilization of the GOP base in Iowa.

"There it is," Kettering said. "Without question it will mobilize the Republican base, energize the Republican base."

Roberts, a social conservative who is a potential GOP candidate for governor in 2010, expressed strong displeasure with the court's unanimous ruling today.

"I'm disappointed and I'm upset with their ruling, but I'm not surprised by it," Roberts said. "Having said that, it doesn't make it any easier to accept."

Roberts said the foundation of the nation is the family unit, which he believes best involves heterosexual married couples.

"I believe marriage is a unique relationship, a covenant, between one man and one woman," Roberts said.

Roberts says he doesn't have the answers about why people are gay, but he said: "I don't know if I agree with the statement that they are born gay."

In terms of his constituents in west-central Iowa, Roberts said 95 percent of those who have contacted him on gay marriage are opposed to it - including many Democrats and Independents.

Both Kettering and Roberts said the court's ruling comes at a time when state leaders are focused on the economy - which Roberts said is still the No. 1 political issue.

"There isn't any question that it will divert attention, no question about it," Kettering said.

This story is crossposted at the Carroll Daily Times Herald Web site.