Tonight, the Grinnell Campus Democrats met, and here’s what we discussed:
We’ll be holding satellite voting for the primaries 28 April. We’re postering campus with issue grids for the gubernatorial candidates, and, if possible, democratic candidates for other offices.
We’re also coordinating volunteer opportunities from the campaigns. We passed around signup sheets for volunteers that we’ll forward on to our contacts with the campaigns.
Campaigns are probably going to make stops on campus before our primaries. We’ve heard back from both Blouin and Fallon, and we expect to hear from Culver, too. It looks like Blouin will probably come on the evening of the 23rd.
Our blog (this site) is doing well, with a lot of visits every day. The Fallon and Blouin campaigns have agreed to do interviews. We might get promotional materials.
We have a lot of volunteer opportunities. In particular, Eric Palmer’s new campaign manager (who seems impressive) is already looking for interns and volunteers for the summer. (We already passed around the signup sheet.) Danny Carroll, his opponent, likes to think that we’re hippy “East Coast Liberals” who are all pinko activists. Let’s show him.
We’ll be hosting a GOTV workshop to make sure that we’re a well trained force for the party during this election season. The date of it hasn’t been determined.
We passed around a signup sheet for students who will be around during the summer doing other things. We’ll use the list to random requests for volunteers when extra people are needed. And maybe for parties.
The administration might let us install a “Student Activism Center” in the new campus center. There are planning meetings for the next two nights: 10:20PM in the Coffeehouse on Wednesday; 7PM in the North Lounge on Thursday.
And, finally, it looks like the father of a current student is running for governor of South Dakota. We may have some opportunities to help that campaign, too.
Just a reminder: Grinnell College Campus Democrats’ meetings are intended to help us coordinate efforts to cause progressive change. Anyone from the community who would like to raise a concern or promote a cause is welcome to attend on Tuesday nights at 7:30PM in the Forum Coffee House. Email democrat@grinnell.edu if you’d like to join us.
Legislators will begin investigating the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium tomorrow after top officers were found to have received “excessive” salaries.
State Auditor David Vaudt told the AP that the state may be responsible for repayment to the federal government of $1.8 million.
The agency’s board members say they didn’t know where the money was going, while Des Moines City Councilman Archie Brooks told the Register that a stroke prevented him from taking care of the matter:
“My memory is not what it was. The government knows that. They pay me for it. I lose thought. I lose mind. I lose names. I can’t use that as an excuse. Did I not keep track of the records? Did I not keep a running total on my desk? No. Was I the only person authorized to sign? Yes.”
I don’t even know what to make of all this. A line from Casablanca springs to mind though. We’ll see.
Despite his claim to be focused on his duties as governor, the Register reports that Vilsack travelled to DC this week to court a union conference. Jane Norman writes that Vilsack’s overtures are important to any future presidential bid:
[Vilsack’s] relations with some Iowa trade unions have at times been strained. Vilsack has been the target of criticism by labor groups because of pro-business legislation he has signed in order to compromise with Statehouse Republicans.
During his I’m-not-running-for-anything-I’m-just-here-to-chat speech he also uttered the words Democratic hopefuls are starting to rally around:
The strongest applause came when he called for less reliance on foreign oil and vowed that “we should never, ever send any young man or woman anywhere in the world to defend our oil supply.”
Well only kind of. Drew covers the entire event, and it sounds like the Register is polite in describing the exchanges as “stepped-up.” Culver and Blouin went after each other while Fallon asked everyone to play nice and Mohamed was ignored:
Chet Culver said Monday that fellow Democratic candidate for governor Mike Blouin’s support of a higher minimum wage and acceptance of laws allowing abortion are election-year changes intended to curry favor with primary voters.
Blouin countered that Culver’s running mate, Patty Judge, supported restrictions on abortion, despite Culver’s characterization of himself and Judge as having always “unequivocally” backed abortion rights.
“People are not always as troubled by a position you take as they are troubled when you flip and you flop and you try to get every side of the issue,” said Culver, Iowa’s secretary of state. “You have seen what I believe is an election-year conversion.”
I’m glad we’ve adopted the term ”flip flopper” though.
Also, Blouin probably shouldn’t be going after folks’ running mates for being inconsistent.
Okay, while it is not specifically related to Iowa, it is specifically related to Progress, so it is going on the Blog.
Just a few minutes ago the AP reported that former House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX) announced today that he is resigning from the House of Representatives. The stated reason is that his reelection campaign was more difficult and more costly than he was prepared for (although he was sure to note that he thought he could’ve won, and of course, it was those pesky Liberals’ faults for being so darn negative).
And now for the spin: Republicans say that they were expecting DeLay to resign later this spring, and that he served our country well, blah, blah, blah. DeLay denied that his resignation has anything to do with lobbyist Jack Abramoff or his recent conviction.
“I know that the left has used it to try to brand me with guilt by association, but I have always served honorably and ethically,” DeLay said. “I’ve never broken the law or the spirit of the law or even a House rule.”
Democrats are of course calling this a huge victory, stressing that this goes beyond DeLay and has greater implications for the Republican Party.
“Tom DeLay’s decision to leave Congress is just the latest piece of evidence that the Republican Party is a party in disarray, a party out of ideas and out of energy,” said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
DeLay has been plagued by scandal lately, not only in connection to Abramoff. DeLay’s aide, Tony Rudy, has confessed to conspiring with Abramoff and committing illegal actions while working for DeLay. In September DeLay stepped down as House Majority Leader after being indicted in Texas for illegally steering funds from corporate donors to Texas legislative candidates.
No word yet on whether there will be a special election held in Texas or if the seat will remain vacant until the elections in November.
