Krusty Konservative

Two Face Chet Culver

2009-03-25T10:38:00.001-05:00

Read the story here.

Kevin McCarthy’s Night Court

2009-03-20T10:28:00.001-05:00

Many times leaders prophetic, they have an uncanny ability to see into the future. Iowa has its own prophetic leader, Democrat Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

You see, last fall Leader McCarthy was so concerned about the safety of people at the State Capitol he alerted the Des Moines Register by giving them every speeding ticket and misdemeanor committed by various Republicans seeking office.

Read More Here.

I’m with Chet, Bring on the Sponsors!

2009-03-19T08:54:00.002-05:00

I know a lot of Republicans want to make hay over Culver wanting to sell sponsorships to cover the cost of Obama’s Health Care forum. I say, have at it. Why should my tax dollars be used to pay for what is basically going to end up being a Democrat rally for socialized medicine?

In fact, I’m so supportive of Culver’s sponsorship idea; I’m going to offer a few more suggestions.

The Iowa Flood Center: Pure Iowa Pork

2009-03-13T11:12:00.000-05:00

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks the Rebuild Iowa bill really doesn’t help much. The good folks at Hawkeye Review had a sobering post about the state’s poor response to help get small businesses back on their feet. Also, Russ from Winterset deserves the krustacean of the week award. Russ had my back when I called the 1.3 million dollars for an Iowa Flood Center, a scam. Read More Here.

Gerrmandering!

2009-03-10T08:31:00.000-05:00

My liberal friends over at Bleeding Heartland are trying to predict what Iowa’s congressional map is going to look like for the 2012 campaigns. Before I totally destroy their proposal, I would like to point out that this usually takes a lot of time and effort to do. Krusty Kudos to them. Now let’s compare their map, continue reading here.

An Open Letter to Bob Vander Plaats

2009-03-09T07:55:00.000-05:00

Dear Bob,

Since you announced you candidacy for Governor on January 26th, I’ve probably been one of your loudest critics. I understand your stance of not responding to “anonymous bloggers.” It would be the same stance I would take if I was in your position. Yet, you did somewhat respond to my criticism when you were on with Steve Deace this past Friday afternoon. After listening to you and reading some emails that I have received from those involved with your campaign, I think that maybe I need to do a better job of letting you know why I do what I do.

To read the rest of my letter to Bob, Click here.

Distractions? Or Are Democrats Really This Stupid?

2009-03-05T10:35:00.001-06:00

I don’t really know what to make of House Democrats filing two Labor Union bills yesterday. One of the bills, HF 530 would allow union workers to choose their own doctor if they get injured on the job. The other is the most contentious bill they could file, HF 555. HF 555 requires non union members to pay union dues. Talk about un-American.

Read the rest here.

Linn County Residents Raise Their Taxes

2009-03-04T07:49:00.000-06:00

Am I the only one who thinks that the residents of Linn County voting for a tax increase to help pay for the rebuilding effort after last year’s flood is a clear indication that their government has failed them? I’m sure that some people will argue with me and say that there was no serious opposition to local option sales tax initiative, but I don’t think the people really had an option. They need to rebuild their city.

To read the rest of the story please click here.

Leftovers

2009-03-03T09:24:00.002-06:00

I’m packing things up today for the move, but have a couple of things to discuss.

State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald sucks at being the custodian of the IPERS fund.

The Des Moines Register has a story today that says that State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald missed the red flags leading to IPERS losing $339 million dollars. The Register just forgets to mention Fitzgerald in the story. Fitz is up for reelection in 2010.

People should be outraged about this, especially state employees and retirees who’s money Fitzgerald has lost. Republican’s should be using this story to find a competent candidate to run against Fitzgerald in 2010. If you want to know why I think republican’s can do well in Iowa in 2010 consider the following:

Governor Chet Culver and the Democrat Legislature: Increased Spending by a Billion Dollars, Mismanaged the Flood Recovery, Raised Taxes, Forced Local Governments to Raise Taxes, and will have budget problems for the foreseeable future. Oh, and they can’t pass one significant piece of union legislation…

State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald: Lost $339 million dollars of current and former state worker retirement funds. If he was in the private sector he would be out of a job today. Since he’s an elected official he will probably get reelected by a wide margin.

Secretary of State Mike Mauro: While it’s not in the news, there was rampant voter fraud in the 2008 elections. As these matters get investigated and come to light, Mauro could be damaged.

TheBeanWalker.com

Tim Albrecht’s TheBeanWalker.com launched last night. Iowa now has its own version of the Drudge Report. So I wonder, instead of having the famous Drudge siren, will the Bean Walker use something like this:

I mean if you want to keep with the ag theme it seems appropriate.

