June 18, 2013

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Mosiman launches website, raising money for 2014 campaign (AUDIO)

June 18, 2013 By
Mary Mosiman

Mary Mosiman

Republican State Auditor Mary Mosiman has been on the job for exactly one month and one day.

“I am very honored to be serving in this capacity and I would like to continue to serve in this capacity, but I’d like to be elected to do so, which is why I do intend to put my name on the ballot in the 2014 elections,” Mosiman said this morning during a speech to the Des Moines Conservative Breakfast Club.

AUDIO of Mosiman’s speech, runs 6:33

In May Governor Branstad appointed Mosiman state auditor to replace David Vaudt, the Republican who was elected in 2010 but resigned to take a national post in the auditing world. Mosiman, who is a certified public accountant, describes the auditor’s office as the “quality control” center for state government.

“Where there’s waste, where there’s fraud, where there’s abuse our office has the expertise to go in and root out those situations and if there is lack of internal controls or confusion regarding federal or state surrounding public funds, we can get in there and address those situations as well,” Mosiman said this morning, “so that’s good for Iowa.”

Mosiman was elected Story County Auditor three times She had worked as a deputy in the Iowa Secretary of State’s office since 2011. Mosiman has launched a campaign website and she held a fundraiser last Thursday at the Iowa Republican Party’s headquarters.

No Iowa Democrat has stepped forward yet to announce their candidacy for state auditor. In 2010, the Democratic nominee for state auditor was selected at the party’s state convention as no Democrat met the March 15th deadline for getting their name on the June Primary ballot.

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Young says Braley “beatable…not well-known…liberal” (AUDIO)

June 18, 2013 By
David Young

David Young

One of the Republicans who’s running for the U.S. Senate calls Bruce Braley – the likely U.S. Senate nominee for Iowa Democrats — a “vulnerable” opponent.

David Young recently quit his Washington, D.C. job as Republican Senator Chuck Grassley’s chief of staff to run full-time for Iowa’s other U.S. Senate seat.

Young spoke this morning to about 35 people at the Des Moines Conservative Breakfast Club.

“We can win this senate race in 2014. I wouldn’t have gotten into this if I didn’t think so,” Young said.

“Congressman Braley is beatable. He’s vulnerable. He’s not as well-known, as popular as folks think or even he thinks — even in his own district. He has a very liberal record that is out of step with everyday Iowans, even more liberal than Tom Harkin.”

Young said the senate nominee Republicans choose in 2014 will start on equal footing with Braley.

“It’s almost like starting at a level playing field, in a way,” Young told reporters this morning. “…He has no primary and so his name isn’t out there as much as it’s going to be for myself, Whitaker, Culver, those kind of folks. They’ll be hearing our names, most likely, a lot more. It gives us a bit of an edge here…A primary will make us better. It’s not bad to be sharpened.”

Young misspoke. It’s not Culver but Sam Clovis and Matt Whitaker who have formally launched campaigns for the Republican Party’s U.S. Senate nomination.

Young’s speech this morning lasted about 14 minutes. He spoke from a script and did not take questions from the crowd of Republicans. Young got applause for calling for the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

“Heads need to roll, but I’m not quite ready to bring back the guillotine,” Young joked.

During a brief question and answer session with reporters, Young called Grassley his “friend and mentor.”  Grassley will appear at a couple of Young for Senate fundraisers, but Young said that’s not to be viewed as a Grassley endorsement of Young’s candidacy.

“I told him upfront: ‘I’m not going to ask for your endorsement,’” Young said. “…Plus I’m David Young and there’s no kingmakers in this state. You’ve got to stand on your own two feet.”

AUDIO of Young’s speech at the Des Moines Conservative Breakfast Club, 14:25

“I thought he gave a very good speech,” Darrell Kearney, host of the breakfast club, said. “I thought he hit a lot of the buttons that I like, I mean the conservative issues.”

David Oman of Des Moines served as Governor Terry Branstad’s first chief of staff and then several years later ran for office himself, so Oman has some perspective on Young’s move from Grassley’s staff to candidate.

“It is much different to be running in your own right and introducing yourself, articulating what you believe and what you will do,” said Oman, who attended this morning’s breakfast. “…Ultimately David and the others who will run will sign their name on a affidavit. They will declare they are a candidate. It’s a much different role. It’s a harder role and you learn how big this state truly is.”

The Republican Primary could be crowded, too, as a few other candidates ponder jumping into the race. State Senator Joni Ernst has said she may run. Former state Representative Rod Roberts — a candidate for governor back in 2010 — is also considering the idea of running for the U.S. Senate.

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Branstad favors federal law for online sales taxes

June 17, 2013 By

Governor Terry Branstad says Iowans who buy merchandise on-line and do not pay the state sales tax on those purchases should start to pay the tax.

Branstad has written Iowa’s congressional delegation, urging them to support a federal law which would undo a court case that has prevented states from actively collecting sales taxes on internet sales.

