The organization that funded Joni Ernst, Trees of Liberty, no longer exists, disappearing after doing nothing but financing her campaign. That and other probable illegalities are discussed here. Take a trip down memory lane as the lawyer for the Center for Media and Democracy explains what they did.
“A few months ago when the tax filings for Freedom Partners came out, Freedom Partners being the conduit for Koch money, we found out that in 2014, Trees of Liberty was entirely funded by the Koch political network. Trees of Liberty the group that came out of nowhere, dropped an incredible amount of money on this Iowa GOP senate primary race, was entirely funded by the Koch Brothers, and the Koch political network, and ultimately, broke the law in the process. That is what we allege in our complaint.” Read the complaint here.
See exhibits here and here. Read the DOJ Letter here
Update:This week Grassley will be in Iowa holding town hall meetings in DeWitt, Muscatine, Marengo, Tama, Vinton, Tipton. Scroll down for complete schedule and times.
The caucuses are over. It’s an election year. Our elected officials should be questioned by their constituents. That is the essence of America.
Senator Grassley has been doing many things which should be questioned over the past year or two.
– For instance there was the signing of the letter to Iran intended to hinder the administration’s foreign policy.
– His hold on State Department nominations at a critical time in foreign relations as he tries to bring down Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign
– Most recently there is his vote denying that humans are the cause of climate change thus denying science
If you think about it long enough there are surely a few things you would like to ask Grassley. Maybe why he continues to vote to end the ACA or what the Republican plan is to replace the ACA in a way that will truly cover all Americans?
Grassley has a few town halls next week. With Republicans leading congress, they don’t spend much time in Washington:
Tuesday Feb.16
Iowa County Town Meeting
1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Marengo Public Library
235 East Hilton Street Marengo
Tama County Town Meeting
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Tama Civic Center
305 Siegel Street Tama
Benton County Town Meeting
5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.
Vinton City Hall
City Council Chambers
110 West 3rd Street Vinton
Wednesday Feb.17
Cedar County Town Meeting
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Cedar County Courthouse
Large Meeting Room
400 Cedar Street Tipton
Clinton County Town Meeting
6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
DeWitt City Hall
510 9th Street DeWitt
Thursday Feb.18
Muscatine County Town Meeting
2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Muscatine Community College
Room 27, Strahn Hall
152 Colorado Street Muscatine
Update to add: With the death of Antonin Scalia and Grassley’s position as chair of the Judiiciary committee we need to make sure that he is asked repeatedly to do his constitutional duty and consider Obama’s appointment to the Supreme Court.
This may be a far afield reach on my part, but am I the only one that sees the current Democratic primary season as an extension of the Occupy movement from a little over 4 years ago?
Bernie Sanders has long been the voice of those who seem to have been forgotten by the political establishment. When he felt that the issues of those forgotten were not getting enough voice in the race for the presidency, he took it upon himself to become that voice. Much as the Occupy movement grew large as those forgotten gathered to voice their concerns, the Sanders campaign has grown immensely as the voiceless seem to have a champion.
(video @ 2 minutes)
Meanwhile the more establishment and more established campaign of Hillary Clinton is waking up to realize the those disaffected by the political process will be voting and she wants a part of that vote. Her concession speech in New Hampshire Tuesday night sounded like the campaign had a new focus: (video @ 10 minutes)
Call it populist if you will, call it opportunist if you want. It appears that the quiet protests that took place from New York City to San Francisco, including spots in Iowa has now gone mainstream. The frustrations that led to people quietly protesting the power of money in politics has become the central issue in the Democratic Party primary.
In truth this is the Democratic Party returning to the roots set down by Franklin Roosevelt when he took over a country shattered by Republican policies of the 1920s. Today the country still suffers from the Republican economic policies started by Ronald Reagan and continued through his Republican successors. President Obama has been handcuffed by nothing less than a revolution in the US Senate that has forced every piece of legislation to need a super majority of 60% to pass any legislation in this country. 60% is nearly impossible to get for anything in this country. Thus Republicans have been able to stifle nearly every attempt to move the economy forward by Obama.