If you are like me and are not up to date on the term “walking beans” the ever helpful Kay Henderson gives us a history lesson. Maybe it’s the part of the state I’m from but I only knew of detasseling corn.

See you tomorrow at TheIowaRepublican.com!

I’m out of here!

2009-03-02T07:54:00.002-06:00

This past Thursday was the 3rd anniversary of Krusty Konservative. Usually I make a big deal out of such things and toss around some of my stats. As I’ve said on past occasions, I’m always amazed at the number of people who read this blog and participate in the comment section. Your participation has meant a lot to me over the years and has kept me going.

As we enter year three, you will notice a significant change, as I will no longer be blogging on this site. As some of may have noticed, I’ve experienced a number of difficulties with blogger in the last few months. While blogger has been a great free service, it’s time to find a better home for Krusty.

Starting on Wednesday, my new home will be on TheIowaRepublican.com. What? You thought I was hanging it up again? Never, I’m having too much fun.

While the technical problems with blogger were annoying, I also was interested to find a venue that could increase the viewership of my daily column. It is my belief that TheIowaRepublican.com will provide me with just that.

I’m also told that some other Iowa blogs will be making the move along with me. I do not know the details on who else will be blogging at TheIowaRepublican.com but I think its great idea to bring various conservative blogs together under the same roof. While I can’t announce the other blogs, I was able to take a screen shot when I was allowed on the site to take a look around.

The Iowa conservative blogosphere is going through some drastic changes. Later today Tim Albrecht’s TheBeanWalker.com will take root. I’m told that Bean Walker is a news aggregator, kind of like a state specific version of the Drudge Report.

Coming on Wednesday is Craig Robinson’s TheIowaRepublican.com, a conservative version of the Huffington Post that will focus on Iowa Politics. Robinson’s site will contain political news content, blogs like Krusty, and opinion and editorials from various Republican leaders.

One of the things I’m most excited about on the new site is the message board. I love the interaction we have on Krusty, but sometimes it gets out of hand. I think the message board will be a great place to interact with other people across the state.

These are exciting times for the Iowa Blogosphere. I look forward to blogging with my fellow Komrades. And if you’re a blogger and are interested in joining me at TheIowaRepublican.com, shoot me an email and I’ll hook you up with Craig.

My email will remain krustykonservative@gmail.com

The Union Play List: u-Tunes

2009-02-27T07:15:00.000-06:00

I thought it might be good to recap the activities of this past week.

On Monday, Democrats accepted defeat on the Prevailing Wage. They say they will be back.

On Tuesday, the Unions attacked Principal Financial Group for belonging to a pro-business, non-partisan group called the Iowa Association of Business and Industry.

Also on Tuesday, CCI, Citizens for Community Improvement attacked Rep. Dolores Mertz and accused her of being factory farmer. CCI is just a lap dog for the Unions.

On Wednesday, House Leadership (Union Thugs) took away a number of Veteran bills that Rep. McKinley Baily was to manage on the floor. Baily is an Iraq War Veteran and one of the Democrats who votes against the Union Bosses.

I thought the following video was in order.

Obama/Vilsack lash out against farmers, they would rather spend money on fat kids.

2009-02-27T07:14:00.000-06:00

Our esteemed former Governor and current Secretary of Ag had this to say:

"If you had a dollar - one dollar - where would you put it?" Vilsack asked. "Would you give it to a child for more nutritious eating? Would you give it in a direct payment to a high-income (farm) operation?"

Tom, if I only had one dollar, I’d let the farmer keep it so he can keep producing the food that feeds the world, and the food that has become America’s greatest foreign policy asset.

Once again, liberals like Vilsack and Obama look at gross income and conclude whether or not a person is wealthy or not. They need to look at the net, ya know after they pay all the bills…

Once again, Sen. Grassley is the only adult in the room. "I'm a farmer, and I know that gross income or sales revenue does not reflect your ability to pay," he said. "Just because I sell a lot of corn doesn't mean that my input costs to grow that corn weren't even higher."

Liberals…

Bruce Braley and Leonard Boswell – Iowa Job Killers

2009-02-26T06:53:00.000-06:00

Through Wednesday’s passage of H.R. 1105 – The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 - the U.S. House voted to kill a program that allows private sector collection agencies to help the Internal Revenue Service recoup old outstanding tax debts. I’m told that Federal Treasury Union Employees never liked the program because its success could have made the case for more effective collections by the private sector. And the last thing we want to do is create private sector jobs and reduce the size and scope of government…

They had reason to fear the program’s success. As of October 2007 the IRS' Private Debt Collection Program, which launched as a test program only a year earlier, successfully closed 9,000 old cases, collecting more than $30 million in outstanding debt. Knowing how much the Obama Administration – and Democrat’s like Congressman Charlie Rangel hates tax cheats (uh-hmm…) they should be very supportive of this program that collects tax dollars that are legally owed to the government and that are otherwise not likely to be collected by the IRS.

