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Senator responds to ethics complaint in gay marriage issue

April 24, 2009 By

State Senator Merlin Bartz, a Republican from Grafton, has responded to the ethics complaint filed by former state legislator Ed Fallon over Bartz’s call for county recorders to not issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Bartz released the following statement:

"I have read the formal complaint filed by Ed Fallon and find it without merit. According to procedures set forth by Senate Rules I will submit a formal response to the Senate Ethics Committee within the next ten days.

 I fully expect the Committee to dismiss this complaint, thus continuing the tradition of free speech on the floor of the Iowa Senate. It is important that the voices of Iowans are not silenced and a vote is held to determine what constitutes marriage."

See the original story on Fallon’s complaint here .

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Governor, legislators striking deal on $750 million "I-JOBS" plan

April 24, 2009 By

Governor Chet Culver and Democrats in the legislature are nearing agreement on a plan that would have the state borrow about $650 million over the next three years to finance infrastructure projects. Culver hinted at the package in January and unveiled his detailed "I-JOBS" wish list in the middle of March.

"It does appear that we’re very close to a compromise, to an agreement on the overall…package that would allow us to create jobs and help our state recover from the floods," Culver says.

A proposal that would allow the University of Iowa to use tuition as collateral to borrow $100 million for flood relief is connected to the $650 million package, for a total of $750 million in spending on infrastructure.

Democratic legislators balked at Culver’s request for $250 million dollars for transportation projects and the final agreement calls for $100 million for roads and bridges. According to Culver, over 3000 Iowans who work in the construction industry were laid off last year and the governor touts this package as a means of getting those people and others back to work.

"You know, I really feel good about the fact that this will not only help us speed our flood recovery efforts and create jobs, but it will allow our state to work ourselves out of this recession," Culver told reporters. "We can’t just wait on Washington. We can’t rely on federal stimulus alone. I felt strongly all along that we need our own state stimulus, that we’ve got to control our own destiny."

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs says the legislative branch and the executive branch have an agreement he’s "pretty confident" will win legislative approval.

"Two sides of good faith came together and discussed their differences and came up with something that works," Gronstal says.

Gronstal and other Democrats who control the legislature’s debate agenda hope to wrap up the 2009 session sometime this weekend, but a variety of issues remained unresolved when legislators arrived at the capitol this morning.

Click on the audio links below to listen to Governor Culver’s improptu news conference with statehouse reporters on Thursday afternoon.  Below that is another audio link featuring legislative leaders’ news conferences midday Thursday.  First you’ll hear House GOP Leader Kraig Paulsen & Senate GOP Leader Paul McKinley, followed by House Speaker Pat Murphy (D-Dubuque) and Senate Democratic Leader Gronstal.

AUDIO: Culver speaks to reporters MP3 12 min
AUDIO: Legislative leaders news conferences MP3 25 min

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

Flood wins another race at Drake

April 24, 2009 By

At the Drake Relays Katie Flood from Dowling Catholic won the girls three thousand meter run for the third straight year. flood says it was fun and she’s glad she was able to win again.

Flood called it a relief to have the race over, as she was really nervous before the race.

Action resumes this morning at the 100th Drake Relays with the first full day of competition. Action on the track resumes this morning with the high school girls 100 meter hurdle prelims.

The high school girls shot put is the first field event scheduled for today. There are more than 40 Olympians taking part this weekend and meet director Brian Brown says they wanted to put together a strong field for the 100th edition.

Brown expects a number of records to fall, including the one he owns in the high jump.

 

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St. Charles man dies in motorcyle accident

April 24, 2009 By

A central Iowa man has died after a motorcycle accident in Madison County. The Iowa State Patrol says 45-year-old Marvin Lee Cummings, Junior, of St. Charles, was flown to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, where he succumbed to his injuries, Thursday. Officials say Cummings was traveling west on Madison County Road G-50, when he failed to negotiate a curve.

His fatal injuries came after he was ejected from his 1994 Harley Davidson cycle when it crossed the centerline and entered the south ditch. The accident happened at around 4:45-p.m. Wednesday.

 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

First Lady ecourages support for shelters

April 24, 2009 By

First Lady Maria Culvert is encouraging Iowans to consider donating their time or money to benefit the state’s youth and domestic violence shelters. Saturday is designated as Shelter Awareness Day in Iowa and the First Lady is asking others to join her in volunteering for service projects and donating needed items.

Adam Stark is the Americorps Program Coordinator with the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence. He says people can volunteer to answer crisis lines, organize service projects to raise donations or possibly help with painting a room at their local shelter.

"It just depends on the capacity that the person wants to volunteer," Stark said. In some cases, volunteering at a shelter may require training to work with the victims of domestic violence. Stark says the state’s 28 domestic violence programs can also use donated goods.

"Mostly, they need food, clothing, personal care products…things that women coming into the shelter will need while they’re there," Stark said. Unfortunately, many of Iowa’s domestic abuse shelters are packed. Stark says the state’s 24-hour crisis hotline fields more than 20-thousand calls per year.

