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Iowa gets federal ‘Help America Vote Act’ grant

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The State of Iowa is getting more than four-and-a-half million dollars from the federal government to help update the state’s voter registration system and improve cyber security.

“One of my colleagues said: ‘Cyber security is a race without a finish line,'” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says. “And Iowa intends to lead in that race.”

Pate says some of the money will help pay for mandatory training of county officials who conduct Iowa’s elections.

“We talk so much about the technology side,” Pate says. “It’s vital we build a human firewall that’s just as robust as the technological one.”

Pate says 2003 was the last time the software for the state’s voter registration system was upgraded. While state legislators did set aside some money for updated software, it wasn’t enough to complete the project now. Pate says with this infusion of federal grant money, the work can be completed as soon as possible.

“The HAVA money allows us to accelerate it, get it done now,” Pate says. “That’s a big plus.”

Pate says 60 percent of the federal “Help America Vote Act” or HAVA funds will benefit Iowa counties. Some of the four-point-eight million dollars will be used to buy “curbside equipment” for disabled voters. Pate also plans to use some of the money to hire more staff in his office who will provide digital security assistance to counties.

For the first time since 2010, congress this past March approved a new round of “Help America Vote Act” grants to states.

Senator Grassley to take part in hearing on cyber threats

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Senator Chuck Grassley. (file photo)

From spying on the Pentagon to trying to change the course of elections, cyber-criminals are seen as a growing and significant threat.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says members of Congress are doing their best to remain vigilant on multiple fronts. “Every day there are reports, yesterday it was about Russians, but who knows?” Grassley says. “It could be Bulgaria, it could be Romania, it could be North Korea, it could be China. You read about China all the time, probably trying to get our military secrets.”

This afternoon, Grassley will take part in a hearing before the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on cyber threats to our nation’s critical infrastructure. “We have oversight of so many things dealing with voting that it’s a concern of my committee,” Grassley says, “and so we’re pursuing it.” Hackers who could gain access to computers in the Department of Defense create a very obvious threat, but Grassley says online criminals who try to shift the course of an election are dealing in a different kind of warfare.

“Americans, at least from the standpoint of influencing elections or challenging our democracy, Americans ought to be certain that we don’t have that sort of outside influence,” Grassley says. “Changing votes would be the worst thing that could probably happen.” It comes down to political ideology, according to Iowa’s senior senator.

“These autocracies that most of these people operate out of, they don’t like democracies,” Grassley says, “so they want to discourage your confidence in our representative form of government and our Constitution.”

Today’s hearing is scheduled for 1:30 P.M./Central time. Grassley says it will be the 7th full committee or subcommittee hearing on election protection.

 

Private donors to provide state’s ‘Computer Science Is Elementary’ grants

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An elementary school in Sioux City that’s focused on digital literacy has been selected as the “blueprint” for launching similar programs in other schools.

Next year, six elementary schools in high-poverty areas will be given grants so students in the earliest grades will gain computer science expertise. Sioux City superintendent Paul Gausman says his district started one of the first computer science elementary schools in the nation in 2015 at Loess Hills.

“They focus their energies around computer coding and computer science,” Gausman says. “And we were honored when we were notified by the governor that they were going to use Loess Hills Elementary as a template for the ‘Computer Science Is Elementary’ (program) across our state.”

Reading, math, science and social students are still the core subjects taught at the Sioux City elementary school, but computer coding is emphasized in each subject.

“To engage students in the way that they’re learning…so their literacy skills, their math skills grow,” Gausman says.

Officials from elementary schools around the state may submit applications for the “Computer Science is Elementary” grants. The grant money will come from private-sector donations. Principal Financial Group, MidAmerican Energy, Rockwell Collins and Kemin Industries already have pledged 175,000. Principal executives say they’ll lead the effort to raise the other $275,000 for the initiative by the end of this year.

(Reporting by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)

Peters says neither GOP nor Democrats offering proper health care solution

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Christopher Peters

Christopher Peters — the Republican in a rematch with Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack of Iowa City — says health care costs are still the number one issue among voters in the second congressional district, but Peters says neither Democrats nor Republicans are offering “meaningful” solutions.