There is a unique Iowa angle to this story, which is why I’m writing about it this morning. As of October 2007, the program was responsible for the employment of 60 Iowans by the Waterloo, Iowa-based CBE Group Inc. – a company that at that time employed over 900 Iowans in Waterloo and West Des Moines. The owner of the company said that he expected the number of Iowans employed by them as a result of full implementation of the Debt Collection Program to grow to more than 200 Iowans. The CBE Group is one of those private sector companies that will be affected by the elimination of this program.

So with the economy is disarray, and with the federal government bailing out companies to prevent job cuts, I was surprised to see that Congressmen Bruce Braley (who represents Waterloo) and Leonard Boswell (who represents most of West Des Moines) voted to most kill these Iowa jobs? Why couldn’t they have convinced their leadership to remove this provision from H.R. 1105 based on the principals of saving jobs in their districts and that tax cheaters should pay up.

This just blows my mind. These are accounts that the IRS has all but written off because they don’t have the time and believe these owed taxes are un-collectible. Yet private companies have proven that they can successfully collect these dollars. Apparently the Democrats are fans of the new program where you name someone to Obama's cabinet to get the tax cheat to finally pay up!

I wonder is Senator Harkin will join Congressman Braley and Congressman Boswell in voting to kill Iowa jobs when this same measure is up before the U.S. Senate next week?

Jindal is more than a flash in the pan.

2009-02-25T15:46:00.002-06:00

So there is a lot of chatter today about Bobby Jindal’s poor performance in delivering the response to Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress. In the comment section a fellow krustacean asked if Jindal’s presidential aspirations ended last night. The answer is absolutely not.

If we were to follow such logic, then Jindal would have been the undisputed 2012 nominee on Sunday when he turned in a stunning performance on Meet the Press. I know we always say it’s too early for these types of setbacks to matter, but that is the case with Jindal.

While his national introduction last night wasn’t very good, meaning he’s not the shiny new penny anymore, he has plenty of time to recover. Now, I know this isn’t widely known, but President Obama was defeated in congressional primary by a two to one margin in 2000. Was that the end of the road for him?

I like Jindal a lot. If he ran, he would probably be my guy. The problem he faces is the same one that George Pataki and Mitt Romney had. No, he’s not bad on the social issues, but he is up for re-election in 2011. So I think that if Jindal wants to run for President in 2012 he can’t run for re-election as governor 2011. Trust me, it would be almost impossible.

Now unlike Pataki and Romney, I think that if he does run for President in 2012 as a one term Governor, watch out. He’s going to be a fundraising machine, and the smartest guy in the race.

So did last night help him? Nope. Did it hurt him? Just a little blow to his ego, he will probably come out a better candidate because of it.

It’s only Wednesday, and it’s been another bad week for the unions.

2009-02-25T08:01:00.000-06:00

First, in what many in the press called a “stunning defeat”, the first of four Big Union bills, Prevailing Wage, went down in flames. Despite the Big Lug twisting arms over the weekend, Big Union members sitting in the gallery and glowering down on Representatives during the debate, and the Speaker’s self-professed Big Irish Temper causing the vote to remain open for three days, the votes just weren’t there.

The loss on prevailing wage puts in serious doubt the other three Big Union Bills. While Speaker Murphy talked a tough line yesterday, and was supported by the Big Lug, one might have to say that the engine in the old Soviet Moskvitch is sputtering a little.

And yesterday, they were dealt another blow, this time in the United States Supreme Court. In a 6-3 opinion, the Court upheld an Idaho state law banning local governments from using payroll deductions to fund union political activities. Five unions and the AFL-CIO argued the law infringed on their First Amendment rights, but the Court disagreed. Reversing the Ninth Circuit, the Court held that the prohibition merely allows the state to avoid subsidizing political activities and does not restrict them (or the First Amendment) in any way.

It is a decision that could strike at Big Labor's ability to raise funds for their political activities. Commonly known as “paycheck protection” laws, in some of the state where they have been enacted there has been a drop in union PAC contributions by up to 50%.

As I wrote about last week, the Big Union agenda is pretty simple: it’s about being subsidized, about taking money from 89.4% of us to benefit the 10.6% of union members in the State. Once you shine a light on their activities, they lose public support. Once you allow people to think and act freely, i.e., paycheck protection laws, their money dries up.

Really, the Unions ought to be a little ashamed of themselves. They just can’t convince workers that union membership adds value anymore. They just resort to scare tactics, coercion and bullying.

