Final Iowa caucus thoughts, lots of news from the legislature

Jan. 22 "Capitol Week" is online

First, I want to say thank you to everyone who has shared encouraging words about my lawsuit against the Iowa House chief clerk. Longtime journalists Dave Busiek and Ed Tibbetts wrote columns about my credentialing problems, and many of you have sent private messages.

Some have asked if they can help cover my legal fees. That’s kind but not necessary, since the Institute for Free Speech is not charging me anything to handle this case. If you want to donate to help offset their costs, here is the link.

This recap is reaching you later than usual, because I had some obligations not related to political reporting. On Monday, my brother and I attended the funeral for a longtime family friend and wonderful citizen of Des Moines, Marvin Winick.

On Tuesday I was at the capitol in my role as board president for the nonprofit 1000 Friends of Iowa, which was presenting the latest Best Development Awards. I look forward to that event every year. If you have some time, check out some of the inspiring projects the organization has honored in the past, in communities of all sizes. (An independent jury of experts selects the award winners; we board members aren’t involved.)

Monday evening at 7:00 pm, Dennis Hart were on the air live, as usual. Here’s the audio from the January 22 program. Remember, the whole “Capitol Week” archive is available for free on KHOI’s website.

Topics Dennis and I covered this week:

• We began with a last look at the 2024 Iowa caucuses. Although the presidential field was winnowed quite a bit before caucus night, the number of candidates shrank again after January 15;

• I was surprised Ron DeSantis managed to hang on to second place in Iowa, given his trajectory over the past six months. But he didn’t do well enough to stay in the race, and endorsed Donald Trump on his way out the door;

• We touched on a point I developed in a Bleeding Heartland post Sunday: although DeSantis failed to gain traction as a presidential candidate, he left a lasting mark on Iowa. Governor Kim Reynolds has borrowed ideas from him for years, and many of those policies remain in effect here;

• Moving to state political news, Reynolds spoke to an anti-abortion rally on Monday, the 51st anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision;

• In addition to advocating for a near-total abortion ban, Reynolds has been touting programs that ostensibly would support moms and babies. These ideas generally fall short; for instance, the governor would extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months, but would change the rules so far fewer women qualify for any Medicaid coverage;

• President Joe Biden marked the Roe v. Wade anniversary by taking steps to expand access to contraception across the country;

• Senator Chuck Grassley was briefly hospitalized last week for an unspecified infection. He was released last Thursday and seen back in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday of this week;

• The Iowa House approved a resolution last week expressing support for Israel in very one-sided terms, with no acknowledgement of the loss of life in Gaza. Republicans drafted the text with no input from Democrats. Since the measure passed by voice vote, I wasn’t able to identify all of the Democrats who voted no. State Representatives Sami Scheetz and Austin Baeth spoke publicly about their reasons for voting no;

• The governor backpedaled a little last week regarding her plan to overhaul Iowa’s Area Education Agencies, which offer many services to students and school districts. She has agreed to amend her proposal (House Study Bill 542) to allow AEAs to continue to offer some services beyond special education. But she is determined to make other big changes to the system, and defended that in an “open letter” to Iowans as well as an interview on the Iowa PBS program “Iowa Press”;

• We talked about some of the bills that made it through Iowa House or Senate subcommittees last week. Senate File 2037 (backed by GOP State Senator Sandy Salmon) would prohibit local governments from banning conversion therapy;

• House File 2060 (introduced by GOP State Representative Bill Gustoff) would block schools from teaching gender-neutral terms in foreign language classes for languages that have “a grammatical gender system.” It was hard to convey in a few minutes on the radio how absurd this bill is. Jacob Hall of The Iowa Standard videotaped the subcommittee meeting. I do not believe Gustoff’s assertion that some teachers are being forced not to teach correct gender forms in foreign language classes. That sounds about as credible to me as the hoax about litter boxes in school restrooms;

• House Study Bill 531 would restrict the release of jail booking photographs and received bipartisan support in a subcommittee. Although some commentators have linked this bill to State Senator Adrian Dickey’s arrest during RAGBRAI last July, I have repeatedly requested materials related to that arrest, including jail booking materials. Sac County officials have provided nothing to me yet;

• House Study Bill 545 would increase the criminal penalties for those who make “swatting” calls. It also has bipartisan support, though Democratic State Representative Brian Meyer warned it’s very difficult to catch people who make such calls;

• The Iowa Firearms Coalition, our state’s official National Rifle Association affiliate, rallied last week at the capitol in support of House File 654, which “would allow gun owners to have a firearm in a locked vehicle on school and college grounds.” Iowa House Republicans approved the bill last year, but it didn’t go anywhere in the Iowa Senate, reportedly due to opposition from the insurance industry;

• During her “Iowa Press” interview, the governor asserted that “No additional gun laws would have prevented what happened” at Perry High School this month. She added, “There’s just evil out there.” That’s a remarkable statement to make, since we still don’t know basic facts about what happened, including how the shooter acquired the firearms used;

• An Iowa House subcommittee advanced House Study Bill 532, which “would change Iowa’s definition of ‘medical cannabidiol’ to include forms of oral, topical and inhalable cannabis — including raw cannabis flower.” Iowa’s medical cannabis program is one of the most restrictive in the country;

• The Iowa Department of Corrections has introduced legislation that would allow a medical cannabis card to be revoked for people who are incarcerated;

• We spent a little time talking about my lawsuit against the Iowa House chief clerk, who has denied my requests for media credentials for years;

• A little bit of campaign news: we corrected an oversight from last week’s program, when we neglected to mention that Democrat Ryan Condon is also running in Iowa House district 51, an open seat in KHOI’s listening area;

• Catching up on some news from Iowa’s fourth Congressional district, one of the two Democratic candidates, Jay Brown, withdrew his candidacy in late December and endorsed 2022 nominee Ryan Melton. Meanwhile, early this month, Kevin Virgil declared his intention to seek the Republican nomination in IA-04 against U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra. Virgil has the endorsement of former Rep. Steve King, whom Feenstra defeated in the 2020 primary.

Thanks for reading or listening! Dennis and I will be back next Monday live at 7:00 pm, and KHOI will rebroadcast the show at 6:00 am Tuesday and noon on Wednesday.

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Have you read the other Iowa Writers Collaborative columnists lately? There’s so much free content, with paid subscription options for most:

Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center

Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities

Dartanyan Brown, My Integrated Life, Des Moines

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup

Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

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

Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia

Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

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 Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Steve Semken: The Pulse of a Heartland Publisher, North Liberty

Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk

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

Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

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