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Sen. McCoy’s stupidity

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Chris Woods

December 19, 2007 in 2006 Governor's Race, Blouin, Mike, Democrats, Des Moines, Iowa Legislature, Iowa politics and Republicans. 0 Comments

I’m sorry, but State Sen. Matt McCoy–whom I used to respect–keeps making real dunderhead-like moves and is seriously making me reconsider my opinion of him. The fact that the IECDB is now investigating campaign contributions that he may have funneled to Mike Blouin (during the gubernatorial primary in 05-06) for John Ruan only complicates matters.

Now, maybe he’s just the target of rabid local Republicans with nothing better to do (I mean, they get off on targeting gay Democrats, don’ they?) but he’s just taking away from the progress and ideas coming from Democrats in the state legislature and hurting their image. Is there some way we can just make this end?

Culver: “We’re not interested in going in December”

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Chris Woods

August 10, 2007 in 2008 Elections, Blogs, Caucuses, Culver, Chet, Democrats, Des Moines, Iowa politics and Republicans. 0 Comments

Just back from the press conference at IDP Headquarters with Gov. Chet Culver, Secretary of State Mike Mauro, and IDP Chair Scott Brennan. Culver made sure to emphasize that Iowa Democrats were still planning for January 14th precinct caucuses, but admitted the situation is and remains fluid, with a lot running on New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner’s decision when to hold his state’s primary, which by state law must happen seven days before any other primary. Iowa state law says that Iowa’s caucuses must occur eight days before any other state selection process.

Culver started out the conference by announcing to Iowans that Christmas is going to happen in this state and that he expects to have the caucuses on January 14th. Culver also said:

“We’re confident that work with our friends in New Hampshire, the Iowa Democratic Party, and the Democratic National Committee that Iowa is going to hold the lead-off caucus here.”

Obviously the situation is fluid, but nothing has changed the dates between Iowa and New Hampshire. Until New Hampshire makes a change, we’re scheduled for January 14th. We’re not interested in going in December.”

That appears to backtrack a bit from statements Culver made on Wednesday before Kay Henderson and other reporters when the rumors first began emerging that the South Carolina GOP would move their state primary to Jan. 19th, three days before New Hampshire’s scheduled (by the DNC) Jan. 22 primary. Here’s what Culver said then:

“Would it be odd, having the Caucuses before Christmas?

“It’s challenging to get the Caucuses done period. It requires a lot of work but I do know that Iowans are excited about participating in this presidential selection process and I don’t think as long as we give appropriate notice in timing that the date matters a whole lot. We just need to get it set and hopefully, it’ll be the 14th. If not, we’ll do what we have to do to keep the state first,” Culver said.”

Clearly, in the exchange with Henderson and others Culver indicated a preference and emphasis on the Jan. 14th date but by saying that date didn’t matter a whole lot. The remarks above prompted Chase Martyn to call Culver out on his blog.

Yesterday Culver’s office issued a statement clarifying his support for the January date and today’s conference seemed to be a clear indication that he’s stepping aside — to some degree — to let the state Democratic party handle the matter, as is their prerogative and obligation. As Secretary of State Mauro said today, the parties are the ones who control the caucuses, not the state government or the secretary of state’s office, as they do with regular elections.

A few other tid-bits from the presser. Chairman Brennan did say he had been in touch with the Republican Party of Iowa about the situation, but said they were — as expected — a bit more focused on the Ames straw poll fundraiser tomorrow. He also put the onus on New Hampshire in terms of defining how the Iowa Caucuses could play out with the Democrats and Republicans holding their caucuses on separate nights, as had been the tradition before 1980. David Yepsen was the one who posed the question to Brennan and he said:

“New Hampshire will drive that.”

He emphasized that the tradition was to have the caucuses on the same nights, but there was no overall commitment to caucuses on the same nights if push came to shove. That could make the caucuses even more of a spectacle with Democrats and Republicans crossing over into the opposite parties’ caucuses to pick the weaker or ‘crazier’ nominee.

Finally, the highlight of the conference for myself and Patrick Stansberry from Common Iowan, was a question from a reporter for WHO Radio asking if Culver “blamed the blogosphere for the speculation that Iowa’s caucuses might take place in December?”

