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Five likely candidates ponder idea of "Branstad 2010"

July 22, 2009 By

Jerry Behn, Christian Fong, Christopher Rants, Rod Roberts and Bob Vander Plaats. The specter of the longest-serving Iowa governor was raised at an afternoon forum featuring five Republicans who say they intend to run for governor in 2010.

The five likely G.O.P. candidates were asked what they thought of former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad running for governor again.

Branstad left office in January, 1999, after 16 years as governor. Branstad’s currently president of Des Moines University, but when asked recently whether he might run in 2010, Branstad said "you never say never in politics."

Rod Roberts of Carroll said he’d welcome Branstad to the campaign  conversation. "I think a full field of candidates provides for a spirited primary and an opportunity for Iowans to hear a variety of points of view and perspectives on issues," Roberts said.

When it was time for Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City to answer the question, he talked in general about his vision for the state rather than about Branstad. "Obviously, I don’t make other people’s decisions," Vander Plaats said. "What I can tell you is that my name will be on the ballot June 8, 2010."

The next candidate in line was Jerry Behn of Boone. "Bottom line is, this race is against Governor Culver," Behn said, "and which ever anyone of us gentlemen it is (the GOP nominee), I think we’ll be better off with any of us."

If elected, Christian Fong of Cedar Rapids would be Iowa’s youngest governor — taking the title away from Branstad who was elected in 1982 — when he was 35. Fong, who is 32 today, didn’t seem in a retro mood.

"Governor Branstad, I would invite you to make your decision very soon," Fong said. "This race is about looking forward."

Christopher Rants of Sioux City said the word "future" six times when addressing the idea of a Branstad candidacy. "If he wants to come in, fine," Rants said. "But let’s start talking about the future of the state."

Click on the audio link below to hear the question from Lynn Campbell of IowaPolitics.com followed by the answers from the five candidates.

(photo courtesy of  Andy Duffelmeyer of IowaPolitics.com)

AUDIO: Branstad question…MP3 4 min
AUDIO: Henderson report…MP3 1.5 min

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Five GOP candidates agree on most issues

July 22, 2009 By

Five Republicans who say they intend to run for governor gathered in Des Moines for an hour-long forum late this afternoon and the group differed on only a few of the issues that were raised.

Each of the G.O.P. candidates had a minute to respond to a series of questions on a wide range of issues in the forum organized by IowaPolitics.com. All five said state spending was out of control and agreed the budget must be cut. State Representative Christopher Rants of Sioux City called for renegotiating the union contract for state worker pay.

"The fact is that Iowa taxpayers can’t afford the level of growth that we see in the public sector right now. We have a 28 percent disparity between private sector jobs and public sector jobs," Rants said. "And public sector jobs today — the AFSCME contract — is the fastest-growing part of our state budget."

Christian Fong, a Cedar Rapids businessman, promised that he’d cut the budget by five percent in his first year in office.

"State government is putting a burden on Iowa’s families…beyond what Iowa’s families should have to bear," Fong said. "This has happened not just this year, but in the past we’ve had governors and legislators that have chronically passed budgets that have not been in strict compliance with the 99 percent spending limit." State law restricts spending to 99 percent of available state tax revenue.

All five candidates said they don’t like the statewide ban on smoking, but none of them promised to repeal it if elected. Four of the five candidates said they would support reinstating the death penalty in Iowa, but State Representative Rod Roberts of Carroll, an ordained minister, said he opposes capital punishment.

"In Iowa, we have life in prison without chance of parole for first degree murder," Roberts said. "I’ve been to Fort Madison, toured the penitentiary there and if you’re convicted and you’re sentenced to Fort Madison, that is not a pleasant place to be. Life in prison without chance of parole is a serious punishment."

All five said they oppose gay marriage and all five oppose efforts to allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes. State Senator Jerry Behn of Boone warned that today’s marijuana is much more potent and more dangerous.

"Some of the latest research shows that the new marijuana is up to five-times stronger than the old stuff that I think some of us older folks in the crowd may have memories of, that used to think that it was a fun thing," Behn said, as some in the crowd began to giggle. "Now, not me. I’m just telling you what I heard." The crowd erupted in laughter.

