Thursday, February 26, 2009

Vaudt says Iowa may want to decline some fed stim dollars



State Auditor Dave Vaudt, a potential GOP candidate for governor in 2010, says Iowa shouldn’t hold out a fully opened hand where federal stimulus monies are concerned.

In fact, like a fellow Republican, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Vaudt said the state should consider the nearly $1.9 billion expected to flow to Iowa through the package in cafeteria style — taking millions here but potentially leaving money on the table elsewhere if he thinks the short-term gain would give birth to unwieldy bureaucracy down the road.

“I would sort through each piece of the stimulus package and try and say ‘where does it fit Iowa the most,’” he said.

Over the next three years Iowa is expected to receive about $1.9 billion through the federal stimulus. For his part, Jindal, a leading presidential candidate for 2012, says he’d turn down about $90 million in unemployment benefits he thinks will create a new business tax in Louisiana.

Vaudt didn’t cite specific programs but said he might not take certain federal stimulus dollars if he were governor of Iowa.

“Especially if the area that it is says that we have to spend more money and that we’re going to have to sustain that level of spending and I don’t think Iowa can support that sustained level of spending,” Vaudt said in the interview at the Carrollton Centre following a session with the Carroll Rotary Club.

As the man elected to monitor state spending, Vaudt (pronounced vow-dt) has no authority to turn down stimulus dollars.

But that could change.

Vaudt is on the short list of candidates Republicans are now unofficially vetting for a possible run at Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.

“I’ve told those that have asked me to consider it that I will do that by the time the end of (the legislative) session gets here to make some preliminary decisions,” he said.

A certified public accountant who has been state auditor since 2003, Vaudt acknowledges that he’ll have to roll out positions on social issues to emerge from what could be a highly competitive GOP primary.

When asked about what many in his party view as a litmus test, abortion, Vaudt said, “I’ve really taken no stances on those other than I’m a very conservative person. So when it comes to the conservative side of things I’m definitely there.”

Vaudt said voters could expect “standard” conservative positions from his possible campaign.

“I’m definitely a pro-life person,” Vaudt said.

He would, however, makes exceptions for abortions in the case of rape and when the life of the mother is in jeopardy.

“I think all those things need to be considered and because I haven’t focused as much on those issues I haven’t given it as much thought so I need to spend more time coming through with those,” Vaudt said.

But in these economic times Vaudt may have the credential voters are looking for in a candidate. He’s been traveling the state talking about finances.

“The public in the last election cycle was very concerned about the recession and the impact on people’s paychecks,” he said. “We need to make sure that we’re relating to that.”

The GOP in Iowa should organize around both economic and social issues, Vaudt said.

“The fiscal side is someplace we’ve lacked in the last few election cycles,” Vaudt said.

Overall, Vaudt said Iowa needs to buckle down and focus on core missions and make sure government is providing only those services the private sector can’t.

“We’ve gotten a little bit out of control,” Vaudt said. “Everybody was having fun in the good times and spending goes up during those times so we need to rein it back in and say what can we really afford long term.”

Democrats blast King on pay raise

This from the Iowa Democratic Party:

King votes to raise his salary during recession




Congressman Steve King was one of only 24 members to vote against a Congressional pay freeze of their current $174,000 salary.


DES MOINES, IA – Days after voting against President Obama’s economic recovery package that will save or create 37,000 jobs in Iowa, Congressman Steve King (IA-05) yesterday voted to give himself a raise. Contrast the Congressman’s actions with his fellow Iowans. Last year Governor Culver vetoed a pay raise for himself and other Iowa statewide elected officials. Most recently state employee’s agreed to a 0% raise in recognition of the current economic hardships.

Congressman King’s current salary is $174,000. According to the U.S. Census Bureau Iowa’s median household income is $49,200.

“In the midst of the worst economic recession since the Depression, with more Iowans and Americans losing their jobs and homes each day, it is deplorable for Congressman King to vote to increase his own salary” said Michael Kiernan, Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. “Thankfully every other member of Iowa’s delegation voted no.”

Wednesday Congress considered a spending bill, H.R. 1105, that included a salary freeze for 2010. The resolution passed overwhelmingly, 398-24. Congressman King was the only member of the Iowa delegation to vote against the salary freeze.

“I think Congressman King is confusing Congress with Wall Street,” added Kiernan. “Hopefully next time he will think about Main Street.”

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Neu's school plan could overcome old odds



Former Lt. Gov Art Neu understands the rural-urban interplay as well as anyone in Iowa.

And it is this insight that it is behind the thoughtful idea Neu is promoting for K-12 schools: creating countywide districts that maintain high schools and distinct sports teams in rural locations where possible but share more high-level classes.

The plan could thwart draconian consolidation measures being advanced by Des Moines-centrics like State Sen. Matt McCoy, a Democrat from that city who wants state bureaucrats to sweep in and create large districts.

Neu, the Carroll Community School District attorney and former member of the State Board of Regents, wants to preserve what's best in our small district while correcting deficiencies.

"The small schools will have a longer life under this than they will independently," Neu said in an interview Monday night.

Neu is promoting a framework as he wisely reasons that educators themselves and local school boards should fill in the details.

Here's an outline of how the Neu plan would work.

"In Carroll County, we have four districts primarily in the county," Neu said in a letter published Sunday in The Des Moines Register. "Merge them into one district with a central administration and a district-wide school board. Each of the four existing districts could keep their high school with core curriculum and extracurricular activities, but for upper-level science and math classes as well as foreign-language classes, students would be bused to a central location."

What's more, school districts should have the authority to pay the teachers of advanced science classes, for example, premium salaries.

"It wouldn't reduce anybody else's salary," Neu said.

