Bleeding Heartland - Joel Fry

Last-minute Iowa legislative scramble is nothing to brag about

desmoinesdem — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:30:00 GMT

The Iowa Senate wrapped up its work for the year shortly after midnight on May 23, and Iowa House members adjourned about 11 hours later. Lawmakers in both parties have been congratulating themselves for compromising on some big issues that ended in stalemate the previous two years. Rod Boshart compiled an excellent list of what the legislature did and didn't approve during 2013.

We all can appreciate the desire to finish a big project before a holiday weekend, and since legislators stopped receiving per diem payments weeks ago, they understandably wanted to get out of town as quickly as possible. However, I found it disturbing that votes were held before most lawmakers, let alone members of the public, had time to digest final conference committee deals on education reform, an alternative to Medicaid expansion, property taxes, and the health and human services budget. Transparency isn't just a buzzword. Had journalists and advocacy groups been able to look over the last-minute compromises, people might have discovered problematic language or even simple drafting errors, which could produce unintended consequences after Governor Terry Branstad signs these bills into law.

I have a lot of questions about the final education reform bill and the plan to provide health insurance to low-income Iowans, particularly those earning between 101 percent and 138 percent of the poverty level. I also need more time to sort through the budget numbers and final changes to the standings bill. After the holiday weekend Bleeding Heartland will examine the important results of the legislative session in more detail. For now, I've posted after the jump details on who voted for and against the major bills approved this week.
Senate File 295, the bill including property tax cuts and an increase in the earned income tax credit, passed the Iowa Senate by 44 votes to 6 and the Iowa House by 84 votes to 13.

In the Senate, these six Democrats voted no: Joe Bolkcom, Bob Dvorsky, Rob Hogg, Janet Petersen, Dick Dearden, Herman Quirmbach

In the House, these 13 Democrats voted no: Marti Anderson, Bruce Hunter, Chuck Isenhart, Dave Jacoby, Jerry Kearns, Vicki Lensing, Mary Mascher, Pat Murphy, Jo Oldson, Sharon Steckman, Todd Taylor, Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, Cindy Winckler

House File 215, the education reform bill, passed the Iowa House by 95 votes to 0 and the Iowa Senate by 40 votes to 10. Dick Dearden was the only Senate Democrat to vote against the bill, joined by Republicans Brad Zaun, Dennis Guth, Ken Rozenboom, Jack Whitver, Randy Feenstra, Bill Dix, Jerry Behn, Mark Chelgren, Jake Chapman.

Senate File 446 contained the health and human services budget and the alternative to Medicaid expansion, which will use federal funds to cover Iowans earning up to 138 percent of the poverty level (provided the federal government grants Iowa a waiver). All 26 Senate Democrats voted for this bill, and all 24 Senate Republicans voted against it--probably more because of a dispute over Medicaid abortion funding than over the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan.

The Iowa House approved Senate File 446 by 80 votes to 17. The 17 state representatives to vote against the bill were Democrats Dan Muhlbauer, Marti Anderson, Cindy Winckler, Bruce Hunter, Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, and Phyllis Thede, and Republicans Dwayne Alons, Julian Garrett, Mark Brandenburg, Tedd Gassman, Dean Fisher, Sandy Salmon, Jason Schultz, Larry Sheets, Ralph Watts, Tom Shaw, and Greg Heartsill.

Latest tactics to bring Republicans around on Medicaid expansion

desmoinesdem — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:20:00 GMT

The Iowa legislature's 2013 session is already in overtime, and the standoff over whether to expand Medicaid is one of the last obstacles to adjournment. A conference committee including five lawmakers from each party has been seeking middle ground between Medicaid expansion, a priority for the 26 Senate Democrats, and the "Healthy Iowa Plan" that barely cleared the Iowa House but failed in the Senate.

This week Senate Democrats offered another gesture toward the Republican desire for low-income Iowans to have more "skin in the game" when they obtain health insurance coverage.

Meanwhile, three major advocacy groups stepped up their efforts to persuade lawmakers that the Healthy Iowa Plan offers inferior access for patients while incurring substantially higher property tax costs.

Finally, a coalition of progressive organizations announced that it will run a television commercial this Sunday targeting GOP State Representative Dave Heaton, the weakest link among House Republicans trying to pass Governor Terry Branstad's alternative plan. Details on all those developments are after the jump.
These ten lawmakers serve on conference committee working on the Medicaid issue:

Senate President Pam Jochum (D)
Senator Amanda Ragan (D)
Senator Jack Hatch (D)
Senator Nancy Boettger (R)
Senator David Johnson (R)
State Representative Dave Heaton (R)
State Representative Walt Rogers (R)
State Representative Joel Fry (R)
State Representative Tyler Olson (D)
State Representative Mark Smith (D)

Yesterday, Senate Democrats announced a new compromise to make Medicaid expansion more acceptable to Republicans. From a May 9 press release (emphasis in original, click the link to view a video):

During a meeting today with House negotiators, negotiators for the Iowa Senate today proposed a compromise plan designed to increase access to affordable health care for Iowans.
1) In response to Republican concerns, the Senate Democratic compromise waives copays if participants participate in annual physical exams and make other healthy choices.
2) In response to Republican concerns, the Senate Democratic compromise strengthens language on improving the health of Iowans.
3) Senate Democrats still support the "opt-out" compromise included in the Senate's original bill.
"We have compromised on the top concerns of Governor Branstad and House Republicans," said Senate President Pam Jochum. "However, we continue to strongly oppose the Republican approach which spends MORE in federal, state and local property tax dollars to provide LESS help to Iowans."
Jochum said negotiations had reached a delicate point.
"This weekend, legislators will be at home in their districts," Jochum said. "Now's the time for Iowans to speak up in support of affordable health care for low paid, working Iowans. We can help bring these working Iowa families better health and improved financial security."

Radio Iowa's O.Kay Henderson reported,

Democrats in the legislature who simply want to expand the existing Medicaid program to cover 150,000 more Iowans are offering to link co-pays for all current and future Medicaid recipients to health and wellness initiatives. Senator Jack Hatch, a Democrat from Des Moines, says Democrats would waive those co-pays for those who get regular check-ups and take steps to improve their health, like quitting smoking or losing weight, but a trip to the emergency room for a minor health issue would require a co-pay.
"We're going to ask patients to participate in their own health care," Hatch says. "...The Republicans have talked about 'skin in the game.' We're going to include that in our proposal."
Republican Governor Terry Branstad's "Healthy Iowa Plan" requires a monthly premium payment of $10, but premiums could be reduced for those who take steps to improve their health. Senator David Johnson, a Republican from Ocheyedan, says there's "still a long way to go" before the gap between Democrats and Republicans is bridged.
"It's opened the door a crack, I would say," Johnson says of this latest offer from Democrats.

Rogers, the Iowa House floor manager of the alternative bill, called the compromise "a slight move" in the right direction, while Governor Terry Branstad's spokesman Tim Albrecht commented,

"We are pleased to see this issue moving forward and see this as a positive development," he wrote in an email. "We view this proposal as a thoughtful, good faith compromise effort and will continue to carefully review it."

I hope Republicans will take this opportunity to declare victory on "personal responsibility," while accepting that Medicaid expansion makes more sense for Iowans.

On Wednesday, the AARP, Iowa State Association of Counties, and American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network held a press conference at the capitol to underscore the benefits of expanding Medicaid, rather than going the Branstad route.

The governor's plan is financed with $85 million in local property taxes. Anthony Carroll, AARP's Iowa associate state director, said AARP members are being shown another map which indicates only a handful of Iowa hospitals would qualify to provide the care - so uninsured Iowans in far southwest Iowa's Fremont County, for example, would have to go to Des Moines to visit a doctor under the governor's plan.
"Really now it's about showing the differences to people who aren't maybe directly impacted by low income Iowans. They don't have a family or a friend member (who is uninsured) and when you talk about especially your local dollars being used for something that may not provide local coverage, that's a sharp difference," Carroll said. "That's what's new here."
Dr. Richard Deming, an oncologist in Des Moines, is part of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network.
He says a major flaw in the governor's plan is that only a handful of health care systems that win a special "accountable care organization" designation will provide the care to Iowans enrolled in the "Healthy Iowa Plan."
"I'm all about personal responsibility and accountability, but if you don't have access to health care, accountability and responsibility is really a moot point," Deming said.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I enclose the graphics prepared by the AARP. This one shows how much more the Healthy Iowa Plan will cost in county property taxes alone.

This graphic shows how much broader access will be if low-income Iowans are able to enroll in Medicaid, rather than in the Healthy Iowa Plan:

Among the five Republicans on the conference committee, Heaton is the weakest link. He understands the major flaws in Branstad's plan and only reluctantly provided the 51st vote for it in the Iowa House.

The Healthiest Iowa Initiative coalition of many groups is urging Iowans to call Representative Heaton about this issue. This commercial started running online on May 9 and will run on Des Moines and Quad Cities television on Sunday, May 12.

From a press release by Progress Iowa:

"We encourage all Iowans, and particularly those in Representative Heaton's district, to contact him and tell him to support full Medicaid expansion," said Matt Sinovic, executive director of Progress Iowa. "Representative Heaton will cast a key vote on the conference committee that is split down party lines, as well as a key vote when the bill returns to the Iowa House. It's crucial for Iowans to express their concerns to him by calling and emailing in these final days of the legislative session."
The ad released today highlights the benefits of full Medicaid expansion: covering an additional 150,000 Iowans at limited cost to the taxpayers, in comparison to Governor Branstad's Healthy Iowa Plan, which will cover 60,000 fewer Iowans and cost the state an estimated $163 million more every year.
Uninsured young adults, veterans, the working poor, and the mentally ill would all benefit from full Medicaid expansion. In addition, expansion would create more than 2,000 jobs, according to a report released by the Iowa Hospital Association.
Throughout the legislative session, Progress Iowa has worked in coalition with 27 organizations, who formed the Healthiest Iowa Initiative, to educate Iowans and call them to action in support of Medicaid expansion.

UPDATE: The Des Moines Register's Jason Noble tweeted on May 9, "I just asked Rep. Dave Heaton if he's been getting calls on Medicaid expansion. Then his phone rang & he took a call on Medicaid expansion."

Another Iowa legislative victory for Big Ag

desmoinesdem — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:49:00 GMT

Factory farm advocates failed in 2009 to circumvent the Iowa DNR's rulemaking on applying manure over frozen and snow-covered ground. Then they failed in 2010 to win passage of a bill designed to weaken Iowa's newly-adopted regulations on manure storage and application.

But this year, the Iowa Pork Producers Association succeeded in convincing state lawmakers to relax requirements for CAFO operators to be able to store their own manure properly. All they had to do was dress up their effort as an attempt to help families with aspiring young farmers.
Last month Bleeding Heartland covered House File 512, the so-called "mothball" bill for farm structures. Proponents say it would help farm families who need to downsize temporarily, until a child has grown up, finished college, and decided to come home to farm.

The big "tell" during the House debate was that proponents rejected State Representative Chuck Isenhart's amendment, which stated:

During the period of election [to be a small animal feeding operation], a manure storage structure that is part of the confinement feeding operation is not used to store manure originating from a location outside the confinement feeding operation.

If the intent of the bill were to keep vacant buildings available for family use someday, the Iowa House should have approved that amendment. But they rejected it, because CAFO operators want to have the option to dump excess manure in the vacant buildings of neighbors. Transporting and offloading manure to another farm increases the risks of spills and water pollution.

Several environmental organizations and the Iowa Farmers Union had lobbyists registered against House File 512. Only the Iowa Pork Producers Association had lobbyists registered in favor.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action was mobilizing opposition to this bill. In early April, that group claimed victory when the legislation was placed on the Iowa Senate's "unfinished business" calendar.

But unfinished business doesn't always stay unfinished at the statehouse. Last week, Senate leaders revived their version of the same bill, called Senate File 418. As described in the Senate Journal for May 1 (pdf), Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Joe Seng received unanimous consent to replace Senate File 418 with House File 512. The Senate then approved by voice vote Seng's amendment to the legislation, and passed the bill by 43 votes to 6 (Jack Hatch was absent). The six no votes came from the following Democrats:

Joe Bolkcom
Dick Dearden
Pam Jochum
Matt McCoy
Janet Petersen
Herman Quirmbach

I am surprised Rob Hogg was a yes here.

Excerpt from a May 1 press release by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action:

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement member Lori Nelson of Bayard, Iowa released the following statement Wednesday morning before the Iowa Senate debates an environmentally hazardous bill that would de-regulate basic and common-sense manure management regulations:
"Senate File 418 - the so-called "mothball" bill - is a shameful attempt by one of Iowa's largest corporate ag lobby groups and Democrats like Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and Ag Chair Joe Seng to de-regulate basic environmental protections that were designed to keep factory farm manure out of our water."
"Today we will hear false statements on the Senate floor, by Democrats and Republicans alike, that this bill is somehow meant to protect the environment because dumping overflowing toxic manure into an abandoned factory farm during bad weather is safer than spreading it on frozen or snow-covered ground. But this is a false comparison and is simply not true. There is a third option that was contemplated by legislators and regulators over five years ago that put the responsibility on the industry to solve this problem, and that is the correct approach we must continue to demand now."
"After the 2009 law banning liquid manure application on frozen and snow-covered ground, the Environmental Protection Commission and the Administrative Rules and Review Committee carved out a five year window for the factory farm industry to come into compliance with the new law, either by building extra storage capacity, reducing their herd sizes, or taking other steps to properly manage their manure over the winter months."
"The industry has had five years to fulfill their obligations, but they have refused, because they don't want to spend the money to do what's right. Now the Iowa Senate, under the leadership of Democrat Mike Gronstal, is set to give one of Iowa's most polluting industries a free pass for bad management rather than stand up for everyday people and the environment."
"We have 628 polluted waterways in this state. The amendment that will be proposed on the floor of the Senate today by Senator Seng is lipstick on a factory farm pig. There is no such thing as an emergency that would require dumping overflowing manure into an abandoned factory farm. That's not an emergency, that's bad management. Winter comes every year, and extreme weather is the new normal. The industry has had years to figure this out."
"Senators of both parties who claim that this measure is the lesser of two evils compared to spreading manure on snow are giving the factory farm industry a free pass for bad management. This is a horrible bill, it's bad policy, and legislative support for it demonstrates to every Iowan all that is wrong with state politics."

Yesterday the Iowa House took up the amended House File 512. According to the House Journal (pdf), floor manager Lee Hein moved that the representatives concur in the Senate amendment. Immediately afterwards, the House approved the bill by 85 votes to 14. Only these Democrats voted no:

Ako Abdul-Samad
Bruce Hunter
Marti Anderson
John Forbes
Lisa Heddens
Chuck Isenhart
Anesa Kajtazovic
Vicki Lensing
Mary Mascher
Kevin McCarthy
Jo Oldson
Cindy Winckler
Beth Wessel-Kroeschell
Art Staed

All House Republicans voted yes, joined by all of the other Democrats present. Dan Muhlbauer was absent but would surely have been a supporter; he supported House File 512 last month.

UPDATE: Cody McKinley, a lobbyist for the Iowa Pork Producers, told the Des Moines Register that

an amendment added to the bill by the Senate addresses CCI's concerns by allowing animal or manure storage in a mothballed facility only "on an emergency basis" and requiring farmers to inform the Department of Natural Resources of such circumstances.
"At any time, the DNR still has jurisdiction over that facility to go in and inspect and make sure they're fulfilling the full extent of the law," McKinley said.

That's not nearly as useful as Isenhart's amendment, which would have barred the use of mothballed facilities to store manure from other farms. So what if a CAFO informs the DNR that they are transporting manure to a vacant building? The DNR doesn't have enough CAFO inspectors even now, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency thoroughly documented. DNR staff won't closely scrutinize these "emergency" storage situations and won't be able to prevent spills during transport and offloading.

Iowa House: Birthplace and graveyard for marriage and abortion bills

desmoinesdem — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:25:00 GMT

During 2011 and 2012, the Iowa Senate was our state's firewall against the social conservative agenda. The Republican-controlled Iowa House passed a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, sweeping limits on abortion rights (twice), a "stand your ground" bill and a constitutional amendment that would invalidate virtually all restrictions on guns. All of those bills died in the Democratic-controlled state Senate.

Social issues have never been a priority for Iowa House leaders. They blocked a floor vote on a "personhood" bill in 2011 and steered clear of extremist crusades like impeaching Iowa Supreme Court justices and replacing gun permit laws with "constitutional carry." Still, I expected House Republicans to cover the usual bases during this year's legislative session.

Instead, almost every high-profile bill on so-called family values failed to win House committee approval and therefore died in the legislature's first funnel deadline last Friday. That includes some mainstream conservative efforts as well as freak show bills like ending no-fault divorce or barring county recorders from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Most amazing to me, House Republicans no longer have the votes to pass a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to one man and one woman.
Let's start with marriage. Two years ago, all 60 Iowa House Republicans went on record supporting a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Fifty-nine of them voted for the amendment on the House floor, and the one who was absent that day (Betty de Boef) was among the 56 co-sponsors.

On the opening day of this year's legislative session, House GOP leaders said nothing about protecting "traditional marriage" or the public's right to vote on the definition of marriage. The constitutional amendment on marriage, House Joint Resolution 11, attracted only 35 co-sponsors. That's just two-thirds of the House Republican caucus.

Here is the full list of co-sponsors in alphabetical order. I have indicated members of the House leadership team and put asterisks next to the names of those who voted for the amendment in 2011. The others were elected to the Iowa House for the first time in 2012.

Dwayne Alons*
Rob Bacon
Chip Baltimore*
Mark Brandenburg*
Mark Costello
Dave Deyoe*
Cecil Dolecheck*
Jack Drake*
Dean Fisher
Greg Forristall*
Joel Fry* (assistant majority leader)
Tedd Gassman
Pat Grassley*
Chris Hagenow* (House majority whip)
Greg Heartsill
Lee Hein*
Dan Huseman*
Ron Jorgensen*
Jarad Klein*
Kevin Koester*
John Landon
Linda Miller*
Dawn Pettengill*
Henry Rayhons*
Walt Rogers* (assistant majority leader)
Sandy Salmon
Tom Sands*
Jason Schultz*
Tom Shaw*
Larry Sheets
Chuck Soderberg*
Guy Vander Linden*
Ralph Watts*
Matt Windschitl* (assistant majority leader)
Gary Worthan*

The following 18 House Republicans declined to co-sponsor the marriage amendment. Asterisks note state representatives who voted for this constitutional amendment in 2011. The others were just elected to the Iowa House for the first time in 2012.

Clel Baudler*
Josh Byrnes*
Peter Cownie*
Julian Garrett*
Mary Ann Hanusa*
Dave Heaton*
Megan Hess
Jake Highfill
Bobby Kaufmann
Mark Lofgren*
David Maxwell
Brian Moore*
Steve Olson* (House speaker pro-tem)
Kraig Paulsen* (House speaker)
Jeff Smith* (assistant majority leader)
Quentin Stanerson
Rob Taylor
Linda Upmeyer* (House majority leader)

Note that the three top members of the leadership team all declined to co-sponsor the amendment.

To my knowledge, only one House Republican has publicly changed his stand on marriage: Josh Byrnes. Speaking to Mike Wiser last summer,

Byrnes said his views on same sex marriage - he does not oppose it - changed after he found out that a friend from high school married a same-sex partner and adopted children.
"He and his partner have been great parents, probably better than a lot of others out there," Byrnes said. "My phone hasn't been ringing off the hook about same-sex marriage. Look, I respect their opinions on it, but the constituents I talk to want to talk about education and the economy."

Some people who chose not to co-sponsor the amendment might vote for it anyway if necessary, but if just three of the 18 Republicans who declined to co-sponsor House Joint Resolution 11 quietly agree with Byrnes, then the amendment would fail on the House floor. (Republicans control 53 of the 100 Iowa House seats, and Dan Muhlbauer is the only Democrat still serving in the legislature who supported the marriage amendment in 2011.)