Culver’s response was “Not at all.” Thanks, Governor. :-)

Headed down to the IDP

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Chris Woods

August 10, 2007 in 2008 Elections, Caucuses, Culver, Chet, Democrats, Des Moines, Iowa politics and Voting. 0 Comments

As John notes here, the IDP is having a press conference with Gov. Chet Culver, Sec. of State Mike Mauro, and IDP Chair Scott Brennan for a discussion about the Iowa Caucuses. The event starts in about 40 minutes and I’ll try to live-blog some of the news and will offer a full report as soon as the event has concluded.

Harkin likely to vote to confirm Nussle as OMB Director

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Chris Woods

June 21, 2007 in Budget, Bush Administration, Congress, Democrats, Harkin, Tom, Iowa politics, Nussle, Jim and Republicans. 0 Comments

Dar Danielson of Radio Iowa brings the disappointing news that Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin is likely going to vote to confirm Jim Nussle as the next Director of the Office and Management and Budget.

I can clearly see how playing politics with his confirmation probably isn’t the best political strategy, but I was really hoping we’d at least some Democrats oppose his nomination simply because of how poorly he managed the budget as Chairman of the House Budget Committee. I mean, Bush is ultimately the figurehead who ends up responsible for the trillions of dollars of debt, but a lot of the problems can be pegged to Nussle’s leadership in the House.

I guess I can still hope and pray that the Senate grills him fast and hard during his confirmation hearings.

2008: Giuliani to skip Iowa?

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Chris Woods

May 23, 2007 in 2008 Elections, Caucuses, Iowa politics, Nussle, Jim and Republicans. 0 Comments

Ed. Note: This is an expanded version of the original quick-hit post I made for IowaIndependent.com.

Will Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani actually compete in the Iowa GOP’s Straw Poll? Over the past couple of days, speculation has emerged over whether or not the former New York City Mayor will actually compete in the Iowa GOP’s Straw Poll in August.

Yesterday, Mike Glover of the Associated Press reported on the “mixed-signals” coming from the Giuliani campaign about competing in Iowa, not just in the Straw Poll but in the January caucus as well. In response to the story, the campaign responded with comment to Mike Allen of The Politico, saying:

“It would be rather silly for us to spend the candidate’s time and campaign money on staff, office space, etc. in Iowa if we didn’t intend to play there.”

Further efforts to quell the story came from Giuliani’s Iowa campaign adviser, former Rep. Jim Nussle, who posted on the news forum of the major conservative blog Power Line. He writes, in part:

“After all the work I’ve witnessed first-hand by the campaign in Iowa, and with all the positive comments I hear from Iowans about Rudy’s strong leadership, I am encouraged by the Caucus operation that is being built from the ground up. The Mayor continues to lead in the national polls and is well-positioned to make his move in a number of the early primary states. We have work to do, but I feel confident about our positioning in Iowa and the rest of the country.”

However, the story doesn’t seem to be that simple.

Today, Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa spoke with the campaign and had this to report:

“Mark Campbell, Giuliani’s national political director, says the campaign will decide in the next 20 days whether to enter the Straw Poll ring. Campbell also dismisses media reports that Giuliani may skip competing for support in Iowa’s Caucuses and focus on the big states like Florida and California which will be having primaries shortly after Iowa.”

So, which is it?

Clearly, Iowa Republicans supporting Giuliani have cause to be concerned about whether or not he will truly compete in Iowa, or just how strongly he will compete. During his first official presidential campaign visit in April, Giuliani said he was competing to win in Iowa. Now with a weaker than expected showing in the Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll — he is essentially in a statistical tie for second with Senator John McCain while former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has a big lead — it is becoming apparent that Giuliani is not in the position he wants to be in Iowa.

The addition of Nussle to the campaign staff as an Iowa adviser was supposed to help alleviate some of the potential organizing problems that the campaign may have faced in the state as the other Republican contenders gobbled up staff. Currently it seems like that investment isn’t paying off.

