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Posted June 03, 2015in Civic Skinny

James Conlin spends $100,000 on a matter of principle.

Remember James Conlin’s lawsuit against the city on the pressing issue of wood windows vs. vinyl windows? Probably not. But how about this: Conlin has spent $100,000 in legal fees [...]

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Posted May 27, 2015in Civic Skinny

Branstad’s Expo money-raising broke ethics rule.

Jason Noble of The Des Moines Register wrote a first-rate story last week on the woes of the Central Iowa Expo in Boone. In it, he noted that between gubernatorial [...]

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Posted May 20, 2015in Civic Skinny

The docket: Des Moines sues over dead trees.

At least 232 trees planted in Des Moines by Frontline Lawn and Landscapes of Pleasant Hill have died, and the company has refused to replace them, the city said last [...]

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Posted May 13, 2015in Civic Skinny

Culver eyes Congress in 2016, or maybe in 2018

Chet Culver is testing the waters. The former governor is checking with former aides and former donors with the idea of relaunching his political career, which came to an abrupt [...]

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Posted May 06, 2015in Civic Skinny

Godfrey bills now near $770,000. Van Orsdel home sold.

Your tax dollars at work: The cost to the state in defending the lawsuit filed by former Workers’ Compensation Director Chris Godfrey now tops $750,000. The state Executive Council this [...]

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Posted April 29, 2015in Civic Skinny

Anonymous fellow Democrats pile on Matt McCoy.

Some of his fellow Democrats are anonymously stabbing Matt McCoy in the back. Or maybe in the front. McCoy, the 49-year-old state senator who represents sections of Des Moines and [...]

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Posted April 22, 2015in Civic Skinny

Brownell sends blistering memo — and wishes he hadn’t.

Bob Brownell, the usually mild-mannered Republican Polk County supervisor, sent an intemperate email six weeks ago blistering Democratic legislator Tony Bisignano (“Senator Boozehound”) and plotting how to use a Bisignano-backed [...]

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Posted April 15, 2015in Civic Skinny

The resume inflation of the Regents’ Bob Donley.

Bob Donley, the executive director of the Board of Regents, is a finalist to be chancellor of the North Dakota University system. The list of eight finalists was pared from [...]

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Posted April 08, 2015in Civic Skinny

Tirrell: A divorce, a lawsuit — and another bankruptcy?

Marty Tirrell update: 1. A $350,000 suit against him has been reinstituted in Houston, Texas. 2. His wife was granted a divorce on March 24. He did not show up [...]

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Posted March 25, 2015in Civic Skinny

Klinefeldt for Congress? Byers’ and Meyer’s salaries.

Nick Klinefeldt for Congress? The U.S. Attorney is the guy that the Democratic Party in Washington wants to run against first-term Republican Congressman David Young. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee [...]

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