Additionally, instead of having to choose just one foreign language, Neu's sharing system would allow smaller school students a chance to choose (or take both) Spanish and German.

Neu notes that there is an optimum size of school district for ACT test scores. Composite test scores are best in districts 2,500 to 7,499 students. Districts above 1,000 have better ACT scores in math and science, though scores drop in districts over 7,500.

For his part, McCoy clearly is the wrong messenger on this one as he comes across as decidedly anti-rural. McCoy claims he doesn't want to punish the rural schools but one gets the distinct sense he's not all that worried about us in western Iowa, that he sees Des Moines as being inherently superior to the land outside its city limits in Iowa.

"I think that's a virus that an awful lot of people in Des Moines have," Neu said.

Having spent a great deal of time in small schools in Carroll and Story counties, there is an intangible value associated with these environments, the seamless connections they provide between classroom and home and town.

Many of the successful Iowa natives I've profiled over the last decade graduated from small schools.

Take for instance, Ron Olson, 67, born in Carroll and raised in Manilla, a son of an insurance salesman-broker. He is a primary lawyer at Munger, Tolles & Olson, the Los Angeles firm that American Lawyer magazine just named No. 1 in the nation.

Olson graduated from Manilla High School in 1959.

"I did all the things you do in small-town schools - played all the sports, band, chorus, and even an opera, " Olson said. "It was a great opportunity. It was like having the whole town rooting for you. Ever since I've had the same feeling - a feeling that the whole town has continued to root for me."

Critics will say that was a half century ago when far different demographics prevailed. But what Olson told me in an interview last fall holds true today. Our national character demands that we send some people into the general population - to fight our wars and serve in Congress - who hail from small schools.

This column first appeared in The Carroll Daily Times Herald.

Future of media?

Eric Zorn, a Chicago Tribune columnist who taught at Northwestern University when I was there, has a thoughtful column on possible future business models for online news.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Smoking ban opponents rallying

Opponents of the Iowa smoking ban are gathering on March 1 in Clinton at the Wild Rose Casino & Resort to rally against the law ...

The QC Times has the story.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

King Introduces Bill to Make English Official Language



This from the congressman's office today:

Washington, D.C.—Congressman Steve King has introduced legislation to make it easier for American immigrants to fully realize the benefits of opportunities in the United States.

The English Language Unity Act of 2009 would establish English as the official language of the United States. The bill would require the federal government to conduct business in English without putting restrictions on languages spoken or on the private sector. With 58 original co-sponsors, the bill has broad, bi-partisan support.

There are over 6,000 languages spoken throughout the world, and in the United States there are at least 28 different dominant languages -- those spoken by at least 100,000 people. The English Language Unity Act helps immigrants by encouraging them to learn English to fully integrate into American society.

“English is the language of opportunity in America,” Congressman King said. “Learning English opens doors to better jobs and opportunities, the foundation America was built upon. The only way to fully learn about American culture, and what makes America truly unique, is through our common bond of the English language.”

Almost 12 million Americans are linguistically isolated, according to the U.S. Census. In addition, immigrants who are not proficient in English earn an average of 17% less than English- proficient immigrants with similar backgrounds, experience and education. The gap grows wider with the opportunities English-proficient immigrants realize while moving up the economic ladder.

Regardless of race, gender or citizenship status, Americans have declared their support for an official language. A survey conducted by the nationally recognized Tarrance Group found that 84 percent of Americans favor making English the official language of the United States.

Other polls taken on a state-by-state basis have indicated a similar threshold of support. Twenty-seven states have passed similar English language statutes. In the Iowa Senate, Congressman King led the effort to pass English language unity legislation, signed into law in 2002.

Congressman King introduced similar legislation during the 110th Congress, and 153 House members co-sponsored the legislation. In 1996 the House of Representatives passed the Emerson English Language Empowerment Act, in a bipartisan vote, which would have made English the official language of the U.S. Government. The Senate failed to act on the bill.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Citizenship desirable?

For a western Iowan I'm pretty open-minded, but come on Iowa Democratic Party. Your next spokesperson should at the very least be an American citizen. I'd go so far as to say the new press hire should have some Iowa ties, too -- current or past resident.

But to say in a news release that U.S. citizenship is "desirable." This is the kind of thing that just hands red meat to people like Steve King.

Here's the list of qualification a la the party:

Application Requirements

* Extensive campaign, state party or political experience
* Exceptional written and verbal communications skills
* Experience in managing large press events
* Extensive travel across the state is required
* U.S. citizenship desirable
* Active voting status desirable

Monday, February 16, 2009

Get your state contact rolodex ready

The New York Times is reporting that state officials will have wide discretion with how to spend the stimulus money.


Experts said the authorities in the states will probably have great discretion when it comes to billions of dollars for a broad range of state needs, including roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Latham opposes stimulus -- and here's why



From Latham's office ...

The following are the remarks of Congressman Tom Latham during debate of Economic Stimulus Measure considered by the U.S. House of Representatives today.


“I want folks to step back from this debate for just a second here. You know, at the end of last year we spent over $700 Billion on the Wall Street Bailout. Who knows if that has had any positive effect? No one knows for sure. Just this past Tuesday, the Secretary of the Treasury said we will need to spend another $2 Trillion for the next financial industry bailout. Today, we are going to spend $790 billion. This means with interest today’s bill will spend over $1 Trillion. In another couple of weeks we will be looking at spending $400 billion on an omnibus spending bill. And soon after that there will be another war supplemental. Let’s add that up. We are talking about spending $4 trillion by Congress in less than three months time.

This is the most selfish bill I have ever seen generationally. Today we are saying to our children and grandchildren: “We don’t care about you or your future because we just want self-gratification now. We want to feel better today. We can’t take any pain ourselves or truly work together to find a better way to address this crisis.”

