Radio Iowa

"It shouldn't take long."

Senate Co-President Jack Kibbie, a former tank commander, figuratively shot one right at Governor Vilsack this afternoon.  Kibbie predicted the House would vote to override Vilsack's veto of that property right bill legislators (and reporters) have been talking so much about, and Kibbie also predicts the Senate will do the same quickly thereafter.  "It shouldn't take long," Kibbie said of the special session, which today was set for July 14.  (July 14, by the way, is Kibbie's birthday -- a factoid he told me before he dropped the bomb on Vilsack.) 

Many Democrats have been privately fuming about the position Vilsack put them in, but few have been publicly have been rattling Vilsack's cage.  Up until today's very public statement by Kibbie, Ed Fallon (former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and current State Rep who'll be one of the D votes to override) has been the big exception, calling Vilsack's veto mystifying, misguided and baffling. Mike Gronstal (the Senate Democrats' Leader) offered one last stab at compromise today -- a nine-month moratorium on condemnations -- but it appears the tide is turning in a different direction.

Comings and Goings

Two Iowans who're the sons of Iowa politicians who loomed large in Iowa's political limelight a few years ago are now signing on to presidential campaigns.

Dusky Terry is taking a job with Governor Tom Vilsack's Heatland PAC.  Terry is the son of Dixon Terry -- a well-known farm activist during the farm crisis who organized the Iowa Farm Unity Coalition and was a leader in Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign in Iowa.  (Dixon Terry died in 1989 when he was struck by lightning while baling hay.) Dusky Terry, as you may know, had worked on Governor Vilsack's staff and Vilsack endorsed Dusky Terry's run to be Iowa's next Secretary of Agriculture. Terry lost to Denise O'Brien in the primary earlier this month.

Eric Marcus Branstad is taking a job working the Iowa ropes for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.  He is the oldest youngest son of former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad -- Iowa's longest-serving governor who played a key role in Bob Dole's Iowa campaign back in 1996.  Eric Branstad has worked behind the scenes in the past two election cycles, for example heading up the GOP's Scott County area get-out-the-vote campaign in 2004.  (See comment below.)

I saw former Governor Branstad today at a news conference at Des Moines University.  He's the one who told me about his son's new role for Frist.  The elder Branstad also gave me and another reporter a tour of the Des Moines University student center and I told him the place now looks like a campus.  Branstad said he hears that comment a lot.  I asked Governor Branstad if he had granted bonuses to state workers with the same size and frequency that current Governor Vilsack has over the past two years (as outlined in a state report issued earlier this month) and I'm going to quit typing this post now to go write that story.      

Blame game

Governor Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, and Republican legislative leaders are engaged in a stalemate over the property rights legislation that is tinted with a disagreement over another bill.

Last Friday, during a news conference in Des Moines, State Senator Bob Brunkhorst articulated something many Republican legislators had been complainining about for the past few weeks:  Vilsack's item veto on the teacher pay bill.  Vilsack used his authority to get rid of the part of the bill that would have created a new commission to set out the new standards by which teachers will forever after have their pay linked to their classroom performance.  Brunkhorst slammed his hand into the lectern and said "Dang it!" when describing how peeved Republicans were for Vilsack violating that part of the deal that was struck in order to end the session.

Vilsack was asked today about backing away from that deal and he tells a completely different story.  He says the deal that ended the session did not include anything about that task force, it just dealt with how much to spend on teacher pay and how many years the plan would cover.  He suggested Brunkhorst wouldn't know much about the deal because Brunkhorst wasn't in the room when the deal was struck.  Senate GOP Leaders who were in the room say Vilsack's version of events is wrong, and that after the terms of the deal had been struck, Senator Paul McKinley met for hours with Vilsack's staff to spell out the terms of the deal. Statehouse reporters were aware of the behind-the-scenes tedium of drafting that language because McKinley would pop up to the senate floor during breaks in the haggling and tell us about his frustrations. (McKinley's desk is near the west press bench in the Senate.)

Vilsack has contacted Iowa newspapers to complain about their coverage of his item veto.  Vilsack has cited another reason for his veto:  that the new "commission" wasn't balanced for gender or party affiliation.  (The governor wrote a letter to the editor published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette a couple of weeks ago on this very topic.)  Vilsack did not mention the gender equity issue at all, though, this afternoon when talking with a gaggle of reporters in Des Moines.   

