There was an interesting article in the Mason CityGlobe Gazette the other
day. Todd Dorman, their Des Moines Bureau correspondent recently wrote about
the new legislature getting to work in Des
Moines. The focus of the article was on the opening
day of the legislative session and how the new Republican minority is adjusting
to the new Democratic majority.
Since Democrats haven’t been the majority party in the
legislature since 1992, it was interesting to hear what some of my local
Republican legislators had to say about the new lineup.
Republican Representative Linda Upmeyer, almost gracefully
said that she understands that things will change and it will take some getting
used to.
Republican Senator E. Thurman Gaskill made an attempt at
taking the high road and said that he was humbled to serve, regardless of who
is in the majority.
And then there’s Henry. Republican Representative Henry
Rayhons was actually quoted as saying, “In general, things are going pretty
good. I’m not going to ask for too much for North Iowa.”
Well, since opening day, Representative Rayhons has voted against
raising the minimum wage, and voted against the putting a cap on car
title loans. Other north Iowa
legislators have supported both measures.
The minimum wage, although watered down significantly from
where it should be, will improve the lives of thousands of north Iowans.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has called car title
lending one of the worst consumer practices he’s seen in his 25 years on the
job. This bill caps interest rates for these loans at 21 percent and apparently
Representative Rayhons thinks this is a bad idea.
These two bills are both aimed at helping many north Iowans
who are struggling to make ends meet and should have been supported by all of
our legislators.
Well, at least Representative Rayhons has turned out to be a
man of his word. He really isn’t going to ask for too much for North Iowa.
Bush’s “new strategy”
George W. Bush finally announces that it’s time for a new strategy
in Iraq.
Like it or not, he is sending 21,500 additional troops into Baghdad with the hopes that this “surge” will
win his war.
In response to overwhelming opposition to this “plan”, Bush
has said, “to oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible,”
which is kind of like saying, “well, this plan is better than nothing.”
Is it just me or does anyone else think that we should
expect more from our Commander-in-Chief than to come up with a strategy that
not even he can defend?
Impeach.
John Drury, Mayor 205 6th
Street Swaledale,
IA50477
Random Views From A Community Activist by John Drury
Governors go to the fair
This past weekend, 30 or so Governors from across the country met in
Des Moines for their annual conference. Likely 2008 presidential
candidate and current Governor Vilsack put on quite a conference
according to most reports. The governors were even treated to a mini
state fair complete with rides and I’m guessing a corn dog or two. One
bit of good news I saw today was that Governor Schwarzenegger of
California and Governor Jeb Bush of Florida were not among the
attendees. We can only hope this means they aren’t likely to run for
President in 2008.
Bush to announce his nominee for the Supreme Court
I saw a little bit of the nightly news tonight and noticed that Bush is
set to announce his replacement for Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme
Court. He was asked what he thought of a particular judge who is on the
short list of nominees and he shot back, “Let me put it this way, when
I want you to know who it is, I’ll tell you who it is.” Why does
everything have to be such a Texas showdown with this guy?
Gaining new customers
I heard an interesting commentary on Marketplace Morning Report from
commentator Adrian Wooldridge, who is a correspondent for The
Economist. He looks at how businesses try to gain new customers and
applies it to politics. He contrasts Democratic chairman Howard Dean to
Ken Mehlman, saying that Howard Dean is focused on blasting Bush and
speaks more to his base in an attempt to fire up his "existing
customers," if you will. On the other hand, Republican chairman Mehlman
is giving daily speeches to “new customers” of the Republican party; in
this case, minorities. He comments that this approach is working and
that’s why the Republicans are out fundraising Democrats 2 to 1.
The more I look at this blog …
The more I’m impressed with the content. Let’s look back at a few
recent posts. Chad Thompson has a post up today about ethanol and the
debate on whether it takes more energy to produce ethanol than it’s
worth. His post contradicts an earlier post by Molly Regan that states
the opposite, an interesting debate no doubt. A debate whose outcome
probably depends on who is paying for the study, as Linda points out in
her comment.
