by | Oct 1, 2012
(For a complete overview of the Iowa Senate races click here)
The Candidates
Mike Gronstal (D) vs. Al Ringgenberg (R)
Mike Gronstal is the longtime incumbent, and Al Riggenberg is a retired Air Force Colonel and former prosecutor.
The District
Senate District 8 is on the Southwestern border of Iowa and is essentially made up of the city of Council Bluffs. Incumbent Mike Gronstal was first elected to the Iowa House in 1982. After serving one term there he moved up to the Senate in 1986, and has been the Democratic Leader in that body for the last 15 years. In short, he is the definition of an entrenched Democrat legis-saur (legislator+dinosaur). The registered voter breakdown for SD 8 is (D-10,606) (R-10,020) (NP-10,720), leaving a D+586 advantage.
The Race
At the beginning of campaign season Republicans rightfully believed this year was the best shot they have had to unseat their biggest political enemy. What has transpired since is nothing short of depressing for the Iowa GOP, and the word I hear from insiders is the chances of flipping this seat are now very low.  The reasons for the initial Republican optimism were (1) the district was almost dead even, with Independents sure to be ruffled up by Gronstal’s numerous high-profile legislative blockades, and (2) they managed to field a great candidate on paper in retired Colonel Al Ringgenberg.
To this point in the campaign, for whatever reason, Ringgenberg has failed to gain much traction. Perhaps more importantly he has failed to generate the kind of money it would take to compete with Gronstal’s massive war-chest. No matter how much Ringgenberg raised he was not going to be in the ballpark of Gronstal’s unbelievable $547,158.00, but there is no getting around his disappointing cash on hand number of $6,987.00 (which includes a $2,000 loan to himself).
There is still plenty of time, but the Ringgenberg campaign really needs to catch fire and take the fight to Gronstal. If he is unable to bank some more money soon he will have a difficult time doing so with $7,000 (as of July 19th). At the moment I unfortunately have this seat leaning strongly Democrat. You will see by following the link below that Gronstal is yet another Iowa Democrat who has chosen to disclose absolutely nothing on where he stands on current issues or his future political goals on his website. This practice is especially shameful for a longtime Majority leader who is personally responsible for blocking Iowans from having a voice on countless issues (including tax reform and gay marriage).
Further Information
Al Ringgenberg – ColonelAl.com
Mike Gronstal – MikeGronstal.com
![Latino Heritage Festival: A Time of Celebration & Time to Consider Who Best Serves Latinos]()
by | Sep 29, 2012
(The following piece is a guest writer contribution from Chad Brown)
Iowa’s Latino Heritage Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and has grown into the largest cultural event in our state. This is a family event that offers something for everyone. It is a time of celebration. I also feel it is time to engage in an honest conversation. I want to present my argument for why the Republican Party is the best Party to advance the best interests of Latinos in our city, state and country.
We are witnessing the progressive growth of Latino businesses in Iowa. They generate millions in sales every year and create thousands of jobs for Iowans. Latino businesses are among the fastest growing  segments of the small-business-community in our state. In a time of economic doldrums, we wish success on all business.
The health of the Latino business community depends on the risks taken by everyday people who want to take a chance and build something out of nothing. This is how business has always operated in the United States. This is the American Dream. Small business embodies the hope of this nation to build a better life for ourselves and our children. The Latino community has much to celebrate during the Latino Festival.
Republicans encourage the Latino community to continue their pursuit of the American Dream. We disagree with Obama that business owners don’t build their businesses. We have countless examples in the family-owned small businesses that now face unprecedented government regulations. Republicans sympathize with the individuals who struggle day and night to make ends meet and keep their workers employed. We share the worries of the workers who are concerned they will find themselves unemployed due to a stagnant economy.
Republicans, like Myself, are optimists. We believe this century can be a time of incredible prosperity for every single person in our country who is willing to try – if we create an environment where entrepreneurs, both in the Latino community and in all communities, can flourish. This growth in the Latino community can be sustained by low taxes and energized by new technologies. Prosperity for small business and workers can be reached if their businesses are unleashed through lighter regulation. We can expand our growth through free trade with our neighbors. We have an opportunity beyond all our expectations that is within our grasp.
The Latino community, along with all other communities, can reach unprecedented levels of success through allying the Republican Party. Every group owes itself the ability to flourish in the United States. The Republican Party has candidates who know how to encourage the growth of both large and small businesses. Together, we can accomplish goals beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.
The post Latino Heritage Festival: A Time of Celebration & Time to Consider Who Best Serves Latinos appeared first on The Conservative Reader.
by Steven Waechter | Sep 25, 2012
In 1975, Iowa’s elected so-and-so’s felt inclined to establish the Iowa Finance Authority, giving it the mission of assisting the people of Iowa in acquiring affordable housing. I guess Iowans tended to live in mud shacks prior to 1975, but no matter, the government is here to help.
