Search Results for ‘iowa general assembly’
It’s worth noting that the Iowa General Assembly finally passed an indoor smoking ban this week. This bill had been working its way through the legislature all session and ping-ponged between the House and Senate on the issue of whether to exempt casino floors from the ban. While, unfortunately, casino floors were exempted, it is worth noting that last year, legislators were unable to pass a bill that would give local jurisdictions the authority to enact workplace smoking bans, let alone a statewide one. While some anti-smoking advocates may be disappointed by the exemption, the bill still represents a great leap forward for public health in Iowa.
April 10th, 2008
The State Legislature is moving forward on a bill that would allow Iowans to register and vote on Election Day. The bill has the supported by Governor Culver and Secretary of State Mike Mauro. We’ve talked about this issue before but same day registration is linked to higher turnout and is the best way to make sure that what happened in Florida in 2000 can never happen in Iowa. It’s a fantastic bill and, hopefully, it should pass the General Assembly and become law in time for the 2008 election.
February 21st, 2007
Iowa Progress has previously profiled a cutthroat Grinnellian, now we turn our attention to a Grinnell alum who has come up with a really dumb idea. Scott Raecker ‘84 is a Republican member of the State Legislature who introduced an amendment in the Iowa House to the anti-bullying bill which recently passed the State Senate. The bill is designed to prevent the real problem of bullying in Iowa’s public schools. How does Raecker’s amendment address the problem of bullying and harassment? It’s designed to protect the most vulnerable people in the state, members of Iowa General Assembly.
While it’s nice to protect such frail and fragile members of society, the amendment, if passed, would create all sorts of issues. If while Scott Raecker was speaking at a campaign event, you shouted “Hey Raecker, the only thing dumber than you is that amendment to the bullying bill you introduced,” and Raeker then stopped speaking, you would be guilty of bullying and harassing. You would have engaged in conduct based on a “mental ability or disability” that would have substantially interfered with Raeker’s “campaign performance.” This only skims the surface of the massive First Amendment issues this amendment would have created. However, there was another issue with the amendment that ultimately prevent its passage. It has nothing to do with bullying in schools.
So why did Scott Raeker introduce this amendment, (which was instantly ruled non-germane)? Because it was designed as a wrecking amendment. If it’s added to the bill, it makes a hash of it. And if it isn’t added, all the Democrats are on record supporting “bullying and harrassing of and by public officials.” The Republicans immediately tried overturn the Speaker’s ruling that the amendment was non germane. Predictably, it failed on a party-line vote.
Although the bill ended up passing the House by a vote of 62-37, it did so after hours of debate and more pointless wrecking amendments introduced by House Republicans. But none were quite as pointless and badly thought out as Scott Raecker’s. Many legislators introduce bills or amendments that are stupid, many others introduce bills or amendments that are unconstitutional. But few can say they’ve ever done as good a job of interweaving those two threads as Scott Raecker did yesterday.
February 8th, 2007
I suppose the “hearts Huckabee” line is going to catch on soon and then become very, very uncool, so I’m sorry about that.
Today, though, Republican Presidential Candidate and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee announced endorsements from Blue Bunny Bob Vanderplaats, best known for losing a statewide election a few months back, and Danny Carroll, former President Pro Tem of the Iowa House representing Grinnell. He lost last November, too.
But more importantly, recall the story we broke last October, detailing how Danny Carroll is implicated in a scandal that made its way to the Iowa Supreme Court and resulted in the suspension of a lawyer’s license to practice. Basically, he helped the lawyer steal over $40,000 (and a free trip to Vegas) from a struggling old lady in Grinnell.
Well, I guess we can always trust Danny Carroll to “stick to his principles,” eh? We can if you believe Mike Huckabee himself:
Danny Carroll earned great respect during 12 years in the General Assembly as a conservative leader who always held true and firm true to his principles yet worked so successfully with people from across the political spectrum to accomplish meaningful results in health care, tax policy, education and economic development. Iowa ’s social conservatives know that Danny Carroll has always been a clear, strong voice on the issues that matter most to them.
It sounds like, not only is Mike Huckabee talking out of the side of his mouth, but Crooked Danny Carroll might be positioning himself to run for something again. We will be watching him.
January 31st, 2007
On Thursday, the Iowa General Assembly honored Iowa native Norman Borlaug, the Sioux City Journal reports. Borlaug has spent his life developing techniques to help improve food production in developing nations, including India, Pakistan, and Mexico. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.
The Senate said in its resolution that it “honors and expresses its thanks to Prof. Norman Borlaug, a Cresco, Iowa, native, who has made it his life’s work to feed the hungry and uplift the poor, and in doing so has made the 21st Century a time of hope for billions of people.”
Although Borlaug left Iowa at a young age, he credits his upbringing here as being crucial to his work.
“It was that black soil under my fingernails that led me in the worst of the Depression of the 1930s to seek a career in agriculture,” he said.
It is nice to know that we get to take credit for the work of all those famous people that were born in Iowa–and then high-tailed it out of here as soon as possible. Nice work, Borlaug, Herbert Hoover, and John Wayne.
March 17th, 2006