And we can always count on Trish Nelson to go after the facts on the
issues. She has an ability to analyze the spin and read between the
lines of the propaganda being shoved on America.
I guess my point is that there are some very dedicated people that
contribute to this blog and we should all send a thank you to Linda for
being the driving force behind it. Her dedication to this never ceases
to amaze me.
Random Views From A Community Activist by John Drury
Bush speaks to the nation Bush
addressed the nation the other night in an attempt to regain the
support he has lost over his war for oil. He dismissed calls to set a
timeline to bring the troops home by saying that our troops will remain
in Iraq for as long as we have a mission to complete. I found this
particularly interesting given the fact that it was he who declared
“mission accomplished” over two years ago. It’s time to bring the
troops home, period.
Vilsack orders felons to vote Governor
Vilsack has signed an executive order returning the right to vote to
convicted felons that have served their time and some Republicans are
not happy with the move. The order automatically returns the right to
vote to convicted felons who have served their time. Iowa is one of a
handful of states left that require felons to appeal to the Governor in
a lengthy application process to regain their voting rights. Republican
House Speaker Christopher Rants has said he thinks that we should
welcome felons who have served their time back into society but he
draws the line on voting. What is it about Republicans and their desire
to stop people from voting?
Speaking of voting … There’s
a new report out that tells the tale of the Ohio voting boondoggle.
It’s a good read unless of course you’re under the impression that we
live in a democracy where everyone has a voice in their government.
Here’s an excerpt from the report … half
of the state’s African-American voters reported some problems at the
polls on Election Day. On average, black voters waited in longer lines
than white voters; they were asked to provide identification more often
than white voters; they were required to vote on “provisional ballots”
more often (and their provisional ballots were counted less often); and
they were intimidated at the polls more often than white voters. The
DNC found that 16 percent of African-American voters felt intimidated
at the polls; some reported hearing that “police would be at the polls
to arrest people who had outstanding child support or car payments.”
Overall, the problems African-Americans saw caused them to question the
integrity of the election. While 77 percent of white voters were “very
confident” that their votes had been counted, only 19 percent of black
voters felt the same way.
You
don’t suppose this has anything to do with yet another power hungry
Republican Secretary of State seeking higher office do you?
Fireworks and needy people Like
many Iowans over the weekend, my wife and I watched a fireworks
display. This one happened to be in the neighboring community of
Rockwell. As we sat there with a group of friends watching the night
sky light up, one of our friends said that he thought it was ridiculous
that we spend so much money on fireworks in this country. “Imagine if
we took all the money we spend on fireworks and gave it to needy
people, we wouldn’t have any more needy people,” said Mark.
I
responded to Mark by saying that perhaps Americans need the fireworks
displays to remind us that we are the greatest country in the world. We
are so rich and powerful that we can afford to light up our skies with
these explosives and not give a second thought to the cost. And what
better day to do this than on the fourth of July, our nation’s
birthday.
“Just imagine how many people we could feed with that kind of money, though,” he said.
Random Views From A Community Activist
by John Drury
Crunching the numbers on the death penalty Senate
Democratic leader and gubernatorial hopeful Mike Gronstal was
interviewed last week on IPTV’s Iowa Press. Des Moines Register
columnist David Yepsen pressed Senator Gronstal on the issue of
bringing the death penalty back to Iowa. As you probably know, there
were more than a handful of legislators wanting to debate this
contentious issue and Gronstal effectively blocked senate debate on it
in this last session.
Yepsen
asked Senator Gronstal why he was so against the death penalty, given
the recent Jetseta Gage case, a case that did prompt the legislature to
toughen their sex offender laws. In almost the same breath, he said
that his first instinct in the Gage case was that the state should kill
the sex offender, but that he is morally opposed to the death penalty
and that he didn’t think that an evenly split senate should waste time
debating the issue.
Yepsen
countered with the thought that if Iowans want a death penalty in this
state, then they need to rid the legislature of Democrats so the debate
can take place. Gronstal then retrenched and said that bringing back
the death penalty is not a fiscally responsible thing to do. It costs
more to kill the offender than it does to keep them in prison for the
rest of their lives.
