Exit Adam Gregg, Iowa election news, a Rob Sand town hall, and more
September 9 "Capitol Week" is online
Good morning! I turned in early (by my standards) last night to get ready for an intense day. I’ll head to the Iowa Judicial Branch building this morning to watch Iowa Supreme Court oral arguments in the case over Libertarian Congressional candidates’ ballot access. I expect a ruling late Wednesday or Thursday morning.
This evening, like many of you, I’ll be planted in front of my television to watch the first (and possibly the only) debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
and I met in person for the first time last week and enjoyed lunch with in Knoxville after watching one of State Auditor Rob Sand’s town hall meetings. Unfortunately, we forgot to take a selfie! Spencer and “Dr. Bob,” as he’s known to some, collaborate on the Iowa Revolution podcast.On Labor Day, I thought a relatively quiet week in Iowa politics awaited me. But Spencer and I had lots to discuss on Monday night’s radio show. The audio file is at the top of this message, or you can find it on podcast platforms and smart speakers as “KHOI’s Capitol Week.” The full archive (going back to February 2021) is available on KHOI’s website.
Here’s the recap, for those who would rather read than listen:
We began with Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg’s sudden resignation last Tuesday to become president and CEO of the Iowa Bankers Association. I wrote more about this story here, but want to emphasize how different Governor Kim Reynolds has treated Gregg, compared to how Governor Terry Branstad endlessly promoted Reynolds when she was next in line;
The two-year ban on lobbying by former statewide elected officials may not constrain Gregg as much as you would expect;
State law doesn’t restrict Gregg’s involvement with the Iowa Bankers Association’s PAC, which is a major donor to Republican campaigns;
I don’t expect Reynolds to appoint a new lieutenant governor until after the November election. Who becomes president may influence her choice, and some Republicans in tough re-election races could be candidates if they lose. Tips on people the governor may be considering are always welcome;
Iowa Senate President Amy Sinclair is now next in line to be governor, until Reynolds appoints a new lieutenant governor. Sinclair won’t have any additional day-to-day responsibilities, since the LG doesn’t have any defined job duties, and Reynolds didn’t give Gregg much to do;
A proposed state constitutional amendment will be on the ballot in November related to the succession process. It doesn’t affect what’s happening now, because current law already allows Reynolds to appoint a new lieutenant governor. The amendment will clarify that if a governor dies, resigns, or is incapacitated, the lieutenant governor becomes governor and has the authority to appoint a new lieutenant governor. It’s a response to the events of 2017, when Branstad resigned, and then Attorney General Tom Miller issued a formal opinion stating that Reynolds did not have the power to appoint someone to that office;
We didn’t get into this on the radio show, but back in 2017, Reynolds, Branstad, and other Republicans misled Iowans about Miller’s well-considered opinion;
Moving to what I thought would be our top story, we recapped the latest developments in the lawsuit seeking to get three Libertarian Congressional candidates back on the ballot. We’ll talk about the Iowa Supreme Court ruling next week, of course, and I’ll cover the case at Bleeding Heartland before then;
The Iowa Secretary of State’s office has told the Supreme Court they need a ruling by 11:59 pm on September 11 in order to certify the ballot in time;
I speculated a bit about the strongest arguments for the Libertarian candidates and for the state, which is defending the decision by the two Republicans on the State Objection Panel;
Obviously, it matters whether Nicholas Gluba, Marco Battaglia, and Charles Aldrich can appear on this year’s ballot in Iowa’s first, third, and fourth Congressional districts. But I wanted to flag a couple of bigger issues that could affect future campaigns in Iowa, depending on what the Supreme Court decides;
The Libertarians have indicated they will campaign as write-in candidates if they can’t be on the ballot. But third-party candidates almost always receive far more votes than the write-in line. To give you an idea, the Libertarian candidate in Iowa’s third Congressional district received about 3.4 percent of the vote in 2020. But in 2022, when only Cindy Axne and Zach Nunn were on the ballot, about 0.2 percent of voters wrote in someone else;
Radio Iowa’s O.Kay Henderson reported last week on the Iowa GOP’s plan to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars encouraging their voters to cast early ballots this year. Trump has hurt early voting efforts in recent years with his incessant lies about election fraud;
The Iowa Democratic Party doesn’t have a well-funded statewide GOTV effort. But some local groups, including the Polk County Democrats, are working hard to generate early votes;
Pat Rynard crunched the numbers in 2022 and found Iowa’s return rate for absentee ballots was quite high, despite new barriers to voting by mail;
Big news for Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan: in contrast to the last election cycle, national groups are investing heavily in the first Congressional district race, which is now rated “lean Republican.” I wrote more about this story at Bleeding Heartland, including the likely topics of Democratic ads against incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks;
The Reynolds administration awarded about $4 million in grants to eleven charter schools last week;
Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers approved and Reynolds signed a law designed to make it easier for schools to have armed staff on the premises. To my knowledge, no districts have been able to implement this policy, as they wait for a final version of administrative rules. It’s still not clear whether insurance companies will write policies for school districts that allow firearms in the building;
Spencer and I shared our thoughts about Rob Sand’s town hall in Knoxville. He typically begins these events by giving credit to local entities that have participated in his office’s government efficiency program. He also talks about efforts to limit state auditors’ access to documents, and the lack of transparency surrounding the new school voucher program;
Speaking of transparency, Dallas County Attorney Jeannine Ritchie is refusing to release the Division of Criminal Investigation’s report on the Perry High School shooting in January;
I wanted to circle back to a story we didn’t have time to cover on the show in July. Clark Kauffman reported for Iowa Capital Dispatch on how “Iowa’s licensing boards are now, in some cases, keeping secret the alleged misconduct that is tied to charges of professional incompetence, ethical violations, patient abuse and even criminal convictions”;
It’s been many months since we talked about COVID-19 on the show, but case counts have been rising in Iowa, and recent wastewater testing indicated “very high” virus activity here. I wanted to mention that new booster shots are available and recommended to reduce severity of infections. The federal government will also make another round of free tests available later this month through covidtests.gov;
The Paralympics wrapped up in Paris over the weekend, so we covered the medal haul for Iowa’s athletes.
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