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Breaking News: Effort to Oust McLaughlin Fizzles

Breaking News: Effort to Oust McLaughlin Fizzles

What had promised to be an explosive evening at the Polk County central committee meeting Tuesday night never really materialized.

Throughout the past two days buzz had been growing that an organized effort to unseat McLaughlin as Chairman would take place, and rumors were flying that the person spearheading this undertaking was Rep. Kim Pearson (R-Pleasant Hill).  What is clear following the meeting is that she was never involved at any level, and that the leader of the group aiming to replace the Chairman was in fact precinct 85 resident Craig Bergman.

The only fireworks transpired at the beginning of the meeting when a motion was made to suspend the rules and normal proceedings of the meeting and instead have a vote on removing the Chairman.  What played out was that, by a near three to one margin (91-39), the central committee voted to proceed with the meeting’s business as usual and have the showdown afterward.  Presumably based on the large majority who stood in support of putting off the vote, the contingent on hand to oppose the Chairman realized that they did not have the numbers and chose to stand down on this night.

Perhaps the most memorable and foretelling moment of the night came when Chairman McLaughlin, on mic and standing at the podium, was explaining to a confused group of members that he was not avoiding a vote on his fate.  He summed it up by saying, “if anyone wants to try to ‘send me to the showers’ they are welcome to do that”, which he followed a few seconds later with, “That said, I don’t intend to go to the showers I intend to finish my job.”

Clearly Kevin McLaughlin is not backing away anytime soon, and neither is the sizable sect passionate that his performance as Chairman has not been up to par.  Based on the numbers it is hard to see how this group, in its current size and form, will be able to successfully remove the leadership in the middle of their term.  It is fair to note, however, that while this effort was denied tonight, there has been widespread discontent and rumblings regarding what has been perceived as several organizational shortcomings.

My sense moving forward is that McLaughlin and his team will survive any future attempts to remove him.  The final decider here will ultimately be what it always is–results.  If their performance in November demonstrates success in electing Republicans, particularly Tom Latham, then their style and methods will be vindicated and they will be lauded.  Should they not meet expectations, and should they fail to deliver a number of victories similar to their very successful predecessors–they will be quickly voted out in January.

Conservatives are often fond of saying that results, not good intentions, are what matters.  What we have here is a perfect embodiment of this…as it should be.

The Iowa Republican & The BeanWalker

The Iowa Republican & The BeanWalker

Two new Iowa web sites have popped up in the past few weeks.

One is The Iowa Republican.  Craig Robinson founded this site as an alternative to the media content currently available that, especially in Central Iowa, maintains a particularly strong slant to the left.  Craig managed to also snag Krusty Konservative, Battleground Iowa and Constitution Daily as resident commentary (replacing their former site locations).  The site has a very professional look, contains valuable content and appears to be a great start to providing valuable and timely news and commentary relevant to those of us who espouse a Republican, and apparently conservative, perspective.

The other is The Bean Walker.  Tim Albrecht publishes this site that looks a lot like the Drudge Report, only it’s focused on Iowa news.  The site includes links to web sites for what I think are every known media outlet in the state, including Iowa-based blogs (including The Conservative Reader).  Also a great approach, good content, and an independent reporting vessel iteself.

Both of these web sites are great additionals to the resources available to Iowans for news and commentary.  Good luck to both as we all continue to grow the value of the Internet and bring valuable content to Iowans!

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