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Iowa legislators pressured to join "popular vote" movement

February 2, 2009 By

The California man who is the "co-inventor" of scratch-off lottery tickets is financing a group hoping to get Iowa on the list of states backing the idea of electing a president based on the popular vote.

As anyone who paid attention to the election of George W. Bush back in 2000 knows, U.S. presidents are not elected based on the number of votes they win nationwide. The president is chosen by the Electoral College, a once-every-four-years institution made up of people elected in every state — and who cast their Electoral College vote for the candidate who carried their state or their congressional district. It takes 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the presidency.

Craig Schoenfeld, a Des Moines-based lobbyist hired by the "National Popular Vote" group, says because of the Electoral College, candidates focus on "battleground" states where the race between the Democrat and the Republican is a toss-up and ignore states that are dominated by one party or the other. "Right now, whether you’re in California or New York — or Wyoming or Montana — you don’t participate…in the presidential debate, the conversation," Schoenfeld says.

Iowa has been a battleground state in each of the last three presidential elections, but Democrats currently hold a sizable voter registration edge and Schoenfeld says Iowa now stands to be ignored during the next presidential election.

Schoenfeld met late this afternoon with three legislators who are considering the bill touted by the "National Popular Vote" group. Find more information online at www.nationalpopularvote.com .

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

ISU faces KSU Tuesday

February 2, 2009 By

Iowa State returns to action on Tuesday night at Kansas State in a game that features two of the top scorers in conference player. ISU sophomore Craig Brackins averages over 22 and-a-half points per game while K-State junior guard Denis Clemente averages just over 18 points in league play and is coming off a 44 point effort in the Wildcats’ overtime victory at Texas.

Iowa State coach Greg McDermott says the Wildcats’ guard play has been outstanding and they have been winning games as a result. He says the guard play of his team was better against Oklahoma and that let them stay in the game. McDermott says Clemente will be tough to guard, as he respected his game before he scored 44 points. McDermott says when Clemente is shooting as well as he is, it makes it tough to stop him as he’s one of the fasted shooters in the country.

After an 0-4 start to the league race K-State has won three straight but coach Frank Martin says their approach to this game will not change. Martin says they have to prepare the same way after three wins as they did following four losses, but says they obviously feel better about themselves.

Martin says Brackins will be tough to slow down, calling him a "nightmare of a matchup. Iowa State is 1-5 in the Big-12 and 12-9 overall. The Wildcats are 14-7 on the season. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Bankruptcy lawyer discusses VeraSun case with Iowa lawmakers

February 2, 2009 By

A lawyer representing farmers and elevators who have contracts to sell grain to ethanol plants that’re going through bankruptcy says Iowa lawmakers could do one "simple" thing to help in the future.

Attorney Don Swanson represents individuals and businesses who had contracts to deliver corn to VeraSun plants throughout the Midwest.

"The analogy we used is that in a $1.5 billion case, the individual farmers and elevators would be like a bunch of gnats flying around the debtor and they’d be ignored — other than to swat them away," Swanson says. "…What we were trying to do is have some joint and some concerted action so is could seem a little more like a wasp –somebody you had to pay attention to and deal with and recognize."

Swanson testified this afternoon before the Iowa House Ag Committee, and he recommended a change in Iowa law to address the uncertainty faced by farmers who signed contracts to deliver grain to VeraSun, as there are no guarantees VeraSun will pay — and it’s difficult to maneuver the fine print and nullify the contracts. "It makes some farmers pine for the old days when all you had to worry about was fluctuating commodity prices," Swanson said.

Swanson, though, warned wholesale changes in state law probably cannot be made to benefit farmers and elevators who have contracts to sell VeraSun corn. "It would be a difficult task because there’s an interrelationship of a number of different laws," Swanson said. "…All these laws fit together and one seemingly minor change in one of them can have rippled effects throughout and a bunch of unintended consequences, so there’s a necessity about being careful and judicious about how you go about doing anything like that."

