Overall, this was probably the most entertaining political event that I have attended yet this year. Â Hats off to Iowans For Tax Relief (ITR) for putting on a great program!
The afternoon consisted of a speech by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (who is currently considered a likely candidate for President in 2012, but is being shy about the idea), and 8 minute speeches by each of the candidates for Governor (except for the Democrat) intended to be focused on the Iowans for Tax Relief Candidate Questionnaire. The actual answers provided by the candidates to the questionnaire will be at ITR’s web site on Monday. Dave Stanley, Chairman and Founder of ITR and Ed Failor, Jr, President of ITR, spoke at the beginning of the event (I don’t think the video below includes Dave’s remarks). Kathy Obradovich from the Des Moines Register was the MC during the Candidates portion of the program.
Governor Pawlenty gave a solid speech addressing some of the key problems with our government from a tax and spending standpoint, which was very appreciated by the crowd. Highlights included:
“Progressives are proposing solutions from Eastern Europe from a century ago.”
“Our leader’s are too small to do anything about our problems.”
“Wall Street gets a bailout, the poor (understandably) get a handout, and those of us in the middle get our wallets out.”
“Our rights are given to us by our creator, not by our congressmen/women.”
“We should have an economic bill of rights which includes: Balanced Budget … Line item veto … Super majority to raise increases or the debt ceiling limit in this country.”
“People spend money differently when at least some of it is their money.”
“For the United States of America to be safe, needs to be strong.”
“If freedom was easy, everybody in the world would be free. If prosperity was easy, everybody would be prosperous. If security was easy, everybody would be secure.”
After his speech, Pawlenty took questions.  This is a link to the audio for the Q&A. I apologize for the noise at the beginning. Mike Glover from Associated Press asks the first couple of questions, followed by Craig Robinson from The Iowa Republican, then myself, and then one or two others.
Candidates for Governor
All of the Republican candidates for Governor gave their typical positions on taxes and spending, and did a great job.  Since I continue to stay neutral regarding the Primary, I will not address that further. But the video above covers it, and each speech being 8 minutes it’s not very long to watch. All of the Republican candidates were very positively received.
Also speaking was the Independent Candidate, Jonathan Narcisse. I have interviewed Jonathan a couple of times and he has a very dramatic plan for Iowa. I’m convinced that Jonathan is more conservative than he realizes, and his determination to reduce the role of government to its bare minimum. I have challenged him in the past regarding a few details that seem like yet too much government in controlling even voluntarily financed programs, but he did not really get into that on Saturday. Jonathan speaks to even property tax reforms to limit tax assessments to purchase price on property, and dropping the state sales tax to 3% over 4 years. He continued with a number of others ideas, all of which culminated in a dream of a highly prosperous Iowa.
We also got to hear from the Libertarian candidate, Eric Cooper. He has no illusions about becoming governor, but is focused on raising enough votes to cause people to pay attention to what the party has to say, establishing an effective dialogue. His message, and dramatically and humorously presented, was that government should be doing nothing but those tasks that require the force of government. Security from external enemies, crime, infrastructure. He highlighted the fact that people came to Iowa and America was because we did excessively tax people, and let people do what they wanted as long as it didn’t limit the freedoms of others. He used the Iowa state motto, “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain”, as an effective reminder of the importance of importance we have always placed in our freedoms.
Both Jonathan and Eric probably experienced the greatest opportunity for conservative activists to hear their message and discover how well those candidates’ positions align with theirs. I was very disappointed with WHO-TV for ignoring the non-Republican candidates, and with KCCI-TV for ignoring the candidates for governor altogether on their broadcasts that evening.
The crowd was a veritable who’s who of Iowa Conservatives, and we were told that there were 558 people, possibly more by the time we got done. I was very impressed overall with the event preparation, and the quality of the event. Not only was the access to the candidates for Governor valuable, but the well focused oratory from a group of very thoughtful conservative minds was engaging and highly useful for the activists in the room who are not just deciding who to vote for, but how to better articulate their own positions on these issues. Katie Koberg, Vice-President of ITR, made a huge effort to communicate effectively both before and during the event, and the whole staff kept everything running smoothly.
