Radio Iowa

Culver vetoes bill backed by unions

Governor Chet Culver's staff sent out an advisory early this afternoon saying the governor would hold a 4 p.m. news conference today "to discuss outstanding legislation."  It meant Culver had made a decision on legislation which would expand the bargaining rights of government workers in Iowa who are members of a union like AFSCME (the American Federation of State, Council & Municipal Employees) or ISEA (Iowa State Education Association -- the teachers' union).

At 3:30, when someone sent me a text message asking if Culver would sign or veto the bill, I sent this reply:  "Depends if he calls heads or tails on the coin flip."  As recently as yesterday Culver said he hadn't made up his mind on the bill. At 4:15 p.m., Culver walked into the statehouse conference room to make his veto announcement.  You can listen to the entire news conference here (the mp3 runs 13 and a half minutes).

Statements then were issued by legislators as well as the ISEA.

Over capacity crowd

The governor's staff decided the waiting room at a health care clinic in Des Moines would be a good spot to stage a bill signing ceremony for legislation the dealt with health care.  I arrived at the site by 11:17 a.m., but had to drive several blocks to find a place to park.  As I walked down the street toward the clinic, a man working in his yard asked: "What are all these cars here for?  Did somebody die?"

"The governor's signing a bill at that health clinic down at the corner," I advised.

"Well, tell him to stop here afterwards.  I've got something to say," the man replied as he tossed a bit of garbage in the receptacle at his curb.

By 11:30 a.m., dozens of people were jammed into the clinic's waiting room.  Some had to stand outside.  When the event started about 10 minutes late, I had to fish a microphone stand out of my gear.  The governor's staff set up a sound system, but they just left the microphone sitting on the make-shift table that was to serve as the lectern. 

"Good morning," Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge said as she was recognized to speak.  "Thank you all for coming.  As I'm standing here sneezing and coughing, I'm wondering if there's any relief for allergies, if anybody could deal with an allergy problem this morning.  Probably there is in this group."  The clinic's medical director nodded his head, but I didn't see him whip out a prescription pad.

Later, Culver sat down at a table and signed two bills into law as some of the legislators involved in crafting the bills watched.

Immigration raid at Postville plant

As you may know if you've been listening to the news this morning, there's been an immigration raid at the kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.  Sources tell Radio Iowa there may as many as 700 arrests.

Some of you may have read the book Postville: a Clash of Cultures in Heartland America.  It was written by Stephen G. Bloom, a University of Iowa professor.  I emailed the following message to the professor this morning: I’m sure you’ve been inundated with phone messages this morning, so I opted for an email.  If you would care to comment and give our listeners some perspective, please ring the office (newsroom) number

Bloom sent this via reply to my email:

Golly, gee-whiz. What a surprise!
For years and years, meat-packing plants like Agriprocessors have been hiring thousands of undocumented workers. it's been one of the worse-kept secrets in the state.  All a prospective employee needed to do was show up at the employment window with a fake Social Security card.  Sometimes, you didn't even  need that.  Politicians, managers, owners, workers, locals all knew about the scam.  It was the only way the meat-packing industry could operate, since fewer and fewer Iowans want to work for minimum wage doing such back-breaking work with such few benefits.....

The meatpacking industry was a topic during the 1998 and 2006 gubernatorial campaigns.   Here's a lengthy blog post I wrote in 2006 on developments in the Vilsack/McCormick and Culver/Blouin/Fallon primaries which featured debate of how connected candidates were to meatpackers.

Grassley likely to "run again"

As noted last week, I have a friend in DC who ran in the Capital Challenge and saw Senator Charles Grassley cross the finish line.  Yesterday, at the conclusion of Grassley's weekly conference call with Iowa radio reporters, I asked him about the race and Grassley expressed some discomfort with not improving his time.

"You know, after nine years of doing (that race) I should do better than the first year and I'm not doing better because my first year was 27 minutes (and) 20 seconds," Grassley said, "and now this one was 29 minutes and 29 seconds." Grassley ran the three-mile course this year with a faster time than in 2007. "By about half a minute, so I'm not as bad as I was last year," Grassley said.  "If I had a little more discipline and coaching I could probably do a lot better but I tend to do it myself and I need to be a lot more professional as I approach it." 