Except, it doesn’t help. The Iowa Finance Authority’s own website (http://www.iowafinanceauthority.gov/) tells the tale, and affordability is not the goal of our state-level state corporatists. According to the talking points, IFA helps low-income Iowans, the disabled, and the otherwise strained in the task of obtaining affordable housing, which is simply not true. Nothing the IFA does is aimed at helping citizens afford anything, all they do is encourage easy credit.
Getting easy credit is not the same as being able to afford something. What IFA is doing is helping people borrow too much money for assets that are priced too highly for them to otherwise afford, thus allowing more people to overspend on housing. With more people able to arrange the credit for higher priced assets, the prices of the assets (in this case, housing) are able to stay higher than they otherwise would. They even provide direct cash subsidies for down payments. Â Imagine the housing market as a giant auction. If the bidders are on a budget, the winning bids will trend downwards. If the bidders are flush with cash and anxious to buy, bids will trend upwards.
Thus, IFA is working to make housing expensive, not affordable. So, pat yourselves on the back, IFA, for making it easier for the disadvantaged to borrow too much to purchase assets that are overpriced; that‘s compassion in action.
There has also been some mission creep at IFA over the past thirty seven years, with the agency taking on financing of apartment blocks, renovations, and a shadowy, ill-defined activity called “economic development.â€
Considering that we don’t have one any more, efforts to develop an economy are uniquely popular among voters, and this popularity allows government to push any issue it wishes under the guise of being an economic development initiative. Economic development, then, is anything politicians say it is, period.
Considering the vague nature of economic development programs, the Iowa Finance Authority is surprisingly straightforward with its role in the economic development process. On the IFA website, by clicking a tab marked “Economic Development,†we can get the clear picture:
“The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) issues tax-exempt bonds for a wide range of projects.â€
Well, there you have it. Not content with helping to arrange mortgages for people who can’t afford them, IFA has branched into the tax-exempt bond market. They also arrange revenue bonds for private projects, and although the State of Iowa isn’t legally on the hook if the project fails, any default would affect the credit ratings of future revenue bonds, and it is a virtual certainty that the state would opt to pay in the end.
So, IFA arranges bonds for economic development projects, diverting your taxes and user’s fees towards providing tax-exempt income to rich people in the process.
The Authority’s defenders will say that it is self-sufficient. There’s a reason to keep an odious program. Might I suggest the immediate establishment of the Iowa Cocaine Authority; that will be financially self-sufficient.
IFA isn’t really a line-item on the state budget, but the state is the ultimate guarantor of the debts being incurred by this program, and while perhaps not legally obligated to make good, the state will do so in a pinch, lest the ratings of future bonds be damaged. Thus, there is potential downside risk which the Authority’s champions in the legislature have not bothered to consider.
The Iowa Finance Authority is a detrimental, utterly unnecessary political boondoggle and economic white elephant. Its rhetoric and its effects do not match up, and its only redeeming feature – financial self-sufficiency – belies potential risks that have not been properly explored. It is an agent of expanding municipal bond debt, and Iowa’s own contribution to the ongoing assault on thrift that is being conducted by governments at all levels.
Therefore, the time has come that we do away with this middle-aged, miniature HUD. Iowa did without it for better than one hundred years, and we can do so again.
by | Sep 19, 2012
Patti Branco is the Republican candidate for Iowa House District 34, which covers the Southern portion of Des Moines. She is running against long entrenched Democratic incumbent Bruce Hunter, in a district that has been traditionally tough for Republicans.
Bruce Hunter has “Labor Union Liberal” written all over him, as not only does he sit as the ranking member of the Labor Committee, his wife happens to be the State Political Director for the AFL-CIO. His top three priorities, in his own words, are all union strengthening give aways–leaving absolutely no doubt on how he feels is the best way to grow the economy.
An example of the type of candidate we are talking about here is as follows, and I am not making this up. Among his top priorities for next session are increasing the minimum wage, “investing in infrastructure”, ensuring that teachers are “well rewarded”, and codifying “better protection of workers rights”. After doing these things his plan then is to “aggressively market Iowa’s (low) cost of doing business“. You can’t make this stuff up, and it’s high time this antiquated nonsense is voted out of office.
Beyond this, he appears out of touch in other areas. Apparently his district is the only one in the state that is unconcerned with soaring taxes, and he lists one of his missions as “to work to keep Iowa school’s the best in the nation”. It seems he has not studied any education data since the mid-1990’s.
Mrs. Branco is a very strong candidate who brings a long and impressive business background to the table. She has been working hard, remaining highly visible, and doing everything it takes to wage a successful campaign. All Republicans, especially those of you in her district, should take the time to check out her website and resume, and get involved to help her effort.
