Questioning the Narrative: Prairie Dog’s Honor Roll (2):

Two weeks before the last election, Iowa Senator Mike Gronstal informed Iowa Representative Nate Willems that Willems’ poll numbers were very low in his campaign for a rural Senate seat.  So low, in fact that Gronstal felt compelled to cut off Democratic Party funding for Willems’ race in a district with a Republican voter registration advantage.  Willems pushed on without party support and won over 49% of the vote against a well-funded farmer from Delaware County.

The Iowa Legislature will be missing a strong voice for working people. It was Willems who found the votes in the waning hours of the 2009 legislative session to stop insurance companies from instituting a “deny benefits now, ask questions later” policy for injured employees.  Willems was a leading advocate in the Iowa Legislature for funding for Iowa Legal Aid Services, for year round schools, for increased access to advanced placement courses, and for allowing mothers unpaid time in the workplace to pump breast milk.

A $139,000,000 golf course/hotel/waterpark near McGregor sounded good to a group of developers, especially when sweetened with a Vision Iowa grant and county tax increment financing to ease the risk. Up stepped Concerned Citizens of Clayton County, led by local farmers and their intrepid attorney, Wallace Taylor of Cedar Rapids.

The grassroots group discovered a history of poor management and environmental infractions by the developers, leading to lawsuits and penalties by the Attorney-General’s Office and the Department of Natural Resources. They also discovered that an earlier project by the developers in a central Wisconsin community fell short of its sales pitch, leaving behind a TIF district classified as “severely distressed.” After a nearly ten-year battle, Concerned Citizens and Taylor saved Clayton County from being stuck with the cost of a TIF-funded tax-exempt urban renewal revenue bond of $20,000,000 for an upscale tourist attraction.

The North Liberty Leader doesn’t have the cachet of the larger newspapers “covering the corridor,” but it is well-written, independent, and thoroughly researched. Editor Lori Lindner frequently presents clear-eyed perspectives that don’t always follow the unquestioning narrative of the other papers. One example is her in-depth article on Johnson County’s third consecutive record voter turnout for a Presidential election. Lindner traced the history of early voting expansion in the county, noting the implementation of satellite polling stations as a turning point in 1992. She then gave 36-year Commissioner of Elections Tom Slockett ample space to flesh out that history and to answer accusations thrown at him in more recent months.

The Leader and its sister paper the Solon Economist also provide detailed coverage of city council meetings in North Liberty, Tiffin, and Solon, and thoughtful features on everything from school board decisions and housing density issues to music therapy and cuts in funding for congregate meals.

Tom Sands, a ten-year incumbent in a Republican district, proved to be unbeatable in 2012, but first-time Iowa House candidate Sara Sedlacek gave him a scare. Sedlacek, a small business owner and former journalist, came within shouting distance of an upset victory, powered by a remarkable 57% in Muscatine County. Her strong outreach to Latino voters brought more citizens into the political process and will pay dividends for them (and for progressive candidates) in the next decade.

After enduring staff  turnover and a bit of mission drift, One Iowa enticed national LGBT rights activist Donna Red Wing to relocate in the heartland to help defend marriage equality. Red Wing hit the road with Zach Wahls, blogged for Huffington Post, and contributed to the voters’ retention of Justice David Wiggins on the Iowa Supreme Court.

— Prairie Dog

(click here for PP’s Honor Roll #1 from the August newsletter)

Reprinted with permission from the Winter 2012 issue of The Prairie Progressive, Iowa’s oldest progressive newsletter, available only in hard copy for $12/yr.!!  Send check to PP, Box 1945, Iowa City 52244.