May 23, 2012

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Bill waiting for governor’s approval would crack down on “storm chasers”

May 18, 2012 By

A bill awaiting Governor Branstad’s review would establish new requirements in hopes of cracking down on so-called “storm chasers.” Consumer complaints about contractors who ride into town after a tornado or other disaster, but provide substandard or no repairs at all prompted legislators to draft the bill.

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, says if the bill becomes law, contractors will have to provide a written document to the home owner, spelling out how the deal may be cancelled. “It requires contractors to provide notice to the person that is receiving the repair, the residential homeowner, prior to them entering into a contract,” McCoy says.

The lettering on that document is to be “at least 10 points” high and in “bold” which means it can’t be tiny, unreadable type at the bottom of the page. Contractors could also get into trouble for misleading marketing to home owners. McCoy says there are some common tricks.

“Misrepresenting themselves as a negotiator or an adjuster on a claim,” McCoy says. If the bill becomes law, it would be illegal for a contractor to offer a rebate or reduction on the cost of repairs that’s equal to the homeowner’s insurance deductible.

The bill also stipulates a homeowner who receives notice from their insurance company that the repairs are not covered by their home owner’s policy have three days to notify the contractor they want to cancel the work.

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

Bill makes “good start” at limiting city, county taxing districts

May 17, 2012 By

Peter Fisher

A retired University of Iowa professor who’s taught classes about how governments finance infrastructure projects says a bill that cleared the 2012 Iowa legislature is merely a start at controlling special taxing districts that critics say cities and counties are abusing.

 Economist Peter Fisher says there are “some good parts” to the legislation which addresses what are called “Tax Increment Financing” districts.

“The reporting requirements are quite strong and needed in a program that’s as confusing and complex as TIF,” Fisher says. “Taxpayers need to be able to figure out what’s going on and this should help a lot.”

And, according to Fisher, the bill also makes a start at preventing local governments from using these financing schemes to lure businesses out of other Iowa cities. But Fisher faults lawmakers for failing to put any limits on the scope of these special districts.

Cities, for example, are able to declare an area of the city as a “tax increment financing district” and, after businesses pop up in the area, all the new property tax revenue is diverted to pay for other improvements — not just streets, but even swimming pools in some instances.

“I think we can hope that the reporting requirements will lead to a broader understanding of TIF and pressure for more significant reforms of TIF the future,” Fisher says.

Fisher is research director for the Iowa Policy Project and he’s written an analysis of this particular piece of legislation for the Iowa Fiscal Partnership. The bill is not yet law. It’s awaiting Governor Branstad’s signature or veto.

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

Senators Harkin and Grassley disagree on student loan interest issue

May 17, 2012 By

Partisan bickering is dooming efforts to stop college student loan interest rates from doubling in about six weeks, even though members of both parties say they want to block the rate hike. Democrat Iowa Senator Tom Harkin says his bill that would freeze the interest rate is being filibustered by Republicans.

If they keep it up, Harkin says, 7-million college graduates, including 255,000 Iowans, will face much higher bills. “This rate hike looms especially large for Iowa,” Harkin says. “Nearly 72% of Iowa’s college graduates have student loan debt, the 4th highest percentage in the nation. Those borrowers are carrying an average of $30,000 in student loan debt, which is the 3rd highest level in the nation.”

Harkin says his bill is designed to eliminate the interest rate increase that’s scheduled to take effect on July 1st. The rate is currently 3.4%. Yesterday, the Senate voted on four different Republican budget plans, including the Ryan budget that passed in the House earlier this spring,” Harkin says. “All of those Republican budgets would permit the doubling of the student loan interest rate to 6.8%.”

If the rate increase goes into effect, students would be required to pay an average of $1,000 more per year of school, which Harkin says is not an option. “It’s time for Republicans to stop those crocodile tears, to end the filibuster, just end the filibuster so we can bring the bill up for a vote,” Harkin says.

“In today’s tough economy, it’s unacceptable to ask middle-class students and their families to shoulder sharply higher student loan interest payments.” Harkin says the cost of freezing the interest rate hike would be offset by “closing a tax loophole that benefits certain high-income professional service providers.”