Our kids and grandchildren are going to be the ones who end up paying for this and it will no doubt limit their opportunities. For their sakes, I ask that you vote no on this bill today. Let’s work together for better and quicker solutions that help everyone w

King's mouse a red herring



According to the non-partisan PolitiFact, U.S. Rep. Steve King and other Republicans are flat out distorting when they claim the federal stimulus package contains $30 million to protect a certain species of mouse in California.

There are no earmarks for specific projects and to suggest that a project which is on a shovel ready list that the Corp of Engineers or other federal agencies will select from is outrageous.

If you follow King's logic then a San Francisco congresswoman could criticize the bill for having $7 million in it for a new Carroll Public Library because that's the amount Carroll City Councllwoman Carolyn Siemann asked to be put in a list of projects Carroll sent to the state for possible stimulus spending.

Here is PolitiFact:

When the stimulus bill was first proposed and a call went out for ready-to-go projects, Ritchie prepared a list of the agency's shovel-ready projects and submitted it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, both of which received money in the final version of the stimulus bill.

Three projects would turn abandoned industrial salt operations back into natural wetlands, about 26,000 acres in all. It turns out the mouse is an endangered species that likes tidal salt marshes, and it's mentioned by name as one of several species that will benefit.

But the projects themselves -- the South Bay Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, the Napa Plant Site, and the Napa Salt Marsh restoration --are intended to do more than just benefit wildlife. It's major construction work to create recreation areas and to restore marsh land that will resist flooding and storm surge.

"This is bulldozers, front-end loaders, backhoes. These are major earth-moving projects to break down levees, to re-sculpt the landscape and to make sure nature can do its thing," Ritchie said. "Right now, we just have these lousy little salt pond levees and they break."

"These are real jobs, and these are truly ready to go," he added. "We can definitely spend this money for construction by Nov. 30, 2010."

Given this description of the projects, which were first reported in the San Jose Mercury News, it's a serious distortion to say there's money in the bill to protect San Francisco mice. The bill doesn't even list the San Francisco projects by name. And the funding agencies -- the Corps of Engineers or NOAA -- could still decide to fund the projects or not. The bill passed a final vote in the House on Feb. 13, with no Republicans supporting it.

So Pelosi did not put an earmark in the bill to save the mice. In fact, there's no money in the bill for mice. For this reason, we rate Pence's remark False.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Steve King uses his 11th grade term paper to make economic argument



Addressing one of the critical economic issues of the last century U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, mines a rich scholarly document: his own 11th grade term paper.

In a Des Moines Register guest column published Thursday the Kiron congressman makes the case that FDR's "New Deal" didn't work -- that it in effect made the economy worse. King sees the emerging federal stimulus plan in the same light.

The first reference King cites is a term paper he did a a junior at Denison High School. He actually leads with it in the editorial -- as if it has unimpeachable veracity.

Here is King in The Register:

As a junior at Denison High School, I wrote a term paper on President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. I began working on the paper with the intention of confirming what I had been taught in school - that FDR's government recovery programs brought America out of the Great Depression.

I started my research believing in the success of Roosevelt's economic-recovery programs. To support this claim, I spent hours at the Carnegie Library in Denison reading past editions of the local, biweekly newspaper.

My reading began with the 1929 stock-market crash, and I examined every issue through the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Those stacks of old papers turned upside down everything I had been taught in history and government class about the New Deal. As I searched for information proving the New Deal stabilized the American economy, I instead found the exact opposite: high unemployment, a struggling stock market and continued hard times.


If Congressman King is going to reference a high school term paper he should make it available to his constituents.

I am waiting for the PDF of it -- complete with what we must presume to be an "A" in red marker on the front page -- to pop up on his Web site. Since King is referencing it in public debate one would assume the good congressman has the original document from which the nation could surely benefit.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Don't let Iowa's small schools fall to the Des Moinescentrics

Yes, yes, there are no doubt some inefficiencies with smaller schools in Iowa. And as a resident of the county seat of Carroll, I've often wondered if would make sense to fold some of the area schools into our district.

By the numbers, K-12 consolidation, voluntary or forced, would seem logical many places in Iowa.

But having spent a great deal of time in small schools in Carroll and Story counties, there is an intangible value associated with these environments, the seamless connections they provide between classroom and home and town.

Many of the successful Iowa natives I've profiled over the last decade graduated from small schools.

Take for instance, Ron Olson, 67, born in Carroll and raised in Manilla, a son of an insurance salesman-broker. He is a primary lawyer at Munger, Tolles & Olson, the Los Angeles firm that American Lawyer magazine just named No. 1 in the nation.

Olson graduated from Manilla High School in 1959.

“I did all the things you do in small-town schools — played all the sports, band, chorus, and even an opera, ” Olson said. “It was a great opportunity. It was like having the whole town rooting for you. Ever since I’ve had the same feeling — a feeling that the whole town has continued to root for me.”



Critics will say that was a half century ago when far different demographics prevailed. But what Olson told me in an interview last fall holds true today. Our national character demands that we send some people into the general population -- to fight our wars and serve in Congress -- who hail from small schools.

Small schools deserve strong advocacy as does the state's history of local control in education if the Legislature takes up the matter.

It appears that might just happen.

State Sen, Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, plans to introduce legislation forcing rapid school consolidations, The Des Moines Register reports.

McCoy clearly has some valid points but he's the wrong messenger on this one as he comes across as decidedly anti-rural. McCoy claims he doesn't want to punish the rural school but one gets that distinct sense he's not all that worried about us (remember who he represents).

Besides this consolidation plan, McCoy’s behind an effort to jump ship on the state run Honey Creek Resort State Park at Rathbun Lake in Southern Iowa. It's rough economy and there's been far too little time to evaluate the facility.

