ELDRIDGE, Iowa — When Eldridge
Mayor Frank Wood got an invitation to attend first lady Laura Bush’s
campaign stop here a week ago, he said he planned to go and listen
respectfully.

He never got the chance. Wood, a Democrat who is running for the Iowa
Senate this year, was turned away at the door and told his name was not
on the approved list of guests for the event at the Scott County
Library in Eldridge.

…Wood believes he should have been allowed to attend as mayor of the
host city. And some Democrats question whether his bid to oust Iowa
Sen. Bryan Sievers, R-New Liberty, might have played a role in keeping
him out of the room.

Wood said that when he arrived at the event that Friday morning, he talked
with two Republican officeholders who were waiting in line, including
Sievers. He even had his picture taken with Sievers. But when it came
time for Wood to check in with greeters who held a list of approved
guests, he was told his name was not on it. After a round of
conversations with Secret Service agents and others, Wood said he was
told he would not be allowed to enter. So he left.

“I was there to represent the City of Eldridge,” he said. “It would’ve
been an event that I would remember, meeting the first lady. I wanted
to welcome her to the City of Eldridge. I would have sat there and
listened cordially and done what I was supposed to do. I was wearing my
mayoral hat.”

John McCormally, a spokesman for the Iowa Democratic Party, questioned whether Wood’s challenge of Sievers led to his exclusion.

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