“The sales have just dramatically increased,” Branstad said this morning during his weekly news conference. “It puts our local retailers at a competitive disadvantage.”

The so-called “U.S. Marketplace Fairness Act” has cleared the U.S. Senate and awaits action in the U.S. House. Key conservative groups like the National Taxpayers Union oppose the proposed law, saying it amounts to a tax hike, particularly on younger Americans who do much of their shopping online. Branstad disagrees.

“Those people that are circumventing the payment of sales tax because they’re buying out-of-state, should we help them to the disadvantage of the people that are creating businesses and jobs in the state of Iowa and paying property taxes and collecting the sales tax for the state?” Branstad asked. “I don’t think so.”

Branstad is making a promise about what he would like to do with extra tax revenue that would be raised from online sales, however.

“I want to assure that, in Iowa, we will reduce taxes by however much additional revenue the state would gain if this legislation is approved,” Branstad said.

Branstad has indicated he intends to propose an income tax cut for Iowans in 2014. A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows states to collect sales taxes from on-line sales, but only if the purchaser voluntarily submits the tax, making sales tax charges on internet sales difficult, if not possible, for states.

According to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures, states would have collected more than $23 billion from internet sales last year if states had been able to charge state sales taxes on online purchases. Supporters of the proposed law say brick-and-mortar businesses lose out when customers window shop locally for goods, then go online to buy and avoid local sales taxes. Critics say small online businesses will have to buy expensive software to calculate and collect state sales taxes.

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Branstad’s Department of Education to crack down on early school start dates (AUDIO)

June 17, 2013 By
Governor Terry Branstad.

Governor Terry Branstad.

Governor Terry Branstad is directing the Iowa Department of Education to come up with new rules that would prevent school districts from starting school in the middle of August, or even earlier.

Current state law requires schools to start in the week in which September 1 falls, but districts apply for and receive waivers from the Department of Education to start earlier.

“I believe the Department of Ed is intending to move forward with new rules that would change this policy,” Branstad says. “I believe the present policy has been too lax and has not been fair to the tourism industry in Iowa.”

The tourism industry argues they lose millions when schools start early, as families stop traveling and teenagers quit their summer jobs at the swimming pool, resort or ice cream shop.

Branstad has met with tourism industry leaders to discuss their concerns and, after legislators have failed for years to pass a uniform school start date law, Branstad appears ready to have the executive branch of state government take action.

“They will go through the traditional rule-making process in making this change,” Branstad says.

That means the new school starting date standard won’t be in force until the 2014/2015 school year. It also means there will be statehouse hearings on the proposal and school officials are likely to protest as they’ve done with legislators, saying it should be a local decision left up to local officials.

Administrators argue an early August start date allows for longer holiday breaks and lets schools in college towns synchronize their school schedule with the college. Branstad appears unmoved.

“All the studies and statistics I’ve seen show that having an earlier start date has not improved academic achievement,” Branstad says. “In fact, academic achievement has gone down in Iowa compared to other states like Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and a lot of other states in other parts of the country that have a much later start date.”

Branstad was governor back in 1983 when he signed the law stipulating that schools should start as closely as possible to September 1st. In the past school year, all but eight of Iowa’s 348 school districts asked for and got a waiver to start earlier than August 27th — which would have been in the week September 1st fell in 2012.

In April of 2012 the Iowa House passed a bill that would have forbidden Iowa schools from starting before the 4th Monday in August, but it was never passed in the Senate. In previous years, Senators voted to keep schools from starting early in August, but those proposals died in the House.

Branstad made his comments at the end of his weekly news conference.

AUDIO of news conference, 25:26.

Filed Under: Education, Featured Story, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Scott Brennan returns as Iowa Democratic Party chairman

June 15, 2013 By

The Iowa Democratic Party has an “interim” leader.

Tyler Olson, a state representative from Cedar Rapids, was elected party chair last December but he resigned this week, as he’s considering a run for governor or for congress. The party’s state central committee elected Scott Brennan as interim chairman this morning.

“Since I’ve been in this role before and am currently serving on the DNC, I was happy to pick up the reigns if for nothing more than for a short time period to make sure that the party keeps moving forward,” Brennan said this morning during a telephone interview with Radio Iowa.

Brennan would not speculate about the duration of his “interim” role and whether he intends to serve through the 2014 election, but he did mention the Iowa Democratic Party’s state central committee is scheduled to meet again this August.

Brennan, a 50-year-old lawyer from Des Moines, served as his party’s chairman for the 2008 elections and was asked by party leaders to return.

“I talked to my family about it. We’ve been through it once and they said: ‘How bad could it be?’” Brennan said, laughing, “so I’m back.”

Olson had hired a new executive director for the party and Brennan indicated he has no plans to make staffing changes. One of his focuses will be fundraising.

“The fundraising actually’s been going very well,” Brennan said. “…The party’s in good shape and we want it to be even stronger so that we can accomplish what are some very big goals for 2014.”