I got about six minutes on the phone with Grassley today and wrote a story for our Radio Iowa listeners. Grassley is 74 years old and runs four or five days a week.  He began running at age 65. Listen to the full interview (mp3 runs about 6 min). Grassley strongly indicated he'll run for reelection in 2010:  "If I can get up and run three miles in the morning a year from now I'm going to be running for reelection because I think it's a symbol of being healthy enough to serve another six years, you know," Grassley said.  Grassley, who won his current six-year term in the U.S. Senate in 2004, ran an ad in that race which featured video of Grassley literally running.

As we concluded our conversation today, I said: "Remind me not to run with you."

"I'll slow down so you can keep up," Grassley replied, laughing.

McCain's May Day in Des Moines

(Editor's note: after the jump -- at the very end of this blog post -- there is text and audio of a question about a four-letter word, a question that included the vulgarity itself, but which has been "beeped" out in the audio file you may hear by clicking on the link at the end of the post.)

It's Thursday, May 1, 2008, and Republican presidential candidate John McCain is due to speak here at the Polk County Convention Complex at 2 o'clock this afternoon.  A sign on the ground floor advises "Eddie's Shoe Shine" is set up on he second floor.  I didn't see a McCain campaign sign anywhere.

It's 1:25 p.m.  McCain Iowa chairman Dave Roederer is quizzing the crowd of about 250, asking questions which require yes or no answers. 

After The Pledge and The National Anthem, longtime Iowa GOP insider Marvin Pomerantz of Des Moines made an appeal to the crowd for money.  "We don't have the conflict that some other parties have.  Thanks goodness," Pomerantz said.  "And we have an outstanding candidate for the presidency.  He can prosecute this war and do whatever is required...He will, in my opinion, become one of the great presidents of our time and what we need to do is get him there....The other side has no trouble raising all sorts of money...Dig deep down into your reserves....He needs the money.  We need the money."

Next up, Iowa GOP chair Stewart Iverson, who told the crowd he was a kind of cheerleader, but began by saying Iowa Republicans had started the year "down in the dumps."  After Iverson was done, Roederer took the microphone back, thanked Iverson for being a cheerleader, and concluding with this:  "We appreciate the fact that you don't dress like one."

A few moments later, at about 1:45 p.m., Roederer mentioned the close Bush/Kerry finish in 2004 in Iowa. "We won the state by less than four votes per precinct.  Think of that.  Just four votes and we also know that after the Caucuses the Democrats have registered 60,000 (voters) and the Republicans about 8000...What it says is that we're going to have to work and we're going to have to work hard...Iowa's going to be a close state again."

Now at 1:53 p.m. nice, light, instrumental jazz music is washing over the crowd as they sit waiting for McCain.  At exactly 2:01 p.m., former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad came on stage to introduce McCain.  The trains run on time.

McCain: Iowa a "battleground" in November

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is due in Des Moines this afternoon, his first campaign appearance in Iowa after his fourth-place finish in the January 3, 2008 Iowa Caucuses.  McCain called into the Radio Iowa newsroom shortly after 11 o'clock Iowa time.  Here is the interview (mp3 runs six minutes). (McCain begins by joking that he thought about asking for a recount of the Caucus results.)

UPDATE:  Here's a key quote from the interview: "I think it's going to be a contested race in Iowa. I hope we can get our vote out and get our not only Republicans but Independents and the old Reagan Democrats and the new Reagan Democrats as we call 'em and I think I can compete with Senator Obama or Senator Clinton and by the way, it's not totally clear to me who the (Democrat's) nominee is going to be but I expect to be a contested race in Iowa and all across America," McCain said.  "We're going to be campaign everywhere in America.  I'm not going to just confine my campaign to a few states and so we're going to go everywhere and Iowa will be one of the battleground states."

In addition to the Iowa campaign effort for the fall election, McCain discussed his proposed gas tax holiday for the summer driving season, the prospects for action on any changes in the health care system & the fifth anniversary of Bush's declaration of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

Here's the Radio Iowa story, focused on Iowa as a "battleground" in November's election.