Electoral College Bill

Alright you guys win, I’ll mention it briefly. This has to be the stupidest thing that I have seen since Speaker Murphy spent 90 hours keeping the voting machine open, when he could have had a one yes vote change to a no, accept a motion to reconsider. Wait…

Anyway, why on earth a small state like Iowa would support a bill giving our 7 electoral votes to the winner of the popular votes is beyond me. If that would have been in effect last fall that means no big Obama rally for Becky Greenwald to get her ugly on at…

Let me get this straight. Last week the people of Iowa were clear in their opposition to the Prevailing wage legislation. They emailed and called their legislators, who then voted against it. Yet, the Democrat leaders in the House don’t want to listen to the people and those they sent to represent them. So they keep the voting machine open all weekend in hopes that they can force someone to switch their vote. Interesting.

The founders of our nation did a great job; I’m going to side with them on this one.

A pattern? I doubt it.

2009-02-24T13:55:00.001-06:00

Liberal group attacks Rep. Mertz.

Unions attack Principal for being an ABI member and want Treasury to deny them TARP funds because they're member of a group that objects to the union agenda.

Seems like if they don't like what you say, they'd rather you just not say anything. It's Iowa's Fairness Doctrine.

It ain't fair, but well, it's their Doctrine.

So much for the wide open debate on the issues, change, openess, tolerance, and all that other crap Obama and his goons spread during the campaign.

The Unions assault on Iowa businesses enters a new phase

2009-02-24T11:31:00.001-06:00

I thought this was about jobs, good paying jobs, like the ones people who work at Principal Financial Group have…

Guess again, it’s about the Union Bosses, and they are pissed off.

Change to Win Iowa to confront the Principal Financial Group for their questionable involvement with Iowa Association of Business and Industry

(Des Moines) - With the Treasury Department poised to approve the second round of TARP funds, Change to Win has registered its opposition to granting assistance to the Principal Financial Group, which has applied for up to $2 billion under TARP. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Change to Win chair Anna Burger said, Unless and until Treasury can assure hardworking taxpayers that our money is not being used against us, firms like Principal that engage in extensive, gratuitous lobbying are undeserving of TARP assistance.

Change to Win Iowa will be confronting executive officers of the Principal Financial Group at their downtown Des Moines building at 11:00 this morning with a letter from Iowa officers of the United Food and Commercial Workers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the Service Employees International Union. Change to Win Iowas dispute with the Principal Financial Group derives from their involvement with the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI). The ABI has been running an extremely negative and wholly false radio advertisement campaign against a number of pieces of legislation that would benefit Iowa workers.

Merle Peterson, the vice president of government affairs for the Principal Financial Group sits on the ABI board of directors. In 2008, Principal paid ABI $15,000 in membership fees. The ask from Change to Win Iowa is to stop the false radio advertising and drop their membership with ABI. They should not be using their $2 billion of tax payers money to fight bills that benefit Iowa workers and have zero impact on their company.

The text of Change to Win Iowas letter to Principal is pasted below:

February 23, 2009

Dear Mr. Vice-President

The Iowa members of Change to Win are asking for your help. Principal Financial is an important part of our Iowa economy and has a reputation for being a very good employer. In fact, Principals reputation for standing up for the civil rights of their employees is honorable. In many instances we have sat on the same side of the fight for human rights.

But Principals complicit role in anti-worker messaging is intolerable. As active members of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, and through the board membership of Merle Petersen, you contribute significant resources to, and facilitate discrimination against members of organized labor.

In these dire financial times, vehemently opposing statutory changes that would empower workers and improve wages for ordinary Iowansnurses, food workers, laborers, police officersis unconscionable. Additionally, Principal Financial is the steward of the retirement resources of many Change to Win members. The same workers who ABI has opposed in their search for a secure middle class existence have been willing to support Principal Financial with their tax dollars.

Principal has the opportunity to influence ABI and help workers. We ask you today to terminate your ABI membership and/or stop the following hostile and false radio ad:
"Once upon a time, a band of union bosses roamed the Iowa countryside threatening hardworking people while claiming to do good deeds. (Sound of ripping paper.) Union bosses in Iowa are writing a very scary fairy tale. They want to make you pay union dues even if you're not a union member. The unions want to fix the cost on every public construction project, and strip our local school boards of their authority. And the unions want to control health care for Iowa workers. Their greed will cost you hundreds of dollars out of your paycheck. It will force local governments deeper in debt and raise our property taxes. It will drive up our health care costs. Please call your legislator today at (515) 281-3221 and tell them this is no fairy tale. Tell them in this story, hardworking Iowans will not live happily ever after."

We also ask you to speak out in our support. We suspect that you know as well as we do that the enactment of Fair Share will have no impact on economic development in Iowa. Please tell the truth and help your clients and benefactors win Fair Share in Iowa.

