Boswell won’t quit; Retirement facts; Skinny invests $2
Leonard Boswell doesn’t know why Republicans in Washington and in Iowa keep saying he’s going to drop out of his race for re-election to Congress — Doug Gross, always ready to stir the pot, repeated the rumor on Iowa Press over the weekend — but the seven-term, 76-year-old Democrat says the Republicans don’t know what they’re talking about.
A guy Skinny knows cornered Boswell at Thursday’s memorial service for John Ruan and asked him point blank if he’s running. “Absolutely,” Boswell replied. “Why the rumors?” the guy asked. “Republican games,” Boswell answered. The guy says Boswell looked terrific — he seems fully recovered from major health problems and complicated surgeries of a couple of years ago — and seemed eager for the fight. Boswell said he expects his opponent to be state senator Brad Zaun — Skinny thinks it might be Jim Gibbons — but the June 8 primary will decide.
Boswell was one of two politicians speaking at the Ruan service; the other was Tom Vilsack, who recorded a five-minute tribute. The fact that both are Democrats proves that Ruan really is dead. Seated in the front row was Chet Culver, and the master of ceremonies was Michael Gartner, whom no one has ever mistaken for a Republican. Ruan used to hand out $2 bills, almost as a trademark, and everyone at the service received one as he was walking out — “giving a new meaning to what we in the sports business call ‘paid attendance,’” Gartner said. He suggested Culver might want to turn his over to the state to help the cause. ...
But one guy who no longer is running is Christopher Rants, who wanted to be governor, and that’s too bad. Rants was the most interesting of the four Republicans seeking the nomination, and also the smartest and nastiest. His tongue is as sharp as his mind, but he made more enemies than friends in his 18 years in the Iowa House — including four years as Speaker.
Rants probably would have had the nomination had not Terry Branstad entered the fray, and it will be interesting to see if Rants supports the former governor when Branstad wins the now three-man primary in June. (And he will win it, trust us.) If he does support Branstad, he’ll have some fancy footwork, and mouthwork, to do. Just in December, Rants wrote:
“Terry Branstad is saying those who believe he isn’t conservative enough ‘don’t know him.’ The trouble is that some of us know Terry Branstad all too well. It was Terry Branstad on the other end of the phone when he called lobbying me to raise the cigarette tax when I was Speaker. It was Terry Branstad wielding the veto pen when he gutted our education reform legislation because Republicans wouldn’t go along with all the spending he wanted. It is Terry Branstad’s signature on the largest tax increase in Iowa history.”
Now that Rants is out of work, Culver might want to sign him on as his speechwriter. ...
Sometimes, it helps to read the legislation. Some newspapers are reporting — and lots of people think — that a person has to have worked for the state for 10 years in order to take early retirement under the bill just signed by Culver. But that’s not what the legislation says. According to the legislation, anyone can sign up — even if she was just hired yesterday — but the biggest incentive, $1,000 for every year worked up to 25 — is available only to those who have worked for the state for at least 10 years. But everyone gets five years of health benefits as well as full pay for unused vacation time over the years. ...
The artful dodger: “Dear Friends,” says an e-mail last week from Mark Daley, the manager of Roxanne Conlin’s campaign to unseat Senator Chuck Grassley, “KCCI (Research 2000) poll was released tonight showing movement in the right direction for our campaign! We’re nine months from Election Day and Roxanne is already giving Chuck Grassley the closest race he’s had in 30 years.” Missing from Daley’s upbeat e-mail? The downbeat figures. The poll has Grassley ahead of Conlin, 56 percent to 35 percent. And it has Branstad beating Culver, 54 to 38, with Culver beating Bob Vander Plaats 41-38 and topping Rod Roberts 48-26, all of which is pretty much in line with the Register’s Iowa Poll a couple of weeks ago.
Skinny, by the way, is putting her $2 bill into an eight-month CD at Ruan’s Bankers Trust Co. With the annual interest of 1.91 percent, it will be worth nearly $2.04 in just a year! CV
