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Have you had your Wheaties?

September 1, 2004 By

The dilemma for every big business trying to curry favor with a powerful member of Congress: what to get the US Senator who has everthing?

Aegon today paid for a big breakfast for Chuck Grassley & the Iowans who’re here at the RNC in NYC. The Iowans were giddy. After a no-food-served morning delegate meeting on Monday and a “continental breakfast” buffet on Tuesday morning, the Iowans walked into a different dimension this Wednesday morning. Made to order omelets. Freshly-brewed espresso. An array of other hearty fare, including fruit, breakfast meats and stick-to-your-ribs porridge (or it may have been oatmeal, I couldn’t really tell and didn’t think it polite to get too close to a delegate’s bowl — probably not wise to get in the way of such good food, either).

A company man at one point presented Grassley with his gift: a Wheaties box with the Senator’s picture on it.
“In keeping with the theme, a breakfast of champions, we decided to give something, I mean, when someone has the tenure and the experience that Senator Grassley has, what can you give him that he has not ever gotten before?” Pat Baird, an Aegon executive, asked the crowd. “And we have something. And I’m sure Senator Grassley does not have this in his office.”

(At this point, the Wheaties box is revealed to Grassley & the crowd)

“Thank you,” Grassley said, amidst applause and a few oohs and ahs from the crowd. “Thank you.”

“The first question I asked, just so you know, is ‘Are we violating any copyright or anything else? I think I’ve got four- or five-hundred lawsuits against Aegon right now. Is this going to be another?’ And I was assured that Wheaties is pleased and proud to have Senator Grassley on their Wheaties box, and just as pleased and proud as I am to introduce you this morning, Senator Grassley,” Baird said.

I have no way of measuring that on my own “pleased and proud” scale, but I did express pleasure today over my own lunch, served to me and paid for by me at the Planet Hollywood in Times Square. (The southwest chicken salad was quite good.) An AP photographer who’s based in Des Moines, Charlie Niebergal, called me late this morning to see if I wanted to get together for lunch. I said yes. Charlie’s married to one of my college chums, and he is one of the quickest wits I know. Charlie’s working in Madison Square Garden for AP. You might see him on t.v. (if you’re watching at home) as he is stationed on stage, to the side, along with seven other photographers in a very small area. It was Charlie, from that vantage point, who snapped Monday night’s picture of Michael Moore making the “L” sign for loser as the repubs booed him.

Iowa Republicans might have booed Jim Leach, the Congressman, today if they had spied the newspaper he had tucked under his arm as he strolled into a news conference Senator Grassley was having with Iowa reporters today. When I asked Leach if he was a New York Times reader, he replied that it was the only free paper he could find. Now that’s an answer that might get him out of the caning conservatives might have meted out had he been caught with that “liberal rag” (although it might not be a bad campaign tactic in Iowa City). As one Iowan complained as they waited for the elevator and saw the front page of the Times “Of course they don’t have Arnould’s picture on the front.” Today’s front page pic in the Times is from a bombing in Israel. Every morning, there are piles of New York Times in the elevator bay on each floor, and I know this won’t shock you, but few of the Iowa repubs are taking their free copy.

The other incongruity of the day: a cup of espresso sitting right in front of Grassley.

“Is that your espresso, Senator?” I asked.

“No, no, no,” Grassley replied. “I’m drinking this water.” The general consensus among reporters and the Grassley aide sitting around the coffee table was that the espresso belonged to someone else.

Ray Hoffman, a restaurant owner and stock broker from Sioux City, was invited to open the NASDAQ this morning. He came back with a pretty cool picture. The NASDAQers had snapped a photo on his way in, did some computer editing and as he left, Hoffman was presented with a finished product that showed his torso on the Jumbotron in Times Square. I can think of a lot of places I’d want my torso superimposed. I’ll be makin’ a list and checkin’ it twice, just to find out…

OH, and I did find out what CRANDIC stands for. You’ll recall the goodie bag Paul Pate gave to delegates included a railroad engineer’s cap with the phrase CRANDIC on it. Mayor Pate says that stands for Cedar Rapids and Iowa City railway. So CR AND IC or CRANDIC. I’m not going to say another word.

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Sioux City man ceremoniously opens NASDAQ

September 1, 2004 By

One of the Iowa delegates at the Republican National Convention helped open the high-tech NASDAQ stock exchange this morning. Hoffman was invited along with a handful of other delegates from other states to kick off today’s trading. Hoffman has been a stock broker for 25 years, but he’s never been invited on the floor of the exchange.Hoffman, who also owns a restaurant in Sioux City, says he’s lived the American dream. Hoffman came to this country from Germany, and when he landed on the dock in New York City there was a longshoreman’s strike. Hoffman was 16 at the time, and made about 60 dollars the first hour he was on American soil, hauling other passengers’ bags off the boat. That was more money than he’d ever seen in his life.

“So right away, I loved this country from the instant I set foot on it,” Hoffman says. Hoffman was born in 1944, and remembers the U-S occupation of Germany following World War II. Hoffman says his mother warned him as he went off to his first day of school to move his hand when he waved at friends so the American soldiers wouldn’t think he was giving the Nazi salute. Hoffman says “at times it was scary. When we saw the planes flying low over our city, we all ducked, we all ran down into the basements because we didn’t know what was going on.”