House Judiciary Committee Chair Chip Baltimore blamed timing for his committee's failure to take up the marriage amendment this year.

House Judiciary Chairman Chip Baltimore, R-Boone, said the bill was delivered too late to make it past this week's funnel deadline. Most bills not involving monetary issues have to make it through a subcommittee and committee by the end of the week to be considered "live." Baltimore, one of the bill's co-sponsors, faulted members of the Family Leader for holding onto the bill too long. "I signed on to this three weeks ago," he said. "I don't know why they sat on it this long."

That's a convenient excuse for Baltimore, but supporters filed this amendment on March 5. He could have rushed it through a subcommittee in time to have a full committee hearing by March 8. I suspect that he decided not to bring the bill up because he knew he might not have the votes to pass House Joint Resolution 11 in his committee.

The House Judiciary Committee contains twelve Republicans and nine Democrats. All of the Democrats oppose the marriage amendment. Three of the Republicans on Baltimore's committee did not co-sponsor the amendment (Julian Garrett, Dave Heaton, Bobby Kaufmann). In other words, Baltimore may not have been able to bring this legislation out of his committee even if he'd tried.

Alternatively, House leaders may have encouraged Baltimore to let the amendment die in committee so as to avoid an embarrassing failure to pass it on the House floor.

Chuck Hurley of the FAMiLY Leader organization put a brave face on defeat:

Chuck Hurley, Family Leader Foundation president, said the group didn't delay the bill intentionally but was trying to get more co-sponsors. Last session, more than 50 House members signed on to the legislation. "It was, admittedly, kind of late in the process," Hurley said. "The most likely outcome of that is that it will be brought up next year. The OK part of that is it's a two-biennium process (to get a Constitutional amendment), and so next year's fine. It's not going to slow things down any."

Nice try, Mr. Hurley. However, simple logic suggests that if a third of the House Republicans won't co-sponsor your bill now, and opinion polls show support for marriage equality growing every year, the FAMiLY Leader won't have better luck on this issue in 2014.

Other bills seeking to advance the conservative Christian agenda on marriage died in the funnel too. Last week many national blogs picked up the story about Iowa Republicans attempting to turn back the clock 40 years by ending no-fault divorce for couples with young children. State Representative Tedd Gassman's comments about his granddaughter at a subcommittee hearing were entertaining or embarrassing, depending on your point of view. But the "OMG, look at the crazy Iowa Republicans" blog posts ignored the fact that House File 338 had only seven co-sponsors (Gassman, Alons, Heartsill, Shaw, Schultz, Dolecheck, and Salmon). Gassman and Alons were able to pass this bill out of subcommittee, but Baltimore never took it up in the full House Judiciary Committee. Timing wasn't the issue here, because supporters introduced the no-fault divorce bill on February 27.

House File 444 stipulates that "the county registrar shall not grant a marriage license where both parties are of the same gender until such time as an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa defining marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman is submitted to the electorate for ratification." This "blatantly unconstitutional" bill attracted only ten co-sponsors (Alons, Heartsill, Schultz, Sheets, Dolecheck, Fry, Gassman, Salmon, Koester, and Landon). Baltimore did not bring it up for a committee vote before the funnel deadline--which didn't stop the LGBT advocacy group One Iowa from trying to raise money off the effort.

Various bills that would have restricted abortions in Iowa also died in the House this year. Conservative blogger Shane Vander Hart posted a good summary at Caffeinated Thoughts.

Like last session the Republican-led Iowa House will not advance any pro-life legislation past funnel week. None. Nada. Zip. This would include the following bills, most of which would likely be dead on arrival in the Iowa Senate not that it really matters.
A personhood bill, House File 138, introduced by State Representative Tom Shaw (R-Laurens)
A personhood bill (doesn't penalize mothers), House File 171, introduced by State Representative Matt Windschitl (R-Missouri Valley)
A ban against webcam abortions, House File 173, introduced by Windschitl.
A personhood state constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 12, introduced by State Representative Dwayne Alons (R-Hull).
[...] I'm tired of the circular firing squad. There's plenty of blame to go around. The simple fact is none of these bills would make it past a floor vote even though Republicans have a 53 seat majority.

Just ten Republicans co-sponsored Shaw's personhood bill (Shaw, Alons, Heartsill, Schultz, Bacon, Sheets, Koester, Fry, and Salmon). Only Fry is on the House leadership team.

Just twelve Republicans co-sponsored Windschitl's personhood bill (Windschitl, Klein, Koester, Fry, Schultz, Huseman, Fisher, Brandenburg, Landon, Hanusa, Costello, and Salmon). Only Fry and Windschitl are on the House leadership team.

The bill seeking to ban "telemedicine" abortions offered in some Planned Parenthood clinics around Iowa attracted 15 co-sponsors (Windschitl, Rogers, Klein, Koester, Fry, Schultz, Huseman, Fisher, Sheets, Landon, Hanusa, Maxwell, Costello, Salmon, and Hagenow). Windschitl, Fry, Rogers, and Hagenow are on the House leadership team, but I would have expected much broader support for this bill in the House Republican caucus.

The personhood constitutional amendment attracted only six co-sponsors, none of them on the House leadership team (Alons, Landon, Heartsill, Salmon, Koester, and Pettengill).

House File 138 and House File 171 died in Baltimore's Judiciary Committee. House Joint Resolution 12 and House File 173 died in the Human Resources Committee, chaired by State Representative Linda Miller.

No one who remembers the failed attempt to bring personhood to the House floor in 2011 could be surprised that House leaders tanked this year's versions of the "wackadoodle" movement. Nevertheless, I'd have thought that House Republicans would pass the telemedicine bill, if only to set up a talking point against House and Senate Democrats for the 2014 elections. During the last legislative session, House Republican leaders were determined to pass a late-term abortion ban, and conservative groups like the FAMiLY Leader used that issue against some Iowa Senate Democrats during the 2012 campaign.

This year, pro-choice Iowans didn't need to depend on the state Senate to block new abortion restrictions. House Republican leaders took care of that for us.

I understand why conservatives like Vander Hart are so frustrated when a Republican-controlled legislative chamber won't act on principles articulated clearly and strongly in the Iowa GOP platform. I felt the same way when the Democratic-controlled legislature failed to act on many of my priorities during 2007 through 2010.

Share any relevant comments in this thread.

P.S.- Many Iowa politics-watchers expect Baltimore to run for Congress or another higher office someday. If he runs for the open U.S. Senate seat or in the fourth Congressional district after Representative Steve King moves on, Baltimore's failure to advance "family values" bills could become a problem in a Republican primary.

UPDATE: Your unintentional comedy for the day comes from the Iowa House speaker.

Republicans expressed frustration that measures they have long pushed, such as abortion restrictions and seeking a public vote on gay marriage, have again failed, but they said they weren't surprised.
"Those issues are extremely important to House Republicans ... but Senate Democrats are going to block those initiatives," said House Speaker Kevin Paulsen, R-Hiawatha.

Yes, so "extremely important to House Republicans" that none of those abortion bills attracted more than 15 co-sponsors, and Chuck Hurley and Bob Vander Plaats could only get 35 people to sign on to the marriage amendment.

LATE UPDATE: Kevin Hall reported on some "pro-life" infighting at The Iowa Republican blog:

A "pro-life" organization based in western Iowa is once again attacking Rep. Matt Windschitl (R-Missouri Valley). They blanketed his House district with literature Saturday [March 16], attacking Windschitl for sponsoring HF 173 ... What does this awful bill do? It bans web-cam abortions in Iowa. It saves lives and it is supported by every other pro-life organization in the state ...
They also attack Rep. Windschitl for not supporting "their" personhood bill. Apparently it's no longer Tom Shaw's bill, but it belongs to Iowa Pro-Life Action ... Of course, their propaganda never mentions that Rep. Windschitl has written and sponsored his own Life at Conception legislation ...
These people are shameless and will accomplish the exact opposite of what they claim to support. Their tactics will not save one life as they make enemies of the exact people they should be working with ... Makes. No. Sense.

Who's who in the Iowa House for 2013

desmoinesdem — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:15:00 GMT

The Iowa House will begin its 2013 session next Monday with 53 Republicans, 46 Democrats and one seat to be filled in a special election on January 22.

After the jump I've posted details on the Iowa House majority and minority leadership teams, along with all chairs, vice chairs, and members of standing House committees. Where relevant, I've noted changes since last year's legislative session.

Some non-political Iowa House trivia: three state representatives have the surname Olson (not counting Democrat Jo Oldson). There are two Millers, two Taylors, and two Smiths, one from each party in every case. David is most common first name: the new cohort contains three Daves and two Davids. Four state representatives have the first name Mark, four are called Daniel (three go by Dan) and four were given the name Robert (two Robs, one Bob, and a Bobby). Four women are named Mary (one goes by Mary Ann), and two are named Linda. There are two men each named Greg, Chuck, John, Kevin, Pat, Bruce, Tom, and Chris, and there would have been two Brians if Brian Quirk had not resigned shortly after winning re-election. Oddly, no current Iowa House member is named Mike or Michael.

JANUARY 28 UPDATE: Democrat Todd Prichard won the special election in House district 52, bringing the number of Todds in the Iowa House to two. I've added his committee assignments below. Republicans maintain a 53-47 majority.
Iowa House Republican leadership team

Speaker Kraig Paulsen was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected from House district 67, covering suburban and rural areas in Linn County.

Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 54, covering all of Franklin County and parts of Cerro Gordo and Butler counties.

Speaker Pro Tem Steve Olson was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 97, including parts of Scott and Clinton counties. Last year's Speaker Pro Tem Jeff Kaufmann retired.

Majority Whip Chris Hagenow was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 43, covering some western suburbs of Des Moines. Last year's Majority Whip Erik Helland lost the 2012 Republican primary in Iowa House district 39.

Assistant majority leaders: Matt Windschitl was first elected in 2006 from district 56 and just re-elected in district 17, covering all of Ida and Monona Counties and parts of Harrison and Woodbury Counties. Windschitl was also an assistant majority leader in 2012.

Walt Rogers was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 60, covering parts of Waterloo and Black Hawk County.

Jeff Smith was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 1, covering all of Lyon and Osceola Counties and part of Dickinson County.

Joel Fry was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 27, covering Clarke, Decatur, and Wayne Counties, and part of Lucas County.

Iowa House Democratic leadership team

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 33, covering parts of the southeast side of Des Moines. He served as House majority leader during the 2007 through 2010 legislative sessions.

Assistant minority leaders: Ako Abdul-Samad was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 35, covering central and north-side neighborhoods in Des Moines.

Mary Mascher was first elected in 1994 and just re-elected in House district 86, covering parts of Iowa City.

Mark Smith was first elected in 2000 and just re-elected in House district 71, covering northeastern Marshall County, including Marshalltown.

Mary Gaskill is the newest member of the House Democratic leadership team. She replaces Kirsten Running-Marquardt, who was an assistant minority leader last year. Gaskill was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 81, covering Ottumwa and some surrounding areas in Wapello County.

FEBRUARY 5 UPDATE: Iowa House Democrats chose Dan Muhlbauer to lead their Rural Caucus. Muhlbauer raises cattle, hogs, corn and soybeans on a Crawford County farm. He was was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 12, covering Carroll and Audubon Counties and part of Crawford County. Last year Andrew Wenthe held this position, with Muhlbauer as Rural Caucus vice chair, but Wenthe retired.

Iowa House Standing Committees

Administration and Rules

Chair: Matt Windschitl (see above). Last year Renee Schulte chaired this committee, but she lost her re-election bid in House district 66.

Vice Chair: Walt Rogers (see above)

Ranking member: Dan Muhlbauer (see above). Last year Andrew Wenthe was ranking member on this committee, but he retired.

Other members: Joel Fry (R), Chris Hagenow (R), Steve Olson (R), Kraig Paulsen (R), Jeff Smith (R), Linda Upmeyer (R), Ako Abdul-Samad (D), Deborah Berry (D), Mary Mascher (D), Kevin McCarthy (D), Mark Smith (D)

Agriculture

Chair: Pat Grassley was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 50, covering Grundy County and parts of Hardin and Butler. Last year Annette Sweeney chaired this committee, but Grassley defeated her in the GOP primary to represent House district 50.

Vice Chair: Jarad Klein was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 78, covering Keokuk County and most of Washington County.

Ranking member: Helen Miller was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 9, covering part of Webster County, including Fort Dodge.

Other members: Dwayne Alons (R), Clel Baudler (R), Peter Cownie (R), Dave Deyoe (R), Jack Drake (R), Lee Hein (R), Bobby Kaufmann (R), David Maxwell (R), Brian Moore (R), Steve Olson (R), Tom Shaw (R), Bruce Bearinger (D), Nancy Dunkel (D), Curt Hanson (D), Jerry Kearns (D), Dan Kelley (D), Dan Muhlbauer (D), Scott Ourth (D), Patti Ruff (D), Todd Prichard (D)

Appropriations

Chair: Chuck Soderberg was first elected in 2004 and just re-elected in House district 5, covering most of Plymouth and part of Woodbury Counties. Last year Scott Raecker chaired the Appropriations Committee, but he did not seek re-election. Last year's vice chair, Nick Wagner, was expected to take over this committee, but he lost his re-election bid in House district 68.

Vice Chair: Mark Lofgren was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 91, covering the city of Muscatine and surrounding areas in Muscatine County.

Ranking member: Tyler Olson was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 65, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County.

Administration and Regulation Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Ralph Watts was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 19, covering part of Dallas County and a small area in northern Polk County.

Administration & Regulation Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Dan Kelley was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 29, covering most of Jasper County, including Newton.

Other Administration & Regulation Appropriations Subcommittee members: Tedd Gassman (R), Jason Schultz (R), Quentin Stanerson (R), Guy Vander Linden (R), Bruce Hunter (D), Joe Riding (D), Art Staed (D)

Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Jack Drake was first elected in 1992 and just re-elected in House district 21, covering all of Union and Adams Counties and parts of Cass and Pottawattamie Counties.

Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Frank Wood was just elected to the Iowa House for the first time in House district 92, covering parts of Scott County. He served one term in the Iowa Senate from 2005 through 2008. Last year Dan Muhlbauer was the ranking member on this subcommittee.

Other Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee members: Pat Grassley (R), Lee Hein (R), Sandy Salmon (R), Bruce Bearinger (D), Scott Ourth (D), Patti Ruff (D)

Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Dave Deyoe was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 49, covering parts of Story and Hardin Counties. Last year Jason Schultz chaired this appropriations subcommittee.

Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Kirsten Running-Marquardt won a 2009 special election and was just re-elected in House district 69, covering part of Cedar Rapids as well as parts of southwestern Linn County. Last year Chris Hall was the ranking member on this subcommittee.

Other Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee members: Greg Forristall (R), Mary Ann Hanusa (R), Larry Sheets (R), Chuck Isenhart (D), Anesa Kajtazovic (D), Bob Kressig (D)

Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Cecil Dolecheck was first elected in 1996 and just re-elected in House district 24, covering Ringgold, Taylor and Page Counties and part of Montgomery County.

Education Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Cindy Winckler was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 90, covering part of Davenport in Scott County.

Other Education Appropriations Subcommittee members: Josh Byrnes (R), Jake Highfill (R), Ron Jorgensen (R), Curt Hanson (D), Daniel Lundby (D), Sharon Steckman (D)

Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Dave Heaton was first elected in 1994 and just re-elected in House district 84, covering Henry County and parts of Lee, Washington and Jefferson Counties.

Health & Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Lisa Heddens was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 46, covering part of Ames and Story County.

Other Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee members: Rob Bacon (R), Dean Fisher (R), Linda Miller (R), John Forbes (D), Sally Stutsman (D), Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D)

Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Gary Worthan was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 11, covering all of Buena Vista and Sac Counties.

Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Todd Taylor was first elected in a 1995 and just re-elected in House district 70, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County.

Other Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee members: Julian Garrett (R), Chip Baltimore (R), Mark Brandenburg (R), Megan Hess (R), Marti Anderson (D), David Dawson (D), Todd Prichard (D)

Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Dan Huseman was first elected in 1994 and just re-elected in House district 3, covering O'Brien and Cherokee Counties and parts of Sioux and Plymouth.

Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Dennis Cohoon was first elected to the Iowa House in 1986 and just re-elected in House district 87, covering Burlington and part of eastern Des Moines County.

Other Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee members: Dwayne Alons (R), John Landon (R), Brian Moore (R), Nancy Dunkel (D), Dave Jacoby (D), Jim Lykam (D)

Other Appropriations Committee members: Dean Fisher (R), Julian Garrett (R), Jake Highfill (R), Walt Rogers (R), Bruce Bearinger (D), Nancy Dunkel (D), Chris Hall (D), Anesa Kajtazovic (D), Pat Murphy (D), Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D), Todd Taylor (D)

Commerce

Chair: Peter Cownie was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 42, covering parts of Des Moines and West Des Moines. Last year Chuck Soderberg chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Mark Brandenburg was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 15, covering Carter Lake and part of Council Bluffs in Pottawattamie County. Last year Chip Baltimore was the vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Chris Hall was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 13, covering part of Sioux City and eastern Woodbury County. Last year Brian Quirk was ranking member of this committee, but he just resigned his House seat after winning re-election in House district 52.

Other members: Chip Baltimore (R), Dean Fisher (R), Pat Grassley (R), John Landon (R), Dawn Pettengill (R), Tom Sands (R), Jeff Smith (R), Chuck Soderberg (R), Rob Taylor (R), Ralph Watts (R), Guy Vander Linden (R), David Dawson (D), John Forbes (D), Dave Jacoby (D), Anesa Kajtazovic (D), Bob Kressig (D), Jim Lykam (D), Jo Oldson (D), Tyler Olson (D)

Economic Growth

Chair: Mary Ann Hanusa was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 16, covering part of Council Bluffs. Last year Pat Grassley chaired this committee, and Hanusa served as vice chair.

Vice Chair: Bobby Kaufmann was elected for the first time in 2012 from district 73, covering Cedar County, part of Johnson County, and one town in Muscatine County. He is the son of longtime State Representative Jeff Kaufmann, who retired last year after serving as House speaker pro tem

Ranking member: Roger Thomas was first elected to the Iowa House in 1996 and just re-elected in House district 55, covering parts of Winneshiek, Fayette and Clayton Counties.

Other members: Dwayne Alons (R), Chip Baltimore (R), Dave Deyoe (R), Ron Jorgensen (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Brian Moore (R), Walt Rogers (R), Jason Schultz (R), Larry Sheets (R), Rob Taylor (R), Bruce Bearinger (D), Nancy Dunkel (D), Mary Gaskill (D), Lisa Heddens (D), Dave Jacoby (D), Helen Miller (D), Scott Ourth (D), Frank Wood (D)

Education

Chair: Ron Jorgensen was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 6, covering parts of Sioux City and Woodbury County. Last year Greg Forristall chaired this committee. He publicly criticized a bill that would have restricted early school opening dates, which House Speaker Paulsen supported.

Vice Chair: Quentin Stanerson was just elected for the first time in 2012 from House district 95, covering parts of Linn and Buchanan counties.

Ranking member: Sharon Steckman was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 53, covering part of Cerro Gordo County, including Mason City.

Other members: Josh Byrnes (R), Cecil Dolecheck (R), Joel Fry (R), Julian Garrett (R), Tedd Gassman (R), Mary Ann Hanusa (R), Megan Hess (R), Kevin Koester (R), Linda Miller (R), Walt Rogers (R), Sandy Salmon (R), Ako Abdul-Samad (D), Dennis Cohoon (D), Ruth Ann Gaines (D), Curt Hanson (D), Mary Mascher (D), Patti Ruff (D), Art Staed (D), Cindy Winckler (D), Frank Wood (D)

Environmental Protection

Chair: Lee Hein was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 96, covering all of Delaware County and part of Jones County. Last year Steve Olson (just named House speaker pro tem) chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Rob Taylor was just elected for the first time in 2012 in House district 44, covering parts of the Des Moines suburbs in Dallas County. Last year Bob Hager was vice chair of this committee, but he lost his re-election bid in House district 56.

