U Iowa targeted over DEI; Trump dings Grassley; Feenstra a no-show

August 4 edition of "KHOI's Capitol Week"

Photo of old state capitol building on the University of Iowa campus is by David Harmantas, available via Shutterstock

I keep waiting for a slow week so Spencer Dirks and I can catch up on some Iowa news we couldn’t get to earlier this summer, but it never happens! We are doing our best to cover the biggest stories each week, as well as some news you probably didn’t hear about anywhere else. I’m proud of how much we are able to pack into 30 minutes.

For those who like to listen, the audio file from the August 4 edition of “KHOI Capitol Week” is at the top of this post. (You can also subscribe to the show on podcast platforms, and find the archive on KHOI’s website.)

For those who prefer a written summary, here’s what Spencer and I covered on Monday night’s show. If your email provider truncates this post, you can read it without interruption at this link.

Video prompts investigation of DEI at the University of Iowa

We began with the Fox News "undercover" video that sparked an investigation into the University of Iowa's DEI practices. Governor Kim Reynolds was “appalled” by the remarks of a university employee who has been placed on leave. Attorney General Brenna Bird quickly opened an investigation, as the governor requested. University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson said the university is also investigating what happened.

I wanted listeners to know that it is legal in Iowa to record your conversation with someone without the other person’s consent. (This employee was obviously unaware that she was being filmed.) It’s also important to understand that we can’t say for sure that this employee violated the state law prohibiting DEI offices or programs, because of the way the video was edited. The governor and several members of the Iowa Board of Regents have jumped to conclusions about what happened, but DEI can mean many different things, and it’s not against the law to express an opinion contrary to state policy.

We spent a little time on Dave Busiek’s perspective as a longtime television news director. I could tell the video was edited, but he saw things much more clearly:

The video on the Fox News website runs three minutes and 38 seconds. In that time, I counted 26 jump cut edits. The “time code” from the camera indicates the interview started at 7:18 and goes to 7:42. That means the interview is at least 24 minutes long, but we only hear 3:38 of it. We have no idea what she said in between the sound bites that aired. One particularly egregious segment starts at 7:22, jumps ahead to 7:37, then back to 7:35—all in one stitched-together sentence.

Undercover and over the line – a sloppy video sparks an Iowa witch hunt

Based on his own extensive experience in radio, Spencer agreed that a video can easily be chopped up to present a misleading impression of what a person said.

I found it ironic that on the same day Regents David Barker and Sherry Bates rushed to judge this university employee, the Board of Regents approved a conservative faculty member to be the interim director for the new “School of Intellectual Freedom” at the University of Iowa. That whole project, approved by Republican lawmakers this year, is basically DEI for conservatives.

Other members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative have put up excellent posts about this controversy, so check them out:

• Rekha Basu, What's really appalling? Iowa leaders' suppression of free speech on campuses

• Ed Tibbetts, The enforcers of Iowa RightThink have a new target

• Todd Dorman, DEI disobedience triggers Iowa Republicans

Trump targets Grassley over “blue slips”

Senator Chuck Grassley found himself in President Donald Trump’s cross-hairs last week, over an obscure tradition that Grassley has continued as Senate Judiciary Committee chair. “Blue slips” have been a “senatorial courtesy” since at least 1917, according to Grassley’s office. The process gives senators a chance to weigh in on judges and U.S. attorneys appointed for their home states.

Last Tuesday, Trump posted one of his trademark rants on Truth Social, complaining that Grassley needs to end “the ‘Blue Slip’ SCAM” and move his appointees more quickly. He complained that Democrats had been able to block some of his picks for blue states and said Grassley “should do this, IMMEDIATELY, and not let the Democrats laugh at him and the Republican Party for being weak and ineffective. The Democrats have broken this ridiculous custom on us, it’s time that we break it on them. Chuck, I know you have the Courage to do this, DO IT!”

At a Judiciary Committee meeting the following morning, Grassley said he was “surprised” by Trump’s comments. He defended the blue slip tradition and said, “I was offended by what the president said, and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults.” I don’t know how anyone could fail to notice that personal insults are Trump’s stock and trade.

In a written statement, Grassley’s office said, “Chairman Grassley has already successfully moved U.S. Attorneys through committee who have received blue slips from Democrats, including Senators Warner and Kaine of Virginia and Klobuchar and Smith of Minnesota.” But Grassley has not allowed Democratic colleagues to use the blue slip process to veto presidential picks.

Grassley leads Emil Bove confirmation

It’s hilarious for Trump to complain that Grassley was moving too slowly on nominations, when Iowa’s senior senator had just carried the president’s water by not calling an additional hearing on Emil Bove, who was up for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The final Senate floor vote on Bove (one of Trump’s criminal defense attorneys and a senior Justice Department official) took place about two and a half hours after Trump’s Truth Social tirade. He was confirmed by 50 votes to 49, with two Republicans joining Democrats in opposition.

