I attended the event this evening and while George did not make any comments that sounded like “Hey, I want to be your next Presidentâ€, this was definitely seemed like a pre-exploratory event. He had some great comments about the current state of affairs, and took questions which I also think he answered well. Some in New York (see comments on this post) have speculated about him running for other posts in that state, others have suggested he could be a possible contender for President in 2012. Even if he does not run for anything, he certainly provides a strong sense of some of the things the GOP needs to do to take back the People’s Government.
There were about 90 people at the event tonight, including a number of Republican/Conservative activists that I’ve gotten to know, former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Joseph Heuertz (and other leaders) of the Drake College Republicans, John Bloom, Polk County Republican Chair (along with probably a dozen members of the Polk County Republican Central Committee, one of the sponsors of the event), Steve Rathje, David Van Ahn, Kim Schmett, Ed Failor Jr. (Iowans for Tax Relief), Craig Robinson (The Iowa Republican) and probably a dozen other folks I’m either forgetting or should know.
We would have had a larger group, but the Iowa General Assembly was in session this evening (I hope they actually got something done).
The organization that put on the event was America Future Fund. They tout themselves as the conservative answer to moveon.org, and they did an excellent job of arranging this event (future lectures in the series are planned for other locations in Iowa… more info here as it becomes available). The group is headquartered here in Iowa, and I believe they were active in 18 states during the 2008 election. The Communications Director, Tim Albrecht, runs The Bean Walker, an Iowa version of the Drudge Report. I’ve gotten to know him over the past few months, and he seems like a pretty sharp guy. I think this group is worth a close look.
I’m definitely looking forward to future lecture events. Regardless of where Pataki is headed, this was a good start to getting conservatives motivated and energized for the 2010 elections.
This coming Wednesday evening April 22, at 7:00, George Pataki will be speaking at Drake University in the first of a lecture series being provided by The American Future Fund. The Polk County Republicans are a sponsor of the event. The lecture is titled: “Yes We Still Can: Why Washington Failed and How We Can Reclaim America’s Future”.
Event details:
Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 7 p.m.
Cartright Hall, Room 213
Drake University Law School
2621 Carpenter Avenue
Des Moines, IA
I don’t have any idea how this is going to work. Evidently, Chuck is way ahead of me.
I’m not saying I lack the technical savey to engage in this event… I just need some clarification on how to properly engage in this. I have twitter. I actually use it to follow a number of twitter sources, and I provide updates occasionally as well with the tool. I even have tweetdeck running on my computer at home. And I think I’ve done the “@” function at least once (to send a direct message to someone).
At any rate, the event is being provided by impromptu studio and the #dmtweetup group. The video below (which will only be live during the event) will probably provide instructions. If I have a chance to update this post to explain, I will.
Today’s Tea Party was a great event and very successful! There were between 2,000 and 3,000 people there, great speakers, great weather. The crowd was very enthusiastic.
The good news is that, if the other events across the country were like Des Moines, we are definitely beginning something that can make a difference.
I appreciated the fact that the organizers were intent on ensuring the event was non-partisan. Even when Republican lawmakers came out to the event, they were asked to step aside… they were not allowed to be the center of attention.
I got a bunch of crowd, sign and speaker photos. I’m trying out Flickr. I haven’t had time to make it all perfect, but want to see how well this is received. Let me know.
One big highlight was a large sign in the back that read “Declaration Of Independence” for people to sign to show their support. By the end of the event, it was covered with signatures. I thought that was really cool.
It will be interesting to see how the Main Stream Media reports this tomorrow.
The entire set can be found at Flickr at this link.
Iowa House Republicans Continue With Budget Savings
House Republicans offered another $52.9 million in cost-saving measures to the education budget bill brought up in the House today.
“From day one, House Republicans promised to dive into budgets and find savings. Today we delivered on that promise for Iowans,†said House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha). “Instead of funding more bureaucracy, Republicans believe we need to fund students and classrooms.â€
To date, House Republicans have offered more than $200 million in cost-saving measures to budget bills. Of these, House Democrats have accepted less than $2 million.
Below is a list of amendments, a brief description and the amount of savings that were offered by House Republicans to Senate File 470, the education budget bill.
H-1553 by Raecker – Regents Library Acquisitions  Page 12, line 17: For one year the Regents universities are required to spend 50% less on library acquisitions. Savings: $12 million
H-1546 by VanEngelenhoven - Executive Council approves out-of-state travel. Savings: $1 million
H-1547 by May – 20% reduction in printing, binding; 50% reduction in advertising. Savings: $3.5 million
H-1552 by Dolecheck – Eliminates all funded, unfilled FTE positions that have been open for 6 months. Savings: $700,000
H-1554 by Raecker – 50% reduction for all office supplies, service contracts, equipment purchases. Savings: $23 million
H-1555 by Tymeson – Prohibits expenditures for cell phones and PDAs for state employees. Savings: $500,000
H-1556 by Rants – Fleet purchases deferred. Savings: $11 million
H-1557 by Koester  – State employees must provide meal receipts instead of claiming maximum. Agency may require electronic submission of receipts. Savings: $500,000
H-1566 by Tymeson – Identical to Wendt amendment which strikes repeal of MHEC. Savings: $450,000
H-1572 by Kaufmann and Struyk –Limit on Regents Sabbaticals. Savings: $250,000
It amazes me that House Democrats are so obstinate and out of control that they would intentionally work at weaseling their way to spending as much as they possibly can. The good news is, the public should be able to see plainly just how greedy and careless these folks are spending the public’s money… this should be MORE than adequate reason to plan on a major voter revolt in 2010. I’d prefer to see the foolishness end now, but it seems more likely that Democrats would prefer to thoroughly thumb their nose in the face of Iowans instead of doing what is right and what they KNOW Iowans want.
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Don’t forget the Tea Party on Wednesday… 11:00 at the West Lawn of the Iowa State Capitol.  Let your voice be heard!!!
I attended the event this evening and while George did not make any comments that sounded like “Hey, I want to be your next Presidentâ€, this was definitely seemed like a pre-exploratory event. He had some great comments about the current state of affairs, and took questions which I also think he answered well. Some in New York (see comments on this post) have speculated about him running for other posts in that state, others have suggested he could be a possible contender for President in 2012. Even if he does not run for anything, he certainly provides a strong sense of some of the things the GOP needs to do to take back the People’s Government.