Representatives of VeraSun met last Wednesday in Omaha with over 200 corn suppliers who had contracts to deliver grain to VeraSun plants. Click on the audio link below to isten to all of what Swanson had to say today.

AUDIO: Swanson speaks to committee. 14:00 MP3

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , ,

Plan to raise hunting and fishing license fees shelved

February 2, 2009 By

Iowans will not be paying more to obtain a hunting or fishing license next year. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has scrapped the idea of raising those fees by six dollars.

The plan would have raised 6 to 7 million dollars a year for the Fish and Wildlife Trust Fund. D.N.R. director Rich Leopold says it was a tough decision, but he agreed to drop the proposal after talking with Governor Chet Culver.

"Even within my department, there’s going to be staffers that are not happy…we’ve been doing a lot of work out in the field talking about how necessary this is because the fund is not solvent," Leopold said. "But, between the governor and department staff, we thought that right now the best action would be to postpone."

Culver did not include the higher fees in his budget and said, in light of the economy, he did not expect the proposal to win legislative approval. Leopold says many anglers and hunters supported the plan, so the D.N.R. could bring it back next year.

"What we plan to do, this next summer, is meet with a lot our affected stakeholders and come up with another plan as to what we’re going to do into the future – whether we come back asking for increased fees next year or whether we talk about reducing the level of service and we certainly don’t want to do that," Leopold said.

Currently, Iowans pay $17.50 for an in-state hunting or fishing license. The D.N.R. uses those annual fees to cover habitat restoration for game birds, trout restocking for fishermen and poaching enforcement.

Leopold says a continued shortfall in the trust fund could mean fewer game wardens or less habitat restoration. He made his comments today on the Iowa Public Radio program, "The Exchange." 

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation Tagged With:

January was colder than average

February 2, 2009 By

January ended with an unseasonable warm-up and high temperatures Saturday in the lower 60s in parts of southern Iowa. It’s a big change from the rest of the month, which was colder than usual, according to state climatologist Harry Hillaker.

Hillaker says the statewide average was about 4 degrees below normal with the coldest January since 1994 and the coldest of month overall since December or 2000. Parts of eastern Iowa were 6 to 7 degrees colder than normal. This past January was Iowa’s 33rd-coldest January in 136 years of recordkeeping. Hillaker says it was also a notable month for snowfall.

Iowa had an average snowfall of 10.5 inches during January with east-central Iowa getting the most snow. Parts of Iowa around Cedar Rapids had 20-inches during the month. It makes this Iowa’s 22nd-snowiest January on record. December was also a very snowy month in Iowa, so the two months combined make for the fifth snowiest December-January on record.

The famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, came out today with his prediction of six more weeks of winter. Hillaker had this reaction following the groundhog’s appearance. "Don’t know if I know much about his forecasting abilities but to be in Iowa, you’re almost guaranteed six more weeks of winter this time of the year," Hillaker says, chuckling. He says there may be a bit of a break from the bitter cold this week but the long-range forecasts indicate February will be a colder than normal month.

During this past weekend’s warm-up, Hillaker says the snowcover melted across much of the southern two tiers of counties, though parts of northern Iowa still have a good foot of snow on the ground. 

Filed Under: Weather

Regents hear from Governor at budget planning session

February 2, 2009 By

Governor Chet Culver spoke to the Board of Regents this morning prior to their strategic planning session on the budget. The governor has announced a six-and-a-half percent, across-the-board cut to most state agencies — including the three public universities. If Culver’s budget plan is approved, the regents’ institutions would have 62-million fewer dollars to work with than they did in fiscal year 2009.

The governor says there are still two months to work out the budget details and determine how the universities can cut costs. "Maybe there are some opportunities to save some money, working with the regent’s institutions on things like group purchasing, for example. If we can save some more money there, maybe we can lessen the overall cut," Culver says.