Ranking member: Chuck Isenhart was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 100, covering part of Dubuque.

Other members: Clel Baudler (R), Dave Deyoe (R), Tedd Gassman (R), Megan Hess (R), Jarad Klein (R), David Maxwell (R), Jason Schultz (R), Larry Sheets (R), Jeff Smith (R), Chuck Soderberg (R), Marti Anderson (D), Deborah Berry (D), Dan Kelley (D), Vicki Lensing (D), Daniel Lundby (D), Mark Smith (D), Sharon Steckman (D), Phyllis Thede (D), Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D)

Ethics

Chair: Jeff Smith (see above) is the new chair of this committee, as well as an assistant majority leader. Last year Kevin Koester chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Tom Shaw was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected from House district 10, covering Pocahontas, Humboldt, and Calhoun Counties as well as part of Webster County. Last year Scott Raecker was vice chair of this committee, but he retired.

Ranking member: Phyllis Thede was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 93, covering parts of Davenport and Bettendorf in Scott County.

Other members: Dave Heaton (R), Tyler Olson (D), Mark Smith (D)

Government Oversight

Chair: Kevin Koester was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 38, covering a large part of northeast Polk County. Last year Chris Hagenow, now majority whip, chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Greg Heartsill was just elected for the first time in 2012 in House district 28, covering parts of Marion, Jasper, and Lucas Counties. Last year Chip Baltimore was the vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Ruth Ann Gaines was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 32, covering part of Des Moines. Last year Janet Petersen was ranking member of this committee, but she left the Iowa House to run for the Iowa Senate.

Other members: Clel Baudler (R), Peter Cownie (R), Dawn Pettengill (R), Vicki Lensing (D), Pat Murphy (D), Phyllis Thede (D)

Human Resources

Chair: Linda Miller was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 94, covering part of Bettendorf in Scott County.

Vice Chair: Rob Bacon was just elected to the Iowa House for the first time from House district 48, covering Hamilton County and parts of Webster, Boone, and Story Counties. He previously served two years in the Iowa Senate. Last year Joel Fry was the vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Beth Wessel-Kroeschell was first elected in 2004 and just re-elected in House district 45, covering part of Ames in Story County.

Other members: Mark Costello (R), Greg Forristall (R), Joel Fry (R), Julian Garrett (R), Dave Heaton (R), Megan Hess (R), Kevin Koester (R), John Landon (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Rob Taylor (R), Ako Abdul-Samad (D), Marti Anderson (D), David Dawson (D), Lisa Heddens (D), Bruce Hunter (D), Pat Murphy (D), Mark Smith (D), Sally Stutsman (D)

International Relations

Chair: Mark Lofgren (see above)

Ranking member: Deborah Berry was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 62, covering part of Waterloo in Black Hawk County.

Other members: Jack Drake (R), John Landon (R), Walt Rogers (R), Dan Kelley (D), Mary Mascher (D)

Judiciary

Chair: Chip Baltimore was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 47, covering most of Boone County and all of Greene County. Last year Rich Anderson chaired this committee, but he retired.

Vice Chair: Megan Hess was just elected for the first time in 2012 in House district 2, covering Palo Alto and Clay Counties and part of Dickinson County. Last year Chip Baltimore was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Mary Wolfe was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 98, covering part of Clinton County, including the city of Clinton.

Other members: Dwayne Alons (R), Mark Brandenburg (R), Julian Garrett (R), Tedd Gassman (R), Chris Hagenow (R), Greg Heartsill (R), Dave Heaton (R), Bobby Kaufmann (R), Matt Windschitl (R), Gary Worthan (R), Marti Anderson (D), David Dawson (D), Vicki Lensing (D), Jo Oldson (D), Rick Olson (D), Tyler Olson (D), Mark Smith (D), Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D)

Labor

Chair: Greg Forristall was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 22, covering most of Pottawattamie County outside Council Bluffs. Last year Lance Horbach chaired this committee, but he retired.

Vice Chair: Larry Sheets was just elected for the first time in House district 80, covering Monroe and Appanoose Counties and parts of Mahaska and Wapello Counties. Last year Jarad Klein was the vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Bruce Hunter was first elected in a 2003 special election and just re-elected in House district 34, covering downtown Des Moines and part of the south side.

Other members: Mark Costello (R), Joel Fry (R), Mary Ann Hanusa (R), Ron Jorgensen (R), Jarad Klein (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Jason Schultz (R), Ralph Watts (R), Deborah Berry (D), Jerry Kearns (D), Mary Mascher (D), Pat Murphy (D), Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D), Todd Taylor (D)

Local Government

Chair: Jason Schultz was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 18, covering all of Shelby County and parts of Crawford and Harrison Counties. Last year Nick Wagner chaired this committee, but he lost his re-election bid in House district 68.

Vice Chair: Greg Heartsill (see above). Last year Jeff Smith was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Art Staed was just elected to House district 66 in Cedar Rapids, defeating Republican incumbent Renee Schulte. He previously served one term in the House (2007-2008). Last year John Wittneben was ranking member of this committee, but he lost his re-election bid in House district 7.

Other members: Cecil Dolecheck (R), Dean Fisher (R), Tedd Gassman (R), Mary Ann Hanusa (R), Jake Highfill (R), Henry Rayhons (R), Larry Sheets (R), Quentin Stanerson (R), Matt Windschitl (R), John Forbes (D), Mary Gaskill (D), Bob Kressig (D), Daniel Lundby (D), Joe Riding (D), Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D), Phyllis Thede (D), Frank Wood (D)

Natural Resources

Chair: Henry Rayhons was first elected to the Iowa House in 1996 and just re-elected in House district 8, covering Wright and Hancock Counties and part of Kossuth County.

Vice Chair: Dean Fisher was just elected for the first time in 2012 in House district 72, covering Tama County and parts of Marshall and Black Hawk Counties. Last year Jeff Smith was the vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Curt Hanson was first elected in a 2009 special election and just re-elected in House district 82, covering Davis and Van Buren Counties and most of Jefferson County.

Other members: Rob Bacon (R), Clel Baudler (R), Josh Byrnes (R), Cecil Dolecheck (R), Jake Highfill (R), Dan Huseman (R), David Maxwell (R), Sandy Salmon (R), Tom Shaw (R), Jeff Smith (R), Chris Hall (D), Daniel Lundby (D), Jim Lykam (D), Helen Miller (D), Scott Ourth (D), Patti Ruff (D), Phyllis Thede (D), Roger Thomas (D)

Public Safety

Chair: Clel Baudler was first elected in 1998 and just re-elected in House district 20, covering all of Guthrie and Adair Counties and parts of Cass and Dallas Counties.

Vice Chair: Tom Shaw (see above)

Ranking member: Bob Kressig was first elected in 2004 and just re-elected in House district 59, covering most of Cedar Falls and some rural areas in Black Hawk County.

Other members: Mark Brandenburg (R), Joel Fry (R), Greg Heartsill (R), Dan Huseman (R), Jarad Klein (R), Steve Olson (R), Henry Rayhons (R), Sandy Salmon (R), Tom Sands (R), Gary Worthan (R), Ako Abdul-Samad (D), Deborah Berry (D), David Dawson (D), Ruth Ann Gaines (D), Dan Muhlbauer (D), Rick Olson (D), Mary Wolfe (D)

State Government

Chair: Guy Vander Linden was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 79, covering most of Mahaska County and the Pella area of Marion County. Last year Peter Cownie chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Jake Highfill was just elected for the first time in 2012 in House district 39, covering suburban and rural areas in Polk County. He defeated House Majority Whip Erik Helland in the Republican primary. Last year Guy Vander Linden was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Vicki Lensing was first elected in 2000 and just re-elected in House district 85, covering part of Iowa City in Johnson County.

Other members: Rob Bacon (R), Mark Costello (R), Jack Drake (R), Pat Grassley (R), Chris Hagenow (R), Lee Hein (R), Kevin Koester (R), Linda Miller (R), Dawn Pettengill (R), Quentin Stanerson (R), Ralph Watts (R), Dennis Cohoon (D), Bruce Hunter (D), Chuck Isenhart (D), Anesa Kajtazovic (D), Mary Mascher (D), Sharon Steckman (D), Todd Taylor (D), Todd Prichard (D), Cindy Winckler (D)

Transportation

Chair: Josh Byrnes was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 51, covering Worth, Mitchell, and Howard Counties, and part of Winneshiek. Last year Dave Tjepkes chaired this committee, but he retired.

Vice Chair: Brian Moore was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 58, covering Jackson County and parts of Jones and Dubuque Counties. Last year Glen Massie was vice chair of this committee, but he retired.

Ranking member: Jim Lykam was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 89, covering part of Davenport in Scott County.

Other members: Greg Forristall (R), Greg Heartsill (R), Dan Huseman (R), Ron Jorgensen (R), Bobby Kaufmann (R), John Landon (R), Steve Olson (R), Dawn Pettengill (R), Henry Rayhons (R), Walt Rogers (R), Dennis Cohoon (D), John Forbes (D), Helen Miller (D), Pat Murphy (D), Rick Olson (D), Joe Riding (D), Sally Stutsman (D), Mary Wolfe (D)

Veterans Affairs

Chair: Dwayne Alons was first elected in 1998 and just re-elected in House district 4, covering most of Sioux County. Although he is one of the longest-serving Iowa House Republicans, Alons was shut out of the committee chairmanships in 2011 and 2012. Paulsen didn't even make him a vice chair of any committee before now. Last year Royd Chambers chaired the Veterans Affairs Committee, but he retired.

Vice Chair: Sandy Salmon was just elected for the first time in 2012 in House district 63, covering Bremer County and parts of Black Hawk County. Last year Guy Vander Linden was the vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Jerry Kearns was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 83, covering part of Lee County including Keokuk and Fort Madison.

Other members: Rob Bacon (R), Mark Brandenburg (R), Mark Costello (R), Linda Miller (R), Tom Shaw (R), Quentin Stanerson (R), Matt Windschitl (R), Gary Worthan (R), Ruth Ann Gaines (D), Dave Jacoby (D), Dan Muhlbauer (D), Art Staed (D), Roger Thomas (D)

Ways and Means

Chair: Tom Sands was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 88, covering all of Louisa County and large parts of Des Moines and Muscatine Counties.

Vice Chair: John Landon was just elected for the first time in 2012 in House district 37, covering Ankeny and other parts of northern Polk County. Last year Josh Byrnes was the vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Jo Oldson was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 41, covering part of Des Moines. Last year Dave Jacoby was ranking member on this committee.

Other members: Chip Baltimore (R), Josh Byrnes (R), Peter Cownie (R), Greg Forristall (R), Pat Grassley (R), Chris Hagenow (R), Lee Hein (R), David Maxwell (R), Brian Moore (R), Quentin Stanerson (R), Guy Vander Linden (R), Matt Windschitl (R), John Forbes (D), Mary Gaskill (D), Chuck Isenhart (D), Jerry Kearns (D), Dan Kelley, Dan Muhlbauer (D), Joe Riding (D), Sally Stutsman (D), Roger Thomas (D), Todd Prichard (D)

Administrative Rules Review

Five Iowa House and five Iowa Senate members serve on this committee.

Chair: Dawn Pettengill was first elected in 2004 (as a Democrat) and switched to the Republican caucus in 2007. She was just re-elected in House district 75, covering Benton County and part of Iowa County.

Other Iowa House members: State Representative Jeff Smith (R), State Representative Dave Jacoby (D), State Representative Rick Olson (D), State Representative Guy Vander Linden (R)

Iowa House speaker announces committee chairs

desmoinesdem — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:24:02 GMT

Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen has announced who will lead all the standing and appropriations committees for the 2013 legislative session. Below I've posted the full list of Republican House leaders and committee chairs. Where relevant, I've noted changes since last year.
Iowa House Republican leadership team

Speaker Kraig Paulsen was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected from House district 67, covering suburban and rural areas in Linn County.

Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 54, covering all of Franklin County and parts of Cerro Gordo and Butler counties.

Speaker Pro Tem Steve Olson was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 97, including parts of Scott and Clinton counties. Last year's Speaker Pro Tem Jeff Kaufmann retired.

Majority Whip Chris Hagenow was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected (subject to a recount) in House district 43, covering some western suburbs of Des Moines. Last year's Majority Whip Erik Helland lost the 2012 Republican primary in Iowa House district 39.

Walt Rogers was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 60, covering parts of Waterloo and Black Hawk County.

Jeff Smith was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 1, covering all of Lyon and Osceola Counties and part of Dickinson County.

Joel Fry was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 27, covering Clarke, Decatur, and Wayne Counties, and part of Lucas County.

Standing committees

Administrative Rules Review

Dawn Pettengill was first elected in 2004 (as a Democrat) and switched to the Republican caucus in 2007. She was just re-elected in House district 75, covering Benton County and part of Iowa County.

Administration and Rules

Matt Windschitl (see above). Last year Renee Schulte chaired this committee, but she lost her re-election bid in House district 66.

Agriculture

Pat Grassley was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 50, covering Grundy County and parts of Hardin and Butler. Last year Annette Sweeney chaired this committee, but Grassley defeated her in the GOP primary to represent House district 50.

Appropriations

Chuck Soderberg was first elected in 2004 and just re-elected in House district 5, covering most of Plymouth and part of Woodbury Counties. Last year Scott Raecker chaired the Appropriations Committee, but he did not seek re-election. Last year's vice chair, Nick Wagner, was expected to take over this committee, but he lost his re-election bid in House district 68.

Administration and Regulation Appropriations Subcommittee: Ralph Watts was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 19, covering part of Dallas County and a small area in northern Polk County.

Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee: Jack Drake was first elected in 1992 and just re-elected in House district 21, covering all of Union and Adams Counties and parts of Cass and Pottawattamie Counties.

Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee: Dave Deyoe was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 49, covering parts of Story and Hardin Counties. Last year Jason Schultz chaired this appropriations subcommittee.

Education Appropriations Subcommittee: Cecil Dolecheck was first elected in 1996 and just re-elected in House district 24, covering Ringgold, Taylor and Page Counties and part of Montgomery County.

Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee: Dave Heaton was first elected in 1994 and just re-elected in House district 84, covering Henry County and parts of Lee, Washington and Jefferson Counties.

Justice System Appropriations Subcommittee: Gary Worthan was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 11, covering all of Buena Vista and Sac Counties.

Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals Appropriations: Dan Huseman was first elected in 1994 and just re-elected in House district 3, covering O'Brien and Cherokee Counties and parts of Sioux and Plymouth.

Commerce

Peter Cownie was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 42, covering parts of Des Moines and West Des Moines. Last year Chuck Soderberg chaired this committee.

Economic Growth

Mary Ann Hanusa was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 16, covering part of Council Bluffs. Last year Pat Grassley chaired this committee, and Hanusa served as vice chair.

Education

Ron Jorgensen was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 6, covering parts of Sioux City and Woodbury County. Last year Greg Forristall chaired this committee. He publicly criticized a bill that would have restricted early school opening dates, which House Speaker Paulsen supported.

Environmental Protection

Lee Hein was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 96, covering all of Delaware County and part of Jones County. Last year Steve Olson (just named House speaker pro tem) chaired this committee.

Ethics

Jeff Smith (see bio above) is the new chair of this committee, as well as an assistant majority leader. Last year Kevin Koester chaired this committee.

Government Oversight

Kevin Koester was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 38, covering a large part of northeast Polk County. Last year Chris Hagenow, now majority whip, chaired this committee.

Human Resources

Linda Miller was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 94, covering part of Bettendorf in Scott County.

Judiciary

Chip Baltimore was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 47, covering most of Boone County and all of Greene County. Last year Rich Anderson chaired this committee, but he retired.

Labor

Greg Forristall was first elected in 2006 and just re-elected in House district 22, covering most of Pottawattamie County outside Council Bluffs. Last year Lance Horbach chaired this committee, but he retired.

Local Government

Jason Schultz was first elected in 2008 and just re-elected in House district 18, covering all of Shelby County and parts of Crawford and Harrison Counties. Last year Nick Wagner chaired this committee, but he lost his re-election bid.

Natural Resources

Henry Rayhons was first elected to the Iowa House in 1996 and just re-elected in House district 8, covering Wright and Hancock Counties and part of Kossuth County.

Public Safety

Clel Baudler was first elected in 1998 and just re-elected in House district 20, covering all of Guthrie and Adair Counties and parts of Cass and Dallas Counties.

State Government

Guy Vander Linden was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 79, covering most of Mahaska County and the Pella area of Marion County. Last year Peter Cownie chaired this committee.

Transportation

Josh Byrnes was first elected in 2010 and just re-elected in House district 51, covering Worth, Mitchell, and Howard Counties, and part of Winneshiek. Last year Dave Tjepkes chaired this committee, but he retired.

Veterans Affairs

Dwayne Alons was first elected in 1998 and just re-elected in House district 4, covering most of Sioux County. Although he is one of the longest-serving Iowa House Republicans, Alons was shut out of the committee chairmanships in 2011 and 2012. Paulsen didn't even make him a vice chair of any committee before now. Last year Royd Chambers chaired the Veterans Affairs Committee, but he retired.

Ways and Means

Tom Sands was first elected in 2002 and just re-elected in House district 88, covering all of Louisa County and large parts of Des Moines and Muscatine Counties.

Medicaid abortion funding ban a bridge too far for Branstad administration

desmoinesdem — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:10:00 GMT

Opposing all government funding for abortion is settled dogma among Iowa Republican activists and elected officials. For two years in a row, Senate Democrats have blocked attempts to write new restrictions on Medicaid abortion coverage into the budget for the state Department of Human Services. Now DHS Director Chuck Palmer has signaled that taking control of the upper chamber may not give Republicans the power to restrict the choices of low-income women.

Palmer's action puts Governor Terry Branstad in an awkward position, and a legislature completely under GOP control could create a political nightmare for Branstad, a proud "pro-lifer" throughout his career.
During the 2012 fiscal year, Medicaid paid for 22 abortions in Iowa: "15 for severe fetal anomalies, two for rape and five to save the life of the mother, according to the DHS." In June, 41 Iowa House Republicans led by State Representative Dawn Pettengill filed a petition for emergency rulemaking with the DHS, seeking to halt all Medicaid abortion funding, or at least the payments for abortion in cases of fetal anomalies.

Palmer informed the lawmakers on August 3 that he denied their petition. Excerpt from his cover letter to Pettengill:

The elimination of Medical Assistance (Medicaid) or IowaCare payment for abortions in cases of rape or incest would violate federal funding requirements under the federal Medicaid program. Eliminating Iowa Medicaid payment for abortions in cases of rape or incest would jeopardize all federal Medicaid funding Iowa receives, approximately 2.1 billion dollars annually. This funding is important to the delivery of vital care to vulnerable Iowans.
The 2011 appropriations language provided funds to the Department of Human Services for Medicaid "consistent with options under federal law and regulations." Federal law allows for state Medicaid programs to reimburse for abortions of fetuses for fetal anomalies without federal funding. The Department, as required by 2011 appropriations, is requiring the physician certifications in the case of abortions covered based on fetal anomalies, absent a medical emergency. However, there is no clear mandate in the 2011 appropriations to make any further change to the long-standing Iowa policy regarding fetal anomaly abortions. Any such change should be based on a clear directive in legislation.