Thank you,

Jerry Messer, UFCW Sarah Swisher, SEIU Pat Navin, IBT
Quad Cities Iowa City Winterset

More to follow.

Prevailing Wage Fallout - IPERS Fraud

2009-02-24T09:46:00.001-06:00

Culver’s Influence Not Enough to Pass Prevailing Wage

Yesterday afternoon Kay Henderson had a column about her interview with House Speaker (for now) Pat Murphy. In it Murphy said that Governor Culver was working behind the scenes trying to influence Democrat legislators to support the legislation. As we all know the legislation failed to pass giving House Leadership a huge defeat, and now it looks like Speaker Murphy wants Culver to take his fair share of the blame too.

While Iowa Democrats tried their best to spin their way out of the defeat they suffered on Friday, and the 90 hour debacle that ensued after the vote, the blame game is now fully in effect. Speaker Murphy is clearly the biggest loser, but Culver is now a close second.

Culver more than anybody needed to olive branch this session to smooth over any bad feelings that were created when he vetoed the only piece of labor legislation that has been able to pass through both chambers, the collective bargaining bill. Now Culver needs to find another way to accomplish that goal before the end of this year’s legislative session. My money is on his $700 million bonding bill.

There is no conceivable way that the legislature can tackle bills like fair share, or collective bargaining after the messy prevailing wage fiasco in the House. If the Democrats try that they are complete morons. Instead, I think that prevailing wage language ends up in Culver’s $700 million dollar bonding proposal. Culver will state that the stimulus money from Father Obama requires a prevailing wage, and to keep things simple and fair, we need to use the same standards when dealing with the State’s bonding money. Its and easy argument for Democrats to make, and it allows Culver to send a $700 million dollar “I’m sorry” note to the union bosses.

Think about that for a moment. Culver is going to use $700 million of our tax dollars, and the tax dollars of some kid who’s in kindergarten right now, to make good with the unions to help his re-election next year. That sure sounds like Illinois and not the Iowa I know and love.

We need to prepare for the next fight.

IPERS Fraud

$339 million dollars of IPERS funds have been frozen from one of its investment firms. This is alarming, and once again I think the main stream media is missing the story or asking the wrong questions. Here is part of the story that I found in the Globe Gazette:

Officials at the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System have terminated a contract with a California investment management firm being investigated and demanded the return of IPERS assets valued at about $339 million.

“I’m not putting any sugar on this one,” said State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald, a member of the IPERS Investment Board and fund custodian. “I’m very, very concerned. We have at least $300 million at risk here.”

IPERS spokeswoman Julie Economaki said the action was taken against Westridge Capital Management of Santa Barbara, Calif., which has managed about 2 percent of IPERS’ investment portfolio since March 2007 as the result of a competitive selection process.

So State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald is the custodian of the IPERS fund. That makes sense. He is concerned that two members of Westridge have been suspended by the National Futures Association. That makes sense. But I also read in the story that Westridge was selected in March of 2007 to manage 2% of the fund, so I want to know how much research did IPERS custodian, State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald do when he let Westridge manage $339 million of our state workers retirement money. How did this happen?

I guess I’m sensitive to things like this because Governor Culver wanted to use the state workers retirement fund to invest in his Power Fund, a move that would have been disastrous for our state employees and retirees.

Murphy’s Madness

2009-02-23T09:13:00.000-06:00

If the defeat of the Prevailing Wage legislation wasn’t enough, Speaker of the House Pat Murphy drew more attention to the situation by staging a sit in all weekend long in hopes to switch a no vote to a yes vote and pass the legislation. There is just one problem with his strategy; there is no way he comes out looking good. And while I’m sure he would celebrate the 51st vote, the court of public opinion would bemoan the fact that Murphy had to resort to strong arm tactics and a rules loophole to get his way.

Today I want to discuss the fallout, and the winners and losers of what transpired at the Capitol on Friday night and throughout the weekend.

The Fallout:

I found it funny that the Des Moines Register didn’t seem to find the Speaker’s sit in as a news worthy event yet Radio Iowa, and the local TV stations kept checking in on the situation over the weekend. If you are looking for a reason why the newspapers are being phased out, their lack of coverage in their own back yard is all the proof you need. It was a great story, a historic one actually and they failed to cover it. I guess Jennifer Jacobs or Tom Beaumont don’t work weekends or were on furlough, and we all know that Yepsen has already checked out but at least he put up a blog post. If it were me I would have had a live web cam…

The political fallout is pretty simple and straight forward. With Republicans only having 44 votes it should be absolutely impossible for House Republicans to score any victory during the legislative session let alone a major victory over a labor bill which most people thought would pass.

