Winners

The state of Iowa is one step closer to kicking butts. Cigarette butts, that is, and especially those sucked down by underage smokers. In keeping with the recent trend of major tobacco companies making transparent attempts to convince the public they're combating underage smoking, Lorillard Tobacco (maker of Newports, along with old-folks cigs like Kents, Old Golds, Mavericks and Satins) has announced that it, too, will try to prevent kids from lighting up. State Attorney General Tom Miller announced that Lorillard has agreed to help tackle the sprawling problem of online cigarette purchases. While most Internet cigarette-sales vendors do employ age-verification systems, they are about as foolproof as the "Parental Advisory" sticker on a CD. According to the AG's office, the agreement prevents Lorillard from shipping to clients that have engaged in illegal Internet sales in the past, and it penalizes anyone who illegally re-sells Lorillard cigs that have been purchased online. Along with 33 other states, Iowa is taking part in a "comprehensive effort" to cut down on the sale of cancer sticks online. According to the AG's office, credit card companies, along with UPS and FedEx, have agreed to stop processing and shipping to illegal vendors. This agreement is certainly a minor step in the right direction, but enforcing laws on the World Wide Web traditionally has been a difficult undertaking.

Losers

Just when you think Steve King couldn't get any more racist (or embarrassing), he outdoes himself. The Republican U.S. lawmaker from Iowa told the entire House of Representatives that he'd designed an electric fence for the U.S.-Mexico border, then he proceeded to build a mini-version of the fence at the podium on the House floor. "We do this with livestock all the time," he told his fellow legislators, as he strung the faux-barbed-wire across the top of his toy fence. No word on whether King also enjoys playing "Fallujah" with his GI Joes at home.

It's hard to say who's the biggest loser in Iowa's eminent domain battle these days. Could it be Tom Vilsack, the first Iowa governor to suffer the humiliation of a veto override since 1963? Could it be the ineffectual Senate Democratic leadership, which tried so desperately to pretend that it's looking out for the general welfare while mustering a mere eight votes to side with the governor? Or could it be Iowa's taxpayers, who've already been warned that they'll pay for the inevitable court costs when the Iowa League of Cities, deep-pocket developers or even the ol' Pooh Bear himself decides to challenge the legality of Friday's override? The thing is, the governor's people have been strenuously insisting that the Legislature didn't have the legal right to override him after they adjourned the regular session. But they did it anyway, voting 90-8 in the House and 41-8 in the Senate during a special session to limit government's ability to condemn land on behalf of private developers. Particularly dweebie in this whole drama was Senate Democratic floor leader Mike Gronstal, who acted like a pimply-faced college freshman trying desperately to pledge the fraternity of Democratic Party kingmakers by publicly supporting the governor while still voting for the override because he knew it would pass regardless. Another shameless frat boy during the special session was Polk County's own Sen. Jack Hatch, a real-estate developer who, rather than recusing himself, pointed out that Allied, Wells Fargo, Nationwide and Principal all have Des Moines offices because private land was condemned on their behalf. The governor's cheering squad kept insisting that the proper, legal thing to do would be to introduce a fresh new bill from scratch during the special session. But this was a disingenuous argument, since they knew that Vilsack could kill a new bill with a pocket veto, and they also knew that one well-placed committee chairman could stop the entire debate in its tracks. CV

Comment on this story | Return to top