Some may argue it has to do with the big philosophical differences between the candidate and the adviser: Giuliani has been pro-choice while Nussle opposes abortion, Giuliani has also supported gay rights while Nussle favored a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

HHS to get $115 million more to implement health care goals

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Chris Woods

May 14, 2007 in Budget, Culver, Chet, Democrats, Health Care, Iowa politics and Taxes. 0 Comments

The Iowa Dept. of Human Services is expected to gain an extra $115 million more come July 1st, thanks to the passage of the cigarette tax this past March in the legislature as well as the creation of a Health Care Trust Fund.

The cigarette tax legislation created the standing appropriation to the Dept. of Health and Human Services as part of an effort to began expanding insurance coverage to many Iowans, particularly low-income families and children who are not covered.

This year’s deposit to HHS is $127.6 million in sum, with $115.4 million going directly to Human Services for Medicaid purposes as well as expanding hawk-i coverage and outreach. Hawk-i covers low-income children of citizens and is designed to supplement Medicaid by covering children whose family’s income is above the Medicaid limit but below the hawk-i limit.

Governor Chet Culver campaigned on an “Insure Iowa” health care initiative while running for election in 2006. Some of the fundamental aspects of his health initiative rested on the funding to be received from the cigarette tax increase, it seems as if the full reach of the initiative was not taken up by the legislature.

As I reported last week, the cigarette tax already markedly improved state revenues in April and if the revenue increase continue at a relatively stable (or even slightly declining pace) the state will still make an additional $300 million in revenue. However, only $127 million is being dedicated to expanded health care coverage, making it hard to implement other prongs of Culver’s campaign plan. The rest of the revenue generated will go into the General Fund of the Iowa Legislature.

Some of the largest additional allocations inside HHS will go towards combatting the increasing services costs for those on Medicaid. Of the $115 million to Human Services alone, $42.48 million is allocated for increased Medicaid service costs.

On the other hand, outreach and efforts to enroll more people who are not insured is also strongly budgeted for. Over $5 million is allocated for increased enrollment to ‘independent young adults’ and ‘Medicaid-eligible children.’ In addition, $3.6 million is allocated for increased hawk-i outreach and enrollment efforts.

In an era where campaign promises never seemed to be filled, it seems like the Democratic trifecta on Capitol Hill is sure trying to start to follow-through.

Cross-posted at Iowa Independent.

Cigarette Tax Markedly Improves State Revenues in April

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Chris Woods

May 14, 2007 in Culver, Chet, Democrats, Health Care, Iowa Legislature, Iowa politics and Taxes. 0 Comments

Smokers in Iowa helped increase state revenues by over $40 million in April, according to a new report released today by the Legislative Services Agency.

During the month of April, the cigarette tax and tobacco taxes were two of the highest generators of revenue, with corporate income tax being 47.2 percent higher than in April of last year. State revenues are estimated to rise by 6.9 percent from fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2007 according the LSA. That is an increase of almost $340 million.

The Iowa Legislature passed the cigarette tax hike earlier this year, with Governor Chet Culver signing the bill into law on March 15. The tax increase went into effect the next day. Packs of cigarettes went from having a $0.36 tax to a $1.36 tax.

Governor Culver and Democrats in the Iowa legislature campaigned in 2006 to raise the tobacco tax as a way to reduce young people smoking and preventing unnecessary health ailments relating to tobacco. Culver says the tax will keep 40,000 young Iowans from picking up the habit. Prior to the tax increase, about 4,200 Iowans under the age of 18 would pick up the smoking habit, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

In a March press release, the Campaign estimated that the state would see about $153 million in new revenues for the year. If the current pace of $40 million a month keeps up, the state could see a revenue increase of over $300 million from the cigarette tax alone. However, as more people decrease their purchases because of the higher price, revenues will be expected to decline to some degree.

The money generated from the tax increase is deposited into the general fund of the state of Iowa. Beginning on July 1, 2007, a standing appropriation of $127.6 million will be deposited in a new Health Care Trust Fund.

Raise your VOICE!

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Chris Woods

March 26, 2007 in Democrats, Fallon, Ed, Iowa Legislature, Iowa politics, VOICE, Vilsack, Tom and Voting. 2 Comments

Ed. Note: Cross-posted at Bleeding Heartland.

