Thoughts about my first year on Substack

Plus your July 24 "Capitol Week" recap

Laura Belin with Dennis Hart in the KHOI studio on June 19

A year ago this week, I wrote my debut post for this newsletter and linked to KHOI’s “Capitol Week” in this space for the first time. Julie Gammack had been trying to get me onto Substack for a while, but I didn’t see the need. I had been writing about Iowa politics on my own platform for about fifteen years, and I already had a free email newsletter, where I shared all recent Bleeding Heartland articles and commentaries.

Julie kept after me, and once Robert Leonard launched on Substack, I started to grasp the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative’s potential.

The timing wasn’t ideal. Last summer, I was still recovering from a severe ankle fracture that had become a major distraction from my work. But my dad used to say, “When the pie is being passed around, that’s the time to take a slice.” So I took the plunge before having a clear idea of what to write for a Substack audience.

I decided not to overthink the title. “Iowa politics with Laura Belin” would convey what the newsletter was about, and would give me flexibility to cover lots of topics.

I soon realized I could use this platform to spread the word about “Capitol Week.” Although Dennis Hart and I had been doing the show for about a year and a half, many of my readers weren’t aware of it.

This newsletter has also been a place for me to highlight outstanding work by others, and share some of my own original reporting and analysis. According to Substack’s analytics, the three most-viewed posts here (out of 127 I’ve published in the last 12 months) are also among the most popular on my main website:

• What Kim Reynolds was really saying about latest Trump indictment

• Gannett prints fake newspapers at Des Moines Register plant

• Governor, spare us your fake concern for trans kids

I’m so grateful to all who have read or shared any of my work this past year. Keeping all of my writing accessible, regardless of ability to pay, is a core value for me, so I will never put exclusive content behind a paywall.

That said, Substack has helped me cover a significant amount of my operating costs, including my salary, Bleeding Heartland’s web hosting fees, and technical support. So thank you to all who have signed up for a paid subscription here, or have donated any amount via credit card, PayPal, Patreon, Venmo, or personal check. (To avoid conflicts of interest, I don’t accept monetary support from Iowa elected officials, candidates, or paid campaign staff or consultants on Iowa campaigns.)

I enjoy hearing from readers, so please shoot me an email or leave a comment in this thread with any suggestions for where to take this project in the year to come.

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Now, on to your regularly scheduled programming! Dennis and I were live on KHOI Radio Monday evening to talk about the week in Iowa politics. Here’s the audio from our July 24 show:

Topics we covered on our 130th program together:

• We began with the state of play on the lawsuit challenging Iowa’s new abortion ban. Here’s the appeal the state’s attorneys filed on Friday, which asked the Iowa Supreme Court to consider the Polk County District Court’s temporary injunction. I walked through the main legal arguments the state raised;

• Next steps: the Iowa Supreme Court will decide whether to accept the application for interlocutory appeal. If they say yes, as I expect them to do, sometime this fall the court will likely hear oral arguments. At that time, we will find out whether Justice Dana Oxley will recuse, as she did from the last major abortion case;

• I explained why Justice Oxley will likely be the deciding vote on whether to uphold the law, if she chooses to participate in this case;

• Dennis quoted some recent official statements about this lawsuit, and I explained the difference between the political messaging and the legal issues that will be central to the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision;

• Quick note on the frame: it will take at minimum several months for the court to resolve the state’s interlocutory appeal seeking to let the abortion ban be enforced;

• There’s a lot of confusion now about whether abortion is legal in Iowa. So Dennis and I reminded listeners that as of last Monday, when the Polk County District Court enjoined the law, abortion is legal up to about 20 weeks;

• I summarized the key points of some exclusive reporting I published last week, about how Governor Kim Reynolds has turned up the pressure on the Iowa Supreme Court in recent months;

• Moving to Iowa caucus news, I watched the video of former President Donald Trump’s town hall in Cedar Rapids last week, so you don’t have to;

• The town hall felt more like a campaign rally than a serious television interview. I didn’t mention this on KHOI, but Sean Hannity’s interview style reminded me of the political programming I used to watch on state-controlled Russian television networks during my “past life” covering Russian domestic politics:

• Trump said during a WHO Radio appearance last week that he has a good relationship with Reynolds. He claimed he wasn’t picking a fight with the governor in a recent Truth Social post, which drew sharp criticism in Iowa GOP circles;

• Reynolds has said she’d still be happy to appear at a Trump campaign event; while she continues to profess neutrality, I agree with those who see her as more sympathetic to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis;

• We went over some of the key findings from a Fox News poll of Iowa Republican caucus-goers, which was in the field last week. There wasn’t any good news here for DeSantis, though Senator Tim Scott can find some reasons to be optimistic;

• DeSantis has shaken up his campaign staff and is retooling his media strategy, but the Fox News poll points to some fundamental problems for every GOP candidate not named Donald Trump;

• Long-shot presidential contender Ryan Binkley was back in Iowa last week, and I enjoyed Doug Burns’ write-up of his novel strategy for rounding up small donors;

• Long-shot presidential contender Perry Johnson also made another Iowa visit last week to tout his none-too-realistic plan for shrinking the federal budget;

• We previewed the July 28 Lincoln Dinner, where a baker’s dozen of presidential candidate will appeal to GOP activists and help the Republican Party of Iowa raise money;

• The governor is trying to sideline the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox by inviting presidential candidates to sit down with her for one-on-one conversations during the Iowa State Fair;

• We briefly covered last week’s press conference where Reynolds touted the state government’s realignment plan. I wasn’t able to attend, because the governor’s office didn’t put that event on her public schedule (instead her press secretary sent the advisory to a select group of journalists);

• Dennis and I spent our last 30 seconds talking about the state’s new slogan, “Freedom to Flourish”; Reynolds used federal funding to develop the new brand and marketing strategy.

Thanks again for reading or listening! Dennis and I will be back next week at the usual time.

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Jeff Morrison is the latest columnist to join the Iowa Writers Collaborative, with “Between Two Rivers.” All of these newsletters are available for free, or you can choose to support the writer with a paid subscription.

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

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

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

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

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

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

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