The Conservative Reader: Iowa recently reached out to her for our continuing “3 Questions With” series. Below is Mrs. Branco’s take on the HD 34 race and what she views as her top priorities should she win.
———————————————————————————————————-
1) You are running in a traditionally tough district for Republicans—how is the campaign going? And are you finding voters receptive to a change in ideology?
I feel good about the campaign. I have a strong business background and quite a bit of nonprofit work on boards, but this is my first foray into the political arena. I have had excellent mentors from the House and the Party sharing ideas and strategies that work, and I have several able and enthused volunteers. We are door knocking daily, attending events and getting signs out in the in the district, making calls and raising money for a final mailing in October.
I am finding that some voters are going to pull the straight ticket, Democrat, but many others seem to be disillusioned and open to my message. At one door I was told…â€I am firing every incumbent, so if you are not one, you have my voteâ€.  Others have indicated that maybe it’s time for change. I guess the final answer to the first question will be given on November 6th!
2) What would you characterize as the top two major differences in political philosophy between you and your opponent? And how/why would your approach better serve the people of your district?
In a nutshell, I am conservative, and my opponent is liberal. I am for smaller government, lower taxes; I am for Veterans benefits, I am pro-life, I am for communication with the constituents to learn of their issues, and of the many doors I have knocked I find very little recognition or awareness of who the current 10 year incumbent is. Let me say, without making disparaging comments, that I believe he is the opposite on most issues, and his voting record is public information.
The first thing I would do if elected is set up a data base so that I could reach out to my constituents, learn what is important to them and share what is happening in the halls of the Capitol. I would be a full time pro business legislator, having no other full time career. I am a people person, I love Iowa and I love America.
I have been endorsed by the Iowa Right to life Organization, the Family Leader and The National Federation of Independent Small Business Owners (NFIB).
3)Â Should you prevail and enter the Iowa House next year, what are the two or three votes that you most look forward to casting? And why?
A. Taxes! Real estate, property and corporate. We have some of the highest taxes in those categories and if we want to continue to attract business to our state we need to reform the tax rates. More businesses in Iowa means more jobs, a robust economy, increased net worth for families! Lower taxes often means additional discretionary income.
B. I think Voter ID is an important issue and the fact that the ACLU and the courts are making it such a big obstacle course makes it even more suspect. Why would any law abiding citizen want to encourage voter fraud or prevent measures to eliminate votes from deceased voters, non-citizen voters or legal voters who manage to vote multiple times posing as others for the same ballot?
C. Education reform. Give tax paying parents more options. Give community leaders and local directors more control. If a teacher isn’t producing let parents choose the school they prefer. Demand accountability from teachers and from the educational boards of directors.
by | Sep 13, 2012
Below is the full text of a press release sent out by the Family Pac. Branco is running in a very tough district in Des Moines where the number of registered Democrats is more than twice that of registered Republicans.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The Iowa Family PAC announces its endorsement of Patti Branco, a pro-family, pro-constitutional candidate for the general election for House District 34.
The Iowa Family PAC is endorsing Branco because of her proven ability to lead and stand firm for constitutional, conservative, pro-family principles.
The qualifications for an endorsement from The Iowa Family PAC include the belief that society and government work best when citizens accept a high level of personal responsibility and that the only way our nation can reclaim a God-honoring culture is to defend strong families. Other key qualifications include the protection of life from conception to natural death and the belief that marriage is a permanent, lifelong commitment between one man and one woman. The Iowa Family PAC also only supports candidates who believe it is the duty of parents to overseethe education of their children and that an ethical, free enterprise system is consistent with the biblical notion of stewardship. Endorsed candidates will be expected to support and defend both the Iowa and U.S. Constitutions.
Chuck Hurley, Chair of The Iowa Family PAC, said, “The Iowa Family PAC is happy to endorse Patti Branco, a godly woman of faith, whose worldview is consistent with Judeo-Christian principles and who will boldly defend and honor issues relating to the family. Patti understands the values of her district and will work hard to champion pro-family values of Iowans in her district. We will be praying diligently between now and November 6th for Patti Branco and her family.â€
Contact: Julie Summa
[email protected] ; 515-263-3495, ext.14 (office), 515-210-7475 (cell)
###
About The Iowa Family PAC
The Iowa Family PAC is the official affiliated PAC of The FAMiLY LEADER. The Iowa Family PAC exists to elect pro-family lawmakers. It applies truth through direct intervention and support for the campaigns of bold, compassionate, pro-family candidates. Learn more about The Iowa Family PAC by going to www.thefamilyleader.com/inside-tfl/iowa-family-pac
.
.
(For a complete overview of the Iowa Senate races click here)