Today, we need action at the grassroots and netroots level to the bring Voter-Owned Iowa Clean Elections law out of subcommittee, to the full House Appropriations Committee, and then to the floor for debate in the Iowa House. Ed Fallon (and his group I’m For Iowa) and former Governor Tom Vilsack both support HF 805 and right now the bill is in an appropriations subcommittee with instructions to kill the bill.

Members of that subcommittee include:

Rep. Dave Jacoby (D)
House District 30 — Johnson County
David.Jacoby@legis.state.ia.us
Rep. Jo Oldson (D)
House District 61 — Polk County
Jo.Oldson@legis.state.ia.us
Rep. Dwayne Alons (R)
House District 4 — Sioux County
Dwayne.Alons@legis.state.ia.us

Please email them or call the House Switchboard at (515) 281-3221 to get a hold of them and ask them to support HF 805, the VOICE legislation. The subcommittee is expected to meet either tomorrow or Wednesday — without large citizen support and efforts to communicate that support to them, they’ll kill the bill. We cannot allow that to happen. If the bill comes out of the subcommittee, it essentially becomes “funnel-proof” and must then be considered before the full House Appropriations Committee and would likely make it to the floor of the House for consideration.

When you contact your legislators, use this email from T.M. Lindsey as an example — and remember, be POLITE! Also, include in your email if they plan on voting for the bill or against the bill, both in subcommittee and in further debate. If they email you back, please post the response in the comments section and we can work to further inquire about the bill and where its going. From these responses, we’ll start to put a list together of where each Representative stands and we can put the pressure on them.

Iowa leadership polls

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Chris Woods

March 23, 2007 in Culver, Chet, Democrats, Gronstal, Mike, Iowa Legislature, Iowa politics and Murphy. 0 Comments

Over at Bleeding Heartland, I’ve posted three Iowa netroots polls to judge what people think of Iowa’s big-three Democratic leaders: Chet Culver, Pat Murphy, and Mike Gronstal. Please go vote and leave your thoughts. Hopefully by the end of the weekend or the beginning of next week we’ll have some interesting numbers to report.

2008: Edwards in Iowa tomorrow

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Chris Woods

March 19, 2007 in 2008 Elections, Caucuses, Culver, Chet, Democrats, Des Moines, Energy, Environment and Iowa politics. 3 Comments

I know this is short notice, but I guess John Edwards definitely has a leg up on the rest of the field when he can stop by Iowa on the weekdays, not just coming in every other weekend. He’ll be speaking at a biomass plant in Nevada tomorrow. Here are the details:

* WHAT: Remarks by John Edwards
* WHEN: Tuesday, March 20th at 12:15 pm
* WHY: To hear John Edwards’ plan to halt global warming and create a new energy economy
* WHERE: Biomass Energy Conversion Center (BECON)
1521 West F Avenue
Nevada, Iowa

He’ll also be making time to visit with leaders at the Iowa Statehouse and then will be attending an evening house party in Indianola. It should be an interesting speech, to say the least, however I won’t be able to make it there. Once the prepared remarks hit my inbox, I’ll do my best to glance them over and pass along some of the key points. Last week, Edwards announced that he would become the second presidential candidate to declare that his campaign would become carbon neutral (full details of his plan below the fold). Tom Vilsack announced that several days before he dropped out so we couldn’t see the full impact of his statement but I strongly believe that Edwards will follow through on the pledge — and the results should be interesting to see.

And one more thing. It will be interesting to see which state legislators and staffers make it to the meetings with Sen. Edwards. Several of Governor Culver’s staffers used to be involved with the 2004 campaign and Gov. Culver himself was a supporter of Edwards in 2004, even if it was a quiet support. While I’m sure the Governor’s office will play it safe with endorsements and all of that, I’m sure some favoritism will likely come through.
Continue reading ‘2008: Edwards in Iowa tomorrow’

Cigarette tax increase moves to full Senate for debate

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Chris Woods

February 6, 2007 in Budget, Culver, Chet, Democrats, Health Care, Iowa Legislature, Iowa politics and Taxes. 0 Comments

Tonight in the Statehouse, the Senate Ways and Means Committee voted the $1/pack increase on cigarette tax out of committee which means that the bill will go to the floor of the Senate for debate soon. The bill is Senate Study Bill 1055, which can be found here, but I’m sure the bill will be renumbered as it prepares for debate on the floor. That means that Governor Chet Culver is one step closer to getting his wish and campaign promise of a $1/pack increase that will help pay for his health care and other plans in his proposed budget.