Iowa’s other U-S Senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, says that’s the equivalent of a new tax, something he and the rest of the G.O.P. won’t support. Grassley says, “Democrats in the Senate want to pay for it with taxes and we Republicans want to take the money that’s a profit from direct loans from the federal government for students, which profit is used to finance health care, and take that money back and use it to keep interest rates low for students.”

On the flip side, Harkin accuses Republicans of wanting to eliminate a public health care fund in the new federal law which provides things like immunizations, mammograms and screenings for diabetes and cancer. Grassley counters that it’s a matter of not creating another tax and being judicious with the funds at hand.

“We think it’s wrong for students to have a profit on their student loans that the government uses for purposes other than education,” Grassley says. “We want to put it back into education. That’s the difference.” Harkin says student loan debt now exceeds one-trillion dollars and has surpassed total credit card debt for the first time.

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

Congressman Braley: Obama didn’t start the debt fire, it was already burning

May 16, 2012 By

Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, has signed on to legislation that would amend the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced federal budget. Braley was asked if the legislation isn’t premature since congress has not passed a budget in three years.

“One of the reasons why we haven’t been able to pass a budget and spending plan is because of the toxic partisan environment that we’ve been facing here in Washington. And the inability of people in leadership to try to get a broad bipartisan consensus on a budget deal,” Braley responded. “With this balanced-budget amendment, it puts into place a framework that has real consequences.”

Likely Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, was in Iowa Tuesday and said President Obama has put off budget decisions and “created a prairie fire of debt” that’s swept across the country. Braley says he takes offense to Romney’s characterization.

“That prairie fire started long before President Obama took the oath of office. Because before I got to congress in 2007, — Republicans who controlled the House and Senate and the White House — paid for a Medicare prescription drug benefit that costs hundreds of billions of dollars, they did it off budget, and it added to the deficit. They paid for a war in Iraq and Afghanistan that were not part of the budget process.”

Braley says there is plenty of responsibility to pass around for the budget problems and we should talk about how to fix it, not about who started it. The congressman made his comments during his weekly conference call with reporters.

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

Romney says Obama’s policies are “old” rather than “bold” (audio)

May 15, 2012 By

 

Mitt Romney in Des Moines.

Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s likely presidential nominee this fall, used a speech this afternoon in Iowa to blast President Obama as an “old-school liberal” whose economic polices are damaging the country.

“What President Obama is doing is not bold,” Romney said. “It’s old.”

AUDIO of Romney’s 20-minute speech in Des Moines.

Romney suggested Obama has put off critical decisions about government spending and debt.

“A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and across the nation,” Romney said. “…This is not solely a Democrat or a Republican problem. The issue isn’t who deserves the most blame. The issue is who is going to do what it takes to put out the fire.”

Romney promised the crowd he wouldn’t shy away from so-called entitlement reform, meaning changes for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And he pledged to make the U.S. government “smaller, simpler and smarter.”

“I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno,” Romney said. “We will stop borrowing unfathomable sums of money we can’t even imagine from foreign companies we’re never even going to visit. I will work with you to make sure we put out this spending and borrowing fire.”

Standing under a banner that said, “CUT THE SPENDING” Romney suggested the “kitchen table values” of the heartland would guide a Romney White House.

“These aren’t the values that lead to out-of-control spending sprees or to piling up debt that you know your children and your grandchildren will have to pay off all the days of your lives,” Romney said.

The appearance was staged in the same room where Romney spoke on Caucus Night. The speech marked Romney’s first visit to Iowa since the Caucuses. Brian Kennedy, Romney’s Iowa campaign chairman, told reporters the economy will be a drag on President Obama’s reelection campaign, even if economic signals improve before November’s election.

“I think folks have given up hope that much will change over the next few months, sadly,” Kennedy said. “Barack Obama simply hasn’t done what’s necessary to turn this economy around.”

Three Iowa GOP officials who created a ruckus at a recent national meeting by refusing to sign a pledge to support Romney in the general election all attended Romney’s speech this afternoon. Iowa GOP chairman A.J. Spiker, a Ron Paul backer, and Steve Scheffler, one of Iowa’s representatives on the Republican National Committee, stood near the back of the room. Kim Lehman, Iowa’s other representative on the RNC, endorsed Rick Santorum before the Caucuses and she attended Romney’s speech as well.