During his prepared remarks on the Senate floor, Grassley decried what he called “The vicious rhetoric, unfair accusations and abuse directed at Mr. Bove” and claimed “My Democratic colleagues have tried to weaponize my respect for whistleblowers and the whistleblowing process against me and against Mr. Bove.”

Grassley claimed his staff had reviewed the allegations against Bove and found them not credible. He accused Democrats of mischaracterizing what Bove said about court orders.

It’s clear Republicans would have wanted to hear testimony from whistleblowers about a judicial nominee from a Democratic president. But Grassley claimed, “even if you accept most of the claims as true, there’s no scandal. Government lawyers aggressively litigating and interpreting court orders isn’t misconduct—it’s what lawyers do.”

Grassley still claims to be a whistleblower champion

The day after the Senate confirmed Bove, Grassley delivered the keynote address at the National Whistleblower Day celebration on Capitol Hill. (He’s spoken at that event before.) He touted his record of supporting whistleblowers and praised some he had helped to get their federal government jobs back.

The senator claimed, “I’ve worked hard to ensure individuals who retaliate against whistleblowers are held accountable. I’ve also pushed federal agencies to do right by whistleblowers.” He said he recently “wrote President Trump about the importance of protecting whistleblowers from retaliation.”

I don’t recall hearing Grassley speak out when Alexander Vindman and his brother faced retaliation during the first Trump administration. Alexander Vindman was first to report on the infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which led to Trump’s first impeachment.

Other notable Senate confirmations

During a rare Saturday session, the Senate confirmed former Fox News personality Jeannine Pirro as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. She was Trump’s second choice: Ed Martin (who went after January 6 prosecutors) didn’t have the votes to get out of committee. In his floor remarks, Grassley described Pirro as “a trailblazer.” He highlighted her work prosecuting criminals and focusing on domestic and elder abuse when those crimes were not as widely prosecuted.

“You may hear my Democrat colleagues criticize Ms. Pirro for some of her colorful remarks during her time as a TV personality,” Grassley said. “Yes, she has a larger-than-life personality. But she has [a] decades [long] distinguished record as a prosecutor and judge.”

Senator Joni Ernst isn’t often at the center of confirmation battles, but in her role as chair of the Senate Small Business Committee on Friday, she led the confirmation of a Trump appointee who is involved with some DOGE cutbacks. Casey Mulligan is an economics professor from the University of Chicago, whom the Senate confirmed on a party-line vote to be chief counsel at the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.

Ernst said in her floor remarks, “The Office of Chief Counsel for Advocacy has been vacant, without a Senate confirmed occupant, for nearly a decade. This key role champions the interests and protection of small businesses, and President Trump nominated a highly qualified individual for this role.”

Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the committee, outlined his objections earlier this year, when he said in a statement, "The Small Business Administration is supposed to support small businesses by providing capital, contracts, and counseling. But so far, Trump’s SBA has only produced closures, cuts, and chaos.”

Markey noted that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency had been closing SBA offices, adding,

After today’s hearing, I am also deeply concerned that Dr. Mulligan will work to advance President Trump’s deregulation agenda, rather than be an independent voice for small business. Dr. Mulligan’s past statements have called into question reasonable limits on pollution and rules that prevent insurers from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. He has also questioned the value of sick leave, opposed increases to the minimum wage, and blamed the 2008 financial crisis on healthcare subsidies and unemployment insurance, calling these benefits ‘trickle-down fraud.’ This ideology would take us back to an economy with few worker, environmental, patient, or consumer protections.

Ernst votes against Congressional stock trading ban

Last Wednesday the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to “advance legislation that would ban members of Congress from buying, selling or owning individual stocks.” It was an unusual vote because Hawley joined Democrats to get the bill out of committee. Every other Republican on the panel, including Ernst, voted against the legislation.

Under the proposal, members of Congress and their spouses could not trade or hold individual stocks and would have to certify their compliance annually. The restrictions would apply to the president and vice president, but only starting in 2029. That was also part of Hawley’s negotiations with committee Democrats.

I would bet against this bill reaching the Senate floor, given the level of Republican opposition.

I looked at several of Ernst’s personal financial disclosures. As far as I can tell, she holds a bunch of mutual funds and index funds—not individual stocks. (Members of congress could theoretically profit from insider information even if they didn’t own individual stocks, but Hawley’s bill wouldn’t address that problem.)