The Iowa House will be the real test, as it has been the location of contention over whether or not the increase would be $1 or less — rumors being that the increase would be around $0.40 - $0.60. Recently, Speaker Murphy has said he was more convinced that a $1 increase was justified and I truly hope he fights for it. Culver has been pretty reluctant to engage in discussion or debates with the Democratic legislature about his budget proposals, simply saying he’s made his requests and its up the legislature. I’m not sure if he’s playing timid or is actually being timid, but we’ll soon see. If it looks like he can’t get his buck increase in the House, he’ll likely step up and put the pressure on lawmakers for the full increase.

In other news about the cigarette tax, a major lobbying effort launched today with supporters of an increase meeting at the state capitol in bright green shirts urging their legislators to adopt the $1/pack increase. As Kay Henderson points out here in a Radio Iowa story, a University of Illinois economist was one of the people at the capitol today and based on his academic research and findings, the supposed detriment border stores and others won’t actually come to fruition:

“Chaloupka says there’s no evidence that very many smokers in Iowa will turn to the Internet, bootleggers or stores on Native American reservations to buy their cigarettes to escape the higher tax.

“It’s no where near as much as people are arguing,” Chaloupka says. “It’s going to be relatively minimal.” Chaloupka also says the evidence shows that raising the tobacco tax helps reduce smoking rates.”

The most recent report/study I could find from Chaloupka is from 2001, which you can view here (PDF). In general, raising the tobacco tax not only decreases the number of young people who pick up the habit, but also helps others who aren’t terribly addicted end their habit.

I truly hope that the House provides for the $1/pack increase because I’m eager to see Culver’s budget proposals fulfilled as well as the fact that this will help deter young people from picking up the horrible habit.

Culver says he’ll sign Fair Share law

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Chris Woods

February 5, 2007 in Culver, Chet, Democrats, Fair Share, Iowa Legislature, Iowa politics, Labor and Republicans. 5 Comments

I missed this on Friday, but Governor Culver mentioned during his appearance on Iowa that if the Iowa legislature passed Fair Share legislation that he would sign the bill into law:

“”They are talking about amending the current law. Very few people are talking about repealing ‘Right to Work’ law,” Culver says. Iowa’s so-called “Right to Work” law forbids forced union membership in workplaces where unions have organized. Culver says he is not demanding that legislators pass the proposed bill, which has been labeled “Fair Share.”

But if lawmakers do pass it, he’ll sign it into law. “This is a big issue for a lot of hard-working folks across the state,” Culver says. “I expect the legislature will take that up in the next week or two and it could be on my desk in that period of time.” Culver points to his own background as a member of the Des Moines teachers union as one of the reasons he backs the move.”

I don’t think anyone expected Culver to veto any bill, but I think this statement of support clearly earns him some support from those lobbying for the Fair Share changes to Iowa’s labor statutes. The important thing to remember, contrary to Iowa’s anti-labor Republicans are saying, no one is articulating repealing Iowa’s right to work law — or at least if anyone is, they’re not going to get anywhere. Legislative Democrats know that compromise is part of the responsibility of leadership and they’re going to do so by passing Fair Share legislation, which is an addition to Iowa’s already existing labor statutes. You can see the Senate Study Bill here. You should clearly note that it isn’t eliminating any part of the law but is instead adding to it.

The other important thing to remember about the Fair Share legislation is that fees would be limited to activities the union is required to perform for all employees under federal law. That means no required fees or contributions to political or education funds. Some commenters have seemed to think that that is the case with Iowa’s law. Not true.

Fallon for Mayor?

Published by

Chris Woods

January 30, 2007 in Democrats, Des Moines, Fallon, Ed and Iowa politics. 4 Comments

While reading this snipehunter diary over at Bleeding Heartland, I was quite fascinated to see this little tid-bit when talking about the IA-03 race in 2008:

“That gives Boswell the opportunity to tour around with all of the “rock stars,” speak to thousands of Iowans in the 3rd district almost without lifting a finger at event planning. Pretty nice deal for him. With rumors that Ed Fallon is running for Mayor of Des Moines, Boswell’s main primary competition would be Geri Huser.”

