The Conservative Reader: Iowa

The Rees for Congress Campaign is inviting the public to join them in opening their new headquarters. A Grand Opening with light refreshments has been scheduled for the evening of Friday, March 12, 2010 from 5:30 – 7 p.m. The office is located on the NW corner of 5th St and Railroad Ave. There is ample parking along both sides of 5th Street and off-street [...]

Update: You can listen to the podcast of the show by clicking here.

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So I got a request from Steve Deace to appear on The Deace Group round table on Friday (February 19) as Ted Sporer’s stand-in. I was a bit surprised since I’ve never actually been introduced to Steve face-to-face (we are friends on FaceBook, but then again other FB friends Bill Northey, who I’ve actually spoken with at length and who attends the same church I do, and all three Republican gubernatorial candidates whom I have at least shaken hands with) but I have exchanged messages and even called into his show recently (he actually said “Art’s right”… got it on a podcast).

But, I am honored and look forward to the fray. This quickly after ending my radio show on Des Moines Local Live is just too funny, and thankfully a one-time deal. The show (for those of you who aren’t familiar with Steve) is on WHO 1040 AM radio from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. I believe this segment will be either in the 5:00 or 6:00 hour. I will provide the podcast once it’s available (probably late Monday).

I know that Jonathan Narcisse (I’ve actually gotten to know Jonathan) will be there as usual, and I’m not sure if Alan Koslow will be or not… he recently returned from a mission to Haiti.

I was given the opportunity to sit on the floor of the Iowa House (thanks to Erik Helland) during tonight’s public forum on House File 2420, which allows unions to collects fees from employees that work in the Executive Branch of the Iowa government to cover the costs of contract bargaining and grievance assistance. It became clear that the new selling title for this bill is “Reasonable Reimbursement”.

In the Iowa House chamber, there were 58 speakers today, 32 in favor and 28 against House File 2420.

Almost every speaker in favor of the bill had little more to say than “everyone benefits, so everyone should pay”. Not much explanation why someone who does not want to be represented by a union has to pay the union, and why people should be forced to pay to have a job. There was some attempt to explain why unions shouldn’t just drop representing non-members. If I had to sit and listen to just all of the speakers in favor of the bill, I probably would have fallen asleep by the time it was half over due to the redundancy. Mind you, I’m glad that all of those speakers took the time to come and speak, but the argument is pretty simple and not compelling (at least not to me).

Maggie Martin probably stated the supporter’s position best: “Basically we are putting unions in the position of providing services for free This bill rights that wrong.”

One union leader admitted that the ultimate goal is repeal of Right to Work even though such a repeal doesn’t “resonate with Iowans”.

Another supporter (John Neiderbach) said: “Read the bill. This is a very modest bill.” As if partly bad isn’t a problem.

Interesting were the number of people who opposed the bill that one would have expected to be in support of it. At least one democrat who is a business owner, one educator, and a retire union member.

The most compelling [...]

Evidently anticipating a challenging public presence (although as of 5:10 PM there are only about 100 people in the Iowa House galleries), Speaker Murphy provided the following list of rules:

Persons signing up to testify will be permitted on the House floor during a public hearing.
To testify, members of the public will be required to enter [...]

I need to apologize that I have been unable, in recent weeks, to keep this blog current for you. As most of you know, I have discontinued my radio show due to the time commitment, and hope to get more writing done as a result. Your kind patience is appreciated. And now…

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At 5:00 PM this afternoon a public forum is scheduled to hear comments on Democrats attempt to tear apart Iowa’s long history as a Right To Work state (House File 2420, formally HSB 702). It will be held in the Iowa House Chamber (details provided by Shane Vander Hart last week). I will be there and will provide updates via Twitter and an updated post later tonight.

This is potentially one of the last great attempts by power-gorged Democrats to rake Iowans over the coals. True, this year’s bill only drops 18,000 Executive Branch employees into the lions’ den, but at a whopping $5.3 Million theft of personal income. This is another example of how our left-thinking leaders (*sigh*) believe they are empowered to redistribute wealth.

Consider, my friends, the fact that the unions that state employees are members of (voluntarily today) exist under the guise of protecting those employees from the very government that is now handing them (the unions) the keys to the state treasury.

And this is YOUR MONEY that is [...]

Since we tried to have a show with Jonathan Narcisse a couple of weeks ago and had a “technology fail”, the former Des Moines School Board member and possible candidate for Governor of Iowa will join us again! We will spend two hours talking about his campaign and his vision for Iowa.

This will also be the last episode of The Conservative Reader Report, at least for now. I need to rework my priorities, and as much as I truly enjoy doing this show, I’m just doing too much. But fear not, the blogs will benefit as I have more time to focus on writing.

Tina Johnson will be taking the 3-4 slot and Jeff Bratz, whose show follows mine, will be adding an hour to his show and will be on from 4-6. Des Moines Local Live rocks, and I hope you will continue listening to the great local and live content that is being provided there!

On The Reasonable Republican today, Art Smith will be sitting in again while Dr. Pat Bertroche suns himself somewhere. On the show today (form 2:00 to 4:00 PM Central):

Mark Rees, candidate for 3rd District US House Republican Nomination. We’ll talk about his position on the big issues of the day, and how he plans to make a different in Washington.

In the second hour, Dave Devoe, a member of the Iowa House of Representatives will be in the studio to talk about the budget and the reincarnation of the Fair Share bill.

Call in at 888-327-1007 or 515-327-1007, or jump into the online chat. We want to hear from you!

From Iowa House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen’s office:

(DES MOINES)—Today in the House Labor committee, Democrats assigned a bill which would gut Iowa’s right to work law. House Study Bill 702 is an attempt by House Democrats to take away Iowans’ choice to join a union.

Iowa’s right to work law guarantees that no person can be compelled, as a condition of employment, to join, not join or pay any fees to a labor union. Iowa’s right to work law has been in place since 1947. This bill is a direct attack on hard-working Iowans’ liberties.

“It is simply wrong to tell someone they must give their hard-earned dollars to an organization they have chosen not to be a member of,” said House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha). “A union is not forced to represent non-members. They choose forced monopoly bargaining and now they want to force payment for providing those unwanted services.”

Under the Democrats’ plan, public employees who are non-union would be forced to pay a fee to the union as a condition of their employment, thus completely gutting Iowa’s right to work law.

We’ve been waiting for this. Here’s link to the bill. Democrats tried to do this last year (it was called “Fair Share” then), and the year before, and, oh wait, they’ve been trying to rip out Right To Work for over fifty years! Representative Ralph Watts (R – District 47) wrote this piece a year ago, and is still just as relevant today:

Nothing Fair about Fair Share

Two years ago, after the Democrats took over the Governor’s office, the State Senate and the State House, we started getting more labor bills [...]

This week’s Conservative Reader Report will feature an interview with George Eichhorn, who is an Iowa House member and candidate for Iowa Secretary of State. We’ll talk with George about both the goings on at the State house, and what he plans to do as Secretary of State.

In the second hour, Liberal Edge host Bruce Stone will join us for a discussion about the Iowa Republican Platform. Bruce wants to challenge us on some of the planks from 2008. Better put a helmet on, eh? Plus we’ll have the news on issues you care about most, along with the Smart and Dumb politicians of the week!

We want your phone calls (515-327-1007 or 888-327-1007) and comments in the Chat Room, so join us at www.desmoineslocallive.com at 3:00 PM on Tuesday, February 2!

Only on, The Conservative Reader Report!