Snacks for Narcisse, work for Wimer, less ink for Register
As Skinny reported a few weeks ago, The Business Record and its affiliated publications are in the process of being sold back to previous owner Connie Wimer from a group of bankers who obtained ownership when the previous owners filed for bankruptcy. Although oddly announced before the sale was official, Wimer proudly proclaimed the purchase last Friday, regaining control of her 7,000 circulation Business Record and 12,000 circulation DSM magazine. The total paid circulation between them is less than one in four of the total printed copies. No price was disclosed, but it’s a safe bet that Wimer paid considerably less to buy the properties back than she sold them for. “She’s no dummy,” a businessman told Skinny. Skinny knew that.
In other media news, Skinny was told from numerous sources that Stephens Media, which is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., recently purchased The Ames Tribune and its affiliated papers including The Boone News-Republican and The Dallas County News, but as of press time no formal announcement has been made. That’s strange. Maybe it’s because the new owners don’t want to brag about being the fourth owner in three decades — that’s not a lot for banks or radio stations or bars, but it is a lot for newspapers. Maybe it’s because announcing that a company from Las Vegas now owns the papers won’t sit well with some readers or advertisers. Or maybe the deal fell apart. No matter how you slice and dice it, the unanswered questions make for unsettling times for what’s left of the staff of those papers.
And word is that The Des Moines Register reporters have been told to write shorter stories — to save on ink, a guy told a guy who told a guy who told Skinny. “Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel,” the old saying goes. These days, at the Register, it’s “never argue with someone who buys ink by the pint.” ...
A bunch of stuff about politics while avoiding the usual penetrating analysis of the election since Cityview went to press on Monday night:
Jonathan Narcisse didn’t win — we can confidently say that — but he appears to have snacked his way across Iowa in his bizarre attempt to become governor. According to his expenditure report filed with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, he lunched at the Pizza Ranch in Dubuque, snacked at Mac’s Tavern in Davenport, breakfasted at Dahl’s in Des Moines, lunched at Casey’s in Mount Pleasant, lunched at Tasty Tacos in Des Moines, breakfasted at the IHOP in Ankeny, lunched at Arby’s in “Unknown, IA,”, then at Famous Dave’s in West Des Moines and at the Kum & Go in Adair, and then ended up back at Tasty Tacos and Famous Dave’s in a five-week period in July and August. In contrast, neither Chet Culver nor Terry Branstad charged their campaigns anything on snacks or meals during that period. ...
The Butler County Republican Central Committee was the biggest contributor to Kent Sorenson in his fight with Staci Appel, according to state records. The committee provided $15,000 of the $140,000 or so Sorenson raised. The odd thing about that: Butler County isn’t even close to Warren County, where Sorenson and Appel were fighting it out. Sorenson spent $88,758 in the stub reporting period — from Oct. 19 through last Friday — while Appel benefited from $106,000 spent on her behalf by the Iowa Senate Majority Fund, a fund controlled by Senate president Mike Gronstal. ...
In the last two weeks of the campaign, at least $750,000 was spent on effort to defeat or keep the judges — most of it out-of-state money spent on ads to urge voters to toss out the three Supreme Court justices on the ballot. ...
The campaign to get voters to approve the extension of gambling at Prairie Meadows was funded by just a half-dozen persons or firms. Bill Knapp and Jim Cownie and Holmes Murphy each tossed in $10,000, the Ruan and Rasmussen interests added $5,000 each, and MidAmerican Energy contributed $15,000. ...
Story in the Register on Sept. 29: “President Obama will be back to Iowa before Nov. 2 to campaign, Gov. Chet Culver said today.”
“‘I told him that when we continue to build on the momentum and continue to get the message out and make the choice more and more clear to Iowans, and when we show the nation and the voters of Iowa that we’re the best choice to lead Iowa in terms of our re-election, I expect they’ll be back,’ Culver said.
“When asked if President Obama promised to do so, Culver responded: “‘The president is a good friend, and I expect he’ll be here to help us win this race,’ Culver said.”
A week or so later, Obama e-mailed in his endorsement of Culver. ...
The one thing you’ll remember from this week’s Skinny: There are no stoplights in Butler County. CV