What’s more, McCoy was a leader in pushing the decidedly anti-rural smoking ban, which foisted his urban sensibilities on the countryside.

Here's what one rural Republican had to say about the school idea, according to the Des Moines Register.

"A state legislator says we can't maintain this inefficiency anymore, and I want to know what that inefficiency is since our graduation rates in northwest Iowa are much higher than they are in Des Moines," said Sen. David Johnson, a Republican from Ocheyedan who took to the microphone in the Iowa Senate Tuesday morning. "Our student achievement scores are much higher than they are in Des Moines."

Wind energy creating jobs

The proliferation of wind turbines in western Iowa means more than just fast-money leases for farmers.

Turbines, now fencing the northern part of Carroll, and rising majestically along U.S. 30 and U.S. 20 for vast stretches in this part of the state, are a source for new careers.

So says Des Moines Area Community College which offers an “Introduction to Wind Energy” course.

The course, which was implemented this past semester at Carroll, is also now being offered on the Newton campus.

“There is a great demand for wind energy jobs right now,” said Scott Ocken, dean of DMACC’s industry and technology department. “Last year, the wind energy industry grew by 45 percent. As a result, the industry is seeking people who can build, operate and maintain these giant wind turbines, so our students who participate in this program have a very bright future.”

Ocken says that the starting salary is generally in the 40s and will increase rapidly with experience. “Wind energy represents green jobs that our state, nation and the energy industry are committed to expanding,” he said.

DMACC’s wind emphasis is part of the college’s industrial electro-mechanical technology program and, in just two years, a student can earn an associate of applied sciences degree and be ready for wind energy jobs.

Choosing between King and Vander Plaats?

The Sioux City Journal's Bret Hayworth has a thoughtful post on his Politically Speaking blog about the evolving GOP field for governor.


So we have a piece in which Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King remains coy about a possible run for the governorship before voters in 2010. He’s been the subject of speculation about running for governor for roughly as long as he’s been in the U.S. House, and King won’t deny there’s a certain appeal. For now, he’s saying he’s not closing the door to any political office opportunity.

If King runs, that could put him in the contest with three guys living in the same congressional district: State Rep. Rod Roberts, just down the road in Carroll from King’s Kiron, business consultant Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey of Spirit Lake. Of course, Vander Plaats has run twice before, and has some backers and others who say he needs to step aside for fresher faces. And other GOP guys (I haven’t heard a female Republican mentioned) like Chuck Larson Jr., Ames businessman Bruce Rastetter and state auditor David Vaudt may enter the fray, making for a wide-open primary.

Iowa GOP chair: Leadership not messsage the issue

It's not about message but leadership, the new chair of the Iowa Republican Party, Matt Strawn, said in Fort Dodge according to The Messenger newspaper.

Strawn advocated that the party return to conservative principles of fiscal responsibility and pro-family policies. He said that the party had "lost its way," but that the problem was lack of leadership, not the proper ideology. He called on the Republicans of Webster County to be proud of their beliefs.

"We need to quit whispering, 'Hey you're a Republican, too. We can talk over here now.' We need to get away from that," said Strawn. "I think people are done feeling sorry for themselves. I think we've dusted ourselves off and we're ready to get back to the fight."

Ethics may be too much to ask

By Donald Kaul

Give Barack Obama credit. Barely a month on the job and already he’s increased tax revenues by hundreds of thousands of dollars. He nominated Timothy (Tiny Tim) Geithner to be Secretary of the Treasury and Geithner immediately discovered he’d forgotten to pay $48,000 in back taxes. So he paid them.

Then he chose Tom Daschle as his Secretary of Health and Human Services and Daschle quickly coughed up $140 K in back taxes. Too late. He had to withdraw his candidacy; just after the president’s candidate for chief government performance officer withdrew hers because of tax problems. She paid up too.

I have two words for the Obama administration: H&R Block.

It’s not been the happiest of times for ethics in public office, which is rapidly becoming an oxymoron. We have seen the governor of Illinois thrown from office by his legislature after it found him trying to sell the vacant Obama Senate seat on e-Bay. Then there is the revelation that Sen. Christopher Dodd, head of the Senate banking committee and outspoken opponent of tightening certain bank regulations was getting sweetheart loans from a bank that is also one of his biggest political contributors. What a coincidence.

All this, of course, happened not long after Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, was diselected by voters after being found guilty of using his office as a home improvement enterprise. His home.

And who could forget Louisiana Rep. William “the Refrigerator” Jefferson, he of the $90,000 in (very) cold cash? Did I mention Eliot Spitzer, the former governor of New York? I won’t. Let lying dogs sleep, that’s my motto.

It almost makes you wish for the good old days when President Dwight Eisenhower had to fire Sherman Adams, his right-hand man, for taking the gift of a vicuña coat from a grateful political patron. (Which inspired the apocryphal story that had Ike saying to Adams: “Vicuña? Vicuña waited until after the election?”)

Today Adams wouldn’t have to resign. He’d be laughed out of office for thinking small.

How does all of this square with President Obama’s pledge to bring a new integrity into the political process? Technically, it doesn’t. However, I would argue it’s just a matter of commendable idealism clashing with the harsh realities of political life.

We work within a system of capitalism that celebrates greed as a virtue, after all. That being said, it’s unfair to say that it’s OK for everyone in the private sector to take every dime that isn’t nailed down (think Wall Street bonuses) while people seeking government service are expected to have lived the lives of monks who have taken vows of poverty. You have to give people a little slack. If you’re taking bribes and putting the cash in your freezer…that’s a definite no-no. If you just chisel a little on your income tax, well, maybe we can let you off with a warning. Or not.

It’s a matter of degree. I’ve always thought that the proper rule of thumb in these matters is this:

Don’t expect anyone to take less advantage of their situation than you would if you had their chances.

