What gives with Butch Bain? Who gives to politicians?
What’s going on with Butch Bain, the Racing and Gaming Commission, Prairie Meadows and, maybe, the Department of Criminal Investigation? Bain, a Des Moines-area horse breeder and businessman who represents the horse industry on the 15-person Prairie Meadows board and who races his American Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds at the track, apparently has gotten crosswise with the state because of some information he supplied — or failed to supply — in a licensing process involving his horse business. There’s a question of whether he should be barred from racing his horses at Prairie Meadows. It’s so serious that RACI has scheduled a hearing into the whole thing, and the DCI is said to be looking at it. Some of Bain’s buddies in the horse industry want him to quit the Prairie Meadows board so that the issue can be quietly dropped before the hearing; they were overheard urging that on him after the RACI board meeting this month. He apparently doesn’t want to. All this pleases those folks who think the horse industry has way too big a say at Prairie Meadows (and in the legislature) and who love to see the horse guys fighting among themselves.
Meantime, the nonhorse community is quietly scouting around for names to push as candidates for the Prairie Meadows board, whose members are appointed by various constituencies. This fall, the terms are up for Michael Galloway and Gerry Neugent, who are picked by Polk County; Jack Bishop and Tom Whitney, who are picked by Prairie Meadows itself; and Sunnie Richer and Randy Minear, who represent the Greater Des Moines Partnership. Galloway has the powerful job of chairman of the executive committee. Some want to be reappointed; others don’t.
Midst all of this, there are some quiet conversations about a convoluted scheme that, in effect, has the Polk County voters getting rid of horse-racing in November but keeping a casino. The casino subsidizes the racetrack with $35 million to $40 million that otherwise would go to central Iowa charities and communities, and that has long stuck in the craw of a lot of people who say $40 million ain’t hay. The new scheme is a long, long shot, and very complicated, but it’s enough to keep the conversations lively at the Latin King and Tumea’s and the Cub Club and other lunch spots where plotters meet to plot. ...
With nothing better to do over the weekend, Skinny trolled through the campaign reports recently filed with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. Some mildly interesting stuff: Gary Kirke, a Very Big Republican with casino interests, gave $50,000 to Democrat Chet Culver in the final quarter of 2009; in December, he also gave $25,000 to Republican Terry Branstad (and his business partner, Mike Richards, threw in another $10,000). Like Kirke, Toby Shine, the Spencer scrap dealer and board member of the Department of Economic Development, plays both sides; he gave $10,000 to Branstad and another ten to Culver.
Bruce Rastetter gave $25,000 to Branstad, and Brent Rastetter gave another $25,000. Bruce Rastetter’s business partner, philanthropist Dick Jacobson (who no longer lives in Iowa), added $25,000, too. But the biggest individual giver was Bill Knapp, who gave $100,000 to Culver in the fourth quarter of last year. Knapp rarely gives to Republicans, though he made an exception last year and gave $5,000 to first-term state legislator Pete Cownie. Cownie, a shoo-in for re-election from his West Des Moines district, is a son of Jim Cownie, a Knapp pal. Being able to raise big money from big hitters in both parties makes young Cownie a favorite of Republican leaders — and positions him well if he ever wants to run for anything else. Like Leonard Boswell’s seat in 2012.
A big chunk of the $2,150,142 raised by Culver — $500,000 — came from the Democratic Governors’ Association, and huge chunks came from organized labor, though AFSCME sat on its wallet and gave nothing. In mid-December, Smithfield Foods gave Culver $1,500 — and a month later it announced it was closing its hog-processing John Morrell plant in Sioux City, chopping 1,500 jobs, or one job for every dollar donated. Oddly, perhaps, Fred Hubbell — who Culver put in charge of the Power Fund and who filled in for a bit as acting head of the Department of Economic Development — gave just $50 to Culver last year, though his sister, Harriet Hubbell, gave $1,000 and their brother Jim gave $10,000. Even odder, Doug Gross, who ran for governor once and who worked for Branstad and now is beating the drums for him, ponied up just $2,400 for him last year while his Democratic counterpart, Jerry Crawford, gave $25,000 to Culver.
Culver’s mother, Ann, who lives in Texas, gave two $50 contributions to her son, but his father, former Sen. John Culver, who lives in Washington, apparently gave nothing. Branstad’s father, Ed, came up with $1,000. But Republican hopeful Bob Vander Plaats was best at tapping his family, getting $20,000 from his father-in-law, Dixon Granstra, $1,500 from his step-mother-in-law and $50 from his mother. Vander Plaats’ biggest givers are from northwest Iowa, and among those Michael and Cheryl Wells of Le Mars — that’s Wells, as in Wells Blue Bunny — gave $87,500.
Another tidbit: Culver paid campaign consultant Teresa Vilmain $90,000 in the fourth quarter, which might be the reason she didn’t leave at year-end, as many folks thought she’d do. Culver spent $21,180.43 on a Wakonda Club fund-raiser, while Vander Plaats spent $8.32 for a “meeting with supporters” at the Dairy-Kone in Jesup. (He went into double figures at Kracky McGees in Omaha, shelling out $10.14.) Vander Plaats also made regular stops at Kum and Go stores, perhaps not knowing that Kum and Go’s Kyle Krause gave $25,000 to Culver. (But he wouldn’t be helping his cause by stopping at Casey’s, instead. Don Lamberti gave $25,000 to Branstad last year, and his son, Jeff, gave $5,000.) ...
Some members of Wakonda are “championing an effort called the ‘Wakonda Athletic Club and Tennis Academy’ and [are] proposing to build and operate a tennis and fitness center for club members on the grounds” of Wakonda, according to a letter to members from Dave Schneider, the club’s general manager. The club hasn’t yet said yes or no. ...
Finally, do you want a free red pen? Juice, the Register’s “young reader publication” (does that mean the Register itself is an “old reader publication?” one Skinny reader asked), will send you one if you’ll edit the publication for the bosses. The Register will send you a copy of Juice and the pen if you’ll “mark up Juice to show what you like, what you didn’t like, and what you didn’t find worth reading” and then send it back. It sounds not unlike a coloring book.
Which, of course, Juice readers are very familiar with. CV