Two new developments in property rights debate at statehouse

The wait is over. Secretary of State Chet Culver has sent the “official” copy of the property rights bill Vilsack vetoed to the House Clerk. Here’s the letter announcing his decision:

June 23, 2006

The Honorable Christopher Rants
Speaker of the House
State Capitol
Des Moines, Iowa 50319

Dear Speaker Rants,

I write in response to your letter of June 21 requesting the return to the Chief Clerk of the House of the original version of House File 2351 (HF 2351), a bill relating to the use of eminent domain authority in Iowa. Like many Iowans, I am deeply concerned about the potential abuse of eminent domain authority, particularly the taking of private property for the private benefit of others.  I believe strongly in protecting the rights of private property owners.  Politics should be set aside and the General Assembly should take quick action in a bipartisan fashion to ensure that the rights of property owners are protected while allowing for sensible job creation efforts that benefit all Iowans.

As you are aware, HF 2351 was submitted to the Governor within three days of the sine die adjournment of the regular legislative session, and was vetoed on June 2, 2006.

Since the Governor’s action the original bill has resided in my office, pursuant to Section 9.1 of the Iowa Code, which directs that the Secretary of State shall “have charge of and keep all the Acts and resolutions of the territorial legislature and of the general assembly of the state…” as well as, in particular, Article III, Section 16 of the Iowa Constitution, the pertinent part of which
reads as follows:

"A bill submitted to the Governor for his approval during the last three days of a session of the general assembly, shall be deposited by him in the office of the Secretary of State, within thirty days after the adjournment, with his approval, if approved by him, and with his objections, if he disapproves thereof."

Pursuant to your request, and in accordance with my office's constitutional role as the repository of this legislation, I am directing my office to release the original bill to the Chief Clerk
of the House.

Furthermore, please also note that it is not within the official role and duty of the Secretary of State to make any formal judgment on the legal authority of the House and Senate to consider an override of this or any bill, or of the ability of the General Assembly to do so absent actual physical custody of a bill – and, as such, the temporary return of this bill to your custody does not imply any such judgment.

Sincerely,

Chester J. Culver
Secretary of State

Cc: Margaret Thompson, Clerk of the House

---

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT TO MARGARET THOMPSON

CLERK’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT
HOUSE FILE 2351

The original version of House File 2351 is attached hereto.  This bill was deposited in the  Office of the Secretary of State, the repository designated by the Iowa Constitution, and is accompanied by a veto message from the Governor. The bill was the subject of a written request by the Speaker of the House on or about June 21, 2006.  Therein the Speaker requested the Chief Clerk of the House be provided temporary physical custody of the bill.

I understand the Secretary of State is temporarily releasing this bill to the Office of the Chief Clerk of the House without waiving the responsibility to maintain charge of the bill during its physical absence from the Office of the Secretary of State.

I agree that I will return the bill and bill jacket to the Secretary of State’s office upon final action and that at all times the bill will remain within the physical custody of the Chief Clerk or other
appropriate official of the General Assembly.

The undersigned hereby acknowledges receipt of HF 2351 and indicates agreement to the terms and conditions set forth above:

Margaret Thompson, Clerk of the House                         

MEANWHILE, House Speaker Christopher Rants quickly sent out this letter:

Representatives,

With over 80 members of the House returning petitions requesting a special session, we will be calling the House back with the intention of overturning the Governor’s veto on the issue of eminent domain.

I ask that you please take a look at the dates below and email back to (one of his staff members) with your availability on these dates.  If she does not hear back from you, we will take that to mean that you are available on any of those dates.

July 12
July 18
August 1

Please respond…by COB on Monday, June 26.  Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Christopher

King apologizes to Helen Thomas

Summer Johnson, Congressman Steve King's press secretary, and I have been in a day-long email "discussion" about when/if King would be available by phone to talk about the Helen Thomas comment at this past weekend's GOP state convention since Joyce Schulte, King's general election opponent, had made some comment on it earlier today.  Johnson said in an email sent at about 4:30 p.m. Iowa time that King had just called Helen Thomas to apologize and Thomas had accepted the apology. 

Background: I was blogging from the GOP & Democratic state conventions this past weekend and King got a huge welcoming response from the crowd. He opened by saying he had "looked forward" to the GOP convention, which he called a "huge family reunion of Republicans" who are "dedicated to this great country." Then King launched into the previously transcribed comments (link above) which have been talked about in the blogosphere for the past few days.      

Schulte on King's comments about 72 virgins & Helen Thomas

Joyce Schulte, the Democrat from Creston who ran against Congressman Steve King in 2004 and is the party's nominee to run against him again this year, issued a statement this morning deriding King's comments at the GOP state convention this past weekend.

RE:  There He Goes Again!

Congressman Steve King continues his vituperative and uncivil behavior during his speech at the Iowa Republican State Convention.