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

Union leaders attack Romney’s record in advance of his Iowa visit (audio)

May 15, 2012 By

Ken Sager speaks while fellow union members look on.

A coalition of groups blasted Mitt Romney’s business record in a press conference this morning in Des Moines.

Iowa AFL-CIO President Ken Sager said Romney, as an executive at Bain Capital, turned a hefty profit by raiding companies, laying off workers and forcing them into bankruptcy.

Sager said Bain purchased the clothing store chain Stage for $5 million, but made $100 million on the deal before Stage went bankrupt. Stage stores in 11 Iowa towns were closed.

“The bankruptcy occurred in 2000 and all these stores in Iowa were shut down in 2000 and 2002,” Sager said. “Those are not the kind of economic policies we want to see established here in Iowa or across the nation.”

Romney, the likely Republican nominee for president, is due to speak about the federal deficit this afternoon at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. Sager said Romney’s economic policies would hurt many Americans. “This election draws a clear contrast between Mitt’s vision for the economy, which is very familiar and troubling to us,” Sager said.

“It’s more budget busting tax cuts for the wealthy and fewer rules for Wall Street. This is the same formula that crushed our economy in ’08. It punished the middle class.” Sager said it’s “ironic” that Romney is worried about the national debt when he “loaded up companies with debt” while working for Bain Capital.

“Most American find something wrong with that, but Mitt seemed to be okay with that. As long as he got his paycheck, he didn’t seem to have a problem with hurting hard working, middle class Americans,” Sager said. There were several other speakers, in addition to Sager, at the press conference this morning.

Audio: AFL-CIO news conference 25:20.

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

Party official warns without “media buy-in” Iowa Caucuses a non-event (audio)

May 15, 2012 By

A member of the Iowa Republican Party’s state central committee suggests party officials need to ensure the results of the party’s presidential caucuses are shared equally with all media.

The former chairman of the party decided in January to release the certified Caucus results to The Des Moines Register a day before releasing the results to other media. Iowa GOP state central committee member Wes Enos suggests snubbing the national media could damage the future of the Caucuses.

“For the party itself, conspiring to give exclusive election results to one outlet over another, I think, is unfair and I think it does actually hurts our process across the board because it makes different media outlets think they can’t play here unless they are, you know, part of a ‘good old boys club.’” Enos said this morning. “We don’t want to see that happen because the Iowa Caucuses without the media buy-in, without the media input, the Iowa Caucuses wouldn’t be what they are. People would pay no attention to them.”

Preliminary results announced on Caucus night showed Mitt Romney as the winner of the 2012 Iowa Caucuses, by eight votes. Certified results released in mid-January, though, showed Rick Santorum the victor, by 34 votes. Jamie Johnson of Fort Dodge, a Santorum supporter, said this morning that releasing the results to one media outlet first was a “stunning” mistake by the former Iowa GOP chairman.

“One of the things that is going to come out of the Iowa Caucus Review Committee is a pledge to never allow that to happen again, where one media agency, be it print media or electronic media or broadcast media, be able to get the jump on an official release of Caucus results,” Johnson said.

Johnson and Enos are two of the members of a panel the new Iowa GOP chairman appointed to review what went right and what went wrong with the 2012 Iowa Caucuses. Dave Busiek, news director of KCCI TV in Des Moines, testified before the panel this morning.

“Please note that I do not blame The Register. Any of us in journalism would try to get an exclusive like that, but I do fault those in the party who made this decision,” Busiek said. “…I didn’t then and I don’t know understand how the party could play games with election results like this.”

Carol Hunter, an editor at The Register, suggested Busiek and others in the media are just jealous of good reporting.

“At times there can be some competitive juices at work,” Hunter said, turning to look at Busiek, “and at times no one of us likes to be beaten on a story and I would humbly suggest that, perhaps, some of the complaints might have to do with that.”

Hunter told the four-member panel of Republican activists “there should be no question about the ethics of The Register’s procedures” in obtaining the results and she urged party officials to avoid an edict that would prevent a party official from providing a media outlet with exclusive Caucus results before those tallies are released to others.

AUDIO of 21-minute hearing

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