And here’s another: Never trust a totally honest man. He has no sympathy for human failings.

I think we could eliminate half the hypocrisy in government by privatizing the U.S Senate. Instead of electing senators, as we do now, we could put Senate seats up for auction for corporations and special interests to bid on, with the money going into the Treasury.

What about the will of the people, you say? That’s why we have the House of Representatives. A key point: No corporation or special interest could own shares in more than four senators (several fewer than they own now). The senators would be required to wear the corporate logos of their sponsors while on the floor of the Senate, sort of like NASCAR drivers.

The plan would slice through the hypocrisy and go a long way toward balancing the budget.

(This column is distributed by Minuteman Media).

Friday, February 06, 2009

Rich movie 'Slumdog' comes to town



Academy Award-nominated "Slumdog Millionaire," a tour de force of a film, hits the screen at the Carroll 5 Theatres on Friday night.

Starring the talented Dev Patel as an orphan (Jamal Malik) in Bombay, India -which transforms into modern-day Mumbai over the span of the film - the movie crosses international barriers with an engrossing story of a boy's seemingly impossible journey to manhood.

Early in the film, we see squalor in the slums of Bombay, conditions so dire that they are unimaginable to most Westerners - myself definitely included. The jarring shots of poverty, brimming with color and striking cinematography, have an almost disorienting quality for the viewer. This is a world so awful it is beyond the boundaries of what goes on in even our sweatiest nightmares here in Iowa.

We see how young Jamal loses his mother, and there is one unforgettable scene that literally shows us the stink of life in the world's gutter.

The kid quickly earns our rooting interest.

Read the full column at The Carroll Daily Times Herald where it was first posted.

Grassley, Harkin working on flood relief

This from a joint release ....

WASHINGTON – Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin today filed an amendment to the stimulus bill being debated in the Senate that would help Iowa provide important social services related to flood and tornado recovery.

The amendment would direct $200 million of the $400 million in Social Services Block Grant funds included in the bill before the Senate to states that experienced disasters in 2008. The amendment would also require the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a formula based on a state’s approved application for assistance, the population in the affected counties, and the duration of the disaster.

“I’m happy to have introduced this amendment on behalf of myself and Senator Harkin. It would correct an injustice done to Iowans who are still struggling to rebuild their lives, months after a terrible disaster,” Grassley said. “The formula used by health and Human Services to allocate the funds provided in the Continuing Resolution was unfair to Iowa and should be corrected because the amount of money the formula allocated to Iowa was not sufficient to address the many remaining hardships that people in Iowa continue to face on a daily basis and the services they require to meet these hardships.”

“Since the floods first hit, Senator Grassley and I have worked hand-in-hand to ensure Iowans get their fair share of help from the federal government,” said Harkin. “The formula for allocating these dollars was just plain wrong. Our amendment would address the formula problem and put more money in flood victims’ pockets. I will continue to remind my colleagues how important this is to our state.”

The amendment helps correct a flaw in a previous allocation of Social Services Block Grant funds from the Continuing Resolution passed by Congress last year. The Continuing Resolution directed $600 million in Social Services Block Grant funds for disaster relief for states, like Iowa, that had experienced natural disasters in 2008. Since the scope of the damage Iowa sustained was so extensive, it had been anticipated by the state that Iowa would receive a significant amount of funding from the $600 million in new funds. Unfortunately, Iowa’s allocation of disaster relief funds was just over $11 million, because a state’s overall population was used as the major factor in making the allocation.

Grassley and Harkin said that a state should not get funds allocated on the basis of the population for a whole state, when only a few counties may have been actually impacted by the disaster.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Cityview publishes cover story on Michelle Obama's chief of staff



In the latest issue of the Des Moines newspaper Cityview I authored the cover story on Michelle Obama's chief of staff, Jackie Norris of Des Moines.

Here is Cityview:

Where global proximity to power is considered, a Des Moines woman is now just one degree of separation from the political sun.

When he retires late in the evening to the private quarters of the White House, President Barack Obama, now the human being who more than 6.7 billion others can dare to author destiny, will no doubt seek the comforting counsel of his wife Michelle on matters from family dogs and blue ties to wars and economic stress.

And for her part, the nation’s new First Lady — the president’s “rock” or campaign “closer” — is placing her historically undefined job, and the spectacular public expectations accompanying it, in the trusted hands of political operative and former Central Iowa school teacher Jackie Norris, Michelle Obama’s chief of staff.

It is no canyon leap to suggest that what Norris helps prioritize for Mrs. Obama, from white-paper policy to black-tie pomp, may very well be the last thoughts in the commander in chief’s waking brain.

Sarah Palin opposes stimulus



In more evidence that she is looking to shore up support with the GOP base, Sarah Palin is now on record as opposing the developing federal stimulus package.

Her office sent out the following release:

Governor Sarah Palin again today expressed her serious concerns with President Obama’s proposed stimulus package. In a joint letter sent to Alaska’s congressional delegation, Governor Palin, House Speaker Mike Chenault and Senate President Gary Stevens cautioned that unrestrained spending, initiation of new programs that the states may be asked to continue after the federal stimulus is gone, and the borrowing of hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for it may result in serious economic problems in the future.

Governor Palin recently traveled to the nation’s capital to personally express her concerns with the stimulus package with business, economic and political leaders. The trip was not an effort to endorse or lobby for the current stimulus package now before Congress.

“I agree with the decision of Senator Murkowski and Congressman Young to vote NO on the package,” Governor Palin said.

The governor has strongly supported funding for infrastructure that creates good American jobs and will have a positive effect on the nation for generations to come.