Palmer explained his decision in an eight-page document citing many provisions in state and federal law as well as federal court rulings relating to Medicaid funding for abortion. Excerpt from page 7:

The rule allowing payment for abortion when the fetus is physically deformed, mentally deficient, or afflicted with a congenital abnormality has been used sparingly. Fifteen abortions were paid for on that basis during fiscal year 2011-2012. These included abortions due to fetal anencephaly (absence of a large portion of the brain or skull) and acrania (absence of the skull). As discussed above, the 2011 appropriations language regarding abortion requires only that in the absence of a medical emergency, a physician providing an abortion must certify that the woman has been given the opportunity to view an ultrasound image of the fetus and has been provided information about the options relative to pregnancy. [...] Further, the 2011 appropriations provided funds to the Department for Medical Assistance "consistent with options under federal law and regulations." [...] Those options include the option to cover abortion in the case of serious fetal anomalies (in addition to rape and incest), with state-only funding. Continued state-only funding for such abortions was included in the Department's budget proposals for 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, and the Department's appropriation was never adjusted to reflect a change. The Department is requiring the physician certifications mandated by the 2011 appropriations in the case of abortions covered based on fetal anomalies, absent a medical emergency. But there is no clear mandate in the 2011 appropriations to make any further change to the long-standing Iowa policy regarding such abortions. Any such change should be based on clear legislation.

Palmer also noted that the DHS added language about a woman's opportunity to view an ultrasound to its "Certification Regarding Abortion" form that is "a condition of payment for an abortion." For that reason, he does not consider it necessary to change the DHS administrative rules in order "to comply with the requirements of the 2011 appropriations."

Pettengill had claimed only $4 million in Medicaid funding for Iowa was at risk if the state DHS changed its rules. She criticized Palmer when commenting to the Des Moines Register last Friday.

"As a member of the Administrative Rules Review committee and a legislator, I'm disappointed Director Palmer has decided not to implement the law and enforce legislative intent," she wrote in an e-mail. "As much as I disagree with the logic that brought the director to that conclusion, he knows the tools we have to force (the Department of Human Services) to obey law are extremely limited. As a Rules (Committee) member, I have emptied my toolbox and done everything I could to make the rules match our intent."

In contrast, Iowa House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy gave Branstad full credit for Palmer's decision.

I'm pleased Governor Branstad put the brakes on this latest attempt by House Republicans to deny health care options to women who are victims of rape or incest. From banning birth control such as the pill to reducing cancer screenings, this effort by Republicans was just the latest attempt in their relentless attack on women's health care. It's time for Republicans to put aside their divisive social agenda and focus on growing our economy and putting Iowans back to work.

I am seeking comment from Branstad's office regarding the governor's position on changing Medicaid abortion funding rules. I will update this post as needed. Branstad told the Cedar Rapids Gazette last month that he believed Palmer would "do the right thing."

"I haven't had a chance to talk to him in detail," Branstad said Monday, referring to Iowa DHS director Chuck Palmer, "but I have a lot of confidence in him. He's a problem-solver. He has empathy for the people who receive human services and he has good fiscal management skills."

For many in the pro-life crowd, "do the right thing" would mean "make sure taxpayers don't have to cover any abortions for indigent women facing terrible circumstances." That's the opposite of how I read Branstad's comment.

To my ear, "problem-solver" translates to "makes problems go away rather than amplifying them."

By the same token, "has empathy for the people who receive human services" translates to "won't put Medicaid funding for hundreds of thousands of Iowans at risk."

Finally, "good fiscal management skills" equals "won't blow a $2 billion hole in Iowa's budget."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland objected to the House Republicans' petition for rulemaking and welcomed Palmer's decision last week. Who'd have thought the Branstad administration would ever be congratulated by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU? I'm sure the governor doesn't appreciate their praise.

I expect to see Republican pressure on Branstad to replace Palmer as head of the state's largest department, but I don't see Branstad ditching Palmer over this issue. He trusted Palmer to do this job during the 1990s and wanted him back for his fifth term as governor.

Another land mine potentially awaits Branstad next year. Not only are Iowa House Republicans against Medicaid funds for abortion, the 24 current Iowa Senate Republicans voted unanimously in April to eliminate all Medicaid funding for abortion. Consequently, if the GOP wins control of the Iowa Senate in November and holds the House, both chambers of the legislature will pass more restrictive language on Medicaid abortion funding in 2013. That would put Branstad in a no-win situation: veto the language and spark a Republican civil war, or approve the language and risk losing all of Iowa's federal Medicaid funding.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

P.S.- Here is the full list of Iowa House Republicans who joined Pettengill's petition for rulemaking: Dwayne Alons, Rich Anderson, Mark Brandenburg, Royd Chambers, Betty De Boef, Cecil Dolecheck, Jack Drake, Greg Forristall, Joel Fry, Julian Garrett, Pat Grassley, Chris Hagenow, Bob Hager, Mary Ann Hanusa, Lee Hein, Erik Helland, Lance Horbach, Stew Iverson, Ron Jorgensen, Jarad Klein, Kevin Koester, Glen Massie, Linda Miller, Ross Paustian, Dan Rasmussen, Walt Rogers, Tom Sands, Jason Schultz, Tom Shaw, Jeff Smith, Chuck Soderberg, Annette Sweeney, Jeremy Taylor, Dave Tjepkes, Linda Upmeyer, Guy Vander Linden, Ralph Watts, Matt Windschitl, and Gary Worthan.

The following 18 Iowa House Republicans did not join Pettengill's petition: Rich Arnold, Chip Baltimore, Clel Baudler, Josh Byrnes, Peter Cownie, Dave Deyoe, Dave Heaton, Jeff Kaufmann, Mark Lofgren, Brian Moore, Steve Olson, Kraig Paulsen, Kim Pearson, Scott Raecker, Henry Rayhons, Renee Schulte, James Van Engelenhoven, and Nick Wagner. Former State Representative Steve Lukan had just retired from the Iowa House to accept a position in the Branstad administration.

The House Republican leadership was split, with Majority Leader Upmeyer, Majority Whip Helland, and Assistant Majority Leader Windschitl joining Pettengill's petition while Speaker Paulsen, Speaker Pro-Tem Kaufmann, and Assistant Majority Leaders Deyoe and Schulte stayed on the sidelines.

LATE UPDATE: Here is the joint statement Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the ACLU of Iowa released on August 2.

Des Moines, IA. - Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa applaud the state Department of Human Services (DHS) for denying an emergency rule-making petition recently filed by a group of Republican lawmakers.
The petition demanded the state change its rules to immediately cease reimbursing abortions for rape and incest victims through Medicaid. DHS denied the petition as it would violate federal funding requirements and jeopardize more than $2 billion dollars in federal Medicaid funds to the state of Iowa.
"This petition would have put the health of Iowa women and their families at risk," said Planned Parenthood of the Heartland President and CEO Jill June. "Thousands of Iowans rely on the Medicaid program every year. This decision ensures that those who need access to vital health care can get the services they need at a price they can afford."
DHS concluded that no rule change will be made.
"DHS made the right decision," said ACLU of Iowa Legislative Director Rita Bettis. "The petition asked for a procedural run-around that was improper under Iowa law. It sought to withhold abortion coverage from a qualified woman. Only a woman facing those extremely difficult circumstances--not politicians--knows what decision is right for her."
"A woman who has been through the violent trauma of a rape of incest should not be re-victimized by our political system. We know that these crimes do not discriminate based upon a woman's financial situation, and because of this decision by the DHS our laws won't either," said June.

Iowa primary election results thread

desmoinesdem — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 02:18:02 GMT

Polls closed across Iowa at 9 pm, and I will update this post periodically as results come in from around the states. Any comments related to today's elections are welcome in this thread.

P.S.- As expected, Wisconsin Democrats fell short in their effort to recall Republican Governor Scott Walker.

UPDATE: Results are after the jump.
Full vote totals and percentages are on the Iowa Secretary of State's website.

IA-01: Early returns show Rod Blum keeping it closer than expected with Republican establishment favorite Ben Lange. UPDATE: Wow, with nearly all the votes counted, Lange is leading Blum by only 52 percent to 47 percent. LATER UPDATE: I don't think anyone expected this primary to be so close. With all but two precincts in, it's Lange 52.8 percent, Blum 46.6 percent. FINAL: Lange 52.8 percent, Blum 46.6 percent. Imagine what might have happened if Blum had had a little more money to spend building his name recognition around the district.

IA-02: Early returns show John Archer ahead of Dan Dolan on the Republican side and Dave Loebsack way ahead of Joe Seng. UPDATE: With 255 of 425 precincts in, Loebsack has 86 percent of the vote, and Archer has a big lead on Dolan, 58 percent to 41 percent. LATER UPDATE: Loebsack's share of the vote has dropped below 80 percent. Archer has a commanding lead in the GOP primary. FINAL: Loebsack 81.5 percent, Seng 18.3 percent. The incumbent was smart not to waste a lot of money on the primary campaign. On the Republican side, Archer finished with 60.5 percent of the vote, to 39.3 percent for Dolan. Was his message more appealing, or did he mainly benefit from having started building his name recognition on tv and radio sooner?

State Senate: Crawford County Supervisor Mark Segebart looks to be on track to win the GOP nomination in open Senate district 6. Governor Branstad had endorsed Carroll Mayor Adam Schweers. UPDATE: With all but one precinct in, Segebart has 46.6 percent to 40.3 percent for Schweers.

Dennis Guth defeated GOP establishment favorite James Black in the open Senate district 4. The Democratic nominee will be Bob Jennings.

In the open Senate district 10, where Democrats have no candidate, Jake Chapman easily wins the GOP primary with 65 percent of the vote to 34 percent for Matthew Mardesen.

Amy Sinclair will be the Republican nominee in the open Senate district 14, where Paul McKinley is retiring. Dick Schrad will be the Democratic candidate.

Jane Jech has a slight lead on Larry McKibben in the Senate district 36 GOP primary. Winner faces first-term Democrat Steve Sodders. UPDATE: Jech crushed McKibben. With all but two precincts in, she's ahead 59 percent to 41 percent. That improves Democratic prospects for holding their Iowa Senate majority. Hard to see Sodders losing to Jech.

~~No results yet in Senate district 22.~~ Incumbent Pat Ward defeats right-wing challenger Jeff Mullen easily in the Polk County precincts of Senate district 22. He's competitive in the Dallas County part of the district, but Bleeding Heartland user albert notes in the comments that Ward is taking the lead even there. UPDATE: With most of the votes counted, Ward leads 58 percent to 42 percent. I hope Mullen's supporters sulk and stay home in November.

With about half the precincts in, Shelley Parbs leads the three-way Democratic primary race in Senate district 38, where the winner faces first-term Republican Tim Kapucian. UPDATE: Parbs has 57 percent of the vote with only one precinct left to report.

Very early returns show Larry Kruse leading the GOP primary and Rich Taylor leading the Democratic primary in the open Senate district 42. UPDATE: It will be Taylor vs Kruse in this Democratic-leaning district.

In the clash of two GOP Senate incumbents, Jim Hahn leads Shawn Hamerlinck with about 20 percent of the precincts counted in Senate district 46. UPDATE: Hahn holding his lead with about half the precincts reported. The Democratic nominee for this district is Chris Brase. LATER UPDATE: Scott County reported and carried the day for Hamerlinck. He wins this primary with nearly 61 percent of the vote to 38 percent for Hahn.

Dan Zumbach will easily with the GOP primary in the open Senate district 48. The Democratic nominee will be Nate Willems.

Rita Hart defeated Dorothy O'Brien by nearly 54 percent to 46 percent in the Democratic primary for open Senate district 49. The GOP nominee is Andrew Naeve, who nearly won this Democratic-leaning area in 2010.

Former IA-01 Congressional candidate Will Johnson, a big Ron Paul supporter, won the GOP primary in Senate district 50 (Dubuque). He won't stand a chance against first-term Democrat Pam Jochum.

On the Iowa House side:

Iowa House Republican Whip Erik Helland lost his primary to Jake Highfill in House district 39. That's a big upset. Former State Representative Walt Tomenga, who represented part of this area before retiring in 2008, had publicly endorsed Highfill and slammed Helland.

LATER UPDATE: Helland was the only Iowa House GOP incumbent to lose to a primary challenger, not counting Sweeney (who lost to a fellow incumbent).

Pat Grassley is on track to defeat Annette Sweeney in Iowa House district 50. UPDATE: Not even close, Grassley 61 percent, Sweeney 39 percent. Will Bruce Rastetter still give huge sums of money to the House Republican Majority Fund?

Incumbent Jeff Smith will survive his primary challenge in House district 1. Ditto for Ron Jorgensen in House district 6, Greg Forristall in House district 22, Joel Fry in House district 27, and Jarad Klein in House district 78.

Henry Rayhons is barely ahead of his primary challenger, Bob Dishman, in House district 8. UPDATE: Rayhons holds on to win that primary. First-term incumbent Tom Shaw trails Maison Bleam in the early returns from House district 10. UPDATE: With almost all of the votes in, Shaw leads 64 percent to 36 percent.

Incumbent Cecil Dolecheck has a narrow lead with about a third of the precincts counted in House district 24. UPDATE: It turned out to be a blowout for Dolecheck, who received nearly 59 percent of the vote against Jane Jensen.

Julian Garrett looks on track to defeat his primary challenger in House district 25. UPDATE: Garrett wins with 59 percent of the vote.

In House district 26, the more conservative Republican Steve McCoy defeated Carlisle Mayor Ruth Randleman by nearly 56 percent to 44 percent in the GOP primary. Scott Ourth is the Democratic nominee in this open seat, where Glen Massie is retiring.

Republican House incumbent Kevin Koester also survived his primary challenge in House district 38.

None of the six Republican candidates won 35 percent of the vote in the open House district 37. Jim Robidoux fell just short with 34.4 percent. Matt DeVries was in second place with 29.7 percent. A district convention will decide the nomination.

Marti Anderson narrowly defeats Cara Kennedy-Ode in the three-way Democratic primary for House district 36. Janet Peterson vacated that district to run for the Iowa Senate. Jeff Ibbotson wins the three-way Republican primary in that district but probably has no chance against Anderson in the general.

Jim Carley wins the GOP nomination in the new House district 30, where Kim Pearson retired. Carley faces Democratic nominee Joe Riding in the general.

Michael Klimesh wins the three-way GOP primary in House district 55. He'll face Democratic incumbent Roger Thomas.

In the open Iowa House district 72, where Republican Lance Horbach is retiring, Nathan Wrage won the Democratic primary against Cristina Blackcloud-Garcia by 53.6 percent to 46.1 percent. I believe Blackcloud-Garcia is the first Native-American woman to run for the Iowa legislature. Wrage will face Republican Dean Fisher in the general.

David Johnson and Dick Schwab are neck and neck in the Democratic primary in House district 73. The winner faces Bobby Kaufmann, son of retiring GOP House Speaker Pro-Tem Jeff Kaufmann. LATE UPDATE: Final results: Schwab nearly 57 percent, Johnson 43 percent. We will see whether Johnson was right when he warned that a candidate from Johnson County (Schwab) would struggle in a district where more constituents live in Cedar County.

In the open House district 76, David Maxwell won the GOP primary by a 2-1 margin over Larry Wilson. He'll face Grinnell City Council member Rachel Bly in the general.

Megan Hess won the GOP primary in the open House district 2, defeating Josh Davenport by nearly 54 percent to 46 percent. She'll be heavily favored to beat Democrat Steve Bomgaars this November. This was a test of strength for various conservative interest groups in a heavily Republican part of northwest Iowa.

Both candidates reside in Spencer. Davenport is a pastor. Hess is a recent law school graduate who has worked in the Iowa and Minnesota legislatures and assisted Congressman Steve King and Senator Chuck Grassley. Iowa Gun Owners and Iowa Liberty PAC support Davenport. He also has the backing of House members Kim Pearson and Tom Shaw. The NRA endorsed Hess. Iowa Right to Life supports both candidates.

In more open-seat results, Greg Heartsill won big (3-1 margin) in the GOP primary to represent House district 28. He'll face Democrat Megan Day Suhr this November.

Linn County Auditor Joel Miller easily defeated two Democratic primary challengers, winning 58 percent of the vote.

But Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett trails his Democratic primary challenger Travis Weipert. UPDATE: Slockett conceded. It's rare for a 35-year incumbent to lose a primary.

Enter Bleeding Heartland's 2012 Iowa primary election prediction contest

desmoinesdem — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:55:00 GMT

Iowa primary elections are coming up next Tuesday, so it's time for another Bleeding Heartland election prediction contest. A dozen questions are after the jump. There are so many competitive Iowa House and Senate primaries that it was difficult for me to choose. I tried to achieve some geographical balance and cover different types of primaries (open-seat races vs. challenges to incumbents, safe seats for one party vs. swing districts).

To enter the contest, post your predictions as comments in this thread before ~~7 am~~ 6 pm on June 5. Predictions submitted by e-mail will not be considered. It's ok to change your mind, as long as you post your revised predictions as an additional comment in this thread before the deadline.

No money's at stake here, just bragging rights. This isn't like "The Price is Right"; the winning answers will be closest to the final results, whether or not they were a little high or low. Even if you have no idea, please try to take a guess on every question.
1. What percentages of the vote will Ben Lange and Rod Blum receive in the Republican primary to represent Iowa's first Congressional district?

2. What percentages of the vote will John Archer and Dan Dolan receive in the Republican primary to represent Iowa's second Congressional district?

3. What percentages of the vote will incumbent Representative Dave Loebsack and State Senator Joe Seng receive in the Democratic primary to represent Iowa's second Congressional district?

4. What percentages of the vote will State Senator Pat Ward (a Mitt Romney endorser) and Jeff Mullen (a Michele Bachmann endorser backed by social conservative activists) receive in the Republican primary to represent Iowa Senate district 22? This district covers Waukee, Clive, Windsor Heights, and parts of West Des Moines.

5. What percentages of the vote will former State Senator Larry McKibben (recruited and publicly supported by Governor Terry Branstad) and Jane Jech (endorsed by tea party activists and Bob Vander Plaats' FAMiLY Leader) receive in the Republican primary to represent Iowa Senate district 36? This district covers Marshall and Tama counties.

6. What percentages of the vote will incumbent State Senators Jim Hahn and Shawn Hamerlinck receive in the Republican primary to represent Iowa Senate district 46? This is the only Iowa Senate primary pitting two incumbents against each other. The district covers parts of Muscatine and Scott counties.

7. What percentages of the vote will State Representatives Pat Grassley and Annette Sweeney receive in the Republican primary to represent Iowa House district 50? This is the only Iowa House primary pitting two incumbents against each other. It's also a "proxy war" between Senator Chuck Grassley (grandfather to Pat) and Bruce Rastetter (friend of Sweeney's since childhood). The district covers Grundy County and parts of Hardin and Butler counties.

8. What percentages of the vote will State Representative Ron Jorgensen and challenger Matthew Ung receive in the Republican primary to represent Iowa House district 6? This is the new version of the Sioux City area district formerly represented by Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants. He is backing Jorgensen.

9. What percentages of the vote will Donna Amandus, Bob Morawitz, and Rich Taylor receive in the Democratic primary to represent Iowa Senate district 42? This is the open seat in the southeast corner of Iowa long represented by Gene Fraise, who is retiring.

10. What percentages of the vote will David Johnson and Dick Schwab receive in the Democratic primary to represent Iowa House district 73? This is the open seat being vacated by retiring Republican Speaker Pro-Tem Jeff Kaufmann. The district covers Cedar County, part of Johnson County, and one town in Muscatine County.

11. What percentages of the vote will Marti Anderson, Cara Kennedy-Ode, and William Rock receive in the Democratic primary to represent Iowa House district 36? This is the open seat on the northwest side of Des Moines being vacated by Janet Petersen, who is running for the new Senate district 18.

12. This is the tie-breaker question. Not counting the Grassley-Sweeney race between two House incumbents, eleven Iowa House Republicans face primary challengers next Tuesday: Jeff Smith, Ron Jorgensen, Henry Rayhons, Tom Shaw, Greg Forristall, Cecil Dolecheck, Julian Garrett, Joel Fry, Kevin Koester, Jarad Klein, and House Majority Whip Erik Helland. How many of those GOP incumbents will lose their primary races?