Grassley's (still) running

AP newsman Kenneth Thomas used to live and work in Des Moines, Iowa. He's now living and working in Washington, D.C. and emailed me yesterday after completing the Capital Challenge.  It's a three mile race.  Senator Charles Grassley was first in his over-70 age division, finishing his three miles in 29.29.  That's just under 10 minutes a mile.  Here is more information..

Congressman Bruce Braley endorses Obama

Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo who represents Iowa's first district, has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.  Braley, as you may know, is a "super" delegate to his party's national convention.

Listen to Braley discuss his endorsement during an interview this morning with Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson (mp3 runs 2 minutes 14 seconds).

UPDATE:  here are a few quotes from the interview.

First, Braley backed John Edwards in the Caucuses.  Edwards Iowa organizers had asked supporters to "keep their powder dry" and not endorse Clinton or Obama, so I asked Braley why he chose to leave Edwards and go with Obama.

"I didn't choose to leave Edwards," Braley said.  "Senator Edwards dropped out of the race and I had a very good conversation with him after he decided to do that.  I have left voice mails for him trying to get input from him on what his thinking was on the remaining two candidates and have heard nothing back from him. I am my own person. I've got my own responsibilities to the people who elected me and it's come down to a choice between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton and after giving it a great deal of consideration, I've decided to endorse Senator Obama."

Next, Braley offered this on the "tone" of the campaign: "I'm worried about the fact that the campaign seems to be diverting from focusing on a lot of the real issues that voters care about, like health care and rising fuel prices and the war in Iraq and tends to be focusing on a lot of gotcha things," Braley said, "so I'm hopeful that as we go forward we're going to have more and more clarity on who the nominee is going to be and we can get back to focusing on the very real differences between our Democratic nominee and John McCain."

Braley had to end our conversation to go greet the Prime Minister of Ireland.

Here is the tally of Iowa "Super" Delegates.

Proper English

Two of my statehouse colleagues -- Dan Gearino of the Lee Enterprises newspapers & Rod Boshart of the Cedar Rapids Gazette -- have sent me email alerts.  My name has been menioned in debate on the floor of the Iowa Senate.

Senator Jeff Angelo, a Republican from Creston who once worked in the radio industry and talked for a living, offered a "tongue-in-cheek" amendment a few moments ago, according to newsman Boshart. Newsman Gearino passes along the text of the amendment for your reading pleasure:

1  1    Amend House File 2700, as amended, passed, and
     1  2 reprinted by the House, as follows:
     1  3 #1.  Page 17, by inserting after line 30 the
     1  4 following:
     1  5    <Sec.    .  Section 2.45, Code 2007, is amended by
     1  6 adding the following new subsection:
     1  7    NEW SUBSECTION.  6.  The legislative common sense
     1  8 committee of the legislative council composed of
     1  9 members designated by the legislative council to serve
     1 10 as a joint committee of the general assembly.  In
     1 11 addition to the duties assigned by the legislative
     1 12 council, the committee shall review bills, amendments,
     1 13 and other legislative proposals in order to recommend
     1 14 amendments or otherwise revise the items reviewed by
     1 15 applying sound and prudent judgment based on a simple
     1 16 perception of the situation or facts.  The committee
     1 17 may submit bills or amendments for consideration by
     1 18 one or both chambers of the general assembly at any
     1 19 time a chamber is in session, notwithstanding any
     1 20 provision to the contrary.>
     1 21 #2.  By renumbering as necessary.
     1 22
     1 23
     1 24
     1 25 JEFF ANGELO
     1 26 HF 2700.326 82
     1 27 jp/mg/11785 

Perhaps Senator Angelo will post a comment here to explain to readers of The Blog. (At the bottom of this post is an explanation that my beef is with the non-word "incent" not "incentivize.")