Out of the four labor bills, prevailing wage was seen as one of the slam dunks. Its defeat might mean that the labor agenda will have to be put on the shelf for the rest of this year. If they couldn’t get prevailing wage through, how do they expect to get Fair Share or the collective bargaining bill passed. There is a possibility that Sen. Mike Gronstal passes prevailing wage legislation in the State Senate with language that is acceptable to someone like Rep. McKinley Bailey, but I think that’s a long shot and puts Bailey is a really bad position politically. Doing something like that would be very short sided for Iowa Democrats. I think the labor issues are dead for the time being.

Winner/Losers

Loser: Pat Murphy

I’ll go on record saying that Pat Murphy will not be the Speaker of the House a year from now. That’s right; he’s not going to last through the next election. Murphy has never been seen as the brightest legislator at the Capitol, and his mishandling of the Prevailing Wage legislation is unacceptable to the most important constituent group in the Democrat Party. If people think the Unions don’t like Culver, their feelings toward Murphy after the defeat on the floor and a terrible PR stunt is even worse.

Loser: Chet Culver

I couldn’t believe that Culver came out publically in support of Murphy’s decision to keep the voting machine open all weekend. Heck, it wasn’t till the bill was defeated that people knew where Culver stood on the bill. The only thing that makes sense is that Culver wanted to sign some labor bills in advance of his re-election campaign. Now he may not get that opportunity. Ouch.

Push: Kevin McCarthy

This one might surprise you, but McCarthy is throwing Murphy under the bus behind the scenes with is Labor Union friends. McCarty’s statements to the press after the bill failed to reach the needed 51 votes were very telling, and he’s the guy positioned to be the next leader of the House Dems.

Winner: Iowa Taxpayers

There is no doubt that that passing this legislation would have increased the cost of public projects in the state and that tab would have been passed on to the taxpayer.

Winner: The 5 Dems

Reps. Quirk, Bailey, Marek, Mertz, and Kelly all deserve a lot of credit for standing on their principles. Iowans reward legislators who do what’s right for their districts, not political party.

Winner: Kraig Paulsen

Now I’m sure that there are some people who think that this victory fell into Paulsen’s lap. While I have been a tad bit critical of him, it was Paulsen who got the debate moved from late in the night on Thursday to mid-day on Friday with a time limit on debate. These things are easy to overlook, but at the end of the day they were very important development. The extra time allowed the public more time to influence the debate, and I think it’s safe to say that on Thursday night Larry Marek and McKinley Bailey vote for the bill.

Winner: Outside Influencers

I’m surprised and encouraged that outside groups such as the Association of Business and Industry, Iowa Progress Project, Newspapers, and Blogs can still get the public engaged in a short period of time. While ABI and IPP hit the airwaves with Radio Ads that helped shape the debate, it was the blogs and people like Rep. Chris Rants who shined a bright light on the deal making going on with Marek and Bailey. Without that type of transparency I don’t think this bill gets defeated.

Loser: The Voting Machine

It just timed out for the 3rd time! Who made this thing Diebold?

Rep. Larry Marek stands firm on his NO vote.

2009-02-21T11:43:00.000-06:00

Rep. Larry Marek told his constituents at his legislative forum this morning that he is firm in his opposition to the prevailing wage legislation. Krusty kudos to Marek for keeping his word.

One has to wonder how long Speaker Murphy will hold the machine open and who will he get to switch their vote. He has run out of options, and even the voting machine crapped out this morning. Here is the press release from the House Republicans.

Man vs. Machine: House Republicans win another round

(DES MOINES) – Long after last night’s vote on the prevailing wage bill, the legislative vote machine timed out this morning, clearing the whole electronic voting board in the Iowa House of Representatives.

Democratic leadership was forced to re-enter the votes manually, re-opening the machine, which clearly was not constructed with the intention of staying open so long. Typically, the machine is closed immediately following a vote. House Speaker Pat Murphy, however, has kept the machine open, hoping someone will switch from a “no” vote.

“House Republicans continue to remain vigilant in this chamber, even if we outlast the voting machine itself,” said House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen. “Republicans believe this bill was rightly defeated, Iowa taxpayers agree, and now even the machine has said ‘enough.’ We hope the speaker will do the right thing, shut down voting and allow us to focus on other things – like how to revive Iowa’s economy, how to create new jobs and how to fix the state’s budget deficit.”

# # #

Murphy is an embarrassment to our state. I guess he is just following the democrat play book that says when you lose a close one just keep counting votes. It seems to be working for Al Franken, but I don’t think Speaker Murphy is going to be as lucky.

Prevailing Wage Stuck at 50-46

2009-02-20T18:13:00.003-06:00

Reps. McKinley Baily and Larry Marek both voted no, and left the building.

