Ask me anything about Iowa politics—and share your feedback
No radio show on the holiday
Hope everyone has enjoyed the long weekend! For the first time since last July, Dennis Hart and I are not recording a new “Capitol Week” this Monday. You can listen to any of our previous 121 episodes on KHOI’s website, and we’ll be back with a new program on June 5.
In the meantime, this is an open thread for readers to ask me anything about Iowa politics. Questions or comments could be related to the legislative session, state government, the Iowa caucuses, this year’s local elections, or next year’s campaigns for federal and legislative offices. I’ll try to check the comment thread regularly over the coming week.
Now that this Substack has more than 1,100 subscribers, I’d also appreciate some feedback about what you’d like to see more of (or less of) in this space. Since I already have another free email newsletter (which links to all recent material published at Bleeding Heartland), I’m not always sure what would be the best use of this platform.
Aside from audio clips and recaps of my weekly radio show, what would you enjoy reading on this Substack?
I could make a point of cross-posting at least one Bleeding Heartland article or commentary every week, as I’ve been doing fairly regularly. Every week I publish original reporting on the main website that I don’t duplicate here, because I assume many of you would have seen it through social media or my other newsletter. Recent examples: my review of policies Republicans slipped into budget bills, and my look at how the legislature transformed public education (not for the better) this year.
I could go back to posting occasional “what I’m reading” compilations, which highlight good work by other reporters and commentators (see here, here, and here). I was doing that fairly regularly last summer and fall, but had to set that aside during the busy legislative session.
Or, I could post more “ask me anything about Iowa politics” threads. Some Substacks provide open discussion threads weekly or a couple of times a month.
If you’d rather not post in the comment thread, feel free to email your suggestions directly to me: laurabelin@substack.com.
Thank you for being part of this community! And feel free to share this post to others who might have good feedback.
If you haven’t already, check out some of the other Iowa Writers Collaborative writers. All of these authors provide content for free, with paid subscription options. Listed here in alphabetical order:
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla
Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Wini Moranville, Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politic Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative, Iowa
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
To receive a weekly roundup of all Iowa Writers’ Collaborative columnists, sign up here (free): ROUNDUP COLUMN
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I appreciate the suggestions for story ideas! Based on the poll, I am getting the impression that people would like to see more Bleeding Heartland articles cross-posted in this space. Is that right?
Thanks for all your good work Laura. I'd like to see more investigative reporting that follows the money. For example, can we dig deeper into the money the legislators stole from the Leopold Center to give to the ISU which made the mistake of giving some of it to UI for water monitoring only to have the Republicans then take that back and give it to IDALS. Talk about consolidating power! I see Ralph is calling it retaliation. I don't think it is. I think it's part of a much bigger fascist tendency and yes, I use that word advisedly, of those in power now - hand pick Supreme Court Justices so law suits won't go anywhere, gut the auditor's office's ability to monitor the money, campaign hard to get rid of a watchdog AG, stop funding stuff that doesn't serve your personal and political purposes.
Or a story on the many millions of ARPA and other federal funds that IDALS and Kim Reynolds are sitting on. Or how local elected Republicans like Jeff Kaufmann in my county are writing checks out of those federal funds (and now the IRA) like they're Santa Claus while cursing the Biden Administration. When will anyone actually make them answer to that? Who will force them to answer the question? I'm counting on you and Investigate Midwest to find a way. Thank you.