One more thing. Ed Failor Jr took a swipe at Governor Culver because he did not respond to the invitation. It was justified to an extent, although I cannot imagine there being anything that the Governor could say that would be received well or believed by this crowd. But I think it shows a real lack of leadership that he is unable to come before a group like this and make his case for the current state of affairs.
I attended this morning’s 2010 Republican Legislative Kickoff Breakfast. At least 200 people, including legislators, party leaders, lobbyists and candidates were in attendance. The event was opened by Jim Kurtenbach, Iowa Republican Party Co-chair. Brief speeches were given by:
Steve King, US House District 5 Representative. Â Invocation and some comments. Â He acknowledged that the results of our work are in God’s hands.
Linda Upmeyer , Iowa House Republican Whip. Â She reminded us to pray, work to get volunteers on campaigns, and raise the financial resources needed to win.
Kraig Paulsen , Iowa House Republican Leader. Â He commented that he has a lot of love in his trunk, plus a few sticks of dynomite.
Steve Kettering, Iowa Senate Republican Whip, Â He said “A comeback for Republicans is a comeback for all Iowans!”
Paul McKinley, Iowa Senate Republican Leader. Â Paul related a story about meeting some US Department of Labor employees in New York who stayed at the Ritz Carlton at the government’s expense… their comment: “It’s a new day!”.
Matt Strawn, Iowa Republican Party Chair. Â “Iowans have gotten a taste of what a Democrat dominated government is like” and “we have solutions”.
Through out the speeches, a consistent message of satisfaction that all Iowa Republicans in the 2009 voted consistently with the party, that we cannot support a budget that exceeds revenue, that we need to give Iowans the right to vote on the definition of Marriage, labor unions cannot be allowed to destroy Iowa businesses, and that Democrats are extremely vulnerable.
I was honored to sit next Royd Chambers from Sheldon, who was deployed with the Iowa Air National Guard to Kyrgyzstan during the 2009 session. I was also seated next to Bill Northey, Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture. I had a good chat with Bill about the upcoming budget work in his department, and it sounds like everyone is putting the nose to the grindstone!
Governor Branstad was there, as well as Bob Vander Plaats. I’m assuming the Rod Roberts and Chris Rants were also there, but I did not get a chance to see them. Other candidates that I happened to see included:
George Eichhorn, running for Secretary of State
Dave Funk, Brad Zaun (Iowa Senator from Urbandale), and Mark Rees, all three running for US House District 3
Chris Reed and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, both running for US House District 2
I saw Dave Vaudt as well… Tom Latham was not able to attend the event.
Overall, the event was encouraging and a great opportunity to connect with folks I had not seen in a while. Â Although Republicans are in the minority, our legislators are ready to do the hard work of helping reduce unnecessary spending and fight for Iowans rights.
Tonight Republicans from around Iowa met at the Elwell Family Center at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Isaiah McGee, Iowa State Central Committee Member, acted as Master of Ceremonies. He made some brief remarks, including “We Must Unite!”
Video presentations from David Vaudt, who criticized Democrats 30% slash of his budget as an attempt to “muzzle the taxpayers’ watchdog” and Bill Northey who wants to see more republicans in the state capital.
Representatives Tom Latham and Steve King could not attend, but they probably had a good excuse since they are working in Washington tonight. Both provided videos where they spoke to the health care bill being debated today. Both are trying to kill it. King stated that “Iowans need to speak out until the bill is mortally wounded with a stake in its heart!”
Huge applause came for Senator Grassley as he stepped on the stage to speak.
Quotes from Chuck Grassley: “Our common focus is leadship and vision for the future.”, “Iowans of every political stripe were telling me, both by words and by action, that they are scared.” “For the first time in the history of the United States the government wants to tell us we must buy something.” Grassley also mentioned that Republicans have a 200 page bill as an alternative to Democrats 1,995 page bill. “They want to redistribute wealth, they want to take property without just compensation, and that is not Constitutional. That won’t happen on my watch.”