There will be a nationally watched U.S. Senate race in 2014, as Iowa Senator Tom Harkin announced he would not seek reelection next year. The other major statewide race will likely feature Republican Terry Branstad seeking an unprecedented sixth term as governor. There will be races for other statewide elected officials like the attorney general, ag secretary, secretary of state, state treasurer and state auditor, plus an open congressional race in the first district as Democratic incumbent Bruce Braley is running for the U.S. Senate.

Brennan said one of his first calls this weekend will be to Iowa Republican Party chairman A.J. Spiker, to ensure the lines of communication are open about efforts to secure the first-in-the-nation status of Iowa’s Caucuses.

“While we can argue about many things and disagree about many things, Iowa’s place in the presidential process is something that the Republicans and the Democrats absolutely agree upon in this state,” Brennan told Radio Iowa.

Brennan is a 1985 graduate of Grinnell College who served as an aide to Senator Tom Harkin in Washington, D.C. before returning to Iowa for law school. He graduated from the University of Iowa Law School in 1993. Brennan is now a senior shareholder in one of the state’s largest law firms.

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Harkin questions testimony of National Security Agency commander

June 13, 2013 By

The head of the National Security Agency told members of a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday the agency’s in-depth surveillance of American citizens has stopped dozens of terrorist attacks. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin remains unconvinced.

“That’s one thing I just don’t accept on its face value,” Harkin says. “They say that, of course they’re going to say that because they’re covering their you-know-what. They’re going to say ‘We thwarted this, we thwarted that,’ well, how are you ever going to prove something like that? I’d really have to see more proof than just their word.”

The NSA commander, General Keith Alexander, was questioned before the panel about the agency’s gathering of data from our phone calls, emails and internet activity. Harkin says it’s troubling.

“The government is going beyond its bounds, putting a kind of fear out there among people about who they can call and what they can say and is the government listening and will this be recorded?” Harkin says. “That has a real chilling affect and I don’t think it’s healthy.”

General Alexander told members of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Committee that his agency has done nothing wrong, but Harkin questions whether the restrictions of the Patriot Act were left in the rear-view mirror. “I’m just not going to accept the word of the head of the NSA or the head of some of our intelligence agencies,” Harkin says.

“I’ve had dealings with them over the past 30 years in which I’ve seen our intelligence agencies manipulate and twist information to their own ends.” Harkin, a Democrat, says President Obama needs to take more of a leadership role in this deepening dilemma.

“If I had one bit of advice for the president I’d say: ‘Get a handle on this. You run these agencies,’” Harkin says. “Maybe some heads ought to roll.”

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House speaker clears way for Farm Bill vote

June 13, 2013 By

The Farm Bill now has a major backer, one who can clear the way for a vote in the U.S. House. House Speaker John Boehner  announced on Wednesday that he would support the legislation when it comes up for consideration in the House.

“I’ve got concerns about the Farm Bill, as I told our members,” Boehner said Wednesday during a news conference in Washington, D.C. “But doing nothing means we get no changes in the farm program, no changes in the nutrition program and as a result I’m going to vote for the Farm Bill to make sure that the good work of the Agriculture Committee…gets to a conference so that we can get the kind of changes that people want in our nutrition programs and our farm programs.”

Last year Boehner would not bring the Farm Bill up for a vote, and congress resorted to a one-year extension of the 2008 Farm Bill. Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, said Wednesday prior to Boehner’s announcement, that he would continue call for a vote on the House version of the Farm Bill.

“I have always been consistent in maintaining that the speaker has the responsibility to bring a bipartisan farm bill to the floor. A bill that passed in the last congress with an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the Senate. A bill that’s passed in this congress with an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the Senate, and a bill that is absolutely critical to Iowa’s economy,” Braley said.

Braley said he was in a wait and see mode on an actual vote. “It was supposed to be coming to the floor for a vote next week, but indications are that it could be pulled from the calendar due to lack of support on his (Boehner’s) side of the aisle,” Braley said. “We are all anxious to see it come to the floor and hopefully it will get a bipartisan vote so we can go to conference with the Senate.”

The Senate passed its version of the farm bill Monday with a 66-27 vote. Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Kiron, said one of the things that will have to be worked out between the Senate and House versions of the Farm Bill is the amount of cuts to food assistance or food stamp funding.

“With the House version we cut the nutritional side by 20-and-a-half-billion, so there’s 4-billion in the Senate versus 20-and-half in the House. They did only administrative cuts, we did program eligibility to try and keep the resources for the people that need it and deny it for the people that are gigging the system,” King said.

King said producers should be recognized for their willingness to give up direct payments in this version of the bill. “So they’re to be applauded for stepping up and taking that hit, I don’t know when that happens. That’s the big thing from this Farm Bill,” King says.

King says the balance in the new bill will save money and is the right direction for the future.

Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City contributed to this story.

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