Now, I’ve known for a while that Geri Huser has been thinking about a primary challenge. And from what I’ve heard from Boswell campaign remnants and staffers, there is no way that Boswell retires/gives up the seat unless he dies or is close to death, essentially. This basically forces Huser to wait or challenge him in the primary — either way, an uncomfortable position for those who like Boswell, but want someone younger and maybe less moderate (and Huser isn’t exactly loved by certain parts of the Democratic party).

Anyway, the big story coming from that little graf is the fact that Ed Fallon is considering a run for mayor of Des Moines. To the best of my knowledge, Frank Cownie’s term as Mayor of Des Moines ends on January 1, 2008, essentially meaning that the race for mayor of Des Moines will probably launch this fall (and would be the kind of cheap, grassroots campaign Fallon is looking for). It is also a non-partisan position, even though the previous mayor (Preston Daniels) and Cownie are both Democrats, just as Fallon would be if elected.

Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this rumor, but it mainly has been more a whisper I had heard that wasn’t to be repeated. Clearly, someone else is hearing the same stuff and now the rumor has made it out into the open. What do you think?

Half-staff

Published by

Chris Woods

January 30, 2007 in Culver, Chet, Iowa politics and Iraq. 0 Comments

Gov. Culver’s first executive order (issued on Saturday, Jan. 27) that called for flying all flags at half-staff until sunset today wasn’t politically motivated, contrary to the bullshit that State 29 spewed, but a legitimate expression of remorse and respect by those at the highest levels of state government for the loss of Iowa’s highest-ranking female National Guard member as well as the fact that she was the first woman to every reach that staff position in the Iowa National Guard.

Moreover, if you read the full release available on the Governor’s office website, it reads:

“This afternoon, Governor Culver signed his first Executive Order as Governor calling for flags to be flown at half staff throughout the state of Iowa to honor fallen Iowa soldiers.”

While the death of Command Sgt. Maj. Gabbard may have brought significant state attention to the deaths of Iowa Guard members serving over in Iraq, Culver’s order not only honors Gabbard but all of Iowa’s finest who have perished in Iraq.

Finally, arguing against feminism — or even simply criticizing the recognition by insinuating the act itself is anti-feminist politics — is just simply disgusting and dishonest. The facts are quite clear and simple: this is a matter of respect for a woman who broke barriers and gave her life to serve her country, even if it was an in endeavor facing clear political unrest and disagreement.

Culver offers $5.7 billion budget for FY 2008

Published by

Chris Woods

January 30, 2007 in Budget, Culver, Chet, Democrats, Energy, Iowa Legislature, Iowa politics and Stem Cells. 0 Comments

Here is the introductory piece from the Register on Governor Culver’s proposed budget. You may remember that over the past couple of days, Culver has talked about parts of his budget plan, such as spending $70 million to increase teacher pay as well as invest $12.5 million to create a stem cell research center at the University of Iowa. Stem cell research was one of the big campaign promises that Culver reiterated not only during the election season but during the transition period and in his inaugural. Iowans are definitely looking for strong leadership from him on the issue, and as Geraldine over at Iowa Progress notes he is taking that leadership.

The Department of Management has the full, 128-page budget proposal here (large PDF). I’ll be reviewing it hopefully tonight a bit, as well as over the next few days, and hope to be able to answer questions that are asked as well as highlight some parts of the budget. Part of the budget also calls for an initial $25 million down payment for creation of the Iowa Power Fund, another campaign promise.

The biggest question involved in the budget outlines and the proposal is how much the cigarette tax will be raised. Culver has continued to call for a $1.00 increase, from $0.36 to $1.36. However, House and Senate Democrats have approached the increase less enthusiastically and said they are looking at something between $0.40 to $0.60 increase. If the full dollar increase doesn’t happen, then budget priorities will definitely have to be reconsidered and reworked. But as Culver spokesman Brad Anderson said, the increase is up to the legislature to decide. And if they go lower, then they will have to work with the Governor on a compromise.