Look for the downtown business community to rally around Superintendent Eric Witherspoon's plan to spend $8 million on the Pappajohn Learning Center. "Many promises have been made by the superintendent and board members behind closed doors to the downtown power brokers," a business leader told us. "Of all the pieces of the superintendent's proposal, the board will work swiftly to commit these dollars first, even with all of the other turmoil going on." Said a reluctant school official: "Never mind that $8 million could build a premium elementary school from the ground up. We've got to take care of the rich, white kids first. And their parents love the idea of their kids attending classes downtown." Also, look for the board to "listen to the community" by offering an alternative proposal to redirect money to the most vocal critics. We've been told that at least one of the elementary schools will be given a reprieve. Further, our school official told us that Witherspoon has never actually intended that a technical high school proposed for the current Edmunds site would actually be built. "The concept was only announced to buy time to get the Pappajohn deal done and to allow the board the ability to acquiesce to the North and Hoover communities by spending those dollars there instead."

A bureaucratic power grab by the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship (IDALS) has ruffled more feathers than a Louisa County cockfight. First, IDALS implemented rule changes that restricted senior citizen and low-income single mothers from participating in USDA Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Programs. Then legislators began hearing heartbreaking tales from seniors who could no longer afford fresh food. So the Iowa Senate voted 50-0 to change the rules; IDALS then promised they would fix the problem, if the House tabled the bill. The House did not vote on it, but IDALS reneged, refusing to meet with any of the groups advocating for the farmers and the senior citizens - the Food Bank, Citizens for Community Improvement and the Iowa Farmers Union. Tom Vilsack's office then got involved when the Iowa Food Policy Council endorsed all the fixes suggested by the advocate groups. However, we're told that Ag Secretary Patty Judge still won't budge; IDALS now says they will unilaterally implement "emergency rules," which circumvent normal rule-making processes and exempt them from cooperating with anyone. We're also told to expect Judge (who is getting more and more serious about a run for governor) not to rescind the unpopular rule changes, but to instead grant a few selected waivers to some, but not all, affected markets. Furthermore, we're told that USDA troubleshooter Gus Schumacher is coming to town this week and is not happy with IDALS' self-created "bureaucratic nightmare." Which makes political strategists wonder, what does an aspiring Democratic gubernatorial candidate gain by pissing off low-income senior citizens, the USDA, the entire Iowa Senate and House, much of rural Iowa, key party activists and her own governor? We guess she'll be the judge of that.

Nevermind Bob Vander Plaats, Jim Nussle is planning ahead, we've been told, as to whom he wants next to him on the Republican ticket for Iowa Governor, and the name that keeps coming up for lieutenant governor is Rep. Libby Jacobs. "Libby is incredibly bright and an excellent debater," a top Republican source told us. "One of the best up here." Jacobs is also from voter-rich Polk County and can peel off moderate votes in a statewide race, which would balance nicely with Nussle being from Eastern Iowa. Not to mention, Nussle's campaign manager is Nick Ryan, whose wife works on House Republican caucus staff that has worked a lot with Jacobs. When we asked a top Democrat what he thought of a Nussle-Jacobs ticket, he called it "scary," adding, "I can't think of a team we could put together that would give them a good fight."

And from the left, a group of Mike Blouin supporters recently completed some polling for the Iowa Department of Economic Development chief (he's not officially running). The results were not "all that great" for Blouin, or for any of the individuals running, we're told, so it's "up for grabs." However, Sen. Mike Gronstal, who is seen as being labor's champion and a Vilsack-like underdog candidate, was dealt the most serious blow, as his statewide recognition numbers are, as the individual told us, "for shit." All of this should be encouraging to State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald, who is suddenly serious about running for governor. He's got a great record and a great name, a key Democrat noted, "and he knows how to organize the state." The downside, his fans admit, is that he's a ho-hum stump speaker. But, this person quickly added, in a shot across the bow of Chet Culver, "It's easier to teach someone to give a good speech than it is to make someone smart."

With some Gannett legal problems in the past regarding predatory pricing and unethical distribution practices, we were expecting - and rightly so - some problems with the Register's new weekly puff publication, Juice. However, even we were surprised when a handful of our advertisers told us that Juice sales staff members are not mentioning Cityview in their pitch for ad dollars, but rather bashing the Register's dying supplement Datebook instead. The Juice employees are encouraging Datebook advertisers to "try Juice instead." Said a Datebook staffer to us: "At least they aren't trying to be sneaky about killing us off." Rumors continue to circulate on Locust Street that Datebook's days are numbered, as some staffers have jumped ship to Juice and the backstabbing has begun in earnest.

And lastly, as was predicted to us last month, shortly after the parking lot at the now torn-down Crimmin's Cattle Company was resurfaced with airport equipment and staff, Des Moines workers ripped it out down to the dirt. Joked an elected official, "Someone needed a summer job." CV

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