Good luck, and remember: you can't win if you don't play.

Who's who in the Iowa House for 2012

desmoinesdem — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:46:35 GMT

Although the 60 Republicans and 40 Democrats in the Iowa House haven't changed since last year, I thought it was worth updating this post, because some committee assignments have changed, and House Democrats reshuffled their ranking members somewhat.

Majority and minority leadership teams are after the jump, along with all members of standing House committees. All 100 House districts are on the ballot every two years, so I've noted the new district numbers for state representatives seeking re-election in 2012, as well as which House members have said they will retire after this year's legislative session.
Iowa House Republican leadership team

Speaker Kraig Paulsen (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 35, covering suburban and rural areas in Linn County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 67.

Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 12, covering Franklin County and part of Cerro Gordo and Hancock. Redistricting put her in the new House district 8, but she is moving to the Clear Lake area to seek re-election in the new House district 54 instead. District 54 covers all of Franklin County and parts of Cerro Gordo and Butler Counties.

Speaker Pro Tem Jeff Kaufmann (bio) was first elected in 2004 from district 79, covering Cedar County and parts of Johnson and Muscatine. He is up for re-election in the new House district 73, covering all of Cedar County, a larger area in Johnson County and a tiny portion of Muscatine County.

Majority Whip Erik Helland (bio) was first elected in 2008 in House district 69, covering suburban and rural areas in Polk County. He is up for re-election in the new district 39, covering a smaller area in the northwest Polk County suburbs.

Assistant majority leaders: Matt Windschitl (bio was first elected in 2006 from district 56, covering Harrison County, most of Monona and part of Pottawattamie. He is up for re-election in the new district 17, covering all of Ida and Monona Counties and parts of Harrison and Woodbury Counties.

Renee Schulte (bio) was first elected in 2008 from district 37, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County. She is up for re-election in the new House district 66, covering a similar area. Her likely opponent is Art Staed, the Democratic incumbent Schulte defeated in 2008.

Dave Deyoe (bio) was first elected in 2006 from district 10, covering most of Story County outside Ames and part of Hamilton County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 49, covering parts of Story and Hardin Counties.

Steve Lukan (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 32, covering parts of Dubuque and Delaware counties. He decided not to seek re-election after the redistricting plan put him in Democratic-leaning House district 57.

Iowa House Democratic leadership team

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 67, covering the southeast side of Des Moines. He served as House majority leader from 2007 through 2010 alongside House Speaker Pat Murphy. He is up for re-election in the new House district 33, also centered on the southeast side of Des Moines.

Assistant Minority Leaders: Ako Abdul-Samad (bio) was first elected in 2006 from district 66, covering much of central Des Moines in Polk County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 35, covering central and north-side neighborhoods in Des Moines.

Mary Mascher (bio) was first elected in 1994 from district 77, covering part of Iowa City in Johnson County. She is up for re-election in the new House district 86, covering a similar area.

Kirsten Running-Marquardt is the newest member of the House Democratic leadership team, replacing Sharon Steckman as assistant leader in November 2011. Running-Marquardt won a 2009 special election in district 33, covering part of Cedar Rapids. She is up for re-election in the new House district 69, covering part of Cedar Rapids as well as small towns and rural areas in southwestern Linn County.

Mark Smith (bio) was first elected in 2000 from district 43, covering northeastern Marshall County, including Marshalltown. He is up for re-election in the new House district 71, covering a similar area.

Rural Caucus Chair: Andrew Wenthe (bio) was first elected in 2006 from district 18, covering parts of Fayette, Bremer and Black Hawk Counties. He decided not to run for re-election in 2012 after the new map put him with fellow Democrat Roger Thomas in the new House district 55.

Rural Caucus Vice-Chair: Dan Muhlbauer (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 51, covering Carroll County and parts of Sac and Crawford Counties. He is up for re-election in the new House district 12, covering all of Carroll and Audubon Counties and parts of Crawford.

Iowa House Standing Committees

Administration and Rules

Chair: Renee Schulte (see bio above)

Vice Chair: Dave Deyoe (see bio above)

Ranking member: Andrew Wenthe (see bio above)

Other members: Erik Helland (R), Jeff Kaufmann (R), Steve Lukan (R), Kraig Paulsen (R), Matt Windschitl (R), Linda Upmeyer (R), Andrew Abdul-Samad (D), Dennis Cohoon (D), Mary Mascher (D), Kevin McCarthy (D), Mark Smith (D)

Agriculture

Chair: Annette Sweeney (bio) was first elected in 2008 from district 44, covering Hardin County and most of Marshall outside Marshalltown. She is running for re-election in the new House district 50 and will face fellow incumbent Pat Grassley in the GOP primary.

Vice Chair: Lee Hein (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 31, covering Jones County and parts of Dubuque County. He decided to move so that he could run for re-election in the new House district 96, covering all of Delaware County and part of Jones. (The redistricting plan paired Hein with another Republican incumbent in the new district 58.)

Ranking member: Helen Miller (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 49, covering part of Webster County, including Fort Dodge. She is up for re-election in the new House district 9, covering a similar area.

Other members: Dwayne Alons (R), Clel Baudler (R), Betty DeBoef (R), Dave Deyoe (R), Cecil Dolecheck (R), Jack Drake (R), Dan Huseman (R), Brian Moore (R), Steve Olson (R), Ross Paustian (R), Dan Rasmussen (R), Tom Shaw (R), Curt Hanson (D), Chuck Isenhart (D), Dan Kelley (D), Dan Muhlbauer (D), Brian Quirk (D), Kurt Swaim (D), Roger Thomas (D), Andrew Wenthe (D)

Appropriations

Chair: Scott Raecker (bio) was first elected in 1998. During the last decade he represented district 63, covering most of Urbandale in Polk County. He is up for re-election in the new district 40, covering a similar area.

Vice Chair: Nick Wagner (bio) was first elected in 2008 from district 36, covering Marion and some rural areas of Linn County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 68, covering a similar area.

Ranking member: Tyler Olson (bio) was first elected in 2006 from district 38, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 65, covering a similar area.

Administration and Regulation Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Ralph Watts (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 47, covering most of Dallas County and a small part of Boone County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 19, covering part of Dallas County and a small area in northern Polk County.

Administration & Regulation Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Dan Kelley (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 41, covering most of Jasper County, including Newton. He is up for re-election in the new House district 29, covering a similar area.

Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Jack Drake (bio) was first elected in 1992 from district 57, covering Shelby County and parts of Cass and Pottawattamie Counties. He is up for re-election in the new House district 21, covering all of Union and Adams Counties and parts of Cass and Pottawattamie Counties.

Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Dan Muhlbauer (see bio above)

Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Jason Schultz (bio) was first elected in 2008 from district 55, covering Ida County and parts of Woodbury, Crawford and Monona. He is up for re-election in the new House district 18, covering all of Shelby County and parts of Crawford and Harrison Counties.

Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Chris Hall (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 2, covering the northeast part of Sioux City in Woodbury County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 13, covering a similar area in Sioux City and part of rural Woodbury County.

Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Cecil Dolecheck (bio) was first elected in 1996 from district 96, covering Montgomery, Adams, Taylor and Ringgold Counties and part of Union County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 24, covering Ringgold, Taylor and Page Counties and part of Montgomery County.

Education Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Cindy Winckler (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 86, covering part of Davenport in Scott County. She is up for re-election in the new House district 90, covering a similar area.

Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Dave Heaton (bio) was first elected in 1994 from district 91, covering Henry County and part of Lee County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 84, covering Henry County and parts of Lee, Washington and Jefferson Counties.

Health & Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Lisa Heddens (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 46, covering part of Story County, including the north side of Ames, and a small area in Boone County. The redistricting plan put her into the new House district 48, but Heddens decided to move into the new House district 46, covering part of Ames and Story County.

Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Gary Worthan (bio) was first elected in 2006 in district 52, covering Buena Vista County and part of Sac County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 11, covering all of Buena Vista and Sac Counties.

Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Todd Taylor (bio) was first elected in a 1995 special election from House district 34, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 70, covering a similar area.

Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee Chair: Dan Huseman (bio) was first elected in 1994 in House district 53, covering Cherokee county and parts of Plymouth and Woodbury Counties. He is up for re-election in the new House district 3, covering O'Brien and Cherokee Counties and parts of Sioux and Plymouth.

Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member: Dennis Cohoon (bio) was first elected to the Iowa House in 1986. For the last decade he has represented district 88, covering Burlington and part of eastern Des Moines County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 87, covering a similar area.

Other Appropriations Committee members: Julian Garrett (R), Chris Hagenow (R), Steve Lukan (R), Walt Rogers (R), Renee Schulte (R), Mary Gaskill (D), Chris Hall (D), Pat Murphy (D), Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D), Andrew Wenthe (D)

Commerce

Chair: Chuck Soderberg (bio) was first elected in 2004 from district 3, covering parts of Plymouth and Sioux Counties. He is up for re-election in the new House district 5, covering most of Plymouth and part of Woodbury Counties.

Vice Chair: Chip Baltimore (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 48, covering most of Boone County and part of Dallas County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 47, covering most of Boone County and all of Greene County.

Ranking member: Brian Quirk (bio) was first elected in 2000 from district 15, covering Chickasaw and Howard Counties and part of Winneshiek County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 52, covering all of Chickasaw and Floyd Counties and a small part of Cerro Gordo.

Other members: Mark Brandenburg (R), Joel Fry (R), Pat Grassley (R), Lance Horbach (R), Stew Iverson (R), Ross Paustian (R), Dawn Pettengill (R), Tom Shaw (R), Jeff Smith (R), Nick Wagner (R), Ralph Watts (R), Matt Windschitl (R), Dave Jacoby (D), Anesa Kajtazovic (D), Bob Kressig (D), Jim Lykam (D), Dan Muhlbauer (D), Jo Oldson (D), Kurt Swaim (D)

Economic Growth/Rebuild Iowa

Chair: Pat Grassley (bio) was first elected in 2006 from district 17, covering Butler County and part of Bremer. He is up for re-election in the new House district 50, where he has been paired with fellow Republican Annette Sweeney.

Vice Chair: Mary Ann Hanusa (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 99, covering part of Council Bluffs. She is up for re-election in the new House district 16, also covering part of Council Bluffs.

Ranking member: Roger Thomas (bio) was first elected to the Iowa House in 1996. For the past decade he represented district 24, covering Clayton County and parts of Delaware and Fayette. He is up for re-election in the new House district 55, covering parts of Winneshiek, Fayette and Clayton Counties.

Other members: Rich Anderson (R), Chip Baltimore (R), Josh Byrnes (R), Betty DeBoef (R), Bob Hager (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Steve Lukan (R), Dan Rasmussen (R), Jeff Smith (R), Jason Schultz (R), Chuck Soderberg (R), Chris Hall (D), Lisa Heddens (D), Dave Jacoby (D), Helen Miller (D), Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D), Sharon Steckman (D), John Wittneben (D)

Education

Chair: Greg Forristall (bio) was first elected in 2006 from district 98, covering parts of Pottawattamie and Mills Counties. He is up for re-election in the new House district 22, covering most of Pottawattamie County outside Council Bluffs.

Vice Chair: Jeremy Taylor (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 1, covering the western part of Sioux City in Woodbury County. He is up for re-election in the new district 13, covering the eastern part of Sioux City and some rural areas in Woodbury County.

Ranking member: Sharon Steckman (bio) was first elected in 2008 from district 13, covering part of Cerro Gordo County, including Mason City. She is up for re-election in the new House district 53, covering a similar area.

Other members: Josh Byrnes (R), Royd Chambers (R), Peter Cownie (R), Cecil Dolecheck (R), Mary Ann Hanusa (R), Ron Jorgensen (R), Kevin Koester (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Linda Miller (R), Kim Pearson (R), Renee Schulte (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Ako Abdul-Samad (D), Dennis Cohoon (D), Ruth Ann Gaines (D), Curt Hanson (D), Dan Kelley (D), Mary Mascher (D), Cindy Winckler (D)

Environmental Protection

Chair: Steve Olson (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 83, including parts of Scott and Clinton counties. He is up for re-election in the new House district 97, covering a large area of Clinton County.

Vice Chair: Bob Hager (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 16, covering Allamakee and part of Winneshiek County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 56, covering Allamakee and most of Clayton County.

Ranking member: Chuck Isenhart (bio) was first elected in 2008 in district 27, covering part of Dubuque. He is up for re-election in the new House district 100, covering a similar area.

Other members: Josh Byrnes (R), Betty DeBoef (R), Dave Deyoe (R), Cecil Dolecheck (R), Lee Hein (R), Jarad Klein (R), Brian Moore (R), Ross Paustian (R), Tom Sands (R), Jason Schultz (R), Chuck Soderberg (R), Dan Kelley (D), Vicki Lensing (D), Mark Smith (D), Sharon Steckman (D), Phyllis Thede (D), Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D), Cindy Winckler (D)

Ethics

Chair: Kevin Koester (bio) was first elected in 2008 from district 70, covering Ankeny in Polk County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 38, covering a large part of northeast Polk County.

Vice Chair: Scott Raecker (see bio above)

Ranking member: Phyllis Thede (bio), first elected in 2008 from district 81, covering part of Bettendorf and Davenport in Scott County. She is up for re-election in the new House district 93, covering less of Davenport and a larger area of Bettendorf.

Other members: James Van Engelenhoven (R), Dan Kelley (D), Mark Smith (D)

Government Oversight

Chair: Chris Hagenow (bio) was first elected in 2008 from district 59, covering some of the western Des Moines suburbs in Polk County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 43, covering a similar area.

Vice Chair: Chip Baltimore (see bio above)

Ranking member: Janet Petersen (bio) was first elected in 2000 from district 64, covering part of the west side of Des Moines in Polk County. She decided to run for the new Senate district 18 in 2012 instead of seeking another term in the House.

Other members: Clel Baudler (R), Kim Pearson (R), Dawn Pettengill (R), David Tjepkes (R), Ruth Ann Gaines (D), Bob Kressig (D)

Human Resources

Chair: Linda Miller (bio) was first elected in 2006 from district 82, covering part of Bettendorf in Scott County. She is up for re-election in the new House district 94, covering a similar area.

Vice Chair: Joel Fry (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 95, covering Union, Clarke and Decatur Counties. He is up for re-election in the new House district 27, covering Clarke, Decatur, and Wayne Counties, and part of Lucas County.

Ranking member: Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (bio) was first elected in 2004 from district 45, covering most of Ames in Story County. She is up for re-election in the new House district 45, covering a similar area.

Other members: Richard Anderson (R), Mark Brandenburg (R), Julian Garrett (R), Dave Heaton (R), Stew Iverson (R), Ron Jorgensen (R), Kevin Koester (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Glen Massie (R), Renee Schulte (R), Ako Abdul-Samad (D), Lisa Heddens (D), Bruce Hunter (D), Mary Mascher (D), Janet Petersen (D), Mark Smith (D), Cindy Winckler (D), Mary Wolfe (D)

Judiciary

Chair: Rich Anderson (bio) was first elected in 2004 from district 97, covering Page and Fremont Counties and much of Mills County. He decided not to run for re-election in 2012.

Vice Chair: Chip Baltimore (see bio above)

During the 2011 legislative session, Kim Pearson was the vice chair of this committee, but she and House Republican leaders had a lot of friction. Pearson is not seeking re-election in the new House district 30 in 2012.

Ranking member: Mary Wolfe (bio) was first elected in 2010 in district 26, covering part of Clinton County, including the city of Clinton. She is up for re-election in the new House district 98, covering a similar area.

Other members: Dwayne Alons (R), Julian Garrett (R), Chris Hagenow (R), Dave Heaton (R), Jeff Kaufmann (R), Glen Massie (R), Kim Pearson (R), Walt Rogers (R), Jeremy Taylor (R), David Tjepkes (R), Ruth Ann Gaines (D), Vicki Lensing (D), Jo Oldson (D), Rick Olson (D), Tyler Olson (D), Mark Smith (D), Kurt Swaim (D), Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D)

Labor

Chair: Lance Horbach (bio) was first elected in 1998 from district 40, covering Grundy County and most of Tama. He has decided not to seek re-election in 2012, leaving the new House district 72 open.

Vice Chair: Jarad Klein (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 89, covering Washington County and parts of Johnson and Jefferson Counties. He is up for re-election in the new House district 78, covering all of Keokuk County and most of Washington County.

Ranking member: Bruce Hunter (bio) was first elected in 2003 (special election) from district 62, covering part of the south side of Des Moines in Polk County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 34, covering downtown Des Moines and part of the south side.

Other members: Mark Brandenburg (R), Dave Deyoe (R), Greg Forristall (R), Mary Ann Hanusa (R), Ron Jorgensen (R), Linda Miller (R), Brian Moore (R), Jason Schultz (R), Ralph Watts (R), Jerry Kearns (D), Pat Murphy (D), Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D), Todd Taylor (D), Nate Willems (D)

Local Government

Chair: Nick Wagner (see bio above)

Vice Chair: Jeff Smith (bio) was first elected in 2010 to district 6, covering all of Dickinson County and part of Clay County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 1, covering all of Lyon and Osceola Counties and part of Dickinson.

Ranking member: John Wittneben (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 7, covering Palo Alto and Emmet Counties and part of Kossuth County. He is up for re-election in the new district 7, covering all of Emmet and Winnebago Counties and part of Kossuth County.

Other members: Rich Arnold (R), Chip Baltimore (R), Bob Hager (R), Erik Helland (R), Lance Horbach (R), Jarad Klein (R), Kim Pearson (R), Henry Rayhons (R), David Tjepkes (R), James Van Engelenhoven (R), Deborah Berry (D), Ruth Ann Gaines (D), Mary Gaskill (D), Anesa Kajtazovic (D), Jerry Kearns (D), Bob Kressig (D), Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D), Phyllis Thede (D)

Natural Resources

Chair: Henry Rayhons (bio) was first elected to the Iowa House in 1996. For the past decade he represented district 11, covering Winnebago and Worth Counties and part of Hancock County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 8, covering Wright and Hancock Counties and part of Kossuth County.

Vice Chair: Jeff Smith (see bio above)

Ranking member: Curt Hanson (bio) was first elected in the 2009 special election from district 90, covering Van Buren County, most of Jefferson and part of Wapello County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 82, covering Davis and Van Buren Counties and most of Jefferson County.

Other members: Rich Arnold (R), Clel Baudler (R), Joel Fry (R), Bob Hager (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Steve Lukan (R), Dan Rasmussen (R), Annette Sweeney (R), James Van Engelenhoven (R), Guy Vander Linden (R), Mary Gaskill (D), Chris Hall (D), Dan Kelley (D), Jim Lykam (D), Helen Miller (D), Sharon Steckman (D), Phyllis Thede (D), John Wittneben (D)

Public Safety

Chair: Clel Baudler (bio) was first elected in 1998 from district 58, covering Guthrie, Audubon and Adair Counties and part of Cass County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 20, covering all of Guthrie and Adair Counties and parts of Cass and Dallas Counties.

Vice Chair: Tom Shaw (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 8, covering Pocahontas and Humboldt Counties and part of Kossuth County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 10, covering Humboldt, Pocahontas and Calhoun Counties and part of Webster County.

Ranking member: Bob Kressig (bio) was first elected in 2004 from district 19, covering most of Cedar Falls and some rural areas in Black Hawk County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 59, covering a similar area.

Other members: Dwayne Alons (R), Mark Brandenburg (R), Joel Fry (R), Chris Hagenow (R), Jarad Klein (R), Steve Olson (R), Henry Rayhons (R), Tom Sands (R), David Tjepkes (R), Matt Windschitl (R), Gary Worthan (R), Ako Abdul-Samad (D), Deborah Berry (D), Ruth Ann Gaines (D), Dan Muhlbauer (D), Rick Olson (D), Kurt Swaim (D), Mary Wolfe (D)

State Government

Chair: Peter Cownie (bio) was first elected in 2008 from district 60, covering part of West Des Moines. He is up for re-election in the new House district 42, covering parts of Des Moines and West Des Moines.