“Republicans, for the most part, have just said: ‘Let’s repeal the Affordable Care Act or what remains of it,’ and the Democrats, for the most part, are either saying ‘Let’s preserve what Affordable Care Act we have,’ or ‘Let’s go to a Medicare-for-All plan,” Peters says. “In my opinion, the Republicans ideas don’t go far enough and the Democratic ideas to too far.”

Peters, a physician from Coralville, says “ObamaCare” made a “really bad” health care system even worse.

Peters made his comments during a speech this past weekend on The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Immigration reform is another top issue that must be resolved, according to Peters.

“There have been some good proposals out there. Congress just needs to step up its act and get it done, for a change,” Peters said, although he did not specify which approach he favors.

Peters is arguing congress needs to change its approach to resolving conflict and start governing.

“We have to be able to talk to one another again and that seems to be an increasingly hard thing to do,” Peters said. “…All people on the left are not snowflakes. Not everybody on the right is deplorable.”

Peters said to remain as a self-governing republic, the country must be able to have legitimate debates about ideas, rather than just “verbal fighting” from opposing political factions.

Congressional candidate Scholten says government policies are ‘pushing down on our farmers’

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J.D. Scholten

J.D. Scholten, the Democrat challenging Republican Congressman Steve King’s bid for a ninth term, says consolidation in agriculture and President Trump’s trade war are making it harder for farmers to make a profit. The EPA’s anti-ethanol moves to benefit the oil industry isn’t helping either, according to Scholten.

“Our American government is pushing down on our farmers,” Scholten said Saturday. “Who’s looking out for farmers? Who’s looking out for us?”

Scholten made his comments this weekend during a speech at The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Scholten, a former professional baseball player who now works as a paralegal in Sioux City, stressed his family’s farm roots.

“My great-great grandparents turned the field in Worth County and so it’s in my blood,” Scholten said. “I’m a fifth-generation Iowan, first to be raised in town. Our family farm we rent out to a family friend.”

Scholten criticized the Bayer-Monsanto merger, arguing farmers will have to pay more for seeds and farm chemicals. And Scholten saod farmers are the first victims in the Trump Administration’s trade policies.

“The fourth district is bearing the brunt of these tariffs and that’s got to end,” Scholten said. “You look at the $12 billion bailout…It’s like you’re getting punched in the face and that same guy that’s punching you in the face gives you an ice cube.”

Scholten saod both Democrats and Republicans have failed farmers by allowing the mergers of grain processing, meat packing and seed companies to create monopoligies and “it’s time to get ahead of the curve.”

Peggy Whitson, Ruth Harkin inducted into Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame (AUDIO)

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Ruth Harkin and Peggy Whitson.

An astronaut, the first women in Iowa to be elected as a county prosecutor and two retired university professors were inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame this weekend.

Beaconsfield native Peggy Whitson has spent 665 days in space — more than any other American. She used her brief speech at Saturday’s ceremony to praise the other women on stage and in the audience.

“One of the most important things about women being leaders and being out there and getting out there and doing more is that we make it easier for the next set of women,” Whitson said.

Whitson also honored one of her college professors, who was in the audience.

“Having mentors is an amazingly powerful experience for me,” Whitson said. “…Those mentors can make the difference in your life and they have for me.”

AUDIO of Whitson’s remarks, 1:08

Dolores Wilson, Peggy Whitson and Christie Vilsack.

Dolores Wilson, a biology professor, met with Whitson and Whitson’s mother on the Iowa Wesleyan campus in Mount Pleasant in the summer of 1978 and Whitson told the professor she wanted to be an astronaut.

“I said: ‘Do it!’ and I said: ‘Don’t be discouraged,'” Wilson said Saturday as she recounted that initial conversation. “And I said: ‘You know, just because they’re not having women astronauts now doesn’t mean they’re not going to do it.'”

Ruth Harkin, another 2018 inductee in the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame, was elected Story County Attorney in 1972 when she was the only female attorney in Story County.

“Early on I was motivated by a couple of guidelines. One — you have to be in the room to make a difference. A second guideline was to do what I wanted to do. Most of the work and jobs I have done people told me I could not do. I never listened to that,” Harkin said and the audience laughed. “It has been liberating, I can assure you.”