If Ernst seeks a third term, this could become a campaign issue. The Iowa Democratic Party blasted her in a statement last week, saying “Ernst is once again siding with the wealthy and well-connected, this time protecting her ability to personally benefit from insider information instead of doing what’s right for her constituents.”

Will Iowans in Congress hold in-person town halls?

Both chambers of Congress are on break until September 2. Traditionally, many members hold events around their districts during the summer recess. In August 2009, Grassley famously (and falsely) claimed that the Democratic health care reform proposal would allow the government to “decide when to pull the plug on grandma.”

It’s not clear how many of Iowa’s delegation will hold in-person town halls this month. Republican leaders are discouraging the process. U.S. Representatives Zach Nunn (IA-03) and Randy Feenstra (IA-04) never hold in-person town halls, and Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01) hasn’t held one in years. She didn’t respond to the Cedar Rapids Gazette’s inquiry about whether she would hold “events open to all constituents” this summer.

Representative Ashley Hinson (IA-02) did hold a few town halls in May. I haven’t seen a schedule for her or for Senator Joni Ernst yet.

Feenstra a no-show at conservative forum

The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition held a forum for prospective Republican candidates for governor last Thursday. Three of them showed up: State Representative Eddie Andrews, former State Representative Brad Sherman, and State Senator Mike Bousselot, who is expected to launch his campaign soon. U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra was invited but did not attend.

Feenstra has generally avoided taking unscripted questions in any public setting, and doesn’t like to debate opponents. Although I consider him the front-runner in the GOP primary race for now, I think avoiding public scrutiny could become a real problem for him as the campaign progresses. The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition is a major conservative organization.

I didn’t attend the event, so relied on Erin Murphy’s write-up for the Cedar Rapids Gazette and Brianne Pfannenstiel’s story for the Des Moines Register.

The forum covered four major topics. On abortion, “Andrews and Sherman both advocated for restricting access to medication abortions, and both said they support the belief that life begins at conception.” Bousselot touted his votes for various anti-abortion bills the legislature has approved but did not stake out as extreme a position.

Longtime listeners may recall that as a member of the RNC Platform Committee last summer, Sherman dissented from the RNC platform language on abortion, because he favors a national ban.

On property taxes: Bousselot and Andrews claimed to be working on plans to phase out property taxes. That strikes me as pie in the sky. Sherman was more cautious in this area.

Eminent domain is shaping up to be a big problem for Bousselot, who was at the center of efforts to water down a House-approved bill that would have restricted eminent domain for CO2 pipelines. In past years, Bousselot refused to convene subcommittees on other House bills related to private property rights. Before he was in the legislature, he worked for Summit Agricultural Group, part of the Bruce Rastetter’s corporate empire that also includes Summit Carbon Solutions (which wants to build the CO2 pipeline across Iowa).

Sherman and Andrews have a different problem. Their position on private property rights is more in line with most Republican voters, but they are competing with each other for the same part of the GOP base.

Asked why they would be the most electable potential GOP candidate, Andrews and Bousselot noted they have won legislative races in swing districts. As I’ve previously reported, Andrews was the only Iowa Republican legislator to win in 2020 in a district Joe Biden carried, and also the only Iowa Republican legislator to win in 2024 in a district Kamala Harris carried. Bousselot has won two hard-fought races in Ankeny-based districts—though it’s notable he doesn’t want to press his luck by seeking another term in the Senate.

Sherman only served one term in the Iowa House, from a safe Republican district. It will be hard for him to make the case that he is most electable. He touted the fact that he was the only one in the field to announce his campaign before Reynolds made clear she won’t seek a third term.

Adam Steen forms committee to run for governor

We thought we were going to get through a show without any new candidates to cover, but on Friday, Adam Steen filed paperwork with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board to create a committee as a Republican candidate for governor. That doesn’t mean he is definitely running, but most people who take that first step do become candidates.

I am seeking to confirm that this is the Adam Steen whom Reynolds appointed a few years ago as director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services. I didn’t hear back from him. I have no idea what his lane would be or how he would finance a campaign in what looks likely to be a crowded field of four candidates.

We didn’t have any new Democrats to cover Monday night, but last Thursday, I attended an event in Des Moines where Jackie Norris told a room full of people she was running for U.S. Senate. She made it official today (August 5), and we’ll talk about her campaign on next week’s show.

Several Democrats who have served with State Representative Josh Turek in the Iowa House told the Des Moines Register that Turek will announce a Senate campaign sometime this month.

National Senior Games cancels part of triathlon due to E. coli levels

I got a great tip from longtime Bleeding Heartland guest author Herb Strentz last week. The National Senior Games were held in the Des Moines area, and they had to cancel the swimming portion of the triathlon due to elevated E. coli levels at Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines.