So Republicans have used some extraordinary, even revolutionary, measures to keep their bad policies in force and the populace has become frustrated to the point where their backs were against the wall and something has to give.
Even the Republican party is not immune to the frustrations of the common man. Yet their expression of frustration seems to be channeled into a strange vehicle in billionaire Donald Trump. The reasoning seems to be that since Trump is already rich he can stand up to the rich and stop the power of their money in politics. They seem to forget that Trump is a deeply embedded member of the group they are against. As in many things within the Republican party they have created a Bizzaro version of a solution.
Can the momentum be preserved and channeled into a victory not just at the top, but in lower races from the US House to the state house? Remember that our political system was designed to be complex so that it is nearly impossible for one faction to gain control of the three branches of government plus state governments at the same time.
One could say that what has happened since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 has been a series of small revolutions that has moved our government from democracy to oligarchy while maintaining the outward trappings of democracy.
First the Reagan Administration upended the laws of economics with the implementation of supply side economics.
Second was the selection of George W. Bush to be president by the Supreme Court with no constitutional basis and before the votes were fully counted.
Third has been the Supreme Court upsetting precedent on a grand scale and often without constitutional basis.
Finally the rules of the Senate have been altered in such a way that a majority often loses because it can’t muster the 60% supermajority therefore giving veto power to a minority of 41%.
Sanders talks of a revolution. Perhaps a counter-revolution would be a better description. Whatever it is, it is well past time for this country to return to Lincoln’s description of a nation “of the people, by the people and for the people” rather than the current “of the rich, by the rich and for the rich.”
“When I was a boy, if you talked to someone outside, you’d have to gather up the frozen words, take them inside and thaw them before you knew what they said.”
Well, it is cold outside but not nearly as cold as a Republican’s heart. Only scientists have thermometers that measure that low. Makes you wonder if a scientist could measure the temperature of Branstad’s heart as he pushes to take money from from the most vulnerable in Iowa to give that money to corporations. Can you say Absolute Zero!?
But enough of cold talk, it gives me the chills. Let’s warm up with a quiz!
1) Albert Einstein popped up in the news this week. What did he do that was newsworthy 60+ years after his death?
2) What restaurant chain closed its doors across the country at lunch hour Monday for a meeting on food handling safety?
3) In Iowa Marco Rubio claimed his 3rd place finish was a victory. Where did Rubio finish in New Hampshire?
4) It is still Black History Month. Who is most identified with the Underground Railroad – Frederick Douglass or Harriet Tubman?
5) The city of Cleveland, Ohio made headlines when who was charged for emergency medical services from 1.5 years ago?
6) One of the leading voices against privatizing Medicaid in Iowa is what former governor?
7) Feb. 12, 1809 what two men were born who would have major impacts on history?
8) Black History Month. What man became the first death of the American Revolution when he was shot at the Boston Massacre?
9) Today is Saint Valentine’s Day. Valentine is thought to have existed and was said to have been a bishop near what major city in the 3rd century?
10) The Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed what Democratic candidate Thursday?
11) A member of the US Women’s Soccer team has said she may skip the Olympics in Rio this summer because of what?
12) Black History Month. What lawyer was probably the most hunted man in America, but ended up on the US Supreme Court?
13) The Iowa Utilities Board has yet again delayed an expected decision on what controversial subject this week?
14) Exit polls in New Hampshire found that 2/3rds of republicans were in favor of what policy espoused by Donald Trump?
15) A Florida man was arrested for throwing what through the drive up window at a Wendy’s back in October?
16) In the state of Tamil Nado, India a bus driver became the first person ever to have been confirmed killed by what?
17) The National Highway Transportation Safety Board ruled that what could be considered a legal driver and google celebrated?
18) Black History Month. Carver Hall on the Iowa State University campus is named after what famous ISU graduate?
19) In Cuba, the Catholic Pope (Pope Francis) met with the head of the Orthodox Church (Patriarch Kirill) for the first time in how many years?
20) Who left the clown bus this week?
Hard to believe, but daylight time is only a couple weeks away.
Answers:
1) predicted that gravitational waves existed. Discovery of their existence was announced this week.