Vice Chair: Guy Vander Linden (bio) was first elected in 2010 from district 75, covering parts of Mahaska and Poweshiek Counties. He is up for re-election in the new House district 79, covering most of Mahaska County and the Pella area of Marion County.

Ranking member: Vicki Lensing (bio) was first elected in 2000 from district 78, covering part of Iowa City in Johnson County. She is up for re-election in the new House district 85, covering a similar area.

Other members: Jack Drake (R), Lee Hein (R), Erik Helland (R), Stew Iverson (R), Ron Jorgensen (R), Jeff Kaufmann (R), Kevin Koester (R), Glen Massie (R), Dawn Pettengill (R), Scott Raecker (R), Walt Rogers (R), Renee Schulte (R), Mary Gaskill (D), Bruce Hunter (D), Chuck Isenhart (D), Anesa Kajtazovic (D), Mary Mascher (D), Brian Quirk (D), Todd Taylor (D), Andrew Wenthe (D)

Transportation

Chair: David Tjepkes (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 50, covering Calhoun and Greene Counties and part of Webster County. He decided not to seek re-election in 2012 after the redistricting plan paired him with fellow Republican Tom Shaw in the new House district 10.

Vice Chair: Glen Massie (bio) was first elected in 2010 in district 74, covering most of Warren County. He has not confirmed whether he will seek re-election in the new House district 26, also covering most of Warren County.

Ranking member: Jim Lykam (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 85, covering part of Davenport in Scott County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 89, covering a similar area.

Other members: Rich Arnold (R), Julian Garrett (R), Dan Huseman (R), Stew Iverson (R), Kim Pearson (R), Dan Rasmussen (R), Walt Rogers (R), James Van Engelenhoven (R), Ralph Watts (R), Matt Windschitl (R), Gary Worthan (R), Dennis Cohoon (D), Chris Hall (D), Curt Hanson (D), Pat Murphy (D), Janet Petersen (D), Andrew Wenthe (D), Mary Wolfe (D)

Veterans Affairs

Chair: Royd Chambers (bio), first elected in 2002 from district 5, covering Osceola and O'Brien Counties and parts of Clay and Sioux Counties. He has decided to retire in 2012; the redistricting plan paired him with fellow Republican Dan Huseman in the new House district 3.

Vice Chair: Guy Vander Linden (see bio above)

Ranking member: Jerry Kearns (bio) was first elected in 2008 from district 92, covering part of Lee County including Keokuk and Fort Madison. He is up for re-election in the new House district 83, covering a similar area.

Other members: Dwayne Alons (R), Mary Ann Hanusa (R), Steve Lukan (R), Henry Rayhons (R), Tom Shaw (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Jeremy Taylor (R), Deborah Berry (D), Lisa Heddens (D), Dan Muhlbauer (D), Roger Thomas (D), John Wittneben (D)

Ways and Means

Chair: Tom Sands (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 87, covering Louisa County and part of Des Moines County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 88, covering all of Louisa County and large parts of Des Moines and Muscatine Counties.

Vice Chair: Josh Byrnes (bio) was first elected in 2010 in district 14, covering Mitchell County and parts of Floyd and Cerro Gordo. He is up for re-election in the new House district 51, covering Worth, Mitchell, and Howard Counties, and part of Winneshiek.

Ranking member: Dave Jacoby (bio) was first elected in 2002 from district 30, covering Coralville and North Liberty in Johnson County. He is up for re-election in the new House district 74, covering a similar area.

Other members: Peter Cownie (R), Betty DeBoef (R), Greg Forristall (R), Pat Grassley (R), Lee Hein (R), Erik Helland (R), Jeff Kaufmann (R), Brian Moore (R), Ross Paustian (R), Dawn Pettengill (R), Chuck Soderberg (R), Jeremy Taylor (R), Guy Vander Linden (R), Chuck Isenhart (D), Anesa Kajtazovic (D), Jerry Kearns (D), Dan Muhlbauer (D), Jo Oldson (D), Janet Petersen (D), Brian Quirk (D), Roger Thomas (D), Nate Willems (D)

Administrative Rules Review

Five Iowa House and five Iowa Senate members serve on this committee.

Chair: Democratic State Senator Wally Horn

Vice Chair: Dawn Pettengill (bio) was first elected in 2004 as a Democrat in district 39, covering Benton County and part of Iowa County. She switched to the Republican caucus in 2007. She is up for re-election in the new House district 75, covering a similar area. During the 2011 legislative session, Pettengill chaired the Administrative Rules Review Committee.

Other members: Senator Merlin Bartz (R), Senator Tom Courtney (D), Senator Jack Kibbie (D), Senator James Seymour (R), State Representative Dave Heaton (R), State Representative Jo Oldson (D), State Representative Rick Olson (D), State Representative Guy Vander Linden (R)

Iowa Senate district 14 preview: Amy Sinclair vs Dick Schrad

desmoinesdem — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:03:22 GMT

Republican Amy Sinclair and Democrat Dick Schrad have launched campaigns in the new Iowa Senate district 14, an open seat in south-central Iowa. Former Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley lives in this district but decided not to seek a fourth term.

Follow me after the jump for a district map and background on the two declared candidates.
Iowa Senate district 14 covers a large area: Clarke, Decatur, Lucas and Wayne County, most of Marion County except for the Pella area, and a small portion of Jasper County:

Republicans take a voter registration advantage into this race. As of April 2011, Senate district 14 contained 12,299 registered Democrats, 12,921 Republicans and 14,401 no-party voters. Following the Iowa caucuses, the GOP edge has no doubt expanded, but I don't have updated figures.

Wayne County Supervisor Amy Sinclair, who lives and works on a century farm, was the first to enter the Senate district 14 race in early December. Since then, she has been meeting voters around the district. From her campaign announcement:

Sinclair has served two terms on the Wayne County Board of Supervisors. She and her husband Boyd, who is a fifth-grade teacher at Wayne Community Schools, have three sons, and farm near Allerton.
"I understand the issues southern Iowans face every day as I have lived, worked and raised my family in Wayne County for more than 17 years," Sinclair said. "Iowans deserve a State Senator who is an experienced leader tempered with faith and strong family values. I am that candidate."
Education is a top priority for Sinclair, who said she will be watching the education reform discussions in the upcoming legislative session with great interest. As the next State Senator in District 14, she will advocate for strong local control of schools; improved teacher, student and parent accountability; and renewed pre-eminence for Iowa's educational system.
Spending nearly the last two decades in southern Iowa, Sinclair has witnessed high unemployment rates, and struggles facing small business owners and the agricultural community.
"I firmly believe in giving our best to lift up our community," Sinclair said. "I will do that to make southern Iowa and our great state flourish. It is vital we reduce the cumbersome regulations that inhibit economic growth. I believe a government that governs least is the best and that the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people."
Sinclair has held numerous leadership positions on boards and committees such as the Iowa County Engineers, Service Bureau, South Iowa Area Crime Commission, Community Health Centers of Southern Iowa, Chariton Valley Transportation Planning Affiliate, South Central Iowa Community Action Agency and Wayne County Farm Bureau.

Judging from this lengthy interview on KNIA/KRLS radio in Knoxville, Sinclair is well-spoken and knowledgeable. She described herself as a strong supporter of "home rule," letting local governments and school districts (as opposed to state or federal government) make decisions on the most important issues.

The biggest obstacle Sinclair faces is Wayne County's small population base. Wayne has fewer residents than the other counties in the new Senate district 14. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see other Republicans join this race before the filing deadline in March. Sinclair mentioned here that her sister lives and works as an elementary school teacher in Knoxville, and she also talked about business connections (selling cattle) with people in Marion County.

The first and likely only Democratic candidate in Senate district 14 is Dick Schrad, the former Knoxville city manager. Excerpt from his press release:

"My experience in the private and public sectors gives me the right perspective at this critical time for Iowa," said Schrad. "Like most Iowans, I'm sick and tired of the political games in Des Moines. That's why my number one priority in the Iowa Senate will be to ensure that the state partners with the private sector to create good jobs, expand and bring new businesses in to Iowa, and create new opportunities for Iowa high school and college graduates."
Schrad said that in addition to improving the state's business climate, he will focus on ensuring that Iowa schools are preparing our children for the best 21st Century jobs.
"I'm a fiscal conservative who believes we have to tighten our belts in tough times, but not at the expense of our children's future. If our kids ever hope to compete in a global marketplace, they must have the opportunity to get a world-class education. And last year, politicians in Des Moines slashed the budgets of our public schools. Many critical programs suffered, and we lost some great teachers. That's not a formula for success for our kids or our state and it must change."
Dick Schrad, a Democrat, grew up in Carroll, Iowa and retired in April 2011 as City Manager of Knoxville. Prior to managing Knoxville's municipal government, he managed the City and Municipal Utilities for Tipton, Iowa. Dick also served as the economic development director for Preston, Iowa and before that partnered with his brother to own and operate a corporate and museum exhibits company for 32 years. Dick is a Vietnam War veteran; he earned his bachelor's degree from Creighton University and a Master's degree in Business from the University of Iowa. He and his wife Pat are members of St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Knoxville. They have two grown sons and three grandchildren.
Schrad was a member of the Knoxville Rotary Club and is a current member of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce. His wife Pat is a retired school teacher and now does part time consulting work developing curriculum for the Iowa Center for Disabilities at the University of Iowa. Pat is also active in the Marion County Arts Alliance, manages the annual Marion County Artists' Studio Tour, and leads the Knoxville Ambassadors, a Chamber of Commerce organization dedicated to welcoming new businesses.
"Pat and I have raised our kids and now we dedicate ourselves to our community," Schrad added. "I think it's important to be active to ensure that the future is bright for the next generation. Over the next 11 months I'm going to knock on doors in Senate District 14 and meet as many people as possible. I'm going to listen to what people have to say and then I'm going to do my best to make sure their concerns and ideas are heard up at the State Capitol."

The new Senate district 14 contains one open House seat and one Republican-held House seat. First-term State Representative Joel Fry lives in the new House district 27, and to my knowledge he does not yet have a Democratic challenger. In the open House district 28, Democrat Megan Day Suhr faces Republican Greg Heartsill. Like Schrad, Suhr has a natural base of support in the Knoxville area, so GOTV in Knoxville has to be the top priority for Marion County Democrats this fall. With a population of about 7,300, Knoxville is the largest city in the new Senate district 14, followed by Osceola in Clarke County (about 4,600), Chariton in Lucas County (about 4,300), and Lamoni in Decatur County (about 2,400).

Schrad and Suhr are unlucky that Iowa's new map of political boundaries put the Senate district 14 counties in the second Congressional district. Three-term Representative Dave Loebsack, a Democrat, will focus his GOTV efforts on other parts of the new IA-02. If Senate district 14 were in the third Congressional district, down-ticket Democrats might be a little better off, because Representative Leonard Boswell has represented all of those counties in Congress before. Boswell's family farm is in the Lamoni area of Decatur County.

Share any relevant thoughts in this thread.

Iowa Workforce Development offices as a 2012 campaign issue

desmoinesdem — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:00:49 GMT

The state agency Iowa Workforce Development has replaced 36 field offices with hundreds of new "enhanced access" computer terminals this year.

Although the shuttered offices are unlikely ever to reopen, they may live on as talking points in many competitive Iowa House and Senate races next fall.
Iowa Workforce Development officials announced the restructuring plans in February as a way to save money while improving access for unemployed Iowans. Some 500 computer terminals in public libraries, Iowa State University extension offices and other locations will eventually be equipped to allow people to seek help from Iowa Workforce Development staff.

The agency will continue to operate 16 "regional integrated one-stop offices" in Burlington, Carroll, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Creston, Davenport, Decorah, Des Moines, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Mason City, Ottumwa, Sioux City, Spencer and Waterloo. Additionally, Iowa Workforce Development will keep satellite office locations open in Fort Madison, Iowa City and Webster City.

Many state legislators favored keeping all 55 Iowa Workforce Development field offices open. It was one of the highest priorities for Senate Democrats during lengthy negotiations over the state budget. In fact, Teresa Wahlert barely won Senate confirmation as Iowa Workforce Development director because of this controversy. Iowa House Republicans supported funding to keep the field offices open for another year, but Branstad used his line-item veto power to reject that portion of the economic development appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012.

Senate Democrats called for a special legislative session to override Branstad's veto, but House and Senate Republicans rejected that path. During the summer, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal vowed to try to override the veto during the 2012 legislative session. Republicans are certain to ignore that call.

Several Democratic legislators are co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Branstad's use of his item veto power with respect to Iowa Workforce Development funding. But as the governor pointed out during a recent press conference, it will be a long time before that case works its way through the court system.

Branstad seems unconcerned about any lingering political controversy over his administration's actions. In his view, the restructuring has been a "significant success":

"Our tracking data indicates that services are equal to or greater than what they were available at this time last year. I see this as a significant success and commend Director (Teresa) Wahlert and Iowa Workforce Development for their good work," Branstad said. [...]
In place of the unemployment offices, the state is installing hundreds of kiosk-like computer stations in places like libraries and homeless shelters where Iowans can access online training, assistance in preparing for interviews and other job application services.
Critics contend that what's essentially a self-help computer program is a far cry from personal, one-on-one assistance previously provided to thousands of unemployed workers.
But advocates say the move will prove to be more beneficial to Iowans, saving $6.5 million a year and also enhancing job searches through computer software. [...]
There are now 373 virtual access points with at least one kiosk-like center in each county. Iowans have access to phone or online interaction with state unemployment officials at the sites, which has led to an extension of the number of hours of service, state officials said today.

Wahlert has touted other aspects of the new system:

"We continue to add new things. This is a very evolving technology. One of the things we added just today...is a fifth option for people and it's called, 'I am a student,'" Wahlert says. "And in this fifth option we have things like 'How to find a job', what the requirements are for GED. We are working on a partnership with ACT to add practice testing."
Those practice tests for the ACT and for GEDs will be available in December.
Workforce Development staff are now available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. 'til 2 p.m. to answer questions from people who go online and seek help with their job search. Wahlert says in the past, Workforce Development offices weren't open past 4:30 p.m. and not every county in the state had an office. Today, there are 370 on-line access points for the Workforce Development computer program.

If 500 computer terminals across the state serve unemployed people well, the Iowa Workforce Development restructuring may be a non-issue next year. Still, I expect to see some Democratic statehouse candidates pointing to vacant storefronts where field offices used to be. The "enhanced access points" could become a symbol of failed Republican governance if they don't function as advertised in numerous locations.

Here's a list of the 36 cities and towns that lost Iowa Workforce Development field offices this year, along with background on the 2012 Iowa House and Senate races in those areas. Scroll to the end of this post for a shorter list of potentially competitive statehouse campaigns in communities that no longer have an Iowa Workforce Development field office.

Algona (Kossuth County)

For the past decade, Algona has been in the old House district 8, where Republican Tom Shaw won an open-seat race in 2010. Iowa's new map of political boundaries put Algona in the new House district 7 (map), represented by first-term Democrat John Wittneben. He won his open-seat race in 2010 by less than three dozen votes. House district 7 has a small Democratic voter registration advantage, but I expect Republicans to mount a strong challenge for this seat. Algona is also part of the new Senate district 4 (map), which has a comfortable Republican voter registration advantage. No Democratic candidate has declared for that race. Former State Senator Jim Black is likely to be the Republican nominee.

Ames (Story County)

Both Iowa House districts in Ames are fairly strong seats for Democrats Beth Wessel-Kroeschell and Lisa Heddens, who decided to move after the redistricting plan put her home outside the north Ames-based district 46 (map). Wessel-Kroeschell lives in the new House district 45 (map). Democratic State Senator Herman Quirmbach is the incumbent in the new Senate district 23 (map), and he won't be on the ballot again until 2014.

Atlantic (Cass County)

Atlantic will be part of the new House district 21 (map) and Senate district 11 (map). Both districts have huge Republican voter registration advantages, and Democrats are unlikely to mount serious challenges to GOP State Representative Jack Drake or State Senator Hubert Houser, assuming both seek re-election.

Boone (Boone County)

Both the House and the Senate race here have potential to be competitive in 2012. First-term Republican Chip Baltimore represents the current House district 48, where he defeated Democratic incumbent Donovan Olson by only a couple dozen votes in 2010. Boone is part of the new House district 47 (map), which has a tiny Democratic registration advantage but a plurality of no-party voters. Olson has not disclosed whether he plans to seek a rematch with Baltimore. No other Democrat has declared for the seat yet. Boone is in the new Senate district 24 (map), represented by Republican Jerry Behn. His new district has only a small voter GOP registration advantage, with a plurality of no-party voters. No Democrat has stepped up to challenge Behn, whose long incumbency and recent election as Iowa Senate Republican leader make him the clear favorite in my opinion.

Centerville (Appanoose County)

Retiring Democrat Kurt Swaim currently represents this area, but the new map of political boundaries puts Appanoose County in House district 80 (map). No incumbent currently lives in the district. Democrat Joe Judge announced his candidacy in May, shortly after the redistricting plan was approved. It's among the most balanced House districts, with roughly equal numbers of registered Democrats, Republicans and no-party voters. To my knowledge, no Republican has entered the race. On the Senate side, Centerville is in the new district 40 (map). Two-term Democratic incumbent Tom Rielly faces a big uphill climb here, and he hasn't represented Appanoose County before.

Charles City (Floyd County)

Charles City is current represented by Republican State Representative Josh Byrnes, who won an open-seat race in 2010. However, in 2012 it will be in the new Iowa House district 52 (map), where six-term Democratic State Representative Brian Quirk is the incumbent. The district leans Democratic in terms of voter registration. When Democrats controlled the Iowa House from 2007 through 2010, Quirk was known as a member of the conservative "six-pack" that opposed organized labor's legislative priorities. Since Republicans won back the Iowa House majority, Quirk has voted with most GOP lawmakers on legislation serving the interests of big ag multiple times. He also voted for a controversial bill to promote nuclear power in Iowa. The more interesting race here is likely to be on the Senate side, because the new Senate district 26 (map) pits two incumbents against each other: Democrat Mary Jo Wilhelm and Republican Merlin Bartz. Both parties are certain to target this race, which Bleeding Heartland previewed here. The district has a Democratic voter registration advantage of about 1,300, and Bartz has drawn some unflattering local press over a fence dispute with neighbors. On the other hand, Bartz has had a much longer career in the Iowa legislature than Wilhelm.

Cherokee (Cherokee County)

Both Iowa House district 3 (map) and Iowa Senate district 2 (map) lean heavily Republican. It will take a lot more than Iowa Workforce Development closing an office to make this part of northwest Iowa politically competitive. State Senator Randy Feenstra should be safe for 2012. Two current Iowa House Republicans, Royd Chambers and Dan Huseman, live in this district; it's not clear whether they will face off in a GOP primary or whether one will retire.

Clarinda (Page County)

Similar story here: the new Iowa House district 24 (map) and Senate district 12 (map) cover parts of southwest Iowa that are safe for Republicans. State Senator Joni Ernst should have no trouble winning re-election. On the House side, the eventual nominee (Cecil Dolecheck or Rich Anderson) should have no problem winning the general election, with or without an Iowa Workforce Development office.

Clinton (Clinton County)

First-term Iowa House Democrat Mary Wolfe represents the Clinton area, which is in the new House district 98 (map). It's a Democratic-leaning district already. Voter registration numbers favor Democrats in Senate district 49 as well (map), but Republicans have a strong announced candidate in Andrew Naeve. No Democrat has declared for that open Senate race. It will be on the ballot despite its odd number, because State Senator Tod Bowman opted to stay in the new Senate district 29 instead.

