The Quad City Times has the story that the House voted to ban TouchPlay 80-18:
Rep. Danny Carroll, R-Grinnell, who led TouchPlay opposition during the House debate, said the ban was a critical vote for lawmakers.
He said it demonstrates “the will of the Legislature and, more importantly, the people of Iowa that we do not want an expansion of gambling in this state.”
“This is not the Iowa that we envisioned,” he added.
Well, at least Danny Carroll knows he needs his name in print as much as possible if he’s going to survive another election campaign. The story also mentions another measure before the House right now to extend the deadline for removing the slot machines until September 1. Time for a five-month TouchPlay binge!
And in case you’re wondering what’s next, Tom Vilsack has to decide if he’ll sign it. He previously said he’d sign what the legislature sends him, so things are looking good for Iowa casinos and bad for that back wall at Kum & Go right by the bathroom.
Today the New York Times endorsed a creative, yet not crazy plan to make the Electoral College a rubber stamp for the national popular vote using interstate compacts. It’s a politically viable solution that seems to be attracting a lot of attention lately:
Past attempts to abolish the Electoral College by amending the Constitution have run into difficulty. But National Popular Vote, which includes several former members of Congress, is offering an ingenious solution that would not require a constitutional amendment. It proposes that states commit to casting their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote. These promises would become binding only when states representing a majority of the Electoral College signed on. Then any candidate who won the popular vote would be sure to win the White House.
My first wish would be to provide free Kum & Go milk coupons to all mothers with young children who play the Lottery’s TouchPlay machines at their neighborhood convenience stores. And even better would be free childcare at new Kum & Go/Iowa Lottery daycare centers for Gold Card TouchPlay members. My second wish is install the new Lottery TouchPlay machines at all I-235 & I-80 rest stops. Each player would receive a free Iowa road map or visitors guide. The state of Iowa could put the new TouchPlay machines on the front of their 2007 Iowa visitors guide as a new activity for the entire family. The new Iowa road maps would have decals noting all TouchPlay locations on I-235 and I-80 rest stops. My third and last wish is to draft Bill Krause (owner of Kum & Go) and Ed Stanek (Iowa Lottery czar) as independent candidates for Iowa governor. All net revenues from TouchPlay could fund their campaigns. Just think of a new Grant Wood painting with Bill and Ed. A great utopia and we would all prosper. God, I’m glad I live in Iowa.
Mitchell Henry
Des Moines
Kids playing with themselves
Rep. Dawn Pettengill is taking the wrong tack sponsoring a bill to ban the sale of sex toys to children (”Bad Vibrations,” Feb. 9). She doesn’t want minors to see or have certain devices designed for sexual stimulation. If sexual stimulation is Pettengill’s concern, a better solution would be to pass a law requiring minors to wear mittens at all times when they are in their bedrooms or bathrooms. That should effectively prevent sexual stimulation and would alienate only minors who don’t vote, while Pettengill’s bill would alienate shop owners who do vote and who also pay much-needed taxes.
The Register reports that fourteen Republicans have joined Democrats in the call for debate on a cigarette tax increase (proposed by Vilsack) that would fund health care.
It still seems unlikely that they’ll get their way, though:
House Speaker Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City, is against the tax increase and is seen by many as standing in the way of a debate in the House.
On the letter sent to Rants in favor of debate, Republican Walt Tomenga pointed out:
“I don’t think it will have much impact,” he said. “Neither party wants a vote on this bill because they don’t to run with the tag of raising taxes.”
In an e-mail to supporters today, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pointed out that although Frist switched his stem cell position 8 months ago, he has yet to call for a vote. The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act has already passed the House, so a vote in the Senate could mean new hope for millions of Americans with debilitating diseases.
Looks like the Senate voted to ban Touchplay, with a 45 day grace period for the removal of the machines.
The Register quotes Republican Larry McKibben sounding strangely (albeit over the top) Democratic:
McKibben called the gambling “the worst form of child abuse” because people who could least afford it were feeding money into the machines.
Rather than economic development, “this is simply a transfer of money from one pocket to another — money that won’t be spent on food, gas, clothing and other consumer goods that help to drive our economy,” he said.
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.
