A few weeks back in this column, we mentioned correspondence between Kum & Go owner Bill Krause and Sen. Jack Kibbie regarding TouchPlay machines and Kibbie's son-in-law, Pat Williams, who works for Kum & Go in Nebraska - an e-mail that a Senate Democratic source referred to as a "veiled threat." Kibbie is the driving force behind removing the machines. Krause is top dog when it comes to owning and operating them. However, in the text below, it is apparent that our source erred, and that the reported e-mail was actually sent from Krause to Williams (and then forwarded to Kibbie) in an attempt to persuade Kibbie to change his position regarding the Iowa Lottery's program, while hacking away at Des Moines businessman Gary Kirke, who owns Wild Rose Casino in Emmetsburg. The e-mail was sent long before the TouchPlay issue began to heat up. So Krause, we can only presume, wisely sensed the storm to come.

"Good afternoon Pat, I don't need to tell you everyone in Iowa, and especially those of us up at the Great Lakes area, have a deep admiration for what Jack has done. I hope you will do your part as a son-in-law and gently remind him of how valuable TouchPlay is going to be to all of his constituents... and not just the new casino in Emmestburg. Quite frankly, the gentleman who owns that (Kirke) is at times more than passionate and far from reasonable in his demands. I'm certain that Jack is aware of that and will moderate accordingly. What I'm saying is... we have TouchPlay for all of Iowa, and Emmetsburg has a casino for Emmet, Palo Alto and the surrounding counties. Please do what you can and I would welcome a conversation with Jack on this or any other topic any time. Thank you in advance, W.A. Krause"

We have been told by a number of statehouse sources that Williams was "demoted" after Kibbie stayed the course. We have been unable to contact Williams, but when we asked Kibbie if the rumor was true, the senator told us, "He has a different job than he had. But I do not know if it has anything to do with TouchPlay."

Politicians and lottery leaders are "blind," we're told, as to the amount of damage a cap on existing TouchPlay machines would do to the state. "It is not a happy medium," one business leader told us. "If anyone would like to see firsthand what a cap on licenses do to business, go try and open a restaurant in Montana. You won't believe the characters at the table when you give it a go." See, in Montana, the available licenses are in a few hands - ironically the convenience store operators own a lot of them. "If you believe in the theory of a competitive disadvantage if you can't get a license, then it should be very easy to see where this could lead," our source told us. "Invested guys will be at the table with real estate developers and restaurant owners determining who gets the machines because they will have the vast majority of these licenses. A cap is exactly what a guy like Bill Krause wants." Why? "Because it creates scarcity which equates to big control, as well as value," our source told us. "This will make the garbage monopolies look like a game of marbles if a cap is put in place."

Rumors are flying between Democratic gubernatorial camps regarding bloggers, which insist the other side is having "Internet henchmen" do their dirty work for the campaigns by making allegations that many times are unfounded but passed off as gospel. Chetnotstupid.blogspot.com is, we're told, causing the secretary of state to "see red."

Ed Fallon won a handful of county conventions, but the people who attend these conventions are decidedly more liberal than the normal democratic voter, a source told us. "Winning a precinct caucus where seven people attend per precinct is pretty far from winning when the non-crazies show up," this person said. "If Patty had stayed in the race, he might have had some impact. But she didn't, and he won't. And if (Fallon) tries to pull that 'I'm running as an Independent' crap, he'll be run out of the state."

Senate Co-Leader Stewart Iverson is in the soup with his fellow Republican senators. First, he lost the clear majority; then he lost Doug Shull to the House; finally, he has not delivered to any conservative agendas by letting the abortion issue and anti-gay marriage bills die, while not adequately pushing senior tax cuts and the death penalty. It is being said quietly that Sen. Jeff Angelo (R-Dairy Queen) is putting together a conservative coalition to become the next Republican leader where he will most likely face Larry McKibben. Democrats would love to have the volatile McKibben lead the Senate Republican caucus, we're told, "as it will assure us the clear majority for many years to come."

And lastly, if you don't think gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle is sucking up to the Christian conservatives in hope of stimulating the far-right come November, read the second installment of Nussle biting the hand that feeds him. Nussle, you'll recall, kissed off Bill Krause (can he escape press coverage?) by saying he would sign any bill to kill the TouchPlay program after Krause gave him $25,000. Now we've heard that Nussle has dismissed Jim Cownie. Cownie, records show, gave the Congressman $50,000 for his campaign and asked that Nussle simply "consider Libby Jacobs" as his lieutenant governor candidate. Nussle promised Cownie he would. Nussle, however, never even contacted Jacobs, and when Cownie found out and wasn't pleased, Nussle called Cownie and told him he was thinking about asking Bob Vander Plaats to join his ticket, and would Cownie like to weigh in. Only one problem, though. The Vander Plaats announcement had been made public the day before. Cownie, a Republican insider told us, "would never abandon his party," while a Blouin staffer told us, "Jim (Cownie) is in play." CV

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