UPDATE!  Newsman Gearino comes through at 11:05 p.m. and emailed the following "partial transcript" of Angelo's comments:

"Kay Henderson a few years ago said to me, dared to say to me, that
incentivize is not a word. I have since heard it used a couple of
times again on this floor, so I'm taking credit for creating the word
incentivize and putting it into the English language. Under this
particular committee, they would submit such words and have them
approved. So if Sen. Zaun wants to continue to insist to make the word
"all" a plural, as in "alls," if this committee approves it, it
becomes a part of the English language. I myself would commit another
word to this particular committee for approval and use in the English
language. I call the word tramplation – that is the act of being
trampled. I would use it in a sentence: 'The farmer did fail to
maintain his fence, his cows got out, and the neighbors feared
tramplation.''"

At 11:11 p.m., Senate President Jack Kibbie sought to curtail the conversations occuring on the Senate floor, urging folks to "hold the nose" but he quickly corrected himself and urged lawmakers to "hold the noise" down to a more reasonable level so people listening to the debate, or perhaps participating in it, might be able to hear the debate.

The last throes

It appears today -- Friday, April 25, 2008 -- is the final day of the 2008 Iowa legislative session.  Lawmakers, the people who work for them, the lobbyists who try to influence them and the reporters who cover them have been working overtime this week as legislators make their final decisions and huge bills work their way through the process.

Last night, the Iowa Senate concluded its work shortly before midnight. The Iowa House was still "in session" though. Republicans in the House had retreated to a room on the ground floor of the statehouse to have a private strategy meeting while Democrats remained on the second floor, milling about the House chamber when I took this snap at about 1:15 a.m. 

It's a picture of the two top Democrats in the legislature. House Speaker Pat Murphy of Dubuque is sitting to the right, occupying the chair he sits in during House debate. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs is on the left. The other lawmaker in the picture is Representative Swati Dandekar of Cedar Rapids.  The photoshop experts at Learfield tell me it's a blurry picture. How appropriate as it was taken by yours truly, the bleary-eyed reporter who was in hour 17 of her work day..

Everyone's a comedian

The 2008 Iowa legislature session may end, soon, but until that gavel falls to mark the conclusion of its work, there are long hours and short tempers under the statehouse dome.  There are also a few guffaws.

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, urged his colleagues just before midnight to quickly vote for a huge bill that divies up millions for infrastructure projects (including a quarter of a billion dollar prison expansion/modernization plan).  It is "starting to feel like Katrina" around here, McCoy said to his senate colleagues, suggesting it's time to vote and vacate the building. 

About half an hour earlier as I sat in the Iowa House of Representatives, there was a long delay in debate. A Democratic legislator was trying to find the "official copy" of the bill he was supposed to be leading debate on, and one lawmaker was heard to exclaim: "Let's get this pork on the road."  A Republican lawmaker, for sure, suggesting the bills at session's end are laden with pork.  Cash cows, if you will.

"I was born for this kind of work"

As mentioned in a post from earlier this week, legislators who are retiring are giving their farewell speeches this week.  Senator Mike Connolly, a Democrat from Dubuque, is not seeking re-election after serving 30 years in the Iowa House, then the Senate.  He was most famous for his fiery floor speeches full of finger-pointing which often included this line:  "You know and I know it and the people of Iowa know it."

Here's a two-minute long portion of Connolly's goodbye speech in which he told his colleagues: "I was born for this kind of work...This is a beautiful process and it's a beautiful thing to have been a part of it."

Representative Phil Wise, a Democrat from Keokuk, was first elected to the Iowa House in 1986.  Wise delivered a "top 10" list to colleagues during his retirement speech.  "Learn to watch the chamber when you're speaking and watch press row," Wise advised.  "If no one's listening, sit down." 

This was his number one: "As a member of a co-equal branch of government don't worry so much about what the governor thinks, even if he's from your own party."  Reminder:  Wise is a Democrat.  So is current Governor Chet Culver.

So long. Farewell.

As the 2008 Iowa legislative session runs nears its conclusion, lawmakers who are "retiring" (not seeking re-election) are given a chance to give speeches.  In the House, those making such voluntary exits are given an opportunity to stand at their desk on the House floor and speak to their colleagues. Representative Clarence Hoffman, a Republican from Denison, was the first to speak last week and Hoffman concluded by telling his colleagues he was a glass half full kind of guy and he was leaving it to those who'll serve in the 2009 legislature to tackle getting that glass full.  . 

