As reported in this column first, when the CIETC hearings are over the Legislative Oversight Committee will investigate Prairie Meadows. The reason for doing so, as we were told a few weeks back, is solely political and will likely "go nowhere." Legislative Republicans dropped the facade of bipartisanship in the CIETC investigation by unilaterally hiring Dick Sapp, a Des Moines attorney. Sapp has gained a reputation as a Republican "hit man" after being at the center of lawsuits by (1) Republican legislative leaders challenging Gov. Tom Vilsack's item vetoes of an economic stimulus bill in 2003, and (2) Republican voters against Democratic election officials in 2004 over the issue of the counting of ballots by voters who cast their ballots in the wrong precinct. What is even more interesting, however, is that when the committee is done looking into Prairie Meadows, a top statehouse source told us that the committee wants to investigate gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver and his alleged past misuse of Help America Vote Act (HAVA) money. Why? "Because it's a witch hunt," our source said. "And they think Chet will be the nominee. So after the primary, look for [Republican gubernatorial nominee] Jim Nussle to push harder for an inspector general and lean on the committee to smear Chet." Continued our source, "They think they've found Jimmy Hoffa, and this committee will not let up until November." It was thought that cooler heads would prevail on the committee, but we're told Sen. Mary Lundby, the flavor of the week when it comes to being reasonable, will not step in - as many Democrats and middle-of-the-road Republicans had hoped - out of fear of losing her recently gained power. "She's pissed off the tax-relief boys, Stew [Iverson] is still raising money like crazy and is spreading it around to new candidates, and Larry [McKibben, whom Lundby reportedly beat by one vote for leadership] is not exactly hiding the fact that when the general is done he's gunning for her." (It is also rumored that three of Lundby's 13 supporters are retiring, running for Congress or going to the Iowa House.)

Last week's Civic Skinny item regarding Polk County Auditor Michael Mauro, who has tried to distance himself from the CIETC debacle, but who has an opponent, Republican Robert Dopf, in his run for Secretary of State who feels he finally has an issue he can run on because Mauro's brother John was on the CIETC board, his son, Steve, works at CIETC, and his campaign has been given money by (former CIETC head) Ramona Cunningham incorrectly identified Dopf as being both a federal prosecutor and a current podiatrist. Dopf is actually just a federal prosecutor. His primary opponent, Chuck Allison, is the foot doctor.

On another CIETC front, word going around has some Republicans planning a late-October campaign that blankets the county with yard signs reading: "Remember, CIETC. Vote Republican."

An e-mail sent out by fundraiser extraordinaire David Wheeler claims that gubernatorial candidate Mike Blouin is trailing Chet Culver by only 7 percentage points and is "gaining 1-2 points per week in the latest polls." "This is where we want to be at this point," Wheeler writes. "In the political horserace jargon it's called not peaking too soon." The gist of the e-mail is to help Mike Blouin reach the $1 million fundraising mark. (Blouin's original budget required $2 million.) Two weeks ago, Cityview released the latest polling (based on 616 likely Democratic primary voters in April) showing Culver up on Blouin by 25 percent, 42 to 17, with Ed Fallon the choice of 12 percent, and 27 percent of those polled undecided. Blouin's jump, if true, would be somewhat astonishing. However, when we contacted Wheeler asking for a memo, methodology, any context for the polling or which company made the calls, he did not respond. "If supporters think [Blouin] has a chance they may kick in a few hundred more," a Democratic strategist told us. CV

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