Harkin served two terms as Story County Attorney. She moved to Washington in 1979 after her husband, Tom Harkin, won a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Harkin said she was told her resume as an Iowa prosecutor wasn’t that impressive and she’d have a hard time finding a job.

“Nonetheless, I became deputy general counsel at the Department of Agriculture. The secretary at the time said he didn’t want me. ‘When I look at you I see my wife and she could never do this job,'” Harkin said, drawing gasps from the audience, followed by laughter when she revealed: “I took the job anyway.”

In 1993, Harkin was the first woman appointed president and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

“The statistic I cherish the most, 50 percent of our lawyers were women and 50 percent of our bankers were women,” Harkin said.

In 1997, United Technologies hired Harkin as a senior vice president and, in 2003, she became a director of ConocoPhillips.

AUDIO of Harkin’s remarks, 9:55

Earlier this month, Dianne Bystrom retired as director of the Iowa State University Center for Women and Politics and she was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame this weekend as well.

“In my 39 years of work in higher education, I know the importance of developing and supporting and recognizing the contributions of women,” Bystrom said.

Bystrom has done extensive research about ads used in races that feature a female candidate. Under her leadership, ISU’s Center for Women and Politics has hosted “Ready to Run” workshops for Iowa women considering a run for public office.

AUDIO of Bystrom’s remarks, 5:40

Dr. Jean Jew, a researcher and instructor in the University of Iowa College of Medicine, was also inducted in the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame this weekend. In 1985, Jew filed a lawsuit against the University of Iowa for ignoring repeated sexual and racial harassment. She won not only a financial settlement, but also a public apology from the university.

Congressman Boswell’s funeral set for Saturday in Lamoni

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Leonard Boswell

The funeral for former Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell will be held Saturday on the Graceland University Campus in Lamoni.

Boswell, a Vietnam veteran who farmed in Davis City after retiring from the military, was a state senator, the Democratic Party’s nominee for lieutenant governor in 1994 and for 16 years he represented Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Boswell family has established a scholarship fund at Graceland University in the congressman’s honor “for young people interested in studying agriculture.”

Boswell’s funeral will be held Saturday morning at 10:30 in the Shaw Center on the Graceland University campus. A graveside service, along with full military honors, will be held at Rose Hill Cemetery in Lamoni.

Following the burial, the Boswell family has announced it will host a party at the family farm — “complete with food, drinks and fireworks” — to celebrate the congressman’s life.

Former Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell has died

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Leonard Boswell

Former Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, died in a Des Moines hospital early this evening at the age of 84.

Boswell spent much of his political life representing southern Iowa in the state senate and then in the U.S. House before losing a bid for reelection to a ninth term. Boswell said farewell to congress in December of 2012 in a speech on the House floor.

“I hadn’t planned on this coming to this kind of closure, but it’s caused me to reflect back over life and I feel very blessed,” Boswell said. “…I started out in a tenant farmhouse, but look what I’ve gotten to do.”

Boswell served 20 years in the U.S. Army and retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel. Boswell and his wife, Dody — a teacher, then moved to a Davis County farm where Boswell raised cattle. He was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 1984. In 1993, his Democratic peers elected him president of the state senate. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bonnie Campbell chose Boswell as her running mate in 1994, the year Republican Terry Branstad won a fourth term as governor.

Congressman Leonard Boswell during a farewell tribute in the U.S. House.

In 1996, Boswell won a seat in the U.S. House, where he served for 16 years. In saying farewell to Congress, Boswell said he had lived the American Dream and he offered these parting words to his colleagues.

“It’s been my pleasure and my good fortune to live in the United States of America and to serve our country,” Boswell said. “We’ve got lots on our plate, but you what? We can do this and I’m sure we will.”

Boswell was found unresponsive in his Decatur County home early this morning and flown by helicopter to a Des Moines hospital where he died from complications of Pseudomyxoma Peritonei, a rare disease Boswell had battled for 13 years, according to a family spokesman.

Just three months ago, Boswell spoke briefly at a fundraiser for Polk County Democrats and introduced keynote speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Boswell and Tom Latham debating on IPTV in 2012.

“I’m very pleased that in spite of some of the things that have happened to me that I can be here tonight to do a very special thing for me and that is to introduce somebody that I have the greatest admiration for,” Boswell said.

Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. House, came on stage and the two raised their joined hands in a victory pose.

“Thank you very much Leonard Boswell for being who you are, for the patriot that you are…You honor us all with your presence, as you have honored America with your leadership and your service. You served in the military. You served in congress. You served in the community. Leonard Boswell — isn’t he something wonderful?” Pelosi asked and the crowd stood to cheer and applaud.

Leonard Boswell in the Iowa Senate.

During his years in the state legislature, Boswell represented a sprawling southwest Iowa district that was geographically larger than some of the state’s congressional districts. Boswell routinely made calls to constituents who were hospitalized and served as the auctioneer at many community and party events.

While serving in the U.S. House, Boswell led the Congressional Prayer Caucus. At the National Prayer Breakfast in 2004, Boswell told the crowd about flying an airplane in horrible weather Germany when he was assigned to NATO. It was a key moment in his faith journey.

“I think I said — maybe out loud, I don’t know, but: ‘Lord, I need your help. I’m not going to make it.’ And no sooner than I thought that then it was just like there was a tunnel of light right down to Bonhoefer (landing) strip. I turned, flew right down that tunnel it seemed like and landed and I heard footsteps running toward me. And pretty soon four or five people showed up and they said: ‘Where did you come from?’ And I said: ‘Well, there was a hole in the clouds and I came down that hole,'” Boswell said and the National Prayer Breakfast crowd laughed.

“In all seriousness, they said: ‘We heard you fly and turn up the valley. We heard you go into the power climb…We waited for the crash. How’d you get here?’ And I told them and they looked at each other. They weren’t sure, but I knew. I knew.”

Boswell, an assault helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, had a non-cancerous tumor removed from his stomach in 2005. In 2015, Boswell announced he was having another tumor evaluated and he said the tumor could be linked to the chemical known as “Agent Orange” that was used during the war in Vietnam.

Potential 2020 presidential candidate Castro says people ready for new generation of leaders

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Julian Castro

Former San Antonio Mayor and possible 2020 presidential candidate Julian Castro today said it’s time for a “blueprint for the future” rather than the “backward” path he says GOP leaders in Washington, D.C. are pursuing.

“I believe that the goal of this country should be to become the strongest, the smartest and the safest country in the world,” Castro said. “…As we become smarter, we become stronger. As we develop our alliances around the world, instead of tearing them down, we become safer.”

Castro spoke on The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair early this afternoon. Castro is a former Obama Administration official who is making it clear he’s considering a run for president in 2020.

“I’m going to make a decision after November and before the end of the year and based on that, if I decide to run, then I’ll make an announcement shortly after,” Castro told reporters. “…I believe that the 2020 race is wide open. I’m convinced that people want a new generation of leadership.”

During his speech to fairgoers, the 43-year-old laid out policy goals, including some form of “Medicare for All,” universal preschool, at least two free years of college and criminal justice reform.

“Because everybody counts in this country,” Castro said, to applause. “We can’t waste anyone.”

Castro served as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama Administration. Castro Castro’s twin brother is a Democratic congressman representing the San Antonio area in the U.S. House.

Congressman Young says Trump’s trade talk understandable, but nerve-wracking

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David Young

Republican Congressman David Young says he doesn’t question President Trump’s intentions to strike better trade deals for the U.S., but Young says he and “lot of a people” in his congressional district are nervous about Trump’s trade threats.

“As a leverage tool, I understand what he’s doing,” Young says “But as a policy, we cannot allow this to go on a whole lot longer and have this become pure policy.”

Young spoke with reporters today after delivering a speech on The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Young said if Trump is able to renegotiate NAFTA and resolve trade and intellectual property disputes with China, the impact on Iowa’s economy will be “pretty incredible.”

Young also touted the impact tax cuts passed by congress and approved by the president have had on the economy.

“There’s an economic renaissance going on in Iowa and this country,” Young told the State Fair crowd, “and we have to make sure it continues.”

Young is seeking a third term in the U.S. House representing Iowa’s third district. Political analysts have rated his race with Democratic challenger Cindy Axne as a “toss-up.” Vice President Mike Pence appeared at a campaign fundraiser for Young Wednesday and later told reporters this Iowa’s third district race may decide which party controls the U.S. House in 2019.