In the Senate, other senators get up to say (almost always) nice things about the soon-to-be-ex senator and then the senator gets to speak.  Senator Mary Lundby, a Republican from Marion, is not seeking re-election after 22 years in the Iowa House & Senate.  She's running for the Linn County Board of Supervisors.  Lundby helped orchestrate the GOP take-over of the Iowa House back in the day. Several senators got up to laud her earlier this afternoon; a few joked about her whistling; then Lundy was given her chance to speak and she didn't take long.  "Thanks for the memories.  I had a great time," Lundby said. 

Governor felt the earthquake

Governor Chet Culver signed a couple of bills into law today in public ceremonies.  After the second one, Culver told reporters he felt this morning's earthquake (Radio Iowa story with audio).

How many state employees are there?

I wrote a story earlier today about a question posed during Iowa Press on IPTV to House Appropriations Committee chair Jo Oldson & Senate Approriations Committee chair Bob Dvorsky.  "How many state employees are there?" I asked.

"Several thousand," Oldson said.  Dvorsky guessed 140,000 to 150,000.  According to a document found this morning in the Legislative Services Agency fact book, the number is closer to 48,000.  A cross-check with the Iowa Department of Administrative Services confirmed that number.

This afternoon, the Department of Administrative Services sent an update.  There are 24,397 full-time, part-time or tempoary State of Iowa employees.  There are 44,186 employees working for the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa (the three, state-supported universities) and the state's "special schools" for blind and deaf students, but only 16,372 of those employees are paid out of the state's general fund.  So, add 16,372 and 24,397 and you get 40,769.

Moments later, this came to me unsolicited, via email, from House Republican Leader Christopher Rants' office:  "Iowa has 41,582 full-time employees and 24,131 part-time employees.  This extrapolates to 53,258 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions.  That puts Iowa 8th overall in comparison to the other states."

A chat with the "father" of the "super delegates"

This afternoon I had a conversation with Charles Manatt, the "godfather" of the Democratic Party's "super delegates."  Click here to listen to the conversation .  The mp3 runs about nine minutes.  (UPDATE at 4:30 p.m.:  A transcript of the conversation is below.)

Manatt is a native of Audubon, Iowa, and a 1958 graduate of Iowa State University.  He got a law degree from George Washington University in 1962. He's back on the Ames campus today and tomorrow he'll be given one of the university's "Distinguished Alumni" awards.

From 1981 to '85, Manatt was chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In 1983 he founded the system of "unpledged delegates" (he does not call them "super" delegates).  Manatt was co-chair of the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign and in 1999 President Clinton appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic.  In 1965, Manatt founded the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

Eating while you work

I know the old Disney song is about whistling while you work, but House Republican Leader Christopher Rants of Sioux City not only ate while he worked yesterday, he ate while he talked on the House floor. 

Here's a two-and-a-half minut3 mp3 that starts with Rants, then you hear his bag of popcorn rustling.  The other voices in this snippet are those of Representative Mark Kuhn, a Democrat from Charles City, and Representative John Whitaker, a Democrat from Hillsboro who was acting as temporary Speaker of the House at the time.

The amendment Rants proposed was approved, by the way.

Potty mouth senate

Senator Larry McKibben, a Republican from Marshalltown, is not seeking re-election, so perhaps that's why he felt free enough to call the anti-smoking bill being debated this afternoon in the Iowa Senate "crap."  He also uttered the phrase "to hell with" on a few occasions.  I don't think there's a connection, but McKibben also admitted he enjoyed "adult beverages" earlier in his remarks.

UPDATE:  The Senate started this debate at 3:47 p.m. and it's now 5:30 p.m.  Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, had pushed the button on his desk, indicating he wanted to speak during the debate and his request was put in the cue.  When Senate President Jack Kibbie called upon Bolkcom, however, he wasn't at his desk.  "I had to take a break," Bolkcom told his colleagues once he arrived behind the microphone on his desk, "but I heard everything in the men's restroom."  There was laughter.