Culver told the regents he’s eager to work with them in order to keep the impact of future cuts on higher education in Iowa low.

Culver says, "I think you have the opportunity to make your case to me and the legislature…where you think you can find some savings and where you think it will be really tough to find those savings."

In a statement released last week, regents’ president David Miles pointed out that since 2001, the real value of the state’s contributions to the public universities and specialty schools has dropped by 94-million dollars. He says 625 state-supported jobs have been lost at the schools in the last eight years and undergraduate tuition for Iowa residents has doubled. Miles said further cuts at the state universities could result in layoffs and salary freezes. 

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , ,

Culver signs $56 million disaster aid package

February 2, 2009 By

Governor Culver signs disaster bill. Governor Chet Culver just signed a bill into law, providing $56 million in additional state aid to individuals and to Iowa cities and counties hit by last spring’s natural disasters.

Jeff and Shannon Gardemann of Cedar Rapids were invited to the midday bill signing ceremony at the statehouse. T

he couple and the three grandchildren they’re raising have moved to Shellsburg because they lost their Cedar Rapids home to the flood waters. "We had 14 feet of water in this house," Jeff Gardemann says. His wife adds the family "didn’t get the privilege" of going back once flood waters receded and claiming many possessions. "It was hard," she says.

Forty-five-year-old Jeff Gardemann works as a crane operator in Cedar Rapids and the family’s income was too high to qualify for the state’s "JumpStart" program which provided some mortgage help and other assistance to flood victims. The bill the governor signed into law today changes income eligibility for the JumpStart grants. "It’d be nice — it was kind of put to us this will help us pay down S.B.A. loans," Gardeman says. "As it stands, if we paid this thing off full-term, I might not retire to my mid-70s. I know that probably won’t happen because we’ll work hard to pay it down no matter what, but I didn’t want to work that long."

Jeff and his wife took out a loan to pay their new mortgage, as well as their new old mortgage on the house that’s no longer habitable. "You can’t just let the other go. It’s still our property," Jeff Gardemann says. "Basically, we have river-through property in Cedar Rapids. The couple still is retaining a sense of humor about their plight, as Shannon adds: "We say that we winter in Shellsburg and summer in Cedar Rapids."

The Gardemanns made their trip to the statehouse today wearing clothes they didn’t own at this time last year, as they narrowly escaped from their home as the waters rose higher in their neighborhood than anyone had expected. "We packed a couple of suitcases and prayed for the best, but we lost," Shannon Garemann says. "We did our best — put things up on kitchen tables and counters…but when we got back down there (everything was destroyed)."

A number of local elected officials attended today’s bill signing ceremony, including the mayor of the flood-struck community of Oakville and the tornado damaged town of New Hartford. Waterloo Mayor Tim Hurley, president of the Iowa League of Cities, told the crowd the $56 million in state aid give Iowa storm victims a "sense of hope" as well as stability. "This bill’s assistance is much needed as our residents and businesses and nob-profits labor with repairing or replacing not just their homes and businesses and offices, but their lives and livelihoods," Hurley said.

Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge praised Iowans for helping their neighbors through the month-long sring of natural disasters that started May 25th when a powerful tornado struck Parkersburg and New Hartford. "I want to thank the countless Iowans who have fought so hard to save their communities," Judge said. "We know the last eight months have not been easy."

According to Governor Culver. individual Iowans may now be eligible for grants of up to $2500 to cover a variety of disaster-related expenses, even things like child care and clothes, as a result of the bill he signed into law today. "As I’ve said repeatedly, this process will take years not months so this bill must be the first step of many we will take together this session and in subsequent sessions in our common efforts to help address the unmet needs of Iowans who were impacted by the disasters."

Culver declared today "Rebuild Iowa Day" at the statehouse.

(Photo courtesy of Rebuild Iowa Office)

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government, Weather Tagged With: , , ,
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