"When I worked at the shelter in Ames, we would shelter around 250 individuals a year," Stark said. "It depends on the size (of the shelter). In Des Moines, their capacity at one time is 60 beds. So, they can have 60 people. The shelter in Ames can hold between 20 and 24." More information about volunteer opportunities at Iowa shelters is available on-line at www.icadv.org .

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Gay marriage advocate downplays opposition to issue

April 24, 2009 By

The Chicago based group that orchestrated the move toward gay marriage in Iowa says it will have observers in 25% of the county recorders’ offices Monday when same-sex couples can first seek licenses to marry — but the group is dismissing the idea there is any opposition to the marriages.

Camilla Taylor is the Lambda Legal attorney who led the Iowa lawsuit which resulted in the Iowa Supreme Court ruling that Iowa’s law saying marriage is between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.

Taylor was asked during a conference call with reporters Thursday if there was confusion among state officials over how they should handle gay marriage issues. Taylor says she hasn’t heard any particular difficulties in working out what the decision means. She says Iowa isn’t the first state to rule that marriage licenses must be issued to same-sex couples, so there is a lot of help available if Iowa officials have questions.

Lambda officials say Iowa has "embraced" the gay marriage ruling, and Taylor dismissed recent attempts in the legislature to bring up a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Taylor says the state legislature "has made it very clear that the state legislature is not interested in putting discrimination into the constitution and that there are a lot of other issues that Iowans care about. She says there are budget issues and the state is recovering from natural disasters, "so I don’t think there is any will to amend the state constitution."

Democratic leaders have blocked several attempts to bring up the vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Taylor was asked if her confidence would change if Republicans won back control or the legislature or if Iowa voters decided to call for a constitutional convention in 2010.

Taylor says she is "completely confident" and says "I don’t believe a constitutional convention has ever been voted on favorably, and if you look at what has happened in other states, people don’t want the expense and the nuisance of a constitutional convention if the sole purpose being put out there is to write discrimination into the constitution if they’ve had the opportunity to do it directly and they have not."

Taylor says it would take a couple years at least before a constitutional amendment could come before the voters and she believes that would lesson the efforts to pass an amendment.

Taylor says once we see Iowa gay couples marry and "families thrilled that they are finally receiving the protection and respect from their government that they deserved, that it will become evident that these families are vital parts of our community, they are valued, people will not want to take marriage away from their friends and neighbors, so I am really not concerned about that."

Taylor does not believe any county recorders will refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples on Monday. "We have every expectation that the county recorders will do their duty and we are really not concerned, I know that there are a lot of reporters who’ve been trying to dig up someone that will state that he or she will not follow the law, but I really believe that everything will go very smoothly."

Taylor was reminded reporters are asking about the issue because there is a petition movement pushed by lawmakers urging county recorders to not issue the licenses. She says she acknowledges that there has been a call from some Republican lawmakers for recorders to not issue licenses and an out of state legal organization has sent an e-mail to county recorders asking them to not follow the law.

"And yet I don’t believe that there will be any traction from that, I think Iowa public officials are very clear on what their duties are, the Iowa Attorney General and the Iowa Department of Public Health have been very clear, the Iowa Supreme Court decision couldn’t be clearer, and I am confident everything will go smoothly.

Taylor says representatives of One Iowa, the state group that has partnered with Lambda Legal, will be on hand at several courthouses to give advice to gay couples on marriage issues.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

New restrictions on where sex offenders may go, work, volunteer

April 23, 2009 By

As lawmakers begin what could be the final weekend of the 2009 legislative session, the House is scheduled on Friday to consider a bill that would make changes in Iowa’s sex offender laws.

Tonight, the Iowa Senate passed the legislation at the urging of Senator Keith Kreiman, a Democrat from Bloomfield.

“This legislation increases supervision of violent offenders, keeps sex offenders from hanging schools and other places children gather and improves the safety of our communities,” Kreiman said.

The bill creates new “safe zones” where paroled sex offenders are forbidden, places like schools, parks, day cares, libraries and public swimming pools. The state law which has banned all convicted sex offenders from living within two-thousand feet of a school or daycare will apply only to those who have committed “crimes against children,” according to Kreiman.

“This legislation recognizes that regulating where a sex offender spends their days is as important as tracking where they sleep,” Kreiman said.

Senator Pat Ward, a Republican from West Des Moines, was among the handful of legislators who worked behind-the-scenes on the bill.

“This bill is an example of what is good in politics. Democrats and Republicans have come together and worked to improve the 2000 foot rule that applies to sex offenders,” Ward said. “This is 2000-foot Plus.”

Ward argued the new restrictions on where sex offenders may go and what they can do will make Iowa communities safer. For example, those who’ve been convicted of a sex crime against a child will be barred from working or volunteering at a school, day care or other institution which serves children.

“We worked on this bill not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as people who care passionately about protecting children from sex offenders,” Ward said.

The bill passed the senate on a 49 to 0 vote. Governor Culver issued a written statement early Thursday afternoon, praising legislators for their “bipartisan effort” to improve Iowa’s sex offender laws.

Click on the audio link below to listen to senators discuss the bill.

AUDIO: Senate debate..,,MP3 12 min

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,
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