More bad poll news for Culver. And who is Christian Fong?

“Skinny will love this,” says a note from a faithful reader (Skinny has no unfaithful readers), and Skinny does. The note: “The State of Iowa recently released a new format for its website at www.iowa.gov and at the bottom it allows you to translate the website into Spanish via an automated translation service from yahoo.com. One small catch is that ‘Patty’ doesn’t translate into Patricia so the translation for Lt. Gov. Patty Judge is ‘Lt. Juez de la empanada del gobernador,’ which in Spanish means ‘Lt. Judge of the Governor’s Meat Pie.’” The reader adds: “There are so many punch lines in that one that I don’t know where to begin.” Skinny won’t touch it.

Now, the news:

Chet Culver is planning another staff shakeup as his approval ratings continue to suck. In recent days, he interviewed John Frew, a Denver lawyer, University of Iowa graduate and onetime staff member for Culver’s dad, for Tom Harkin and for former Colorado Sen. Tim Wirth, to be chief of staff for the gubernatorial office. At the same time, he has been trying to convince Teresa Vilmain to take a major role in his re-election campaign. Where all this leaves John Kirincich, whom Culver brought in a few months ago as “chief operating officer,” is unclear. It was assumed Kirincich was simply being parked on the state payroll for a few months before heading over to the campaign office. Last we heard, neither Frew nor Vilmain had yet said yes or no, though both were leaning toward “yes.” Vilmain is also being wooed by Tom Vilsack to join him at the Department of Agriculture now that chief-of-staff John Norris is moving to a regulatory agency.

Meantime, the latest polling by the highly reliable SurveyUSA has nothing but bad news for the governor. His approval rating now stands at a miserable 42 percent — with a disapproval rating of 51 percent. In other words, far more Iowans disapprove of the job he’s doing than approve of it, which is not a good situation going into an election year. Nothing — flood-repair money, stimulus money — seems to be able to move his numbers up. The really bad news for Culver: Only 62 percent of Democrats approve of the job he’s doing, and — even worse — only 35 percent of independents approve. He has approval ratings of less than 50 percent in every area of the state, in every age group, and in both economic groups tested — Iowans making more than $50,000 a year and Iowans making less than $50,000. Add to this the fact that at election time next year the state’s economy will still be in the dumpster, and it’s clear that whoever takes the campaign post will have a huge challenge.

All that is good news for the Republicans — if only they could find a candidate to agree on. Moderates continue to look for someone to take on conservatives Christopher Rants and the others in next June’s primary, and the latest name they’re tossing around is that of Cedar Rapids wunderkind — and conservative — Christian Fong, whose resume looks as if it was sent over from Central Casting. He’s a 32-year-old executive at Aegon with degrees from Creighton (summa cum laude) and Dartmouth (a master’s in business “with distinction”). Culver named him vice chair of the Generation Iowa Commission a while back, and last year he formed a group of young people to help the post-flood Cedar Rapids determine its future. He writes on occasion for the conservative Hawkeye Review. He’s married with three kids and is a deacon at River of Life Ministries. “I could see myself running for office,” he told an interviewer not long ago. Oh, also “I play electric violin with my band.”

But wait! This just in! A Republican insider swears — swears — that Terry Branstad is changing his mind and will run for governor. This guy is often, but not always, right. Skinny is skeptical. Still, the former governor danced around the question in an interview with the Cedar Rapids Gazette last week. “I love what I’m doing,” said Branstad, who now heads Des Moines University and earns a half-million or so a year. But he also said: “Someone taught me a long time ago you don’t rule anything out.” Branstad, like Culver, is a politician who never stops campaigning, though the former governor is more interested in policy than the current governor is. A Branstad-Culver race would be a reporter’s dream. Skinny is licking his chops.

If Democrats are looking for good news, they can find at least a glimmer in the new SurveyUSA poll on Chuck Grassley, who is up for election next year. The approval rating of the five-term Senator now is 58 percent — still strong, but down dramatically from the 71 percent in January. His nattering and twittering seem to have cost him support, mainly in his own party. (Tom Harkin, who was re-elected last year and doesn’t have to worry about ratings, has a 53-38 margin of approval, and among Democrats it’s a whopping 73-20 — a 53-point positive margin.)

Other stuff:

House Speaker Pat Murphy and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy met not so long ago in an effort to smooth out their relationship, which has split the Democratic caucus in the House. Friends of McCarthy say he described it as a good meeting. Friends of Murphy say he described it as a not-so-good meeting. Each leader thinks he could win over a majority of the caucus if it came to a vote. One of them is wrong. ...

Talk of a second casino for Des Moines won’t die out, even though movers and shakers say it won’t happen. The latest talk: Some folks, including Gary Kirke, want to put a casino downtown. If they wouldn’t mind putting it on several floors, there’s lots of space. John Ruan’s smaller tower — the one on Sixth and Locust — will be vacated late next year when Wellmark moves to its new headquarters, as will the old JC Penney building that Wellmark also occupies. Both the Des Moines Building and the Equitable Building — once the city’s two premier buildings — have been taken over by banks and are largely empty. The Ruan Building itself will have several empty floors when Wellmark executives move up the street. A casino, of course, would take up lots of land, and the only place with lots of land is along the east-west portion of Martin Luther King. ...

Times are tougher than we thought. From an Iowa Workforce Development FAQ:

“Question: What is the maximum number of hours per day my employer can make me work? Answer: Twenty-four for most employees. There are limits on the number of hours worked for children under age 16 and in some contracts for employment. Also federal law makes limitations for certain occupations such as truck drivers.”...

More good news for the East Village. We’re told that the law firm of Grefe and Sydney is moving from 22nd and Grand to space on East Walnut. ...

A few avid bicyclists and Skinny readers note that The Des Moines Register’s RAGBRAI site was recently changed to a dot com instead of a dot org. This confirms the ride is now for-profit (which Skinny thought it has been for a decade or so) — or that someone busted them on it and they had to change. ...

An even less significant item: Cityview received a call from a reader who points out that the governor’s press secretary sent out a press release this week calling Des Moines the “Capitol City.” The caller thought maybe the press secretary should know the difference between “capitol” and “capital.” Picky, picky, picky. ...

And finally... A guy reports that Mari Culver was driven to an out-of-town appearance recently by, of course, a state trooper in a state car. A local dignitary met her as the car drove up and opened the door. He was almost overcome by tobacco fumes, the guy says. Culver, a lawyer, might want to check Iowa Code section 142D.3 (Smoking is prohibited and a person shall not smoke in...public places. [Public places include] vehicles owned, leased, or operated by or under the control of the state government.”) As well as section 805.8C. (For violations of the anti-smoking law “the scheduled fine is fifty dollars.”). ...

Checks can be made payable to Lt. Judge of the Governor’s Meat Pie. CV

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