An 'inside baseball' look at Iowa GOP Politics
tl:dr, Our betters at RPI continue to take control from the grassroots – the 2nd district fought back and won! Last Saturday, Republicans met across the state in their newly formed districts for District Conventions. I live in Cedar Rapids so I am part of the new 2nd Congressional District comprising much of northeast Iowa….
I know, I know! With WWIII starting in the Sudetenland Ukraine, this may be an inopportune moment to bring up an Article V Convention (Convention of the States). On the other hand, the Iowa Legislature is still in session and two COS bills have survived the first funnel. This is a picture of state rep…
In the last few years there has been quite a bit of discussion about transgender girls/women competing in girl’s/women’s sports. [[NB by this I mean someone who was born male (biological sex) who identifies as female (by gender)]]. A star Iowa track athlete, Ainsley Ernzen, recently wrote a guest column in the Des Moines Register…
The Iowa legislature is currently considering SF2250, a bill that would allow employees, contract employees and volunteers to keep guns in their locked vehicles in their employer’s parking lots. Under current Iowa law an employer can prevent employees from storing guns in their cars on company property. Therefore many Iowans, in order to comply with…
One of the most talked about bills in this session of the Iowa Legislature is HF2177. Introduced by State Rep. Norlin Mommsen, R-DeWitt, the bill calls for video cameras and live streaming of Iowa classrooms. Video streams would be available on demand but only to parents or guardians. Mommson’s bill also calls for penalties if…
Let me start with the relevant bona fides. My wife and I have eight adult children. When our oldest reached school age we signed him up for the local public school and the local Christian school. We spoke with teachers in both schools and in the end we decided that we could do a better…
Education is going to be a hot topic in the 89th Iowa General Assembly. It started with Senate President Jake Chapman’s opening day remarks about a sinister agenda and there are numerous bills addressing education being considered in the legislature. Some of these will be contentious but on some I think the various parties can…
The Iowa Corn Growers Association has great motto: Corn Grows Iowa Corn does indeed grow Iowa. Iowa is a farm state and ethanol is the third rail of Iowa politics. Even presidential candidates from oil rich states have to tread carefully at caucus time when talking about ethanol. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association has been…