Voting Machine still open.

One vote short of passage.

Major blow to House Leadership.

Speaker Murphy will keep the voting machine open until Monday at 1 p.m. meaning he will have to sleep in the chamber.

Strong Arm tactics no match to the court of public opinion.

Rep. McKinley Bailey folds…then does the right thing and votes no!

2009-02-20T13:34:00.001-06:00

The young are always so impressionable…

Bailey who was thought to be one of the few Pro-Business Democrats, looks to be the vote McCarthy and Murphy need to pass the prevailing wage legislation. Don’t worry; I’m sure he will be pro-business when the next campaign rolls around. Pathetic.

Update: The amendment Baily wanted included didn't make the cut and he voted no.

Prevailing Wage: Day Two

2009-02-20T09:28:00.003-06:00

I had a loyal Krustacean help me with the video, with the economy I had to outsource it…

Yesterday the State House was going to start debating the prevailing wage bill at 9 a.m., then it was pushed back to the afternoon, then it was going to start at 9 pm, and then they called it a night. Now we are told the debate will begin today at noon and last no more than five hours. We will see.

So what went on last night? Here is what I’ve been able to find out.

As the day turned into night, House Republicans were very vocal about their opposition of debating this bill under the cover of darkness. Why was it so important for the prevailing wage bill that it could not wait until today? Republican’s won that battle. It’s one of their strongest arguments, if you are going to raise taxes on mom and pop contractors which could put them out of business you better be willing to do it while the people are awake and can follow the proceedings. With all of this talk about transparency, Republicans had a point.

I’ve also heard that Rep. Larry Marek was locked up in solitary confinement most of last night (Speaker Murphy’s office). Obviously Marek’s vote is key, and Murphy doesn’t want anyone to change his mind, even his constituents who are lighting up his phone.

I say we keep calling Marek and tell him to keep his promise to his constituents and vote against prevailing wage. His phone number in the house is 515-281-3221. If he doesn’t answer you can probably get him in the speaker’s office, that number is 515-281-5566.

Republicans are ready for the debate and plan to offer the following amendments:

H-1049 by Horbach strikes the entire bill and replaces with intent language that the Labor Commissioner must post the prevailing prior to the General Assembly debating a prevailing wage mandate

H-1041 by Tymeson changes the title to “Price Fixing for Public Improvements Act”

H-1042 by Tymeson adds language stating this section not be construed to promote or approve the price fixing of labor rates by competing contractors on public improvement projects

H-1030 by Watts adds language protecting local taxpayers from higher property taxes that result from inflated public improvement costs due to fringe benefits.

H-1028 by Watts states that “fringe benefits” do not include non-essential administrative costs associated with third-party trustees (attempts to eliminate a slush fund for the trade unions)

H-1036 by Horbach states that the prevailing wage rate is not required to be paid to union employees unless the unions can verify that all of its officers and employees are legal United States residents

H-1039 by Grassley, Schulte and Pettengill exempts disaster-related expenditures from prevailing wage, disaster-related expenditures means expenditures that include any state funding for a public improvement in an area that the governor has proclaimed a disaster emergency or the United States president has declared a major disaster during 2008 and in an area that experiences a disaster on or after January 1, 2009.

H-1040 by Van Engelenhoven requires the Attorney General and State Auditor to work with the Labor Commissioner to develop rules for the Act, this is necessary for added transparency to the process

H-1029 by Watts removes the authority of the commissioner to administer oaths, take depositions and subpoena the books, registers and payrolls of the contractors and subcontractors.

H-1037 by Helland removes punitive damages from the punishments, contractors would still be liable for wages and reasonable attorney fees (punitive damages were added in Labor Committee)

H-1043 by Tymeson tries to prevent union harassment of employees by not allowing them to collect union dues on the job site

H-1026 by Watts gives the State Auditor jurisdiction over third-party fringe funds in order to prove that the unions aren’t using prevailing wage for non-essential administrative expenditures

H-1032 by Horbach states that it is a violation of the Act to intimidate, threaten or interfere with the work of any person who is not working under a prevailing wage system on a public improvement

H-1048 by Lukan requires that the Labor Commissioner’s posting comply with the English only law

H-1059 by Struyk states that any employer who refuses to use the federal eligibility program (e-verify) shall not be eligible for public assistance

H-1060 by Struyk directs the Department of Public Safety to study the feasibility of developing a statewide database system designed to provide information related to the immigration status of a person

A Republican Come Back? Maybe…

2009-02-19T12:35:00.001-06:00

Michael Jordon did it, as did Lance Armstrong, Mario Andretti, and Brett Farve seems to do it on a yearly basis. They retire, and walk away from the game or sport in which they are dominate only to see those who try to fill their shoes fail miserably.