2) Chipotle
3) 5th – he’s on a roll
4) Harriet Tubman
5) the family of Tamir Rice was charged for emergency magical services stemming from his shooting by police. The bill was withdrawn the next day.
6) Chet Culver
7) Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin
8) Crispus Attucks
9) Rome
10) Hillary Clinton
11) Hope Solo said she may skip the Olympics because of the zika virus
12) Thurgood Marshall
13) the Bakken pipeline
14) banning Muslims from entering the US
15) a 3.5 foot alligator
16) a meteorite – boy was he lucky?
17) AI or artificial intelligence
18) George Washington Carver
19) since the Great Schism of 1054 or just short of 1000 years.
As many have already heard, Justice Antonin Scalia died at a Texas ranch today. Our humblest condolences to his family and friends.
The nation goes on. Thanks to the work of our far sighted founders, our government is a government not of men but of laws. When the inevitable happens mechanisms were set up long ago to replace humans as they pass on.
Our system of replacement is not a smooth pathway but a road with roadblocks meant to stop spurious candidates from being selected. It sometimes stop the well qualified candidates also. The President offers a nominee and the senate confirms that nominee.
Iowa’s Chuck Grassley has been in charge of the committee that screens federal judicial nominees before they go to a confirmation hearing. Since he became chair in 2015, Grassley has essentially halted the process waiting for the next election in hopes that the next President will be a Republican. So do not expect fast action on any nominee president Obama offers. Very likely there will be no action at all until after the election.
This also throws what was a 5-4 Republican outlook on the Court into a neutral 4-4 possibility in many cases. Republicans were looking for some major policy changes to emanate from the Court this coming June. Now that looks to be questionable at best.
Republicans will call for the process of selecting a new justice to pass until after the election. The Constitution is clear on this point however. Barack Obama is the president and he is charged with nominating a new justice. Unfortunately Chuck Grassley has shown his disdain for Obama in many ways over the years. So expect Chuck Grassley to do all in his power to stop the constitutional process.
Update: wyldwolf at democraticunderground.com points out that the longest confirmation process ever was the confirmation of Louis Brandeis in 1916:
“Took 125 days. Obama has 342 days left in office.”
A friend sent me a story concerning a new movement to have owners of guns being required to carry liability insurance on those guns. This has always seemed like a no brainer to me.
Guns do major damage in this country much as automobiles do. It just seems to make sense that if you have a piece of machinery that can inflict personal and property damage that you should be insured to cover that damage. To be honest I do not know if damage done by your gun is covered under another policy such as homeowner’s insurance, but if it is it is purely woeful inadequate.
Last year Mother Jones magazine did a special investigation on the cost of gun violence in this country. They had a hard time tracking down numbers in this area because the study of the effects of gun violence has been squelched by the US congress and various state legislatures. Even with that trouble MJ was able to come up with an estimate that the cost of gun violence is about a quarter of a trillion dollars per year or about $700 for every man, woman and child in this country.
We require every vehicle that is sold to be covered by insurance before the keys to the ignition are handed over whether it be a showroom sale or a private sale. We do this as a society so that if the driver of the vehicle causes property or bodily damage with that vehicle then the person driving is accountable and responsible for their damage. This concept of responsibility and accountability also extends to machinery used in businesses and also to products produced by a business.
So as a society Americans are supposed to carry insurance on anything that they do that may cause anyone harm and they get that insurance BEFORE they buy a vehicle or tart a business or even purchase a home. That is with on glaring exception. Americans are allowed to purchase guns and rifles that are designed to inflict injury and death without purchasing any insurance that would cover victims of such injuries or death. That is bad enough, but it is also galling that the cost of injuries and death are not borne by the gun owner, but by society as a whole.
One of the Republican Party’s major talking points over the years has been “personal responsibility and accountability.” It would surely seem to me that if you own a gun that by purchasing that gun you become responsible for the damage done by that gun. Therefore it seems that buying insurance to cover potential damage would be the responsible and accountable think to do, doesn’t it.
There would also be a major plus if insurance companies were on the hook for potential large payouts if gun owners were not responsible. So they would probably employ some of the same methods they use to rate automobile customers. If a person is deemed to be likely to cause damage he or she would be rated up or denied insurance.