The forum’s limited time for candidate answers didn’t give the men much time to share biographical information with the crowd, although Bob Vander Plaats, a business consultant from Sioux City, did offer a bit of family news while lamenting the "brain drain" which sees many young Iowans leave the state after college.

"My oldest son’s in New York City on an internship right now; just got accepted to study at Oxford University. He’s a bright kid — takes after his mom," Vander Plaats said. "…In order for him to come back to Iowa, we need leadership that produces or creates an environment where businesses can develop, thrive and succeed."

Read a "live blog" of the event .  Click on the audio links below to listen to the forum.  Due to equipment failure, it’s presented in two parts — the first six minutes of the forum and the second file contains the forums’ last 53 minutes.

 

AUDIO: First part of forum…MP3 6 min
AUDIO: Second part of forum…MP3 53 min

Filed Under: Politics & Government

ICE arrests 7 illegal immigrants in Hampton

July 22, 2009 By

Seven illegal immigrants have been arrested this week in the north-central Iowa town of Hampton. Tim Counts, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), says the seven individuals will be deported.

The investigation involved a Fugitive Operations Team based in Des Moines."Fugitive Operations is a program that has been staffed and funded over the last several years by Congress with the express purpose of locating people that are not only in the country illegally, but have also been through the courts and have been ordered deported by a federal immigration judge," Counts said. "But instead of obeying the judge’s order to leave the country or surrender to ICE for deportation, they have absconded."

Four men and two women were taken into custody Monday, while one more person was arrested Wednesday. Counts says the seven individuals captured in Hampton make up a very small portion of the number of immigration fugitives nationwide. ICE estimates there are more than 500,000 immigration fugitives in the U.S.

The seven arrested in Hampton were working at Iowa Select Farms. "I think it’s important to point out that Iowa Select Farms has not been accused of any wrongdoing," Counts said. "They have not been charged with any offense and they cooperated fully when officers arrived." Counts declined to provide the names of the people who were arrested.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Good Morning America places spotlight on Cedar Falls

July 22, 2009 By

The city of Cedar Falls will be in the national spotlight Thursday morning. ABC’s Good Morning America news program will be doing live cut-ins from downtown Cedar Falls during the show.

Carissa Scarin, with the Cedar Falls Tourism and Visitor’s Bureau, says a production team from New York is meeting with city officials today to discuss the content to be featured during the show. "We’re looking at maybe doing a celebration one year after the floods, how we bounced back from that and how Cedar Falls really embraces the river for our celebrations and our entertainment," Scarin said. According to information posted on the city’s Facebook page, ABC is planning to air four separate features on the city during the three-hour show.

The national exposure comes 13 months after all the major national news outlets showed Cedar Falls residents fighting to save the city’s Main Street businesses during last year’s historic flood. "Bouncing back from the negative effects of the flood…it’s great that they’re going to come back and do a positive story," Scarin said. "We’re going to try and focus on our trails, with the Trails Festival coming up in August. Hopefully, we can get some national exposure and get people to come visit us and see how great Cedar Falls is." Good Morning America airs from 6 to 9 a.m.

Filed Under: Human Interest

Federal grants to retrain laid off Iowa workers

July 22, 2009 By

During an appearance in Iowa, the U.S. Labor Secretary announced her agency is providing over a million dollars in federal grants to help retrain laid-off Iowa workers. The money will go to employees affected by the closing of Atwood Mobile Products in West Union and Donnelly Publishing in Spencer.

Another federal program will help train workers to jobs in health care professions. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis toured the health sciences center at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny this morning.

“In hard times when you have high unemployment which (Iowa’s) is a bit higher than it was a couple of years ago, but maybe not as high as other places in the country, but nevertheless you have depressed salaries,” Solis said. “So you don’t have people really making the potential amount of money they could be earning, so we definitely want to continue to have the education component involved, the training component.”

The cabinet secretary met with DMACC students who are studying for careers in health care.

“I’m glad I had an opportunity to talk to some of the students because they told me, firsthand, some lost their jobs and looked at coming here in the health care arena as another profession, as a way to stabilize their lives and their families,” she says, “and to give them that second hope, to move on.”