Denison (Crawford County)

Restructuring of state services for the unemployed is sure to become an issue here, because the Democratic candidate in the new Iowa House district 18 (map) is Kasey Friedrichsen, a former Iowa Workforce Development employee in the Denison office. Her opponent will be two-term Republican State Representative Jason Schultz. He's not my cup of tea, but he has a fairly substantial GOP voter registration edge on his side. Senate district 9 (map) also leans heavily Republican. It may not be on the ballot in 2012, unless current GOP incumbent Senators Nancy Boettger and Jim Seymour decide to face off in a primary. JANUARY 2012 UPDATE: Seymour is retiring, so there will be no election this year in Senate district 9.

Emmetsburg (Palo Alto County)

To my knowledge, there is no Democratic candidate yet in the new Iowa House district 2 (map). The Republican nomination is up for grabs, as no current incumbent lives in this district. There won't be a 2012 campaign in the new Senate district 1 (map), which includes Palo Alto County. Democrat Jack Kibbie's retirement means Republican Senator David Johnson will hold over until 2014.

Estherville (Emmet County)

Like Algona, which I covered above, Estherville is located in the new House district 7, represented by Democrat John Wittneben, and the new Senate district 4, which has no incumbent. Estherville is Wittneben's home base, and he'll need to run up the score here to win in this swing district. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Iowa Workforce Development office closure become a campaign issue for him.

Fairfield (Jefferson County)

Fairfield is located in the new House district 82 (map). Democrat Curt Hanson is the incumbent. Republicans will contest the new district 82 in 2012, because they have a slight voter registration advantage here. However, Hanson has strong local support, having won a 2009 special election and re-election in 2010 in the old House district 90. First-term Republican State Senator Mark Chelgren holds over until 2014 in the new Senate district 41 (map), which includes the Fairfield area. That's lucky for him, because Democrats should win this district back next time it's on the ballot. Chelgren defeated Democratic incumbent Keith Kreiman by only a dozen votes in 2010.

Glenwood (Mills County)

Glenwood is located in the new House district 23 (map), which has no incumbent but should be safe for Republicans, considering their commanding voter registration advantage in the area. The same goes for the new Senate district 12 (map), where Republican Joni Ernst, a 2011 special election winner, should easily be elected to a full term in 2012.

Harlan (Shelby County)

Like Denison, which I discussed above, Harlan is located in the new House district 18 (map). This campaign will pit Republican State Representative Jason Schultz, case law hater and Ron Paul endorser, against Democrat Kasey Friedrichsen, a former Iowa Workforce Development employee in the Denison office. Senate district 9 (map) contains two GOP incumbents, Nancy Boettger and Jim Seymour. If one of them retires, the other holds over until 2014. JANUARY 2012 UPDATE: Seymour announced his retirement; there will be no Senate district 9 election in 2012.

Humboldt (Humboldt County)

A contested Republican primary is likely in the new House district 10 (map). Neither first-term State Representative Tom Shaw nor five-term incumbent Dave Tjepkes lives in Humboldt County. Social issues may dominate the primary campaign. Shaw is more conservative, having been among a handful of House Republicans to back impeaching Iowa Supreme Court justices who concurred in the Varnum v Brien decision. Shaw also has supported bringing "personhood" legislation to the House floor and voted against a late-term abortion ban because it didn't go far enough to restrict abortions in his view. To my knowledge, no Democrat has announced plans to run in the new House district 10, which has a large GOP voter registration advantage. Democratic State Senator Daryl Beall holds over until 2014 in the new Senate district 5 (map), which includes Humboldt County. By then I doubt the Iowa Workforce Development restructuring will be a salient issue.

Iowa Falls (Hardin County)

About half of Hardin County, including Iowa Falls, is in the new House district 50 (map). This will be the site of the premier GOP primary battle of 2012, pitting House Agriculture Committee Chair Annette Sweeney against Economic Growth Committee Chair Pat Grassley, grandson of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley. My guess is there won't be a Democratic candidate in House district 50, which leans heavily Republican. There also won't be a 2012 election in Iowa Senate district 25 (map), where Iowa Falls is located. First-term Republican Bill Dix didn't get his wish to be Senate minority leader, but he does get to hold over until 2014 thanks to Rob Bacon's decision to run for the Iowa House instead.

Keokuk (Lee County)

Lee County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state and used to contain two Iowa Workforce Development field offices. The agency decided to keep the other Lee County office open in Fort Madison. Both Keokuk and Fort Madison are located in the new Iowa House district 83 (map). Democratic State Representative Jerry Kearns should have no problem winning re-election in this heavily Democratic area, judging from his comfortable 2010 victory. Senate district 42 (map) lacks an incumbent with the retirement of Democrat Gene Fraise. To my knowledge, no Democrat has announced plans to run for this seat. Republicans have a candidate, Lee County Supervisor Larry Kruse, but the district has what should be a solid Democratic voter registration advantage.

Manchester (Delaware County)

So far Republican State Representative Lee Hein is the only announced candidate in the new House district 96, which includes all of Delaware County (map). The district doesn't have an overwhelming GOP voter registration advantage, but it's not clear whether Democrats can recruit a strong candidate here. The campaign in Senate district 48 (map) should be one of the most competitive statehouse races in 2012. State Representative Nate Willems will be the Democratic nominee and will probably face one of three Republicans running or considering this race: Dan Zumbach, Brian Cook, and Cindy Golding.

Maquoketa (Jackson County)

Democrat Tom Schueller, a Maquoketa native, is trying to return to the Iowa House in the new district 58 (map). He shouldn't need an Iowa Workforce Development office controversy to seal the deal against Republican Brian Moore, who may be the most endangered Iowa House incumbent in 2012. There won't be an Iowa Senate election in the new district 29 (map) next year. Democrat Tod Bowman holds over until 2014, thanks to Senator Tom Hancock's decision to retire.

Mount Pleasant (Henry County)

Republican Dave Heaton has represented the Mount Pleasant area in the Iowa House since the 1994 election. The new map puts Henry County in Iowa House district 84 (map). To my knowledge, no Democrat has announced plans to challenge Heaton, who will be heavily favored even if there is lingering resentment over the demise of the Iowa Workforce Development office. Henry County is part of the new Senate district 42 (map), which I discussed above in the context of Keokuk.

Muscatine (Muscatine County)

Democrats do not yet have a candidate in the new House district 91, which covers the Muscatine area (map). Republican State Representative Mark Lofgren defeated three-term Democratic incumbent Nathan Reichert in the old House district 80 in 2010. FEBRUARY 2012 UPDATE: John Dabeet will be the Democratic candidate in House district 91. The city of Muscatine and nearby areas of Muscatine county also like in the new Senate district 46 (map). That should become one of the most competitive state Senate races of 2012. Democrat Chris Brase will face one of two Republican incumbents: Shawn Hamerlinck or Jim Hahn.

New Hampton (Chickasaw County)

Like the Charles City area, discussed above, New Hampton and the rest of Chickasaw County are in the new House district 52 (map), represented by six-term Democrat Brian Quirk. To my knowledge, no Republican has announced plans to challenge Quirk, who benefits from a Democratic voter registration advantage. Chickasaw County lies in the new Senate district 26 (map), which I discussed above in the context of Charles City. Democratic State Senator Mary Jo Wilhelm has a decent shot here against Republican Senator Merlin Bartz.

Newton (Jasper County)

The optics of closing the Iowa Workforce Development branch in Newton are lousy: unemployment is relatively high in the city that hasn't fully recovered from the Maytag plant closing. On the other hand, Newton isn't far from Marshalltown or Des Moines, which both will retain staffed Iowa Workforce Development offices. Newton lies in the new House district 29 (map), represented by Democrat Dan Kelley. It's a strong Democratic district where no Republican has entered the race, as far as I know. There will be no election next year in the new Senate district 15 (map), which includes Newton and most of Jasper County. Democrat Dennis Black holds over until 2014.

Oelwein (Fayette County)

The Oelwein area lies in the new House district 64 (map), represented by Republican Dan Rasmussen. He narrowly defeated Democratic State Representative Gene Ficken in 2010 in the old House district 23, and the new district 64 leans Democratic in terms of voter registration. I am not aware of any Democrat actively campaigning here yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Iowa Workforce Development controversy pop up during the 2012 campaign. The part of Fayette county that includes Oelwein is in the new Senate district 32 (map). It's almost evenly divided in terms of voter registration, and Democratic incumbent Brian Schoenjahn could face a tough battle in 2012. Schoenjahn is from Arlington, a smaller town in Fayette County. He has no GOP challenger yet, to my knowledge.

Orange City (Sioux County)

Iowa Senate district 2 (map) and Iowa House district 4 (map) are located in one of the most Republican-voting counties in the United States. No amount of fallout over Iowa Workforce Development Offices will threaten State Representative Dwayne Alons or State Senator Randy Feenstra.

Osceola (Clarke County)

Osceola is the largest town in the new House district 27 (map). First-term Republican State Representative Joel Fry lives in Osceola, and his new district has only a slight GOP voter registration advantage. I haven't heard of any Democrat running for this seat yet. Clarke County is part of the new Senate district 14 (map). Neither party has an announced candidate here, as far as I know. Former Republican Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley decided against running for re-election in 2012.

Oskaloosa (Mahaska County)

Oskaloosa lies in the new House district 79 (map). Republican State Representative Guy Vander Linden lives in Oskaloosa. I doubt any resentment over an Iowa Workforce Development office will create a problem for him, given the large GOP voter registration advantage in this district. Meanwhile, two-term Democrat Tom Rielly is arguably the most endangered Iowa Senate incumbent in 2012, despite having previously served as mayor of Oskaloosa. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly 5,000 voters in the new Senate district 40 (map), which includes Oskaloosa.

Pella (Marion County)

Pella has a reputation as one of Iowa's most conservative towns, and it lies in the new House district 79 (map) along with Oskaloosa. Should be smooth sailing here for GOP State Representative Vander Linden and a rough ride for Democrat Rielly in he new Senate district 40 (map)

Perry (Dallas County)

The northwest portion of Dallas County, including Perry, lies in the new House district 20 (map). Republican State Representative Clel Baudler, a national board member of the National Rifle Association, is the incumbent here. He voted against the redistricting plan in the Iowa House but is in a fairly Republican district. I am not aware of any announced Democratic challenger to Baudler. Perry is in the new Senate district 10 (map). No incumbent lives here, but the open-seat race won't be attractive for Democrats given the voter registration numbers.

Pocahontas (Pocahontas County)

Like Humboldt, which I discussed above, Pocahontas is in the new House district 10 (map). Republican incumbents Tom Shaw and Dave Tjepkes appear likely to face off in a primary, and there is no announced Democratic candidate to my knowledge. Democratic State Senator Daryl Beall holds over until 2014 in the new Senate district 5 (map).

Red Oak (Montgomery County)

The northern two-thirds of Montgomery County, including Red Oak, are in the new House district 23 (map). Although the seat is open, it won't be an inviting target for House Democrats given the enormous GOP voter registration advantage. The Republican primary will in effect determine the winner of House district 23 in 2012. All of Montgomery County is the new Senate district 12 (map), where Red Oak resident Joni Ernst won't have any trouble being re-elected in 2012.

Shenandoah (Page County)

Like Clarinda, which I discussed above, Shenandoah is in the overwhelmingly Republican House district 24 (map) and Senate district 12 (map).

Storm Lake (Buena Vista County)

Buena Vista County is part of the new House district 11 (map). Incumbent Republican Gary Worthan lives in Storm Lake and will be able to run for re-election in a district with a strong GOP voter registration advantage. Worthan defeated Democrat Danuta Hutchins by nearly a 3:1 margin in 2010, and he shouldn't have much trouble winning a fourth term in 2012. The new Senate district 6 (map) is open, because current Senate Republican whip Steve Kettering has decided to retire in 2012. The winner of the GOP primary will be heavily favored in the general election, and it's possible that Democrats won't even field a candidate here.

Washington (Washington County)

Most of Washington County, including county seat Washington, is part of the new House district 78 (map). The new map paired two Republican incumbents: first-termer Jarad Klein and long-timer Betty DeBoef. She decided to retire, so Klein doesn't have to deal with a competitive primary. Democrats don't have a candidate yet in House district 78, which has a Republican voter registration advantage. There will not be a 2012 election in the new Senate district 39 (map), which covers the Washington area. Republican Sandy Greiner holds over until 2014, by which time the Iowa Workforce Development restructuring will be a long time past.

Waverly (Bremer County)

Waverly is the largest town the new House district 63 (map). Republican Pat Grassley currently represents Bremer County in the Iowa House, but no incumbent lives in the new district. Longtime Waverly resident Bill Heckroth, a former Democratic state senator, is running for this House seat and has at least one Republican opponent, Sandy Salmon. It should be a hard-fought race; Republicans have a voter registration edge, but the Democrat has a stronger base in the Waverly area. Bremer County is part of the new Senate district 32 (map), which I discussed above in the context of Oelwein. Democrat Brian Schoenjahn is the incumbent.

To sum up, the following potentially competitive Iowa House and Senate districts contain towns where Iowa Workforce Development offices have closed in 2011.

Democratic-held seats

House district 7 (Algona)

House district 52 (Charles City, New Hampton)

House district 80 (Centerville) *no incumbent

House district 82 (Fairfield)

Senate district 26 (Charles City, New Hampton) *Democratic vs Republican incumbent

Senate district 32 (Waverly, Oelwein)

Senate district 49 (Clinton) *no incumbent

Republican-held seats

House district 27 (Osceola)

House district 47 (Boone)

House district 63 (Waverly) *no incumbent

House district 64 (Oelwein)

House district 78 (Washington)

House district 91 (Muscatine)

House district 96 (Manchester)

Senate district 14 *no incumbent

Senate district 26 (Charles City, New Hampton) *Democratic vs Republican incumbent

Senate district 46 (Muscatine)

Senate district 48 (Manchester) *no incumbent

In all of the above districts, I would not be surprised to see Democratic incumbents or challengers criticize the Iowa Workforce Development restructuring, especially if Iowa's unemployment rate doesn't drop significantly during the next year. It's too early to say whether that would be a successful political strategy. It's possible that voters will share Governor Branstad's preference for hundreds of computer terminals instead of a few dozen field offices with part-time hours.

Any comments about the 2012 legislative races are welcome in this thread.

McKinley resigning as Iowa Senate Republican leader, won't run in 2012

desmoinesdem — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:02:08 GMT

Iowa Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley announced yesterday that he will not seek re-election in 2012 and will step down as leader of his party's caucus when Senate Republicans meet in Des Moines on November 10. After the jump I've posted background on the drive to oust McKinley and thoughts about which Senate Republican will take his place next week.

McKinley's retirement leaves Republicans without an obvious candidate in the new Senate district 14, which should be competitive in 2012. A map of this swing district is also below.
McKinley posted this statement on his website Wednesday:

MOVING ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER OF MY LIFE
CHARITON - Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley (R-Chariton) announced today that he will not seek re-election to the Iowa Senate next year.
McKinley also announced that he will step down as Senate Republican Leader when Senate Republicans meet at the Capitol on Thursday, November 10 for their previously scheduled fall caucus.
"Since I will not be seeking another term, I believe the Senate Republicans should have a new leader in place now to continue building on the momentum that is being generated as we head toward picking up the majority in November of 2012," said McKinley, who was first elected in 2000 and was elected leader in November 2008.
McKinley said this decision was not made lightly and that after speaking at length with his family, he decided it was time to move on to a new chapter of life.
"In the 80's, I purchased and grew my manufacturing business in southern Iowa. In the 90's, I sold my business, retired, raised my children and served my community in various capacities. For the past eleven years, I have served my state as a Senator and now it is time to move on to the next chapter of my life and spend more time with my grandchildren," McKinley noted.
McKinley will finish out his current term which expires in January of 2013. The upcoming session, which begins in January of 2012, will be his last.
"Serving my fellow citizens has truly been the honor of a lifetime," he concluded.

Senate Republicans elected McKinley to head their caucus shortly after the 2008 election. He drew criticism from some conservatives for being unprepared to respond to the Iowa Supreme Court's landmark marriage ruling. The court announced its Varnum v Brien decision toward the end of the 2009 legislative session. Iowa House Republicans quickly tried and failed to force a floor vote on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Senate Republicans could not use the same maneuver because they hadn't filed the amendment as a new bill that year. In the words of right-wing talk radio host Steve Deace,

McKinley managed to do something that is nearly impossible for a Republican leader with any shrewdness whatsoever to do: get caught with your pants down on a social issue while in the minority.
Usually Republican leaders sell out their Christian conservative base after that base works tirelessly to make the majority, not while in the minority. On the other hand, as a minority party Republicans are often the most principled politicians in the world. So for McKinley to get caught in his first go around as Republican State Senate Leader with his pants down by not having a marriage amendment on file for the 2009 legislative session is either total incompetence, the worst clerical error in the history of the office, or the most cynical brand of politics.

First-term State Senator Bill Dix has had his eye on McKinley's job for some time and announced a leadership challenge in September. Although Dix lacked the votes to oust McKinley at that time, several other Senate Republicans have indicated that they support a leadership change. It didn't help that McKinley went on a previously planned overseas vacation in September. With control of the Senate at stake in the district 18 special election, many Republicans felt McKinley should have been more involved in a vigorous effort to help Cindy Golding's campaign in Linn County.

Depending on the outcome of the November 8 election in Senate district 18, McKinley's successor will either be minority leader or co-leader with Democrat Mike Gronstal in a chamber deadlocked 25-25. I expect someone loyal to McKinley to run against Dix at next week's caucus, perhaps Senate Minority Whip Steve Kettering. I will update this post if I hear more about possible candidates for the job. Five senators served as assistant minority leaders during the 2011 legislative session: Merlin Bartz, Brad Zaun, Pat Ward, David Johnson, and Tim Kapucian. Johnson is not up for re-election in 2012. Bartz faces a tough campaign next year against Democratic State Senator Mary Jo Wilhelm in the new Senate district 26. Ward faces a more conservative Republican primary challenger in the new Senate district 22. Kapucian is up for re-election in the competitive Senate district 38. Zaun will also be on the ballot next November, but Senate district 20 looks safe for Republicans.

UPDATE: State Senator Jerry Behn of Boone will run for Senate Republican leader. In 2009, Behn was briefly a candidate for governor, although he didn't look ready for prime time.

Republicans have a good shot at winning outright control of the Iowa Senate in the 2012 elections, but I'm not surprised McKinley decided against seeking a fourth term. Being a backbencher in the majority probably isn't a lot more fun than leading the minority caucus. In addition, McKinley would have to run for re-election in a much less conservative district than the area he now represents.

Iowa's new map of political boundaries put McKinley in Senate district 14, covering Clarke, Decatur, Wayne and Lucas Counties, most of Marion County, and a small part of Jasper County.

As of April 2011, Senate district 14 contained 12,299 registered Democrats, 12,921 Republicans and 14,401 no-party voters. In contrast, McKinley's current Senate district 36 is solidly Republican, with a registration advantage of roughly 4,000 for the GOP according to the Secretary of State's Office (pdf).

To my knowledge, Democrats do not yet have a candidate in the new Senate district 14. The race will clearly be more attractive without the prospect of facing an incumbent.

First-term State Representative Joel Fry could be a potential Republican candidate in Senate district 14. The redistricting process put him in House district 27, the southwestern part of the Senate district.

There is no Republican candidate yet in the new House district 28, the other half of Senate district 14. Longtime State Representative Rich Arnold is retiring. Last week Democrat Megan Day Suhr announced her candidacy for that open seat.

Share any relevant thoughts in this thread.

Pawlenty endorses Romney; will Iowa backers follow?

desmoinesdem — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:28:34 GMT

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for president this morning, trying to set the media agenda as eight Republican candidates prepare to debate in Florida this evening.
You can read Pawlenty's e-mail endorsing Romney here. He cited Romney's character, conservative principles, qualifications and service in the public and private sector. The e-mail does not depict Romney as a more electable alternative to the GOP front-runner, Rick Perry. When Pawlenty was still in the presidential race, he frequently warned audiences that the only way Republicans could mess up this election was to nominate the wrong candidate against President Barack Obama. At the time, Pawlenty was commonly understood to be talking about Representative Michele Bachmann, a leading rival in Iowa. But Romney and his surrogates have been pushing an electability argument against Perry for days, citing the Texas governor's comments about Social Security.