But how could that stop someone from getting a gun? Well as I said, no insurance, no gun. The gun would have to have a mechanism that could only be implemented for one person at the time of purchase either by a licensed seller or by an insurance agent in the case of a private sale. This would also ensure that a background check would take place, since the insurance company would want to check on the clients background.
If the gun is lost or stolen it would need to be reported immediately. Remember that the gun can only be operated by the owner and any messing with that mechanism could disable the gun. There would be annual premiums for the insurance which would rise and fall based on the insurance company’s experience and that of the gun owner.
Gun insurance should be a step in an overall effort to curb the insane gun violence in this country. Do you want your children, your grandchildren and beyond to have to live in a society terrorized by guns? We need to begin somewhere. I offer this rudimentary proposal with market based solutions based on personal responsibility and accountability.
560,000 Iowans will be directly affected by privatization
For what it is worth at this juncture let’s have a big hand for the Iowa Senate which passed SF 2125 Thursday that called for the termination of contracts for the managed care of Iowa’s Medicaid program. This is better known as Gov. Branstad’s attempt to ramrod privatization (profitization) of Iowa’s Medicaid program down the throats of Iowans without regard to patient care.
In case you have missed this battle, Iowa’s governor is much more concerned about giving our tax dollars to three managed care companies than he is about what quality of care those who depend Medicaid for their health care. Branstad has been laser focused on pushing this change through. Cynics among us might be tempted to note that the companies picked by the Branstad administration with no input from anyone were among major donors to Branstad’s most recent campaign. But as we all know quid pro quo is so hard to prove.
The senate passed the bill with 29 votes which was 26 democratic votes and 3 Republican votes. We commend the 3 Republicans who put public good before party loyalty.
Unfortunately, new Speaker of the House, Linda Upmeyer refuses to even bring the bill to the floor. From radioiowa.com:
This senate bill will not be considered in the Republican-led House, however. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Clear Lake, suggested it’s a waste of time to pass a bill that will be vetoed by Governor Branstad.
May I remind folks that Speaker Upmeyer is the former chair of ALEC and currently serves as vice chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Board of Directors ALEC or the American Legislative Exchange Council is a conservative lobbying group underwritten to a great degree by the the Koch brothers. One of their goals is privatization of government functions.
Someone has suggested that perhaps a campaign to contact Speaker Upmeyer and request that she do her job and bring this bill to the floor for a vote. The Speaker’s contact numbers are through the House Switchboard at (515) 281-3221 or at 641-357-8807 or by email at linda.upmeyer@legis.ia.gov
Whether Branstad has threatened to veto this bill or not, Upmeyer owes it to the people of Iowa and especially the 560,000 Iowans who will be directly and most likely adversely affected by privatizing Medicaid to have their concerns heard in the legislature .
Yesterday, President Obama made good on his promise to use his bully pulpit to push for real democracy reform. And the agenda he laid out proves he’s listening to the huge majority of voters who want to put We The People back in charge.
Yesterday, President Obama was in Springfield, Illinois, where nine years ago he began his historic campaign for the presidency. There, he laid out how and why we must build a democracy where everyone can participate, and where every American is represented.
Here’s what that looks like:
We must “reduce the corrosive influence of money in our political system” which drowns out our voices and makes voters cynical about the prospects for change.
President Obama rightly called out the root of the problem — the Supreme Court’s disastrous ruling in Citizens United. And he joined the 16 states and more than 680 cities and towns who have called for a constitutional amendment to overturn that decision.
Political gerrymandering has to stop — incumbent politicians shouldn’t get to draw districts to protect themselves and squelch the competition. As President Obama pointed out, that leads to districts “shaped like earmuffs or spaghetti,” which is “how one party can get more seats even when it gets fewer votes.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Common Cause led the fight to establish impartial redistricting commissions in states like California and Ohio. Together, we can make sure that voters pick politicians — not the other way around.
Every eligible American should be able to participate in our democracy. President Obama said that lawmakers should be “making voting easier, not harder; and modernizing it for the way that we live now.”
The best, most specific reform? Have the nation follow the example of states like Oregon and California by automatically registering eligible voters when they get their driver’s licenses or IDs at the DMV.