The folks at the NASDAQ took Hoffman’s picture today, used their computer editing and handed him back a photo which superimposes his torso on the big screen that New Yorkers see in Times Square. Senator Charles Grassley will go solo on Friday as he uses his own electronic signature to open the NASDAQ stock exchange.

siouxcity-man-ceremoniouslyNYwed17

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"Hinterlands" comment doesn’t bug Iowa GOP

September 1, 2004 By

The Iowa Republican delegates at their national convention in New York City aren’t getting too worked up by President Bush calling Iowa “the hinterlands.” Bush made the statement on the Rush Limbaugh program, then quickly corrected his mis-statement, calling Iowa part of the “heartland.” Steve Roberts of Des Moines, a member of the Republican National Committee, says Iowa IS the hinterlands. “Well, in a sense we are as far as the East is concerned,” said Roberts, a Des Moines attorney. “A lot of people in the east have not been west of the Hudson and in many cases see no reason to do that unless they’re going to LA, with a fuel stop in Chicago.” Another Iowan chimed in the discussion. “It’s sort of self-depricating humor because (Bush) lives on the other end of I-35,” said Kayne Robinson, a retired Des Moines cop who is now president of the NRA. “So, he’s talking about himself too.Roberts said “the hinterlands aren’t a bad place to be.” Robinson replied “Who’d want to live here” in New York City. Governor Tom Vilsack, a democrat, says Bush’s comment is disappointing because Iowa is a great place to live, its citizens are the most literate in the country and it’s home to groundbreaking research that’ll help solve the world’s agricultural problems. Vilsack linked Bush’s “hinterlands” reference to the President’s earlier statement this week that the U-S can’t win the war on terror — a statement Bush has since clarified as meaning there’s no nation to sign an armistice with since the terrorists are independent operators. “Bush has gone from Mission Accomplished to Mission Impossible to Mission Confused,” Vilsack said.

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Iowan a VIP in VP’s box

September 1, 2004 By

A 25-year-old school teacher from West Des Moines had V-I-P seating in the V-P’s box last night at the Republican National Convention in New York City. Isaiah McGee, an alternate convention delegate, was invited to sit in the box because he helped organize a pubic service project the Iowa delegates worked on yesterday in Harlem. (as said above)McGee says sitting on the floor isn’t all its cracked up to be, because it’s crowded, the media stands in your way and it’s hard to hear. He says the box was a whole different experience, like sitting in a luxury box at a sports arena. McGee says Vice President Dick Cheney was late in arriving at the convention and McGee had a limited time in the area, so he missed getting to meet Cheney in person by about half an hour.

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Iowa and ISU have different worries heading into opener

September 1, 2004 By

Iowa State wants to erase the painful memory of a 2-10 record in 2003 and coach Dan McCarney says winning will help that. The Cyclones will get their first chance Saturday when they open at home against UNI. He says they’re all tired of hearing about nine months of last years. He says it’s easy to talk about the past when you’ve won games and gone to bowls, but he says it’s tougher when you’re talking about a loosing season. McCarney says it is up to the Cyclones to prove that they are back, and he says that’s the way it is until they do some positive things.McCarney feels his team is ready. He says they really have improved since March and since the spring game.The Iowa Hawkeyes will open the football season without backup quarterback Jason Manson. The sophomore suffered a broken foot and had a screw inserted on Tuesday to help repair the damage. Drew Tate will get his first start this Saturday against Kent State after serving as a backup last season. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says they’re pleased with where he’s at right now, but want to see how Tate does when the lights are on. Ferentz says the offense has been up and down during pre-season drills despite some injuries in the line. He says it’s also not easy playing against their tough defense, and a defense that eventually knows all the plays you’re going to run.

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Washington County approves riverboat gambling

September 1, 2004 By

Voters in southeast Iowa’s Washington County narrowly approved the expansion of riverboat gambling on Tuesday by a tight margin of about 52-percent. Tallies show 4095 county voters approved the measure while 3743 voted no, but only a simple majority, 50-percent-plus-onem was needed for passage. Two precincts in the county did swing to the “no” vote, including the towns of Kalona and Wellman which have heavy numbers of Mennonites. A spokesman for an anticasino group, Communities Against Riverboat Expansion or CARE, says they’ve lost the battle but not the war. The group vows to continue to fight the effort to bring gambling to Washington County all the way through the state’s licensing process.

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Cass County Attorney’s trial continues

September 1, 2004 By

In Tuesday’s testimony, Cass County Attorney James Barry came under fire — over firearms. Much of the day was spent hearing about the purchase of a high-powered “sniper” rifle and where it was kept. Ron Feilmeyer, Attorney for seven Atlantic residents seeking to remove Barry from office, attempted to prove Barry kept the firearms in his possession and had other weapons delivered to him that were seized by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. The most damaging testimony came from Deputy Darby Mc-Laren, who said Sheriff Larry Jones asked him to take 23-hundred dollars cash out of the drug fund for the purpose of buying a gun for the County Attorney. Mc-Laren said he functioned as the “middleman” between Barry and Jones and Barry and the Sheriff’s evidence room, and that Barry asked him to return weapons to the evidence room and to Jones, about the time the State Auditors investigation began.

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