ZW did a superb job on Iowa Press as always. He nailed every question from the Republican friendly panel by re-framing and informing. He has the ability to make the best of the panel’s odd, sometimes hostile questioning. He educates viewers while neutralizing the Republican talking points the panel brings forth. He is a visionary and a natural leader that has the added advantage of youth that Iowa Democrats sorely need.

So allow me to digress a bit to lament that his colleagues chose to ditch him as Minority Leader for someone from the old guard. Not knocking anyone and I admit to not knowing much about the situation other than what I’ve read on public posts and Wahls’ email about it. In his email he took the high road, focusing on how important it is for Democrats to keep fighting for our state and not give up.

“..my Democratic colleagues in the Iowa Senate chose a new caucus Leader, Senator Pam Jochum. After serving as Leader the past two-and-a-half years, I know how critically important this job is, not just for Iowa Democrats, but for all Iowans. Her success is vital to the wellbeing and betterment of our state, and I will continue working hard everyday to serve my constituents, help Leader Jochum and the Iowa Senate Democrats, and elect more Democrats in Iowa.”

One would think the Dems could have found a better solution to deal with what they were upset about. His swift and decisive removal as leader was breathtaking. One wishes the party could show that same organizing ability and verve when dealing with Republicans or winning elections.  It feels like a step backwards to many Democrats that I’ve talked to.

But on to the program. I’ve frequently been critical of Iowa Press for not asking follow-up questions – of Republicans that is. They regularly demand answers from Dems as Dave Price weirdly did in this episode. Watch the exchange starting around 5:30.

Caleb McCullough lobbed the first question about the school voucher bill. This is what I mean by hostile questioning. Mentioning Odyssey, the out of state 3rd party that will be administering the program, McCullough asked, “won’t that system that I just described kind of help prevent the fraud that you all were concerned about?”  They’re defending Reynolds farming out the administration of the voucher program by suggesting it is fraud prevention? And putting that on Democrats, like, “that’s what you wanted,  isn’t it?”

Wahls responded by explaining the lack of transparency and information is a bad deal for Iowa and came back with better questions than the panel asked all night.  “Why couldn’t the Department of Education perform this oversight? Why do they need that third-party vendor from an out-of-state company? Isn’t there a company in Iowa that could have done that?” Pretty sure nobody on the panel was curious about that when the governor was on the program May 12.

Dave Price follows up with “In the end, isn’t raising private teacher pay a good thing?” Good old Republican framing, flipping reality around to trap the interviewee into agreeing.

Wahls responds patiently explaining, “I don’t have a problem with private school teachers having their wages increased. What I do have a problem with is taking public taxpayer money to fund those programs… I think that what we need to stay focused on is Iowa has a long tradition of a strong public education system that educates every Iowa kid. That was a huge part of what has made Iowa, Iowa. And this private school voucher scheme is a radical departure from that. And so, I would certainly support increasing teacher pay for Iowa’s public school teachers. I don’t support using those public taxpayer dollars to go put that money into the private schools.”

Price: “…So, is your goal to try to recapture the majority and then take it away?”

Really is anyone seriously losing sleep about Democrats recapturing the majority any time soon? Where is this coming from? This professional journalist seemingly missed the entire 2023 legislative session or he would not be worried about Democrats taking things away from people who send their kids to private schools.

Wahls answers in part, “Look, our goal is to make sure that every Iowa kid can get the best world class education that they deserve and that they need in order to be successful later in life…” and I figure Price has to be done now. But no.

Price comes back with “So, get rid of it or not?”

You will never hear the Iowa Press panel talk this way to Republicans. This hard line I-want-an-answer-to-my-question style of interviewing is for Democrats, while Kim Reynolds and Republican guests are served milk and cookies.

Watch if you dare.