“It's a given that a stimulus package is needed and will happen,” Palin said. “With guaranteed spending on the table, I am arguing for needed construction projects and tax breaks that will truly stimulate the economy and create jobs, and against increased federal programs that will become a state's unfunded mandate to continue funding for generations.”

Obama's SBA chief expected to focus on women's businesses

BusinessWeek is reporting that President Barack Obama's Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills, the Harvard-education daughter of the couple that leads the Tootsie Roll company is expected to focus on promoting commercial endeavors involving women.

Mills is expected to be a bi-partisan operator.

"She's also likely to focus particularly on the needs of women-owned small businesses and to help foster a more global role for American entrepreneurs," BusinessWeek reports.

In 1999 she co-founded a New York private equity firm, Solera Capital, which has invested in Annie's and Latina Media Ventures — both small businesses controlled by women. BusinessWeek cites this as s sign of what may lie ahead with the SBA.

Daily Yonder publishes story on rural Internet service

The Daily Yonder has published a story I did for today on rural high-speed Internet's position in the stimulus debate – and what the Internet service means for our part of the nation.

Sarah Palin's Ongoing Wolf Slaughter

THEATRE CEDAR RAPIDS STAGES ‘LOST IN YONKERS’





Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Neil Simon comes to TCR Lindale Feb. 13-22


CEDAR RAPIDS (Jan. 30, 2009): The first time Jason Alberty read “Lost In Yonkers,” he immediately recognized people he knew.

The director believes audiences at Theatre Cedar Rapids will have the same reaction.

“Most of us are dysfunctional in a way,” says Alberty, of Cedar Rapids. “Either we come from, or we know, a family who is dysfunctional. And by laughing at them, we are sort of laughing at ourselves and the stupid things we do.”

Audiences will get to test that theory when “Lost In Yonkers,” the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Neil Simon, opens Friday (Feb. 13) and continues through Feb. 22 at TCR Lindale, 4444 1st Ave. NE.

”Yonkers” is one of a long list of acclaimed plays by Neil Simon, who’s also known for “The Odd Couple,” “Barefoot In The Park” and “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”

“It’s nice to get a really good, solid play,” Alberty says of directing “Yonkers.” “There aren’t a lot of those being written today.”

”Lost In Yonkers” is a coming-of-age story set in Yonkers, N.Y. Two boys, Arty (Nathan Kent of Marion) and Jay (Alex Schulte of Cedar Rapids) are forced to live for a year in their grandmother’s cramped apartment while their father Eddie (David Morton of Cedar Rapids) travels on business.

Comedy and drama both ensue as the boys attempt to survive the antics of their relatives, including the ultra-strict Grandma Kurnitz (Cherryl Moon Thomason of Cedar Rapids); their goofy but likeable aunts, Gertie (Carrie Fattig of Cedar Rapids) and Bella (Nicolette Coiner-Winn of Cedar Rapids); and the bizarre stories of their “gangster” Uncle Louie (Bill Lammers of Cedar Rapids).

As a language arts teacher at Cedar Rapids Washington, Lammers says he’s been teaching “Lost In Yonkers” to students for the past 15 years.

“I don’t think there’s another play out there that has a collection of characters like this,” says Lammers. “You have the two sisters, who have their own problems. You have Louie and Eddie, one of whom is over-the-top strong and one who is over-the-top weak. And you’ve got Grandma, who rules the place with an iron fist. These two boys are trying to figure out their place in it.”

For TCR Artistic Director Leslie Charipar of Cedar Rapids, that’s exactly what made Yonkers the right fit for Theatre Cedar Rapids’ 75th Anniversary Season. Charipar designed the season to have a “decades” theme, with each show representing a decade of the theater’s existence. “Yonkers” represented the 1940s – not just by its setting, but by the attitudes of its characters – and Charipar loved being able to fit one of the playwright’s works into the lineup.

“Neil Simon can connect with anyone, whether they are well-versed in theatre or not,” Charipar says. “He writes conversations the way that people talk, and he gets to the heart of a matter using humor and sensitivity all at the same time.”

”Yonkers” will be the first non-musical to be performed in Theatre Cedar Rapids’ temporary space at TCR Lindale, 4444 1st Ave. NE, but the cast isn’t worried about making the transition.

“I was here at rehearsal the other day watching from the back row, and there doesn’t seem to be a bad seat in the house,” says Lammers. “I think it will work really well for a show like this.”

Cherryl Moon Thomason first saw “Lost In Yonkers” when the touring company performed it at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City.

“If you have a family, you want to see this,” she says. “There will be something here that you identify with. There will be a lot of laughs, and there will be a little poignancy. It’s got something for everybody.”

“Lost In Yonkers” will be performed Feb. 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22 at TCR Lindale, 4444 1st Ave. NE (across from Lindale Mall). Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and at 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $20 or $25 ($15 for students) and can be purchased from the box office at 800 2nd Ave. SE, by phone at (319) 366-8591 or online at www.theatrecr.org. Rush tickets are available at the door for $10 half an hour before the start of each show. A “Talkback Thursday” discussion will be held following the Feb. 19 performance.

”Lost In Yonkers” is sponsored by RBC Wealth Management.










PHOTO CAPTION: The cast of “Lost In Yonkers” at Theatre Cedar Rapids includes (from left) Nathan Kent of Marion and Alex Schulte, David Morton, Cherryl Moon Thomason, Bill Lammers, Carrie Fattig and Nicolette Coiner-Winn, all of Cedar Rapids. “Lost In Yonkers” tells the story two boys (Kent and Schulte) who are forced to spend a year enduring the antics of their bizarre relatives in their grandmother’s cramped New York apartment. “Lost In Yonkers” will be performed Feb. 13-22 at TCR Lindale, 4444 1st Ave. NE. (Credit: Rob Merritt/Theatre Cedar Rapids)

Evaluating new cars is no picnic

By Donald Kaul

You can take a kid out of Detroit but you can’t take Detroit out of the kid. That’s my excuse, anyway. I’m a car nut. I grew up in Detroit and I like cars the way Imelda Marcos liked shoes. I call it my auto-eroticism (and you’d be amazed at the looks I get when I call it that).

