One of the most important and controversial issues in the recent campaign was immigration reform, which has split the Republican Party down the middle with moderate Republicans supporting the Senate Immigration Reform Bill and the far right Tea Party opposing it. The Democrats unanimously supported the Senate-passed bipartisan Immigration Reform
Read More →Reading Douglas Burns’ cautionary column (Political Mercury, Oct. 23) about the prospect of Joni Ernst actually getting elected to replace Tom Harkin reminded me of H.L Mencken’s assertion that “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it — good and hard.”
Read More →Regarding Shirley MacDonald’s letter to the editor, Oct. 9: If the Black Plague could not wipe out the entirety of the human species, neither will Ebola. Julie Luepke –Windsor Heights Buy a vowel Civic Skinny observed that the “t” was apparently laid off the Gannett company sign at Capital Square
Read More →In his recap of the 1984 senate race between Roger Jepsen and Tom Harkin, non-columnist Michael Gartner reminds us that then Sen. Jepsen had “used a credit card at what was euphemistically called a massage parlor.” All this was true. But did the author really say that polls back then suggested Jepsen
Read More →Much attention had been on Bruce Braley missing hearings when he has a voting rate of 95 percent in Congress. What about Joni Ernst missing 36 percent of votes in the Iowa Senate and at the same time being paid to do her work in the Iowa Senate? Braley has
Read More →I was a little disappointed to see The Hull Ave. Tavern left out of your “100 favorite bars” list. As a musician who plays there, I can attest that they have fantastic live music and never a cover, as well as tasty bar eats and an amazing crowd. Plus, it’s
Read More →First Cooney’s Tavern is left off of Cityview’s checklist of 100 favorite bars. Then Braveheart’s own descendants vote to keep themselves under the rule of the Queen. Being 1/256th Irish and 1/512th Scottish, this has been a tough week. I think I will start to work on that checklist immediately. Mike Rowley
Read More →In the Sept. 11, 2014, issue of Cityview, Civic Skinny wrote a great article on our outgoing senator, Tom Harkin. Although Tom had the vision and the caring to help Iowans and many many others throughout his career, I think it is important to note that it was a great
Read More →[Cityview’s Civic Skinny column on Sept. 3 about changes in the newsroom at The Des Moines Register] contains several errors…. In terms of the process, decisions will NOT be made by me, another Gannett editor and an HR representative. The interviews will be conducted by a team made up of
Read More →I am the first to admit that I have no expertise in print advertising, and at 57 years of age I may not be the intended target audience, but did anyone else notice the placement of ads and content on page 42 last week? In the largest font was the
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