Fallon: State Legislature Overrun with Special InterestsState Representative and gubernatorial candidate Ed Fallon (D-Des Moines) said on Monday that special interest money in politics is keeping the state legislature from making “obvious moves” on issues most Iowans share opinions about, such as car title loans, cigarette taxes and renewable energy.
“Take the car title loan situation, for example,” Fallon said. “This is predatory lending at its worst, targeting the poor and forcing them to pay exorbitant interest rates. Predatory loans are exactly the kind of abuse the legislature is supposed to prevent. But LoanMax affiliates gave Speaker of the House Christopher Rants and the Iowa Leadership Council $40,000, and now legislation to regulate those loans won’t be debated. That’s not a coincidence.”
Rants and the Council also received $60,000 from tobacco companies. Rants is refusing to allow debate on raising the cigarette tax.
“If you need proof that big-money special interests buy influence in politics, this is it,” Fallon said. “The decision to raise taxes on cigarettes should be based on its impact on Iowa businesses and the potential benefits for Iowans, not based on the profit margins of companies outside the state. But when outside interests throw lots of money to key officials in Iowa, their voice is heard to the exclusion of the public’s interest.”
Fallon’s criticism was not just targeted at Rants, however.
“As we’re developing policies for renewable energy, one of many issues we need to discuss is who will control it: local farmers and entrepreneurs or large energy companies,” Fallon said. “More than one in three members of Iowa’s legislative leadership received contributions from MidAmerican Energy in 2005. Several of them also took money from Alliant Energy. It’s no coincidence that more and more of Iowa’s renewable energy systems are being controlled by big corporations.”
In 2005, a non-election year, MidAmerican gave $40,500 to Iowa legislators, including Rants, Senate Co-President Mike Gronstal (D-Council Bluffs), Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Larry McKibben (R-Marshalltown), House Majority Leader Chuck Gipp (R-Decorah), House Majority Whip Libby Jacobs (R-West Des Moines), House Assistant Majority Leader Rod Roberts (R-Carroll), House Assistant Majority Leader Carmine Boal (R-Ankeny), Senate Republican Floor Leader Stewart Iverson (R-Clarion), Senate Republican Assistant Leader Mark Zieman (R-Postville), Senate Republican Assistant Leader John Putney (R-Gladbrook), Senate Republican Assistant Leader Jerry Behn (R-Boone), House Minority Leader Pat Murphy (D-Dubuque), and House Assistant Minority Leader Mike Reasoner (D-Creston).
