Parties gear up to retain contested seats

Republicans and Democrats are drawing up lists of Legislative seats they think they can win - and some they think they might lose. Republicans worry that Danny Carroll of Grinnell - the House's Speaker Pro Tem - and Dan Rasmussen of Independence and David Lalk of Fayette County are vulnerable. Democrats will fight hard to save seats of incumbents Mark Davitt of Indianola and Bob Kressig of Cedar Falls. Both sides think they'll end up in control of the chamber, which the Republicans now control 51 to 49. Democrats are more certain they'll take control of the Senate, which now is evenly divided, and some Republicans candidly agree. One big battleground: the Republican seat Polk County's Jeff Lamberti is giving up to run for Congress.

In the meantime, the state's Republicans met a couple of weeks ago and, among other things, wrote a new platform. Since we couldn't find mention of it in The Des Moines Register, Civic Skinny rises again to public service by providing some highlights: The Iowa Republican platform would eliminate the U.S. Department of Education; speaks harshly of homosexuals; opposes any minimum wage; favors school prayer and the teaching of creationism; opposes the teaching of sex education; favors English as the official language of the state; opposes the Kyoto treaty; opposes "ethnic history" months in school systems; opposes no-fault divorce; wants marriage defined as exclusively between a man and a woman; opposes a protected class based on sexual orientation; favors drilling in the Arctic national wildlife preserve; opposes the bottle bill; opposes "all forms" of affirmative action; favors the death penalty; opposes amnesty for any illegal immigrants; supports a barrier along the entire length of the Mexico-U.S. border; opposes issuing driver's licenses or providing medical, welfare, or educational support for illegal immigrants and their dependents; favors the right to carry a concealed weapon; supports the repeal of state and federal hate-crimes legislation; supports the reversal of Roe v. Wade; opposes embryonic stem-cell research; opposes euthanasia; opposes abortion; opposes a cigarette-tax increase; favors eliminating the income tax and the Internal Revenue Service and imposing, instead, a consumption tax; opposes the use of tax dollars to support the entertainment and the arts; and commends the "outstanding representation" of, among others, Steve King... among other things.

Allegedly, Gov. Tom Vilsack has been telling people that Iowans are liars when he doesn't like what they say. Specifically, he's been trying to discredit citizens who claim that they heard Vilsack aide Steve Falck promising that the governor would sign this year's eminent domain bill if the Legislature would still allow government to condemn land for publicly-funded lakes on behalf of private developers. Calling people liars? Couldn't he be a little more creative? "In the olden days, they called you a communist," one long-time activist reminisces.

State legislators are getting ready to march back into the Capitol for a special July 14 summit to revisit the whole eminent domain battle, which drew overwhelming bipartisan support before the governor's sudden veto. Proponents of the bill are beating the bushes for citizens willing to attend the 9 a.m. press conference and the special sessions that begin at 10 a.m. State Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, a populist Republican, and State Rep. Ed Fallon, that ever-populist Democrat, are hoping to fill the House and Senate chamber balconies with voters just in case legislators get to feeling a little weak-kneed about this whole issue under pressure from the current resident of Terrace Hill.

Word is that the House Democrats plan to go along with Republicans on Friday by voting for a strong bill that protects private property rights. That way, all the representatives will be able to go home and tell their constituents that they voted to strengthen the law, which currently allows local governments to take land from one person by eminent domain and give it to somebody else.

However, the Senate Democrats are under orders to march in step with Vilsack, who sources say has been calling Senate Democrats and threatening that they won't get future campaign money from the Iowa Democratic Party if they buck him now on this point.

And if the houses are split, of course, the Legislature fails to tighten the rules. That would be a win for the Iowa League of Cities as well as people who support the proposed lake-construction projects.

Word is that Sen. Mike Gronstal, Democratic floor leader, is responsible for coming up with a more watery bill that would pacify Vilsack's supporters. Gronstal "doesn't want Vilsack to look bad," one source says. "He's going to try to rewrite it and make a weaker bill."

Ironically, if the Legislature doesn't strengthen eminent domain restrictions, one property owner that could feel the hand of Big Brother is the city of Waukee. Waukee bought land from the Copeland family with plans to build a future sports complex along Highway 6, but the city of Adel is hoping to create an airport authority and take Waukee's land at that location by eminent domain. CV

Comment on this story | Return to top