The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and we’ve overcome countless obstacles to expand it through the years. Automatic voter registration would continue that proud legacy.
These three reforms would unlock the true potential of our democracy, starting a small-d democratic revolution that puts the voters — not special interest donors — in charge. It’s an agenda worth fighting for.
In committee, a BIPARTISAN majority of the Senate Human Resources Committee approved this bill.
The bill is certain to pass because every member of the Senate’s Democratic majority has already indicated they will vote to stop Medicaid privatization.
However, the more Republican Senators who also vote to stop Medicaid privatization, the more likely it is that the Republican House will discuss the legislation.
Please contact Senators and urge them to vote FOR SF 2125 when it is debated this Thursday, beginning at 9 AM.
• You can leave a message for Senators at 515-281-3371.
Under the Constitution, the United States operates with a federal government and state governments. Clashes between the states and the federal government over their respective authorities have long been a regular feature of our politics.
One important area of conflict concerns control over federal public lands in the West. Since the 1970s, western individuals and state legislatures have demanded the turnover of federal lands to the states. Actually, this issue has been smoldering for over a hundred years. Current news reports from Oregon cite armed militants occupying a federal wildlife refuge to protest the control and use of the land by the federal government.
In the current presidential campaigning, moreover, Republican Ben Carson argued that the federal government should “return” 2.4 billion acres of federal lands to the states. He confused the actual land mass of the United States with the 640 million acres of national forests, parks, wildlife refuges, and rangelands owned and managed by the federal government.
More importantly, federal lands have never been owned by the states. Rather they are public lands acquired through treaties, purchases and cessions. Carson’s call to “return” them distorts the historical context and gives a misleading impression of how federal land ownership works. Yet transferring public lands in the West to the states represents a staple argument of states-rights and conservative groups.
Where there has been a significant shift in power involves education. When President Obama signed the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) last December, it significantly transfers the power over education policy away from the federal government to states and school districts.
This sets the nation’s public schools on a sweeping new course of accountability that will change the way teachers are evaluated and how the poorest performing schools are pushed to improve. Replacing the widely criticized landmark No Child Left Behind education law of 2002, the ESSA seeks to balance Republicans wanting a limited federal role and Democrats insisting on civil rights and equal access. The new law encourages states to limit the time students spend on testing and diminishes the high stakes for underperforming schools. The new law gives states flexibility, beyond testing results, to consider additional performance measures such as graduation rates.
The legislation eliminates the federal mandate that teacher evaluations be tied to student performance on statewide tests. Students still have to take the federally mandated statewide reading and math exams in grades three to eight and once in high school. But states are encouraged to set caps on the amount of time students spend on testing. The law also gives more children from low and moderate income families access to preschool. States and districts will now assume responsibility for school goals, measures of achievement and progress, and helping struggling schools. The federal government will no longer tell states and local districts how to assess school and teacher performance.
Conflicts between states and the national government, dating back to the formation of the Constitution itself, will continue to occur. The appropriate exercise of national power sharply divides Republicans from Democrats. It also divides members of the Supreme Court.
Clashing views of federal and state power often pit state and federal officials against each other. Sharp disagreements happen when considering measures to safeguard the environment, spend money, regulate economic activities, defend consumers, uphold civil rights, prevent violence against women, and define criminal conduct in general and hate crimes in particular. Beyond liberal-conservative differences, the separation of powers and checks and balances of our political system sharpen these areas of discord.
Ralph Scharnau teaches U.S. history at Northeast Iowa Community College, Peosta. He holds a Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University. His publications include articles on labor history in Iowa and Dubuque. Scharnau, a peace and justice activist, writes monthly op-ed columns for the Dubuque Telegraph Herald.
Governor Kim Keynolds: (515) 281-5211 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Iowa Members of Congress - Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) - Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) - Rep. Zach Nunn (R) Iowa US Senators - Senator Joni Ernst (R) - Senator Charles Grassley (R)
The organization that funded Joni Ernst, Trees of Liberty, no longer exists, disappearing after doing nothing but financing her campaign. That and other probable illegalities are discussed here. Take a trip down memory lane as the lawyer for the Center for Media and Democracy explains what they did.
