Archive for July 11, 2012
Branstad Will Hold Public Meeting On Drought Tuesday
Branstad, Reynolds to convene public meeting in Mt. Pleasant on dry and drought weather conditions
(DES MOINES) – Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced today that they will hold a two-hour public meeting on the severe dry and D1 Drought conditions that have plagued Iowa this summer. The event will be held Tuesday morning at the Mt. Pleasant High School gymnasium, and members of the public are encouraged and welcome to attend.
The public meeting will feature officials from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and the USDA. Outside expert testimony will feature agricultural groups and environmental experts.
The discussion will include the latest information and tracking metrics, how coordination is being handled between the state and federal levels, and potential action steps that may be taken in order to ensure Iowa’s needs are met. The public is invited to share their thoughts and concerns.
Details of the meeting are as follows:
Tuesday, July 18, 2012 9 a.m.
Mt. Pleasant High School gymnasium
2104 South Grand Avenue
Mount Pleasant
Tim Albrecht
Communications Director, Governor Terry E. Branstad
515-725-3523 – IGOV Communications Department
Tim.Albrecht@Iowa.Gov
@TerryBranstad
@TimAlbrechtIA
BRING THE JOBS HOME!
Working families, community members and small business owners will be speaking at a press conference, Thursday July 12, at 4:30 PM at Raygun, 400 East Locust, supporting the “Bring The Jobs Home Act”, that Congress will be voting on. Iowa Citizens Action Network, Iowa Federation of Labor, and South Central Iowa Federation of Labor will be hosting this event along with several concerned small business owners.
The speakers will be speaking out on the different ways elected officials can create good jobs right here in Iowa and help rebuild local communities hit hard by the recessions.
Speakers for this event are: Mike Draper, Owner Raygun
Sue Dinsdale, Executive Director Iowa Citizens Action Network
“We are asking our elected officials: whose side are you on? Charlie Wishman, Secretary Treasurer for the Iowa Federation of Labor said, “Do you stand with the working families and small business that create two-thirds of America’s jobs? Or do you stand with the CEO campaign contributors who cut our wages and benefits and ship our jobs overseas. When jobs go overseas, it hits main street America the hardest.”
“We have the talent and the skilled workforce to compete with anyone anywhere in the world if we just have a level playing field,” said South Central Iowa Federation of Labor President, Mark Cooper. “We urge Senators, Harkin and Grassley to support the Bring Jobs Home Act.”
The Bring Jobs Home Act will be up for vote soon in the Senate. This bill is one way for Congress to take immediate action to stop rewarding companies that ship jobs overseas. The Bring Jobs Home Act would end a particularly outrageous tax deduction for moving expenses when business relocate overseas, and would instead give business tax credit for bringing jobs back to America.
“Strong policies are important if we want our economy to grow and families to succeed. We can only rebuild our economy and our middle class when politicians stop rewarding companies that outsource, create trade agreements that protect workers’ rights and prevent currency manipulation so that jobs stay in our country,” said Sue Dinsdale, Executive Director, Iowa Citizen Action Network (ICAN).
Who: Concerned Workers, Community and business owners:
What: Press Conference, discussion on the Bring Jobs Home Act
When: Thursday, July 12, at 4:30 PM
Where: Raygun, 400 East Locust, Des Moines, IA
Tags: When Will Iowa Stop Spending Tax Dollars On ALEC?
progressiowa.org
Hewlett-Packard, Deere, BestBuy, CVS, and MillerCoors dump ALEC
When will Iowa stop sending tax dollars to this extreme organization?
DES MOINES, IOWA — Five additional companies have left the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC): Hewlett-Packard, John Deere, BestBuy, CVS, and MillerCoors, in an announcement made today. In total, twenty five corporations, four major non-profits, and fifty five confirmed elected leaders have dropped out of ALEC since the killing of Trayvon Martin in February.
“Today five prominent corporations have added their names to a long list of those who realize that ALEC should be prevented from influencing our legislative process,” said Matt Sinovic, executive director of Progress Iowa. “When will Iowa legislators stop using our tax dollars to fund such an extreme organization?”
In May, Iowa State Representative Brian Quirk announced he was cancelling his membership in ALEC, and went on to say that “ALEC is not the bipartisan organization it claims to be. I disagree with ALEC’s extreme agenda and the partisan way in which they operate. Our tax dollars should never be spent on funding such a partisan organization.”
In April, Progress Iowa began a petition campaign to stop taxpayer money from funding state legislative membership in ALEC. The petition can be found here: http://bit.ly/IowaALEC
ALEC is a secretive, corporate front group that drafts legislation, allowing Iowa legislators to pass it off as their own – turning them into what the New York Times calls “stealth lobbyists”. According to the Center for Media and Democracy, ALEC has provided model legislation in Iowa to suppress voter rights, withdraw from regional environmental partnerships, and require ‘intellectual diversity’ reporting from our college campuses. ALEC also holds direct influence in the Iowa legislature, with State Representative and House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer serving as Second Vice Chairman on ALEC’s Board of Directors.
Background:
John Deere, CVS Caremark, MillerCoors, HP, and Best Buy will no longer fund American Legislative Exchange Council
http://colorofchange.org/press/releases/2012/7/10/five-more-major-companies-will-no-longer-fund-alec/
Brian Quirk cancels ALEC membership
http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/brian-quirk-cancels-alec-membership/article_1e1fac1f-9ede-54d6-bc03-3a64a6d2e7a1.html
ALEC-modeled legislation introduced in Iowa
http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Iowa
About ALEC (Board of Directors, listing Rep. Upmeyer as Second Vice Chair)
http://www.alec.org/about-alec/board-of-directors/
Matt Sinovic
(515) 423-0530
matt@progressiowa.org
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