Just before a Republican presidential debate in June, Pawlenty bashed Romney's record, calling the Massachusetts health care reform "Obamneycare." Speaking on Fox News today, Pawlenty brushed off a question about the similarities between Romney's health care plan and the federal law Democrats passed in 2010: "Mitt Romney is 100 percent dedicated and committed to repealing Obamacare. He has said on day one and when he's president, he's going to issue executive orders that will give states waivers from Obamacare and then he will take the additional steps to repeal it."

Romney mostly avoided Iowa over the summer and hasn't built up a large campaign organization here so far. Quite a few Iowa Republican state legislators supported Romney for president in 2008, but this year only State Senator James Hahn and State Representative Renee Schulte endorsed him early. State Representative Linda Miller had joined a steering committee for Pawlenty but endorsed Romney shortly after Pawlenty left the race. Several of Romney's 2008 endorsers are committed to other candidates: State Senator David Johnson is backing Perry, Senator Brad Zaun is backing Bachmann, and former House Speaker Chris Rants (now retired from the legislature) is supporting Representative Thad McCotter.

Perry only just started hiring Iowa staff last month. So far the best-known Iowa elected official to endorse him is State Senator Johnson. Governor Terry Branstad has promised to remain neutral before the Iowa caucuses but has made his admiration for Perry clear on many occasions. Branstad has also urged Romney to spend more time campaigning in Iowa.

To my knowledge, none of Pawlenty's former Iowa campaign leaders have committed to another candidate yet. Former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker was chairing Pawlenty's campaign, and his co-chairs were former State Representative and Iowa GOP co-chair Jim Kurtenbach, former gubernatorial candidate Christian Fong, Ames-based businessman Roger Underwood, and former State Auditor Richard Johnson.

Ten Iowa legislators formally backed Pawlenty over the summer. As I mentioned above, State Representative Linda Miller is already on board with Romney. That leaves the following still uncommitted: Senators Randy Feenstra, Rob Bacon and Shawn Hamerlinck, and State Representatives Chip Baltimore, Joel Fry, Erik Helland, Chris Hagenow, Steve Lukan and Matt Windschitl.

Any comments about the Republican presidential race are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: Matt Whitaker joined the Perry campaign as Iowa co-chair on September 13.

Pawlenty quits presidential race

desmoinesdem — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:47:10 GMT

Backers of former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign insisted all summer that he would stay in the race at least through the Iowa caucuses, but he gave up this morning.
Link:

"I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn't exist so we are going to end the campaign," Pawlenty said on ABC's "This Week" broadcast live from the campus of Iowa State University. [...]
"I thought I would have made a great president, but obviously that pathway isn't there," Pawlenty said. "I do believe we're going to have a very good candidate who is going to beat Barack Obama."

Pawlenty didn't raise a lot of money this year and spent a lot of his cash on hand on television advertising and organizing in Iowa before the Ames straw poll. Nevertheless, he finished a distant third behind Representatives Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, and not far ahead of former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. On Saturday evening Pawlenty signaled that he would fight on, but he changed his mind overnight. Pawlenty's failure to gain a large following in Iowa, combined with yesterday's campaign announcement by Texas Governor Rick Perry, made it all but impossible for Pawlenty to become the "not Mitt Romney" surging out of the Iowa caucuses.

Pawlenty's departure frees up a lot of influential Iowa Republicans to find a candidate with a snowball's chance in hell of winning. Former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker, a lawyer in private practice in Des Moines, was Pawlenty's Iowa campaign chairman. Co-chairs of the presidential campaign were former State Representative and Iowa GOP co-chair Jim Kurtenbach, former gubernatorial candidate Christian Fong, and Ames-based businessman Roger Underwood. UPDATE: Forgot to mention Richard Johnson, who became another Pawlenty Iowa co-chair in June. Johnson served as state auditor during the 1980s and 1990s and co-chaired Bob Vander Plaats' 2010 gubernatorial campaign, as well as John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign in Iowa.

Ten Iowa legislators had joined a steering committee to support Pawlenty: Senators Randy Feenstra (district 2), Rob Bacon (district 5) and Shawn Hamerlinck (district 42), and State Representatives Chip Baltimore (district 48), Joel Fry (district 95), Erik Helland (district 69), Chris Hagenow (district 59), Steve Lukan (district 32), Linda Miller (district 82) and Matt Windschitl (district 56).

I'm curious to see who will be the next candidate to directly criticize Bachmann. Pawlenty and his supporters had questioned her competence and her legislative record. Pawlenty and Bachmann mixed it up during Thursday's televised debate. Will Perry become the next person to engage with Bachmann on the issues, or with a "results not rhetoric" message? Or will rivals push back against Bachmann through blind quotes and hit jobs like last month's media frenzy over migraine headaches?

Any comments about the Republican presidential race are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: Not running for a third term as governor of Minnesota has to be a huge regret for Pawlenty. Democrat Mark Dayton won the three-way open gubernatorial race by whisker, but Pawlenty would presumably have had a good chance of beating him, given the Republican skew of the electorate last November. Instead of being a failed presidential candidate with nothing to do, Pawlenty would be a governor with a GOP-controlled legislature for the first time.

SECOND UPDATE: Agree 100 percent with ragbrai08: "T-paw will always be remembered as Bachmann's roadkill." I would add that State Senators Kent Sorenson and Brad Zaun, who jumped on the Bachmann bandwagon early, may not be the brightest bulbs in the Iowa GOP, but they look smarter today than the insiders who believed Pawlenty could become a convincing not-Romney.

Register poll has good news for Bachmann, bad news for Pawlenty

desmoinesdem — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:35:49 GMT

The Des Moines Register's new poll of 400 likely Republican caucus-goers indicates that Representative Michele Bachmann is gaining ground. Selzer and Co surveyed Iowans between June 19 and 22, and the margin of error for the sample of likely caucus-goers is plus or minus 4.9 percent. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney leads the field with 23 percent support, but he has already indicated that he won't invest heavily in Iowa this cycle. Bachmann nearly matched Romney in the Register's poll with 22 percent. Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain placed a distant third with 10 percent, followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Representative Ron Paul (7 percent each), former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (6 percent), former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (4 percent) and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (2 percent).

Romney's best numbers are among moderates, people with less than a college education, and those earning less than $50,000 per year. Bachmann did particularly well with respondents who are very conservative, well-educated and/or between the ages of 45 and 64. The encouraging poll numbers will give her more buzz just as she is scheduled to formally announce her candidacy (for the second or third time) in Waterloo on June 27.

The results are terrible for Pawlenty, who doesn't seem to be getting any traction out of his large staff and many Iowa visits. Putting a less-bad spin on the numbers,

Republican pollster Randy Gutermuth pointed out that the Iowa Poll took place before Pawlenty's television ads, direct mail and other paid voter outreach had time to penetrate.
"It's way too early to be writing off Tim Pawlenty," said Gutermuth, who is not affiliated with any presidential candidate. "I'm sure they'd rather be leading today, but I don't think they're jumping out of buildings either."

Maybe not jumping out of buildings, but eager to change the subject as soon as this poll came out. On June 26, Pawlenty's campaign announced the formation of an Iowa Legislative Steering Committee. Legislators serving on the committee cover all regions of the state: Iowa Senators Randy Feenstra (district 2), Rob Bacon (district 5) and Shawn Hamerlinck (district 42), and State Representatives Chip Baltimore (district 48), Joel Fry (district 95), Erik Helland (district 69), Chris Hagenow (district 59), Steve Lukan (district 32), Linda Miller (district 82) and Matt Windschitl (district 56). Unfortunately for Pawlenty, all the endorsements in the world won't turn things around unless the candidate starts connecting with caucus-goers. Right now Bachmann leads him even as a second choice for Iowans who prefer Romney--and that's without any of the candidates picking apart Pawlenty's fiscal record and heavy state borrowing.

Speaking of the Register's opinion polls and caucus coverage, the Sunday paper announced that Jennifer Jacobs will be the Register's chief political writer. She replaces Thomas Beaumont, who took a job with the Associated Press this spring.

Any comments about the Republican presidential race are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: Douglas Burns tells us what a top British bookmaker says. Even before this poll was released, Ladbrokes gave Bachmann the best chance of winning the Iowa caucuses.

SECOND UPDATE: More detailed questions results from the new Iowa poll are here. I've highlighted some interesting results from the "issue" questions after the jump.
From the June 2011 Des Moines Register Iowa poll of 400 likely caucus-goers. (The poll surveyed 1,831 Iowans drawn from a registered voter list of Republicans and independents; sub-sample included those who said they "definitely" or "probably" would attend the Republican caucus scheduled for February 2012.)

Q: I'm going to mention some things you know or might learn about some Republican candidates. For each, please tell me if a candidate taking this position is a deal-killer for you, something you'd have to consider, or is the position no real problem for you. (Rotate list.)

Supports civil unions for gay and lesbian couples: 58 percent deal-killer, 13 percent would consider, 27 percent no real problem, 2 percent not sure

Opposes continued subsidies for ethanol 14 percent deal-killer, 36 percent would consider, 40 percent no real problem, 10 percent not sure

Says climate change is a threat to be addressed through environmental policies 33 percent deal-killer, 28 percent would consider, 32 percent no real problem, 7 percent not sure

Favors raising the debt ceiling to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its obligations 49 percent deal-killer, 27 percent would consider, 17 percent no real problem, 7 percent not sure

Has supported an individual mandate for health insurance 44 percent deal-killer, 25 percent would consider, 18 percent no real problem, 13 percent not sure

Favors privatizing Medicare 29 percent deal-killer, 31 percent would consider, 35 percent no real problem, 5 percent not sure

Favors cuts in defense spending 40 percent deal-killer, 36 percent would consider, 21 percent no real problem, 3 percent not sure

Has messy family relationships with spouses or ex-spouses or children 36 percent deal-killer, 33 percent would consider, 26 percent no real problem, 5 percent not sure

Believes that in addition to cuts in spending, taxes must be raised to reduce the deficit 51 percent deal-killer, 26 percent would consider, 17 percent no real problem, 6 percent not sure

Favors a return to the gold standard 13 percent deal-killer, 30 percent would consider, 35 percent no real problem, 22 percent not sure

Q: As you think about the most important qualities in the next president, is it more important for that person to be a fiscal conservative or a social conservative or is there something else that is more important?

62 percent fiscal conservative
20 percent social conservative
7 something else is more important
11 not sure

First take on the Iowa House and Senate results (updated)

desmoinesdem — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:16:33 GMT

Democrats suffered big losses in the Iowa House and Senate last night. Assuming no results change through recounts, the House is likely to switch from 56 Democrats and 44 Republicans to 59 Republicans and 41 Democrats. I've seen some online references to a 58-42 split, but that's not how the count looks based on unofficial results posted on the Secretary of State's website.

Democrats maintain control of the Iowa Senate, but their majority shrank from 32-18 to 27-23. Governor-elect Terry Branstad should easily be able to get his agenda through the Iowa House, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal may have trouble keeping his caucus united.

UPDATE: Late returns could change the outcome in two Senate seats; it's possible the chamber could have a 25-25 split, or a 26-24 Democratic majority.

SECOND UPDATE: A few more races could switch as more absentee ballots come in. As of Wednesday evening, Democrat Tom Schueller is now trailing in House district 25 by about 150 votes.

Here's my take on the seats that changed hands and the near-misses.
Iowa House

Democrats only managed to win one of the three open Republican-held seats they were targeting. Dan Muhlbauer beat the worst candidate ever, Dan Dirkx, in House district 51, previously held by Rod Roberts. Muhlbauer took more than 58 percent of the vote to just 41 percent for Dirkx.

In House district 74, which Kent Sorenson vacated to run for the Iowa Senate, Scott Ourth lost to Republican Glen Massie by a little more than a 53-47 margin.

In House district 99, left open when Doug Struyk retired, Mary Ann Hanusa defeated Kurt Hubler by 55 percent to 44.5 percent.

Republicans gained four Democratic-held open seats. They probably would have won House districts 1 and 8 anyway, because the previous Democratic incumbents (Wes Whitead and Dolores Mertz) barely were re-elected in 2008, a stronger year for Democratic turnout. Jeremy Taylor beat David Dawson in House district 1 by about 54 percent to 46 percent.

Tom Shaw beat Susan Bangert in district 8 by 67 percent to 33 percent; the Iowa Democratic Party put virtually no resources into holding that district.

Kurt Meyer lost to Republican Josh Byrnes by a wide margin in House district 14, nearly 61 percent to 39 percent. Hard to say whether Mark Kuhn could have held that seat if he'd run for re-election.

In House district 84, formerly held by Elesha Gayman, Republican Ross Paustian defeated Sheri Carnahan by 57 percent to 43 percent. That would have been a tough hold for Gayman.

Democrat Chris Hall held House district 2 (long held by Roger Wendt), beating Cate Bryan by 54 percent to 46 percent. Iowans for Tax Relief had put tens of thousands of dollars into Bryan's campaign.

Republicans barely missed on the open House district 7, previously held by Marcella Frevert. Democrat John Wittneben has a 38-vote lead over Lannie Miller in the unofficial results.

Democrat Anesa Kajtazovic became the youngest woman ever elected to the Iowa House as well as the first Bosnian immigrant elected to the Iowa legislature. She easily won House district 21, previously held by Kerry Burt, by nearly 59 percent to 41 percent over John Rooff.

Democrat Mary Wolfe won the open House district 26 by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin over David Rose. The independents must have broken heavily to the Republican in this district, because it has a strong Democratic registration advantage.

Newton has gone through very tough times these past few years, but Democrat Dan Kelley held the open House district 41 with 51 percent of the vote to nearly 49 percent for Gabriel Swersie.

Republicans defeated 12 Democratic House incumbents. Only one of the Democratic "six-pack" that defeated labor legislation will head back to the house: Brian Quirk in House district 15. Dolores Mertz retired, and the other four "six-pack" members lost last night.

Former Iowa Senate Republican leader Stew Iverson beat two-term Democratic incumbent McKinley Bailey in House district 9 by 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent.

Doris Kelley lost House district 20 by nearly a 54-46 margin to Walt Rogers, who came 22 votes short of defeating Democratic State Senator Jeff Danielson in 2008.

The big six-pack surprise loser was Geri Huser, who was endorsed by business groups and didn't seem to be a top target for Republicans. Unofficial returns have her 159 votes behind Kim Pearson in House district 42.

As expected, Larry Marek lost House district 89 with just 43 percent of the vote to nearly 54 percent for Jarad Klein, whom Marek narrowly defeated in 2008.

Mike Reasoner, another fairly conservative Democrat, lost House district 95 to Joel Fry by nearly a 57-43 margin. Reasoner had been re-elected easily in the past.

Democrats lost several districts that Republicans had targeted for the last couple of cycles. First-term incumbent John Beard lost by just 227 votes (51 percent to 49 percent) to Bob Hager in House district 16. The district was competitive in 2008, but Republicans had struggled to recruit a candidate here earlier in the year.

Republican Dan Rasmussen avenged his 2008 loss to Gene Ficken by winning House district 23 back for the GOP. Rasmussen won by 206 votes (51-49 percent) according to unofficial results.

Ray Zirkelbach lost to Lee Hein in House district 31 by nearly 54 percent to 46 percent. Zirkelbach and McKinley Bailey were both Iraq War veterans, incidentally.

Eric Palmer defeated a conservative incumbent in 2006 and survived a rematch in 2008, but he couldn't win a third term yesterday. Guy Vander Linden took House district 75 by about 53 percent to 47 percent.

Nathan Reichert had been the first Democrat in decades to represent House district 80 in the Muscatine area. The GOP failed to take him out in 2008, but Mark Lofgren won nearly 58 percent of the vote yesterday to just 42 percent for Reichert.

Donovan Olson of Boone hadn't been seriously challenged in a while, but he fell a heartbreakingly 28 votes short against Chip Baltimore in House district 48. I hope Olson will consider seeking a rematch in 2012, but that probably depends on the new district lines

The biggest surprise for me last night was seeing Paul Shomshor lose House district 100 in Council Bluffs. Shomshor had held this seat since winning a 2003 special election, but he lost to Mark Brandenburg, 53 percent to 47 percent. I wonder if home-town Secretary of State candidate Matt Schultz had some coat-tails for Republicans here, because the GOP win in House district 99 was by a larger than expected margin.

So, Democrats should end up with 41 seats in the new Iowa House, gaining Muhlbauer's district but losing 16 seats they previously held (4 open, 12 incumbents). As bad as that sounds, it could easily have been worse. The following Democratic House incumbents were re-elected by less than 1 percent of the vote:

Andrew Wenthe leads by 28 votes in House district 18.

Tom Schueller has only a 15-vote lead according to unofficial returns in House district 25. WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Schueller now trails by about 150 votes--looks like he will lose.

Roger Thomas won by just over 1 percent of the vote in House district 26.

As I mentioned above, John Wittneben won the open House district 7 by a tiny fraction of the vote too.

Democratic incumbents Phyllis Thede (district 81) and Kurt Swaim (distict 94) won by more than a 1 percent but less than a 2 percent margin.

Mark Smith won by only a little more than 2 percent in House district 43.

Outgoing House Speaker Pat Murphy didn't even get 52 percent of the vote in House district 28.

Iowa Senate

As I wrote last night, five Iowa Senate seats were considered highly competitive going into this election. I had hoped Democrats would hold one or two of those, but Republicans swept all five.

Rick Mullin lost the open Senate district 1 in Sioux City to Rick Bertrand, 51 percent to 49 percent. I have to believe Steve Warnstadt could have held this seat if he hadn't retired.

For months Democrats kept telling me Rich Olive was in great shape for re-election, but he lost Senate district 5 to Rob Bacon by 54 percent to 46 percent.

Bill Heckroth was stuck in the most Republican-leaning Democratic-held Senate district, and having two Grassleys on the ballot probably didn't help him either. He lost Senate district 9 to Bill Dix by nearly 58 percent to 42 percent. This seat had been in Republican hands for decades before Bob Brunkhorst retired in 2006.

I am disappointed in Staci Appel's campaign in Senate district 37. Perhaps she would have lost anyway in a Republican wave, but it should have been a lot closer than a 59 percent to 41 percent win for Kent Sorenson.

Becky Schmitz put up a good fight in Senate district 45, but former state legislator Sandy Greiner was practically like an incumbent in this district. Greiner took nearly 51 percent of the vote to around 44 percent for Schmitz. A conservative running as a third-party candidate took nearly 5 percent in that district.

So, Democrats hold 27 seats in the next Iowa Senate, and Republicans hold 23 if the current results stand.

It's worth noting that in the open Senate district 13, Democrat Tod Bowman leads Andrew Naeve by only 38 votes according to unofficial returns. The result could change in a recount.

The other narrow escape in the Senate Democratic caucus was Keith Kreiman, who took just under 51 percent of the vote in district 47. Republican Mark Chelgren, known to RAGBRAI riders as "Chickenman," finished a little less than 300 votes back.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: Kreiman is not out of the water--this one is probably headed for a recount. As more absentee ballots come in, Chelgren has taken a 13-vote lead. NOVEMBER 9 UPDATE: Chelgren appears to have won this seat by 12 votes.

Any comments about the statehouse races are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: In the comments, Bleeding Heartland user Iowa_native says 300 absentee ballots haven't been returned in Boone County (HD 48). If many of those were postmarked yesterday and arrive today or tomorrow, Donovan Olson has a chance of making up the 28-vote deficit. This one is probably headed for a recount. NOVEMBER 9 UPDATE: Olson still trails by a couple dozen votes--too much ground to make up.