I don’t
know about you, but I’m confused as to why Gronstal is opposed to the
death penalty. Is it because it’s immoral to kill, or is it because we
just can’t seem to crunch the numbers?
At least he didn’t scream it DNC
Chairman Howard Dean has been criticizing Republicans calling the
Republican party “pretty much a white, Christian party.” He also said
that Republicans “never made an honest living in their lives.” This has
caused some Democrats to run for cover saying that Dean is going
overboard and that he doesn’t represent their views. Howard Dean has a
pretty good handle on the issues facing this country; I have to wonder
why he chose to resort to name calling when he could be pointing out
where the Republicans have been dead wrong on so many issues.
Democrats increase their numbers
Governor Vilsack has announced he will sign an executive order
returning the right to vote to convicted felons that have served their
time. He notes that when you return these rights, “crime rates and
recidivism are lower.” Republican leadership is crying foul. House
Speaker Christopher Rants said, “I think society’s entitled to say, you
know what, we welcome you back, but you don't get to help make laws
once you've crossed a certain line.” At the same time he is taking
moral high ground, Speaker Rants’ office circulated a 2003 study by
sociologists from the University of Minnesota and Northwestern
University arguing that Democrats would benefit most from permitting
felons to vote.
Supervisors give in to Farm Bureau
At their
regular meeting this morning, the Cerro Gordo County Board of
Supervisors lifted their moratorium on construction of hog confinement
facilities in the county. A few years ago, they went against state law
and enacted a moratorium on any new confinements or expansion in the
county. State law prohibits local governments from regulating this
industry but the supervisors were under an extraordinary amount of
pressure from the public and enacted the moratorium, reasoning that we
need a timeout while the state legislature figures this issue out. Well,
years later the state has yet to enact meaningful legislation that
would strike a balance between the industry and the people and the
environment. By ignoring this issue, the legislature has only added
fuel to the growing civil war in rural Iowa.
The
supervisors did mention that they were working on something called a
"good neighbor policy." Is it just me or does anyone else find it
incredibly sad that the Iowa legislature has allowed rural Iowa to get
to the point of needing a policy to hopefully ensure good
neighbors?
This
issue pits neighbor against neighbor. This issue must be solved, it
must be solved at the state level, and it must be solved in the next
legislative session. Stay tuned.
Legislative Session Nothing to Boast Aboutby John Drury
Iowa
Senate Democratic leader and potential gubernatorial candidate Mike
Gronstal was in Mason City the other day. He apparently is on a tour of
the state looking for press and support of his possible run for the
governor’s office.
He is
calling the recent legislative session “historic”, pointing out that
the divided senate forced both parties to listen to the other side. He
boasted about some of the accomplishments of the session such as more
money for schools and the legislation to reduce the number of meth labs
in the state.
First
off, it’s a sad day in Iowa when simply listening to the other party is
considered historic. And if you talk to school boards and
superintendents, they will tell you that giving them 4% allowable
growth after years of under-funding doesn’t come close to enough money
to properly fund public education. And if your school’s enrollment is
on the decline as a lot of them are, there is no new money. The meth
lab legislation is something I would have voted for but since 85% of
the meth problem comes from out of state, I would realize that we
probably haven’t even scratched the surface of the problem.
What he
can’t boast about is how the state legislature has failed to address
the “brain drain” problem. Sure, the senate Republicans got a lot of
press when they announced their no tax under 30 plan; but after being
mocked in the Op-Ed page of the New York Times they more or less
admitted it was nothing more than a gimmick and dropped the idea.
What he can’t boast about is how the state has failed to help thousands of working Iowans by raising the minimum wage. We
even heard the senate Republican leader say that he didn’t see that it
was an issue because he doesn’t know anyone working for minimum wage,
almost at the same time one legislator called the state’s workers
“bottom feeders.” Not
only did we not raise it, we sat idly by while Minnesota did the
responsible thing and raised it by a dollar to $6.15. Quite frankly,
it’s almost embarrassing to sit here and argue for a $6.15 minimum
wage. Even that falls piteously shy of a living wage.
