Jim Gibbons Pinned As A Carpetbagger
December 7th, 2009 at 06:50am Geraldine
If you go on to Jim Gibbons’s Facebook page, you find the seemingly banal information that Jim Gibbons’s hometown is Des Moines. The only problem with it is that it isn’t true. Jim Gibbons was born and raised in Ames, not Des Moines. After ending his career as a coach at Iowa State, Gibbons moved to Perry, where he lived until last month.
Both Perry and Ames are in the 4th Congressional District and it is difficult to live in either of those places if one wants to establish residency to run for Congress in Iowa’s Third District. It seems clear that despite his Facebook claim that Des Moines is his “hometown,” Gibbons has just moved to Polk County in the past few weeks to run against Leonard Boswell. He is a carpetbagger.
There’s nothing wrong with being a carpetbagger though. No one could argue that someone from Boone County would be unable to understand the problems facing Polk County or Jasper County but it does show there’s some catching up to do and there’s the potential that you are unfamiliar with key local issues. The classic example of this was the Conservative candidate in the NY-23 Special Election recently, Doug Hoffman. Hoffman came from outside the district, didn’t know anything about the district and lost as a result. However, New York has counterexamples. Hillary Clinton was clearly a “carpetbagger” but did her best to understand the issues of New York, particularly upstate New York, and her residency wasn’t an issue.
Trying to paper over this by claiming Des Moines to be your hometown just amplifies the problem. You can’t hide where you’ve lived all your life. Gibbons should just be open about the fact that he’s a carpetbagger and try to get on with his campaign. Otherwise, he’ll just end up looking like a hypocrite. Politicians can claim war leads to peace or that cutting taxes leads to more money for the government and people will accept it. But it’s a bit much to expect voters to swallow that Ames is actually in Polk County.
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Entry Filed under: State Politics, Republican Party, US House, Leonard Boswell, Campaign 2010, US House, Third District GOP Primary, Jim Gibbons
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6 Comments Add your own
1. tim m | December 7th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Why would a candidate so blatantly lie on his websites and facebook? One look at Gibbons’ publically available FINRA report shows that his is fibbing on working in Des Moines for the last 20 years (as printed on his website) and that his facebook information is a complete fabrication, as noted above. We don’t need resume inflators in office, and this just goes to show you can not trust Jim Gibbons at all.
2. desmoinesdem | December 8th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
This is a non-issue as far as I’m concerned. Boswell moved into the district too.
Gibbons’ lies about the estate tax forcing many families to sell the farm is much more troubling.
3. Iowa Progress » Jim&hellip | December 12th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
[…] the appropriateness of Jim Gibbons’ running for Congress as a carpetbagger continues to draw debate, what hasn’t drawn debate is Gibbons’ inability to do basic […]
4. Iowa Progress » Jim&hellip | December 15th, 2009 at 5:51 am
[…] campaign for Congress seems to be rooted in his job at Wells Fargo that he held before moving to Des Moines to run. Despite Gibbons’s harebrained economic ideas, he still touts himself as a businessman […]
5. steve | December 18th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I would like to see the article or the statement about Jim Gibbon’s free money plan. This blog sounds like a smear campaign nothing less. If you have some facts on something, site your sourses. Otherwise shut your mouth.
6. steve | January 11th, 2010 at 11:41 am
This is from the U.S constitution, some of you should read this before making the carpetbagger claim
Article I - The Legislative Branch Note
Section 1 - The Legislature
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section 2 - The House
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Technically he is inhabiting the state which makes him eligible to run for congress. According to the constitution he could run for any district in Iowa if he so chooses.
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