According to the labor secretary, the State of Iowa has received $113 million in federal help so far this year for laid-off workers in Iowa — money that came from the federal economic stimulus package. Solis announced today that her agency is making an addition $220 million  in grants available to states for training workers in the health care field.

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

Five GOP candidates to gather this afternoon

July 22, 2009 By

Five Republican men who say they want to be Iowa’s next governor will gather at Drake University this afternoon for a public forum hosted by IowaPolitics.com. Gay marriage is likely to be among the issues debated.

Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City argues gay marriage will be the defining issue of the primary campaign among the Republicans who hope to be governor.

"The people in this primary are going to ask every candidate: ‘Are you willing to issue the executive order?’" Vander Plaats says.

Vander Plaats promises that if he’s elected governor, he’ll issue an executive order that would nullify the Iowa Supreme Court opinion which legalized gay marriage.

"There’s a separation of powers thing here that needs to be debated," Vander Plaats says.

But none of the other Republicans have joined Vander Plaats in pledging to try to use executive branch power to knock down the court ruling. Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat who intends to seek reelection in 2010, says Iowa governors do not have the authority to overturn court rulings.

State Representative Rod Roberts, a Republican candidate from Carroll, says he believes in the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, but he says an executive order won’t resolve the issue.

"I think that there are very fair, outstanding questions as to the effect that executive order would have and what the result would be and whether or not that would sufficiently be able to do what (Vander Plaats) suggests that it can," Roberts says. "The proper thing to do in this matter is to allow the people to vote."

Roberts and the other four Republican men who have filed paperwork to form "exploratory committees" to run for governor favor a constitutional amendment which would let Iowans vote to ban gay marriage. Roberts pledges to push the legislature to pass a resolution which would set the wheels in motion for that kind of a statewide vote on gay marriage.

"If that question has not been adequately addressed by the time I’m elected governor, I can tell you that in that first legislative session along with dealing with the budget and dealing with government reorganization, I will certainly make sure that resolution has been taken up and passed so the people of Iowa can vote on that issue," Roberts said Tuesday during an appearance in Des Moines.

Iowa’s governor does not have the power to put proposed constitutional amendments on the Iowa ballot. That authority rests with state legislators who must pass resolutions, twice, before proposed amendments to Iowa’s constitution can be submitted to voters.

 

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

Obama advisor, in Iowa, says health care reform needed "very, very quickly"

July 22, 2009 By

One of the president’s key advisors says it’s important to enact health care reform "very, very quickly."

Melody Barnes, the White House Domestic Policy Advisor, is in Iowa today, but talking frequently with colleagues in D.C. to prep for President Obama’s news conference there tonight.

"Having worked in Washington, worked on ‘The Hill’ for 10-plus years, it’s very exciting," she says. "You recognize that this is the moment when everyone is engaging and you’re getting closer to getting something done and the faster we get something done, the faster we can see change and improvement for the American people."

According to Barnes, the president will point out tonight that health care reform has been debated in Washington for the past 40 years. Barnes dismisses the idea critics will be able to derail a bill and she hinted at what Obama’s core message will be tonight.

"Why it’s important to move at the pace that he’s articulated. Some have characterized this as, you know, I guess: ‘guns blazing,’ you know, ‘We’re moving too quickly’ — putting that in context," Barnes says. "…And why it’s important to do this with — I won’t say ‘with all deliberate speed,’ because that was slow — but why it’s important to do it very, very quickly."

Barnes spoke this morning with those involved in the Iowa Initiative to Reduce Unwanted Pregnancies, a program run by former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack. The abortion issue has cropped up in the health care debate, and Barnes says there is neither a mandate that insurance plans cover abortions, nor a mandate that prohibits insurance plans from covering abortions.

"What the president has said is those decisions should go to medical experts for their decisionmaking process and he continues to believe that," Barnes says. "…I mean, at this point, we haven’t even seen legislative language. We are watching congress work through this issue and that’s where the president is right now."

Read more about what Barnes had to say on The Blog or click on the audio link below to listen to her roundtable discussion with five Iowa reporters.

AUDIO: Roundtable discussion…MP3 20 min

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