What he
can’t boast about is that according to a recent Des Moines Register
article, the state has dropped to 49th in the nation when it comes to
public land for recreation. And even though recreation is essential to
keeping residents in the state and attracting tourists, just 2
percent of Iowa is public recreation land. According to the article,
years ago state lawmakers set a goal to have ten percent of Iowa in
publicly controlled lands. I think we have a ways to go. Only the state
of Kansas has less land for public recreation than we do. On a lighter
note, we may now have a new state slogan ... “Thank God for Kansas!”
What he
can’t boast about is how the legislature failed to listen to the
concerns of organic growers in the state before they passed the
infamous seed de-regulation bill. The legislature enacted pre-emptive
legislation that prevents local governments from regulating the types
of seeds grown in their communities or counties. Essentially, they are
now regulating de-regulation. So in retrospect, I guess that is kind of
“historic.”
What he
can’t boast about is that even though we are in a difficult budget
crisis, we somehow found money for a pay increase for state legislators.
What he
can’t boast about is how the state has failed to make it easier for
Iowans to get affordable prescription drugs from Canada. Currently,
there are only four U.S. states that openly encourage their citizens to
buy prescription drugs from Canada: Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, and
Wisconsin. Maybe the senate Republican leader doesn’t know anyone that
can’t afford to buy their prescription drugs.
If this session was truly historic, then let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
I
want to take a break from the politics for a week and dedicate this
column to my mother in honor of Mother’s Day. My mother passed away on
March 18, 1999 after a brief bout with lung cancer.
My
mother taught me that in order to get anywhere in life, you couldn’t be
afraid of hard work. I don’t recall her ever specifically sitting me
down and teaching me this lesson, instead she taught by example.
As long
as I can remember, she worked as hard as she could and if something
needed to get done, she would be the one to do it. My mother had a
strong work ethic and whether she knew it or not, she passed that on to
all of her children as well.
My
parents were divorced when I was a teenager and after my older brothers
and sister had either gone off to college or moved away, it was just
the two of us.
She
worked for years at the hardware store here in Swaledale. G.A.
Eddy & Sons TrueValue hardware was a full scale hardware store,
complete with lumber yard and LP gas business. I would venture to say
that my mother probably knew the product line better than anyone there.
If you needed a particular piece of hardware, she knew exactly where it
was. I can remember going into the store after school. I remember
watching her help customers find what they were looking for. I have one
of her nametags that she wore while she worked there. It has the
TrueValue logo, underneath that is her name Marcelle, and under that it
says Happy To Serve You.
I can’t
imagine a more appropriate slogan for my mother to work by. She truly
was happy to serve people. Later in life she took a job at Easter Seals
in Mason City. She enjoyed that job as well and worked there until her
retirement.
When she
retired, she found that she perhaps had too much time on her hands. She
would never come right out and say it, but I think she missed going to
work every day and helping people. What she did come out and say was
how proud she was of her children and grandchildren. She took great
pride in watching us do well.
I want
to share a story. The year was 1998 and I was living in Rhode Island at
the time, but my wife and I were in Swaledale for a visit. It was the
end of June and time for the town’s annual 4th of July celebration.
Almost every town has some annual event where they have a parade, town
picnic, games for the kids, perhaps a street dance, and Swaledale was
no exception. Swaledale Big Day is held the last Saturday in June. We
have all of the required elements for a town celebration and we top it
off with a street dance at night. We close off main street, hire a band
or a disc jockey and literally dance in the street.
This
particular Big Day was probably the hottest it’s ever been in
Swaledale. The day’s events were pulled off without a hitch until it
was time for the street dance. As my wife and I were waiting for the
dance to begin, the Swaledale Fire Dept. went through town advising
everyone that there was a tornado coming right towards Swaledale and we
were to take cover. We happened to be outside the old hardware store
which is now an industrial door business called Doors, Inc. We quickly
took cover in the basement thinking that our lives could quite possibly
be over. As I sat there waiting for the tornado to either hit or miss
us, I remember thinking about the old pop machine the hardware store
used to have. I could get a bottle of pop for a dime after school and I
often did. I wondered if it was still there.