If you want to understand why Republicans in Iowa don’t have a long list of potential gubernatorial candidates, or even future legislative leaders, you need look no further than the long list of excellent legislators who have walked away, or sought higher office. People like Sandy Greiner. Chuck Larson, Jr., Jeff Lamberti, Steve Sukup, Willard Jenkins, Bill Dix, Jeff Elgin, Kitty Rehberg, Libby Jacobs, Paul Pate, Bill Schickel, Chuck Gipp, Brent Siegrist, and Dan Boddicker. And that’s just the folks off the top of my head.

With Governor Culver and the Democrats driving the state off a cliff, I wonder what the possibility of seeing some of these former legislators with plenty of gas left in the tank come back to help push back or correct the failed Democrat policies for the past few years. Maybe they don’t run for their old seats, but having them as candidate for state house, senate or statewide offices would be incredible. If that’s too much to ask for, they could be helpful in recruiting and mentoring candidates in their home areas or come to Des Moines to help our current legislators.

It might not be as farfetched of an idea as you may think. Apparently former State Rep. Sandy Greiner will be at the State Capitol today during some of the prevailing wage debate, and there are rumors out of Washington County that she has reopened her campaign account over Larry Marek’s flip-flop over labor issues.

Destroy the Rebuild Iowa Office

2009-02-19T09:29:00.001-06:00

Destroy the Rebuild Iowa Office

So the other day there was a big hullabaloo over the fact that Culver responded to all the criticism over the Rebuild Iowa Office. Yes the Governor cut the salaries of the employees, but in my opinion those salaries are still out of whack. There are 19 employees in that office and the average salary is $75k a year. The median family income in Iowa is just over $44,000.00, which is what the lowest earner in the Rebuild Iowa Office makes.

Folks we are spending $1.5 million a year on salaries that are not needed. Those who opposed the creation of this new government bureaucracy from the state were correct. There are other state agencies that are better suited in dealing with these issues. For example the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division claims on their website that they help coordinate activities before, during, and after emergencies through partnerships with local, state, federal and private agencies. Isn’t that exactly what the Rebuild Iowa Office claims to be doing?

We don’t need to simply adjust salaries downward at the Rebuild Iowa Office; we need close it down and let IHSEMD lead the recovery effort. With the budget crisis and the fact that such a move would allow for more dollars to go directly to flood victims, this seems like a common sense approach.

How Much is too Much, and when is Enough, Enough?

David Yepsen has an interesting column today, saying that the he think that the reason legislators are still advancing the idea of the gas tax even though the governor continues to say he is opposed to it is because they are using it as leverage. Basically if Culver wants to get his $700 million dollar bonding proposal through, he’s going to have to change his position on the gas tax.

Which leaves me to ask a simple question, how much money do they need? The Time 21 Study says that they need an extra $200 million a year for the next 20 years to fix Iowa’s roads and bridges. Now we all know how government works, they WANT $200 million, what they need is probably less. I don’t know of any state agency that would submit a request of what they actually need, it’s just not how the game is played.

Speaking of “the game,” we also know that before that 20 years is up Time 21 will want to adjust the $200 million a year by adding in inflation rates, and when the 20 years is up we are going to have to do a Time 22 Study because my gosh, some of these roads are 20 years old… You get the picture.

Anyway so let’s look at what Chet Culver and the democrats really want to spend on roads in the next few years. Is it the $600 million that Time 21 is requesting? Nope, its $1.6 billion dollars, and the scary part is I think my numbers are low because I couldn’t find solid per year numbers for the increased income from the vehicle registration increases.

Here is the breakdown is the gas tax and Culver’s bonding proposal pass:

Increased Vehicle Registration: $115 Million
Increased Gas Tax: $483 Million ($161 million a year)
Culver’s Bonding Proposal: $700 Million
Obama’s Infrastructure: $358 Million

That’s $1,655,000,000.00

And you know what’s going to happen in year four, the Iowa DOT is going to raise holy hell that they don’t have the money they had in previous years to fix the roads.

What’s my point, you have enough money to comply with time 21’s request so don’t make me pay more at the pump.

Prevailing Wage Toss Up or Done Deal?

Yesterday, Rep. Christopher Rants posed on his blog that the Democrats have found the votes they needed to pass the prevailing wage legislation. His explanation seems logical, but my other sources tell me that the House Democrats spent 6 hours in caucus yesterday. Obviously, there is something going on. And to back up that point, Rep. Larry Marek who told his constituents he opposed these labor bills on Saturday is now all of a sudden in the midst of a flip flop on the issue. He wouldn’t have to change his mind if they could pass it without him. Debate on the bill is scheduled for today; I guess we will have an answer soon.