And what better place to indulge one’s lust for the auto than the Detroit Auto Show? It was once the premier show in North America if not the world. It’s not quite that now (hardly anything about Detroit is quite that now) but there’s still enough there to stir the loins. And the girls are nice too.

Foam on the latte is the fact that I am in the market for a car right now. That gave focus to my auto show trip last month.

Where once I lingered over the Jaguars and Maseratis, drooling in front of the BMWs, Porches and Corvettes, I instead centered on practical cars---ones that gave good value for the money, were fuel efficient with good safety and reliability records, cars whose back seats would accommodate friends with creaky joints. (Note to my fellow car nuts: I know, that’s pathetic, like going into a chocolate shop and asking for tofu ice cream. What can I say? The fires burn low.)

There were other questions to be answered as well. Should I go for total fuel efficiency and buy a hybrid or, living in the upper Midwest as I now do, should I go for an all-wheel drive to better make it through the snows?

And if that wasn’t complicating enough, I was looking to buy American, if possible. After expressing sympathy for the Washington bailout of American automakers I felt it bordered on the unpatriotic to buy a foreign car.

The last time I’d owned an American car was about 25 years ago when I had the great misfortune to buy a “Pontiac X car.” To say it was a piece of junk is to libel junk. It had a disturbing habit of grinding to a halt on the highway, leading to a tow and major surgery. In between, things would fall off---knobs, screws, nameplates, dials…things.

I finally got rid of the sled and vowed never again to put myself in the way of an American car which, in any case, tended to be sloppy handling, behind the curve in safety features and too, too big.

In the meantime I have owned Swedish cars, German cars and Japanese cars---all of them better than any American car I had owned previously (with the exception of a couple of great Checkers I had that were so funky as to not really count as American cars).

So what did I find at the Detroit show?

I found that they do not make cars the way they used to. They make them much, much better. They are better looking, more reliable, they get incredible mileage for their size, they’re much safer and the creature comforts they offer beggar the imagination.

“Stick to the program,” I kept telling myself. “You’re here to pick out a real life car, not indulge in eye-candy.”

OK. I found a delightful, reasonably priced car made in Indiana. The manufacturer was Japanese and most of the parts were made in Canada. Then there was an American car I liked, but it was made in Mexico, with parts made in Canada. I also discovered a sensational Korean car, made in Korea parts and all. But I’m not sure you can trust a car whose parts aren’t made in Canada.

So, is it more patriotic to buy a car that puts Americans to work or one that helps keep an American manufacturer out of bankruptcy? Aye, that is the question.

If any of you out there have suggestions for me I urge you to send them. I need help.

And is it better to buy or lease? Why is that?

This column is distributed by Minuteman Media

Latham ranking Republican on key panel

Washington, DC – After twelve years of service and leadership on the United States House Appropriations Committee, including positions on the Agriculture, Homeland Security, Energy and Water, Commerce/ Justice/State, Financial Services and Legislative Branch Subcommittees, Iowa Congressman Tom Latham was named the top or “ranking” Republican on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and related agencies (THUD). Latham is one of only twelve Republicans on the full Committee who have earned such a position on the influential Committee.

“I am honored by this vote of confidence by the members of my conference to serve in this leadership position in the House of Representatives,” said Latham about the position which increases the profile and clout for the people of the State of Iowa and the Iowa Delegation in the United States Congress.

The THUD subcommittee has jurisdiction of funding the Department of Transportation, including the Federal Aviation, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak and related programs of each agency. The Subcommittee also is responsible for funding the annual budgets of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Latham pledged a strong willingness to work in a bipartisan fashion with his Democrat counterpart, Chairman John W. Olver (D-MA), on the broad range of important issues that fall under the subcommittee’s jurisdiction.

In addition to this new leadership role, Congressman Latham will continue to serve on the subcommittees on Agriculture and which have funding jurisdiction over a number of essential programs that affect Iowa.

YES, FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE RICH

By Donald Kaul

I hate to say I told you so but I told you so. You could look it up.

For years, decades even, I have been railing against the lifestyles of the rich and famous, questioning the utility of their outrageous salaries and bonuses.

I mocked them for their multiple mansions, their submarine-included yachts, their private jetliners, their jewel-drenched parties.

They were not worth the money they were making, I said. While some of them were accomplished corporate executives, too many were greedy clowns who got lucky.

I argued that justice demanded at the very least that they pay considerably higher income taxes and perhaps a significant estate tax too. (Give me the choice between being taxed when I’m alive or when I’m dead and I’ll take dead every time.) What I was asking for was merely a few crumbs off the tables of the rich so that poor people could afford operations for their crippled children. (Eat your heart out, Charles Dickens.)

And what did I get for my troubles? Scorn. Vilification. Vicious personal attacks.

I was called a socialist, a communist even. I was accused of engaging in class warfare and told I was merely jealous of my betters, people smarter, more accomplished and more industrious than I.

Let me say this about that:

I am not jealous of the rich and their three or four or five mansions. That’s way too many roofs to worry about. I figure if you’re lucky, you have one nice home and when you go on vacation, you rent a room. That’s what hotels are for.

As for being jealous of their intellect, it is to snicker. Many of them owe their success to being born rich. When a truly original idea crosses their path, they recoil from it like a vampire before a cross. Many of the others are accomplished chiefly in their ability to fleece the public, bribe politicians, and plead for mercy when the bills come due. What’s to be jealous of?

