Tim Higgins at the Register penned a story implying that House Speaker Christopher Rants (R) may be accepting favors from lobbyists in exchange for pushing their legislative agenda:
As state lawmakers prepare to debate the future of the Iowa Lottery’s slot machine-like games, the Iowa House Speaker and a handful of other legislators went on a golf trip to Myrtle Beach with a casino lobbyist this past weekend.
The trip included four lawmakers, friends and lobbyist Kimberly Haus, who works on the behalf of Ameristar Casinos and other companies, said House Speaker Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City, today.
And supporters of the TouchPlay systems feel that “casinos are their biggest advisories in this debate.” Yeah, he meant adversaries, but that doesn’t change the power of the allegations.
Rants, of course, denies any impropriety unequivocally and claims that everyone “paid their own way.”
It’s just coincidence that the lobbyist, Kimberly Haus, also works for Phillip Morris, who is helped by Rants’s strong position against raising cigarette taxes.
A popular interest group announces its new president, Iowa water is too polluted to eat the fish, and alternative fuel gets talked up (twice!) after the jump.
In an email to its list today, the League of Conservation Voters announced that its new President will be Gene Karpinski. Here’s what they say about him:
Gene comes to us after over 20 years as the Executive Director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). He is also very familiar with the workings of our organization, having served on LCV’s board and political committee over the last 12 years. His role as LCV President will begin in early April.
He has blogged at the Huffington Post, but not very frequently. And he clearly earned his stripes in environmental causes, so hopefully that means the LCV picked more than just a name.
Also, the Register reports that our water is polluted enough to call for a health warning against eating its fish. It’s something about high levels of chemicals.
And the Waterloo Cedar-Falls Courier has the second article in a three-part series on E85 fuel — that is, fuel with high ethanol content — and how it’s apparently catching on. Flex-fuel cars (that is, cars that can run on traditional fuel and E85 fuel) still only account for a small percentage of purchases, and E85 fuel accounts for an even smaller percentage of total fuel sales, but everyone is optimistic:
Ethanol industry officials say a lack of knowledge nationwide about the fuel, comparatively few E85-compatible vehicles on the road and the lack of stations carrying it are obstacles to mainstream success.
Consumer research released in December said 70 percent of people didn’t know what ethanol was or would consider using it. A recent well-publicized study said ethanol is good for America since it creates more energy than it takes to make it. For people who want to lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil, this could help the industry.
Even so, though, auto makers and dealerships are pushing flex-fuel really hard:
“Vern Laures Auto Center in New Hampton regularly advertises in the Farm Bureau Spokesman, a paper geared to Iowa farmers. A recent ad featured E85 cars and trucks with an ear of corn and a headline stating, ‘Wheels that will save $$.’”
And in somewhat related news, AP reports that Iowans may start selling a byproduct of biodiesel production. Glycerin, they say, settles at the bottom of the tank during the production process, and it’s commonly used in soap a number of other common household products.
In response to a constituent letter from another student, Senator Grassley writes
I believe the original Patriot Act and the current Patriot Act Conference Report provide the right balance between assisting our law enforcement agencies with the means to combat terror while protecting the civil liberties that we as Americans hold so dear. You should know that virtually all of the actions taken by the Federal government under the Patriot Act are reviewed by independent Federal judges.
Virtually all? I don’t know about you, Chuck, but the administration hasn’t exactly earned my trust lately in consulting independent judges.
Because this fair web site hasn’t been around for more than two and a half days, we didn’t post about it when it came up, but Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen wrote last Thursday under a headline “Left/right extremes drive Iowa political landscape.” He argued that “social conservatives” like the Christian Coalition are becoming more and more influential in Iowa:
Religious conservatives will also be a factor in the re-election plans of Des Moines Democrat Matt McCoy, an openly gay legislator. He’s already got a primary challenger, and Republicans are also planning to field a candidate. While his district is heavily Democratic, it also includes many south-side Catholics and blue-collar evangelicals.
Bottom line: Republicans are hoping the work of the alliance can counter the Democratic trends and intense passions coming from the left these days. The election of 2006 in Iowa seems no place for moderates or middle-of-the-roaders. ’Tis a battle of the zealous.
And then he forgot to talk about any groups on the “extreme left.” All he says about us is some dismissive remark about our “intense passions” — whatever that means.
AP reports that Iowa’s casino industry is booming, and the figures they offer are pretty astounding. Over $740 million is being invested in casinos in Iowa right now:
Iowa’s casino industry is in the midst of a multi-million dollar expansion boom. Four new riverboat casinos will open in the next 14 months, while ten existing casinos are adding more space. The total is about $742 million.
About 18 million people visit Iowa’s existing riverboat and racetrack casinos each year, leaving behind more than one billion dollars. The new casinos are expected to generate an additional $200 million a year in gambling revenue.
And then there’s TouchPlay, that political football that has gotten more attention than really anything else in the Iowa media (check today’s Des Moines Register for a decent summary of the issue up to now). Political Forecast quotes the Cedar Rapids Gazette:
Blouin said that although he wished the games hadn’t been installed in about 2,900 Iowa businesses, “”it’s kind of hard to pull the plug.”
Culver urged the Legislature to move quickly to enact the safeguards recommended by Vilsack’s TouchPlay task force. He’s concerned that banning the games would negatively affect small businesses that have invested in the machines.
Nussle, who participated through a previously videotaped interview, has said he prefers the machines be banned.
Fallon said he would vote to ban the machines when the Iowa House debates the issue Tuesday.
Our good friends at the Hindu Business Line recently covered Vilsack’s visit to India, and it’s kind of funny:
Indian businesses can invest in a lot of sectors such as agriculture and software in US province of Iowa, the industry chamber FICCI said on Monday.
“Iowa offers opportunities for Indian companies to invest in sectors such as biotech, agriculture, real estate, defence, banking, telecom, infrastructure, manufacturing,” Mr Saroj Poddar, president, FICCI, said at a function to welcome the visiting Iowa Governor, Mr Thomas J Vilsack.
It’ll be interesting to see if Indian money flowing into Iowa might start to compensate for American money flowing into India (in the form of outsourcing) sometime in the future. Either way, what was Vilsack doing in India?
The Des Moines Register put a piece up yesterday summarizing the good number of county conventions that happened over the weekend. Complete results weren’t available when the article went up, but they do summarize the previous weekend’s (much larger) delegate totals, and Fallon made out well:
Last weekend, delegates voted at three larger county conventions — Johnson, Polk and Story. Fallon won support from 130 delegates. Culver was supported by 90 delegates, and Blouin was supported by 28. Ninety-one delegates listed themselves as undecided.
If none of the six Democratic candidates for governor receive 35 percent of the vote in the June primary, the election would be determined at a state convention populated by the same county delegates who met Saturday.
For a good roundup of last weekend’s totals (although it still may not be complete), check Drew Miller’s blog.
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