What I'm reading: Accountability journalism

And a reporter asks blind people about Kamala Harris

I’ve got a Bleeding Heartland post to finish later tonight, but I’m taking a break to share some good work by other reporters.

The Des Moines Register published a blockbuster piece by USA Today reporters Craig Harris, Bailey Schulz, and Katie Wedell: “Republican governors gave lucrative, no-bid COVID-19 deals to Utah firms, who then gave $1M to GOP campaigns.” Iowa is one of the five states that helped little-known Utah-based firms make at least $219 million on no-bid contracts during the pandemic. There’s also a timeline showing “How Nomi Health made millions off COVID-19 tests.” Unfortunately, the package is behind a subscriber paywall, but if you are a Register subscriber, it’s worth your time.

I have one small quibble. The piece repeats the story Governor Kim Reynolds told at an April 2020 news conference: the Utah companies got on Iowa’s radar because actor Ashton Kutcher mentioned them during a conversation with her about a pandemic-related public service announcement. I believe negotiations with the firms were already in the works before then. Reynolds’ former senior aide Paul Trombino said during a promotional video recorded for a Test Iowa vendor that he’d already had some “long conversations” with counterparts in Utah earlier in the year.

Kelby Wingert of the Fort Dodge Messenger had a good scoop today:

A Fort Dodge woman who spent 23 days in the Hamilton County Jail on a $500,000 bond with attempted murder charges pending in 2019 has been awarded $425,000 in an out-of-court settlement with the county for what her attorney called a wrongful arrest.

The Iowa Freedom of Information Council tweeted that the piece was an “Outstanding example of local journalist knowing to ask for the settlement agreement to confirm what gov’t officials wouldn’t admit— that Hamilton County paid $400k to a woman jailed only on statements by a person whose story changed wildly.”

I’ve long been interested in transportation policy and how too many roads are “Dangerous by Design” for pedestrians. Vox published a great piece by Marin Cogan this week on how “Being a pedestrian in the US was already dangerous. It’s getting even worse.” Iowa’s not one of the worst states for pedestrian fatalities, but the Des Moines area has too many busy streets that are not safely walkable.

Clark Kauffman, the inexhaustible scoop machine who is deputy editor of Iowa Capital Dispatch, did some digging on Alan Ostergren’s conservative legal operation. The Kirkwood Institute does not disclose who is bankrolling its many lawsuits. It’s structured to keep annual revenue below the threshold for reporting donors to the IRS.

Speaking of money, the American Independent’s Josh Israel covered misleading ads a Republican-aligned group is running. The commercials bash allegedly wasteful Democratic spending from the American Rescue Plan, using “a ski area in Iowa” as one example. In reality “it was an all-Republican board of supervisors in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, that opted to use some of their funds to take ownership of the Mt. Crescent Ski Area, arguing that it was necessary to bring tourism revenue to the county.”

Finally, I want to share a good take on one of this week’s faux outrages. At an event to mark the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Vice President Kamala Harris introduced herself to disability activists by saying, “I am Kamala Harris. My pronouns are ‘she’ and ‘her,’ and I am a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit.”

Conservatives have slammed and ridiculed the veep. Sara Luterman, who works for the nonprofit newsroom The 19th, asked blind people and leaders of advocacy organizations for the blind what they thought. As Luterman tweeted in response to one exceptionally ignorant and ablest take, “Blind people exist and it’s not hard to ask them what they think.”

Jasmin Bailey, manager of business operations for the American Association of People with Disabilities, praised Harris for being inclusive. She told Luterman, “When I’m in a meeting, I’m always curious: What is the speaker wearing? What do they look like? That’s information sighted people just have. It’s information I would like to have as well.”

Happy reading! Please share with friends who may be interested.

P.S.—This Substack is not going to summarize most Bleeding Heartland coverage. For free emails that link to all recent articles and commentaries I’ve published on the site, sign up for the Evening Heartland newsletter here. (I don’t ever share or sell my email list.)

P.P.S—This Substack has 50-some subscribers now. When the list hits 100, I’m going to put up my first “Ask me anything about Iowa politics” thread.