Someone from the National Senior Games confirmed to Herb that 140 athletes had registered for the event, which they changed from the traditional format to a run-bike-run format after this public notice was issued on July 31:

CAUTION NOTICE 7/31:

Swimming is not recommended at the Blue Heron Lake Beach in Raccoon River Park due to elevated E. coli levels. Recent water testing on July 30 found 2820 colony-forming units of E. coli bacteria per 100 mL, exceeding the state standard of 235 CFU per 100 mL. We will provide updates on future water quality tests as they become available. For more information on E. coli and water testing, please visit https://programs.iowadnr.gov/aquia/Programs/Beaches.

Iowa’s dirty water problem could affect whether other organizations schedule athletic competitions in our state.

Bobby Kaufmann elected Iowa House majority leader

As expected, Iowa House Republicans elected Bobby Kaufmann on Monday morning to be the new majority leader, which is the second-ranking position in the caucus. Kaufmann, who is the son of Iowa GOP state party chair Jeff Kaufmann, will replace Matt Windschitl as majority leader. Windschitl stepped aside in order to focus on his campaign for Congress in the fourth district.

As far as I can tell Kaufmann was unopposed for this position. He is widely expected to run for higher office someday.

I’m most interested to see who will replace Kaufmann as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. That will be an important job for the 2026 session as lawmakers try to do something on property taxes. One possibility: current State Government Committee chair Jane Bloomingdale. If that happens, a new Republican would be in charge of State Government, which considers a lot of important legislation.

Hands-free driving enforcement numbers

It’s been a month since Iowa’s hands-free driving law went into effect. I reached out to the Iowa State Patrol last week to find out how enforcement has been going.

They’ll start writing tickets for violations in January 2026, but I did learn that during the month of July, state, county, and local law enforcement issued 2,662 warnings to Iowa drivers for hands-free violations.

Reminder of what the law requires:

The hands-free law prohibits drivers from using electronic devices while driving unless the device is in a hands-free setting. This means drivers cannot hold their phone, type, scroll, enter GPS coordinates, stream video, view content, or make calls unless voice activated. Drivers can use several options to stay hands-free: phone mounts, auxiliary cables, speakerphone features, Bluetooth, and other voice command systems.

The hardest part for me is remembering not to pick up my phone to check for messages when I’m stopped at a red light.

Bayer spent heavily to lobby for pesticide immunity bill

The environmental group Food & Water Watch announced last week that the Bayer corporation (which produces the Roundup previously marketed by Monsanto) greatly increased its spending on lobbying Iowa legislators since a bill that would grant legal immunity to pesticide manufacturers was introduced in 2024. Cami Koons reported for Iowa Capital Dispatch,

In 2025, according to client reports published by the state, Bayer paid lobbyists $123,250. Reports for 2024 show $86,099 spent. Between 2021 and 2023, years before the pesticide labeling bill was introduced, Bayer spent annually between $20,000 and $30,000 on its lobbying efforts.

Those figures don’t include anything Bayer spent on advertising to promote the pesticide immunity bill. I expect Bayer will try again next year to pass this legislation, but I think it’s very unlikely to get through the Iowa House.

Former Iowa House Republican lands Trump administration job

I like writing about new jobs for former Iowa legislators. We didn’t have much time to discuss this story, but I wanted to flag my reporting about former State Representative Joe Mitchell, who was recently named regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

For a guy who’s only 28 years old, Mitchell’s career has already taken a lot of turns. I was struck by how much help he’s had from the GOP establishment at every stage, and how ambitious Republicans feel compelled to show their loyalty by publicly praising Trump in an over-the-top way.

One year since Iowa’s abortion ban was enforced

It’s been more than two years since the legislature held a one-day special session to pass a near-total abortion ban. But that law has only been enforced since July 29, 2024 following an Iowa Supreme Court ruling. According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the number of abortions performed in Iowa dropped from about 200 per month during the first six months of 2024, before the law was in effect, to about 75 abortions per month during the first six months of this year.

It’s hard to know how many Iowans have been unable to obtain abortions during this time. We know many more women are traveling out of state (mostly to Nebraska, Minnesota, and Illinois) to terminate pregnancies. We don’t know how many are self-managing abortions using medication that they ordered from out of state. Medications can generally be used up to about 10 weeks, whereas Iowa’s law would ban most abortions after about six weeks, when fetal cardiac activity can be detected.

I expect a big push in the Iowa legislature next year to further restrict the use of abortion medications, and possibly an attempt to restrict travel to other states for the purpose of receiving reproductive health care.

I recommend reading this essay by Dr. Emily Boevers: “One Year Later: The Real Impact of Iowa’s 6-Week Abortion Ban.”

Many thanks for joining us! Spencer and I will be back next week.