Republican Doug Halsted, a candidate to take over Jeff Lamberti's Senate seat, had some interesting action on his Web site's blog recently. Halsted, after unveiling his site www.halstedforsenate.org, was attacked by one of his ex-wives, Jana Tschopp, who felt his being married multiple times should be reflected in his bio on the site. Wrote Tschopp: "Congratulations on running for state senate. I really believe in honesty from all political candidates, however, and am dismayed that there is no mention of why you really moved to Iowa - getting married to me, your second wife. I do think this is an important fact to include in your personal history, and would like to see you remedy your blog as such. Thanks." Well, Jen Halsted, Doug's current wife, wasn't going to let Wife #2 attack her man, but instead of calling Tschopp, she decided to let her have it - on her husband's Web site. "Wow. Bizarre. I don't think the bio has to contain your entire personal history. I would leave it as is." Responded Tschopp, on the blog, "I disagree. I think the public has the right to know certain things about their candidate. I guess I'll be working with the Democrats on this one." Wrote Jen Halsted: "Jana, do you really feel this is necessary? If I recall correctly, you left Doug. Your choice. Get over it and get on with your life. I regret introducing you to him. And it really doesn't matter whether or not you back him since I don't believe you live in the district." The candidate himself, seeing that this catfight was going nowhere, finally hopped on the Internet, included his unlucky past in his bio and then wrote: "Jana, I apologize and have made the correction." Wrote back Jana: "Doug, You have once again proven you are a better person than I. Hopefully you have passed the test. The bio change reads well." Why this all remains on the Web site, however, is beyond us.

Move over Cynthia McKinney. Rep. Doug Struyk, who caused a stir a couple of years ago when he bolted from the Democratic Party that helped him gain his legislative seat to join up with the GOP, took a break from fighting for the little guy to threaten a Senate doorkeeper last week. The doorkeeper told Struyk he could not have access to the Senate floor without a jacket. Said Struyk to the doorkeeper: "Do you know who I am?" The doorkeeper answered that he did not, which enraged Struyk, who told the doorkeeper that he could have him fired. When another doorkeeper reminded Struyk that rules dictate he must wear a jacket - no exceptions - Struyk threatened his job, as well.

Just when you thought CIETC was the bastion of do-nothingness for too much comes this e-mail - noted to be of "high importance" - from Fiscal Service's Sam Leto to the Oversight Committee charged with getting to the bottom of the corruption: "Based on the happenings this week for the Government Oversight Committee, officially there were no meetings held and no minutes taken. Representative [Dwayne] Alons, Senator [Ron] Wieck and Senator [Tom] Courtney have all agreed that Representative Alons will be Chair next week because he wasn't able to Chair any of the meetings this week." Way to finish the session strong.

Speaking of CIETC, Polk County Auditor Michael Mauro, who has tried to distance himself from the debacle, has an opponent in his run for Secretary of State who feels he finally has an issue he can run on. Republican Robert Dopf, a former federal prosecutor and current podiatrist, is, according to a top-level Republican, "going to bang away at [Mauro's ties to CIETC] from now until November." This individual said the race "seemed out of reach" until the scandal broke. "But with [Mauro's] brother [John] being on the board [he has since resigned], his kid, Steve, working at CIETC and his campaign being given money by [former CIETC head] Ramona Cunningham, this puts [Dopf] back in play." A press release sent out by the Dopf campaign last week read: "CIETC is the end result of machine-style politics... including rampant nepotism and cronyism." In the release, Dopf is quoted as saying, "The South Side machine has dominated Des Moines and Polk County politics for decades."

The newest Des Moines School Board members have been rendered ineffective by the existing board and due to their own inabilities to focus on what needs to be done; thus, everyone is getting along swimmingly a top school official told us. "They form committees to look into matters and bring things to a board vote long after decisions have been made," our source said. "The 'we have to be unified to attract quality superintendent candidates' thing has them all afraid to be argumentative in public." Our source also said the Save Our Schools folks are "fighting among themselves" and, again, are unlikely to field a quality candidate for the board because of it. "This, of course, fuels the belief that SOS folks are more interested in bitching about everything and smearing everyone they can, from trees being cut down to hot lunches, than actually having an impact." One thing is for certain, our source said, with board members having to go along to get along, nothing is going to change until people willing to throw stones are elected - "and that doesn't look to be happening anytime in the near future." CV

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