Another flare-up over labor bill

There was a terse exchange today at the statehouse as the Senate's Republican leader tried to force action on a controversial labor bill. The legislation would expand the subjects public employees can explore during union contract negotiations. The bill has passed the Iowa House and Senate, but Governor Culver raised concerns just before it was approved by the Senate, so the top Democrat in the Senate used a parliamentary procedure to essentially table the legislation.

Senate Republican Leader Ron Wieck of Sioux City tried today to lift that hold and questioned Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs. 

"Reserving my right to object, would Senator Gronstal please yield?" Wieck said, in the formal fashion of the senate in which the word "yield" essentially means answer a question or series of questions.. 

"Would the senator yield?" Senator Jeff Danielson asked, as Danielson was acting as the president of the senate.

"I would be happy to," Gronstal replied, again, in the custom of the senate.

"I'm just curious, your deferring," Wieck began, a reference to Gronstal using the parliamentary move of deferral of Wieck's motion to suspend action on the bill.

"The bill is not debatable.  It's not amendable.  Can you help this body ("body" to these guys means the senate) with why you would defer, why we wouldn't either send the bill down to the governor or send it to a committee to have some light shed on the process that, obviously, was not shed before?" Wieck asked.

"Well, apparently Senator Wieck you haven't had an opportunity to review the legislation even though it's been in front of you for about three weeks, but understanding that, at this point, I appreciate the fact you're curious and as far as I'm concerned you can stay curious," Gronstal replied.

"Wow.  Well, senator, you know, thank you for yielding," Wieck said.  On my recording of senate audio, you can hear Gronstal laugh just before his microphone is shut off. 

"You know I hope that in my time in the Iowa Legislature that I never respond to the leader of the other side of the aisle that way," Wieck continued.  "I don't think I've ever seen that before, but I think the people of Iowa really have a right to have something move on this bill and I believe that this is nothing but a stall tactic on it and the reality is that the taxpayers of Iowa and the people of Iowa ought to have a right to know what's happening with this piece of legislation and I would once again call on Senator Gronstal to allow this legislation to either pass forward to the governor or to send it back to committee so that the bill can be worked on. Thank you."

"Thank you" in that context is sort of like "stop" when dictating a telegram.  It means the end, as in Wieck stopped talking after saying those two words.

Harkin: Carville's an entertainer & Bill should "chill"

Senator Tom Harkin held a weekly conference call with reporters this morning.  Mike Meyers of the Cedar Rapids Gazette asked about James Carville, the former aide to Bill Clinton.  The "jist" of the question was whether Harkin believed Carville to be an unofficial spokesman for Bill & Hillary Clinton when Carville accused former Clinton Administration official Bill Richardson of being a "Judas" by endorsing Barack Obama.

"As long as I've known Carville, he is the most uncontrollable person I've ever met in my life," Harkin said, laughing.  Meyers didn't hear one of the words Harkin said and asked for clarification.

"Carville shoots off all the time, you know, and let's face it.  What's Carville's business?  His business is giving speeches and writing books and the more provocative he is, the more he's in demand.  It's just like Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh. I mean, you put him in with all of those and so he loves to be provocative, loves to say things like that so take that for what it's worth, but I've never heard that come out of Clinton," Harkin said.

Meyers asked about Bill Clinton's behavior on the campaign trail, specifically the reported "meltdown" in a private meeting with super delegates in California. "Is (Bill Clinton) doing more harm than good for Senator Clinton's campaign?" Meyers asked.

"I'm not going to judge that, Mike," Harkin replied.  "I did say before he ought to chill out a little bit and from what I've seen I think he has, but again this recent thing in California, I don't know."

Meyers started to follow-up, but Harkin continued.  "I'd just as soon not get drawn into that, you know," Harkin said.  "I think the campaigns ought to stick to their issues.  I think it's very good, like I said earlier, I don't think this is hurting my party as long as it doesn't get real personal."

Harkin's wife, Ruth, backed Hillary Clinton and campaigned on her behalf in Iowa before the Caucuses.  Harkin is one of those "super delegates" and he has not endorsed a candidate.

UPDATE after jump, with audio.