Commenting on the recent death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's, a most reprehensible person at best, King opined that al-Zarqai has probably learned that 72 virgins did not await him int he hell he is at King went on to state "And if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas."

There was extended laughter by King and his audience.

While we should not be surprised by any of King's remarks at this point in his career, his dusultory about the appearance of a respected member of the journalist community is so low as to evoke a response from me.

Mean-spirited remarks are beheath the dignity of any self-respecting Congressperson, and remarks about another person's appearance are even lower.

I am not an apologist for al-Zarqawi, and the hell he put many people through, Muslim, Christian, and unknown others.  I am certain that he is getting his justice and that there is no excuse of the kind of terror he practiced. I let God be God.

I hestitate to even use Helen Thomas' name in the same document with so vile a wretch as al-Zarqai. But I want her and the world to know that Iowans are not insensitive buffoons who make fun at someone else's expense.

In case you missed it, here is the transcript of King's remarks.

Vilsack Administration responds

Governor Vilsack's DED released a report Monday on the Iowa Values Fund and at 4:05 p.m. on Tuesday, Vilsack aide Jennifer Mullin sent the following email to me:

Yesterday's report doesn't conflict with what we've said all along -- we have created or retained nearly 25,000 jobs.  While 17,000 aren't currently "realized", they have been pledged by companies under contract with DED. We consider them "created or retained" -- always have.

You will note the Vilsack Administration is introducing a new phrase -- "aren't currently realized" into the mix here about jobs that aren't yet "created or retained" (but which they lump into that category). I'm also wondering about the subject line in the email which was "FW:  another henderson thing" -- wonder what the first Henderson thing was?

Vilsack gives Blouin $59,000

I know Tom Vilsack's thinking about the presidency right now, which may be fortunate because I'm not sure he would be re-elected governor with the news that came out of the statehouse today.  Vilsack paid former DED director Mike Blouin a $59,000 "retention" bonus last year according to our reporter who sat through the Legislative Oversight Committee hearings today. You'll recall Blouin resigned in July to run for governor.

Vilsack's communications director defended the bonuses paid to Blouin and a thousand others in state government by saying:  "a number of these employees who received this sort of extra pay/recruitment/retention bonuses, they have special skills...for instance former director Blouin took over a $90,000 pay cut to become the director of economic development under this adminsitraton and he helped spur many economic opportunities for this state." This statement comes at the same time the Vilsackers had to acknowledge another report -- this one from the DED -- which shows roughly 8000 jobs have been "created or retained" by companies getting Values Fund grants -- not the 25,000 that Vilsack and Blouin have repeatedly claimed had been "created or retained."  In a statement issued this afternoon, Vilsack said another 17,000 jobs were "in the pipeline." 

Grassley for president?

I was chatting with FOX news producer Julie Zann this weekend -- she was quizzing me about the GOP presidential activity at the GOP state convention -- when she asked me a question about Senator Charles Grassley's prospects as a presidential candidate.  She suggested some of the inside-the-beltway lists of potential presidential candidates included Grassley's name.  I had never heard this, nor has Grassley ever indicated to me or anyone from our newsroom the he had an interest in seeking the presidency.

So, this morning I emailed one of Grassley's staffers, who checked with the senator.  His response:  "You've got to be kidding."  Grassley loves the job he has.  And who wouldn't?  As chair of the Finance Committee, he's one of the most powerful members of the Senate and with a relative newbie as Senate GOP Leader (Frist), I'm led to believe by folks in Washington that Grassley holds even more internal sway than other Finance Chairmen. 

While Grassley's not running for president, he is a committed runner.  Grassley was one of the 29 congressmen and senators who ran in the "Capital Challenge" race in Washington, DC on May 5th.  There were federal judges, reporters and folks from federal agencies among the 600 runners who ran a three-mle course.  Grassley finished first among the runners aged 70 and above.  He ran three miles in 29:07 -- which means he runs a sub-10-minute mile.   He's just not running with the intention of winding up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

"Live blogging" the conventions

So here's the deal:  my one true talents is typing fast.  So what I did today during the IA GOP and Demo State Conventions was sit with my fingers poised over the laptop keypad as the major players at each event spoke (Vander Plaats, Nussle, Vilsack, Judge, Culver).  The previous posts are not verbatim, but pretty close.  It would be akin to looking at my notes.  Just thought I'd share with the on-line crew.  Also today I happened to hear four potential GOP candidates of the future, and a couple of blog posts are about those guys.  Finally, Steve King said some things that really got the crowd going, so I did go back and what is in quotes from King is the actual transcript of his remarks.