By Justin Arnold. Posted Tuesday, Dec 4, 2012 at 8:21 am Filed Under: Featured, Featured Local, Government, Government Health Care, Government Spending, Iowa, Iowa General Assembly, Iowa Politics, Labor Unions

When the inevitable battle with public-sector employees in Iowa begins to rage here in the next few months and every elected Democrat in the state marches in lock-step with union negotiators, the following will help you understand this phenomenon.
Not only does their ideology lend itself to supporting the concept of an organization/government “protecting” people from the free market–it turns out that this cast of Democrat legislators largely are the unions.
Iowa House Democratic Caucus by Occupation
Below is a look at the occupations of the 46 Democratic members of the Iowa House that will be in office the next two years.
Teachers/Principals former and current = 12
Attorneys = 7
Occupation Unclear = 4
Social Work = 2
1 Each of the Following— …
By Justin Arnold. Posted Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 6:14 am Filed Under: 2012 Elections, Ankeny, Featured, Featured Local, Government Spending, Iowa, Iowa General Assembly, Iowa Politics, Polk County Republicans, Taxes, Unions
After easily defeating a primary challenger in June, Iowa House member Kevin Koester was kind enough to sit down with The Conservative Reader: Iowa to discuss his upcoming general election in November, as well as the many issues he will be dealing with should he earn a third term in the Iowa Legislature.
The Primary, The General Election, and the Pulse of House District 38
The process of winning re-election for Rep. Koester began even before the legislative session ended, as the first order of business was winning a primary challenge by Saylor Township resident Brett Nelson. As the session ran long, Koester made several hundred phone calls in his downtime and began getting acquainted with the voters in his newly re-drawn House District 38.…
By Paul McKinley. Posted Saturday, Jul 16, 2011 at 2:03 pm Filed Under: Business, Featured Local, Government, Iowa Congressional Delegation, Iowa General Assembly, Iowa Politics, Iowa Senate Repubilcan Leader Paul McKinley, Iowa Supreme Court, Labor Unions, Public Schools, Recovery
Though the third longest session in Iowa history has been over for two weeks, Governor Branstad still has until the end of July to sign or veto any of the legislation that was passed.
While there were some notable and very positive accomplishments, Senate Democrats also stood in the way of a lot of positive progress.
Here are a few accomplishments followed by some of the missed opportunities.
1) Sustainable Budget
We finally are back on the path to long-term fiscal sustainability with a budget that spends less than we take in and funds Iowa’s priorities. Is there more we can cut? Absolutely. But it’s a good start and a real break from the problems of the last four years.
2) Rule & Regulatory Reform…