As for class war, well, it’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it. The rich of this country have been waging class war against the unrich for the past 25 years without meaningful opposition, having sold the American public on the fantasy that we’re all going to be rich someday. It’s time we fought back.

(This just in: You’re not going to be rich any time soon. Get used to it.)

Another argument against encouraging people to make mountains of money while the multitudes make do with thimblefuls (and this is one that should appeal to the religious do-gooders among you) is that it is bad for their souls. Great wealth is a temptation to criminality.

Most people are honest. Neither you nor I would think of going into a department store and shoplift. If the clerk gives us too much change, we give it back.

But suppose you walked into a store in which there were bags of $100 bills on the shelves. And there were no clerks, no security guards. And everyone else seemed to be taking bags off the shelves and walking out with them.

How honest would you be then? Wouldn’t you convince yourself that you deserved a bag of cash or two, that no one would miss it and that if you didn’t take it someone else would? More than likely.

Well, that’s pretty much the position of our corporate executives, poor things. We’ve given them a license to steal and they have used it, rationalizing all the while that they deserve the loot.

In reality, they know they don’t. Some few of have given up their bonuses in response to the abysmal performance of their companies but for the most part, they’ve taken their bonuses, their golden parachutes, their golden handshakes and run like bandits.

Because they can. There are no security guards at the door. Ronald Reagan’s welfare queen was a Salvation Army worker compared to this bunch.

To the barricades!

This column is distributed by Minuteman Media

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Kiernan serving as Iowa Democratic Party chairman

The Iowa Democratic Party State Central Committee convened to elect Michael Kiernan the new chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. Kiernan will begin his term as Chair immediately and serve through 2010.

“Mike is a dedicated public servant who will be a terrific leader for the Democratic Party,” said Governor Chet Culver. “I know Mike will continue to build upon the outstanding success of outgoing Chairman, Scott Brennan, and engage the thousands of new voters inspired by President Obama to help elect Democrats across Iowa.”

“Mike has been an active Democrat his entire life, starting when his family hosted one of my first steak frys at their family farm,” said Senator Tom Harkin. “I look forward to helping Mike re-elect Governor Culver, our Congressional delegation and expanding our majorities in the House and Senate.”

Michael Kiernan, 33, is a small business owner, is serving in his second term as an At-Large member of the Des Moines City Council and served as Mayor Pro Tem. He is a life-long Iowan, born and raised in Madison County. He has vast campaign experience including serving as Campaign Manager for both Chet Culver’s successful 1998 race for Secretary of State, and former Des Moines Mayor Preston Daniels.

“This last election was historic and energized me to want to do even more for the Democratic Party,” said Michael Kiernan, Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. “Democrats have enjoyed great success these last two cycles and I want to build on that success. As Chair I will work every day to reach out to the thousands of new Democrats and keep them in our state and local party structures. These voters will be the key to our success in 2010.”

The State Central Committee also elected the following Executive Officers:

First Vice-Chair – Sue Dvorsky, Coralville
Second Vice-Chair – Chris Peterson, Clear Lake
Treasurer – Ken Sagar, Des Moines,
Secretary – Dori Rammelsberg-Dvorak, Clutier

Palin mixing it up in Texas



The Dallas Morning News -- and other people -- are reporting that Sarah Palin is wading into the Texas gubernatorial race.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has endorsed Rick Perry for re-election, calling him the "true conservative" in a primary election showdown with fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Palin, who electrified the GOP base as the party's vice presidential nominee last year, has strong support among the party's social conservatives. Her endorsement appeared aimed at undercutting Hutchison's appeal with GOP women. Both groups will be important in picking the party's nominee in next year's GOP primary.

Monday, February 02, 2009

Cityview publishes my commentary on stripper names



The Des Moines newspaper Cityview has published a commentary I penned on stripper names -- or more directly how to avoid them in its latest issue on stands now.

Comedian Chris Rock jokes that a father’s main charge with a daughter is to keep her off the pole. In other words, if your little girl, the lass who begged you to pay for dance classes, ends up using whirling and spinning skills on the performance pole at a strip club, well, then welcome to failure, father.

Now there are a number of strategies dads can employ for keeping their daughters off a dollar diet — a nightly salary happily fed by the patrons in the front row of seats at strip clubs, a place in a bar with a name so full of potential double-meanings I can’t figure out if it’s offensive or just awfully confusing.

To get back on point: How does a man keep his daughter from devolving into the sordid, yet occasionally lucrative, world of stripping.


--- Douglas Burns

Newt says look out for Sarah Palin



Newt Gingrich may be about the smartest Republican in terms of national strategy and he's saying: Look for Sarah Palin. I am inclined to agree ...

Here is U.S. News & Report:

The former House bomb-thrower, who used his 1994 Contract With America to become speaker, says history can repeat itself, especially if the GOP can nominate a charismatic leader who knows how to use the mechanics of the primary and caucus system. He's not endorsing, but he said that former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will arrive in Iowa first in line. Her advantage: Iowa, the first state to vote in the primary-caucus season, loves Christian conservatives, and her crew there will be large. "Palin starts in Iowa with a substantial base," he said. And, yes, Iowa matters, having put Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter in the lead during their races for the White House. Others in the running: Mitt Romney, if the economy still stinks, and maybe Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana guv.

Frank Rich on Republicans

The troubling fact of life is that New York Times columnist Frank Rich is right about this:

The nightmare is that we have so irrelevant, clownish and childish an opposition party at a moment when America is in an all-hands-on-deck emergency that’s as trying as war. To paraphrase a dictum that has been variously attributed to two of our most storied leaders in times of great challenge, Thomas Paine and George Patton, the Republicans should either lead, follow or get out of the grown-ups’ way.