Quotes from Matt Strawn: “It’s a good week to be a Republican, not just because of how we won, but how we were able to show the distinctions between Republicans and Democrats to the voters.”, “Iowans are desperate for competent leadership.” “Real leaders don’t sign the largest budget in the states history and then try to convince iowans otherwise.”Â
Pawlenty: “Chuck Grassley has changed Washington more than Washington has change him.” “(Re: Virginia and New Jersey) We need to launch the same comeback across America.”Â
Tim Pawlenty provided a stimulating speech to Republicans in Iowa tonight. It was clear before too long that he was working on his 2012 campaign, but provided ammunition and motivation to push folks toward 2010 as well.
All of the candidates for Governor provided strong speeches, each providing their own unique angle on pretty much the same message: Culver is making a mess of things, we need to cut spending, fix the definition of Marriage, bring more jobs to Iowa by making the state more business friendly.Â
Tonight was the first big night for Republican activists to get a taste of Terry Branstad 2.0 (or perhaps 2.1).  He seemed a little rough tonight, starting out hesitatingly, but he eventually warmed up and did well.Â
A major benefit of tonight’s event is the continued opportunity for activists to hear not just stump speeches, but ideas. Although Republicans will be selecting one person to run against Chet Culver, the combined voices of all of the candidates bring some great perspective, great ideas, great concepts to merge together into a platform that our candidate for governor, whoever that ends up being, can bring. The crowd tonight was well engaged… the big challenge is to keep them and voters engaged through the coming year and maintaining focus.
You can watch the entire event at CSPAN’s web site shortly. We will provide a direct link to the video tomorrow.
Note: Art Smith is Communications Director for the Polk County Republican Party. His views as expressed here are not necessarily those of the Polk County Republican Party.
Just an observation but if the Executive Director of the Republican Party of Iowa (RPI)leaves this key position to work on the Branstad campaign, is that not sufficient reason to confirm that Branstad is going to run?  Well, Jeff Boeyink did. RPI has benefited greatly from Jeff’s work, and will certainly be a challenged in finding a comparable replacement. Matt Strawn had this to say today:
“I hope all Iowa Republicans join me in thanking Jeff for a job well done. The Iowa GOP is better off because of his service and tireless advocacy for principled, conservative government. I’m personally grateful for his wisdom and guidance and wish him well.â€
This is a major coup for the Branstad campaign, due to Boeyink’s strong skills, relationships, experience, and the level of credibility he adds to the campaign.
From Terry Branstad’s campaign comes this statement:
Richard Schwarm today announced the hiring of Jeffrey Boeyink to lead the Terry Branstad 2010 Committee as it continues to explore a possible gubernatorial run by former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad.
Schwarm said, “This is the next natural step in our exploratory process as we move from a volunteer effort to the acquisition of professional staff and financial resources to take Terry Branstad 2010 to the next level of effectiveness.â€
Boeyink has served as Executive Director of the Republican Party of Iowa (RPI) since last February and resigned yesterday to accept this new position. Prior to joining RPI, Boeyink served as President of Iowans for Tax Relief where he worked for more than two decades.
Schwarm also noted, “This appointment does not signal any change in Terry Branstad’s status as a potential gubernatorial candidate. He continues in his role at Des Moines University and will make his plans known at a future date.â€
Others commenting today included Polk County GOP Co-Chair Will Rogers:
“Jeff has a tremendous amount of experience and will bring a level of talent to the race that is unparalleled by any of the other campaigns including Culver’s.”
The story broke this morning at The Iowa Republican web site (although I first found out about it from David Chung’s Hawkeye GOP site via Facebook).  As David stated, finding a new Exective Director is going to be job one for Matt Strawn.
For all of the other candidates for Governor, I think the time has come to acknowledge that Branstad is in the race, despite Schwarm’s comments about the campaign being “exploratory”. For some, that might mean cutting off the campaign and for others it means being more direct in speaking about Branstad’s record and ability to beat Culver. Either way, the elephant in the room should be visible now.
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.
Overall, this was probably the most entertaining political event that I have attended yet this year. Â Hats off to Iowans For Tax Relief (ITR) for putting on a great program!