The
tornado missed Swaledale by about a mile and we were relieved. Not only
because we were spared the devastation, but also because now we had a
legitimate reason to dance in the street. I called my mother after the
all clear was issued and told her we were OK. She asked me where we
were. I told her we were “in Doors.” She said, “but where are you?” I
said, “we are in Doors.” There was a slight pause and she said, “well,
as long as you’re OK.” At that point I realized she thought I was
telling her that we were indoors but didn’t want to be specific. We
shared a good laugh and I still chuckle about it today.
Saturday’s
storm brought beautiful weather on Sunday. Celeste and I were supposed
to leave in the afternoon for Rhode Island. I remember the family
sitting in the grass in the shaded front yard and discussing calling
the airline to postpone our flight another day. I am glad we did. It
was our last visit before she got sick.
My
mother gave me my love for public service. There is a certain amount of
sacrifice and when done well, a lot of work involved in being a mayor
of a small town. I believe that a love for public service coupled with
a strong work ethic were very important traits for me to have.
Everything
I set out to accomplish as mayor, I worked as hard as I could to get
the job done. My mother wouldn’t have it any other way. And I am very
grateful to her.
The
last week of the 2005 session of the Iowa legislature is upon us and it
seems that instead of trying to get their feet out the door, some are
trying to get their feet out of their mouths.
Last week I told you about the egregious remark that Senator Iverson
made regarding the minimum wage issue. “The minimum wage really isn’t a
huge issue because I don’t know anybody working for that,” said Senator
Iverson.
Would you like to meet some, Senator?
Not to be outdone, Senator Mark Zieman, a Republican from Postville,
described government workers as “bottom feeders out there with their
hand out.” This was during senate debate on the state’s public
retirement system. It was later reported that Senator Zieman has
received more than $1 million in farm subsidies since 1995. When asked
about this, Senator Zieman replied, “I readily admit I got’ em and I
admitted at the time that I’m one of those people that’s using the
system.”
So then, are you also a bottom feeder, Senator?
In the closing week of the 2005 session, it appears as though the tax credits are flying.
There is an interesting proposal in the House that would extend a tax
credit of up to $10,000 if you donate a kidney or bone marrow. “I’m not
saying that everybody’s going to rush out and give away a kidney or
anything,” said Representative Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Garner.
I would say that’s probably a safe bet, Linda.
There’s talk of tax breaks for people who donate to private schools as
well. Representative Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City,
is in support of this saying, “We want to have those schools as a
viable alternative so people have some choice of where to send their
kids to school.”
Are you under the false impression that you have properly funded public education in this state, Senator?
Let’s not limit the wordplay to state politics, 4th District U.S.
Representative Tom Latham was in town again the other day. It’s kind of
funny, through the fall campaign you couldn’t find the man, and now it
seems like he’s everywhere. Anyway, he spoke to a government class at
NIACC yesterday, and offered up these nuggets.
On Terry Schiavo, he said that he has “real reservations about Congress
getting involved in situations like this” but that they didn’t vote on
whether or not to remove the feeding tube, but “whether the federal
court should have jurisdiction and I voted for that.”
With all due respect sir, you got involved in an unprecedented way and there’s no turning back.
On No Child Left Behind, he said that like many federal programs “the
intent is good, but the implementation is not always perfect.”
Well, at least you admit it, Tom.
That’s all I have this week. Now it is up to you to either laugh or cry.
*IBLTV is a group of citizens from the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area who are concerned about the decline in the quality of local television. Fight local media consolidation, as it leads to an unaccountable medium that enriches itself while disregarding the need to serve the public good.
*The rational counter to 'The Point,' 'The Counterpoint' critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country
Legislators Get to Work