Here in Iowa, Republicans control the governor’s office, the Senate and the House. We have a Republican attorney general, treasurer and secretary of state. Boards and commissions are stacked with GOP appointees. The Iowa Supreme Courts and lower courts are packed with justices and judges appointed by Republican governors.
We really should go to a Halmark store and buy Iowa Republicans one of those “Congratulations on Your Near Total Control of State Government.” I think it’s part of Hallmark’s “Cry more, libs” collection.
“My, oh, my you’re on a roll. You’ve taken almost complete control! You’ve won so much you’re tired of winning. Make your foes do all your bidding!”
And yet, it’s not enough. It’s never enough.
Take the bill which just passed the Iowa Senate allowing state agencies to skip having the state auditor look over their books. Instead, agencies could hire a private auditing firm. That comes after a bill passed last year making it more difficult for the auditor to obtain information from state agencies.
The state auditor, Rob Sand, is the lone Democratic statewide elected official. His nemesis, Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, spearheaded both legislative efforts to defang the auditor’s office and shield executive branch agencies under the control of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds from Sand’s meddling and watchdogging.
Isn’t that what voters wanted when they reelected Sand? Who cares? Besides, an election is only legitimate when Republicans win.
Then there’s legislation that marks the latest chapter in Republican efforts to crush public sector unions. They’re full of Democrats, you know.
In 2017, the Republican majority gutted collective bargaining rights for public workers, narrowing bargaining to wages and requiring bargaining units to hold annual certification elections.
This year, Republicans are pushing legislation that will decertify a bargaining unit if management fails to send the state a list of unit members before a certification vote. Sure, the union can go to court, but why should it be placed in this position by no fault of its members? It’s just one more trap door Republicans are creating to make it harder and harder for government employees to stick with the union.
Since Republicans took over seven years ago, the list goes on and on. Any institution in Iowa inhabited by Iowans who aren’t totally down with the hard-right, red-state agenda must be taken over, damaged or hobbled. Dissent shall not be tolerated.
Reynolds spent the better part of two years maligning public schools, which she and other Republicans argued are chock full of liberal indoctrinators, “pornographic” library books and drag shows. She painted this scary picture of public education to build support for publicly funded private school scholarships. Now she’s going after Area Education Agencies, hoping their services will be handed to private companies.
Reynolds and the Legislature have anointed themselves as the state school board, dictating what books schools can have in libraries, what curriculum they can teach – no LGBTQ themes and no history that makes white lawmakers uncomfortable – and how they would handle the pandemic. Not even the defeat of book-banning Moms for Liberty school board candidates could curb the impulse to micromanage school districts.
Local control has been blown sky high. There are blue cities and counties in this state that refused to toe the Republican line. Counties can’t raise the local minimum wage or prohibit discrimination against renters who use government housing aid to cover the rent. Local governments can’t cut public safety or they risk losing state funding. County auditors can’t set up satellite voting centers unless petitioned by citizens, nor can they set up drop boxes in addition to a box set up near the auditor’s office. A bill being considered this year would make all drop boxes illegal.
Bills remain alive that would prohibit local governments from requiring topsoil replacement on finished building sites and abolish traffic enforcement cameras installed by communities.
At state universities, clear bastions of non-red-state thinking, Republicans have forced the Board of Regents and campus leaders to curtail Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. Instead of focusing on racial diversity or the rights of LGBTQ students, the emphasis will be on ideological diversity. Namely, making the schools friendlier for conservatives.
The regents, including five Republicans, three independents and one Democrat, are uniquely qualified to rise to this challenge.
As mentioned, more voting restrictions are under consideration. Reynolds’ government reorganization gives unprecedented power to the governor. Legislation filed this year would give her appointed “administrative rule coordinator” virtual veto power over state rules and regulations. Positions that used to be insulated from political pressure now serve strictly at the pleasure of the governor. Boards and commissions that might question the governor’s agenda have been rendered powerless, diluted or axed.
Once upon a time, Iowa’s state government was powered by friction.
That friction was generated by split partisan control of the levers of power. A Republican governor had to work with a Democratic Legislature. A Democratic governor had to work with a Republican Legislature. Sometimes, one chamber of the General Assembly was controlled by Republicans with the other controlled by Democrats.
Those were the days when Iowans had to come up with solutions. They weren’t cooked up in some ideological bill mill spreading its bad ideas to many states.
Now, state government runs on high octane pure red ideology that must seep into every nook and cranny in Iowa. I don’t use the term “authoritarian” just to get a rise out of readers. I just don’t know what else you can call a government that insists its authority should have no limits.
When will it finally be enough? We already know the answer.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
www.thegazette.com
We really should go to a Halmark store and buy Iowa Republicans one of those “Congratulations on Your Near Total Control of State Government.” I think it’s part of Hallmark’s “Cry more, libs” collection.
“My, oh, my you’re on a roll. You’ve taken almost complete control! You’ve won so much you’re tired of winning. Make your foes do all your bidding!”
And yet, it’s not enough. It’s never enough.
Take the bill which just passed the Iowa Senate allowing state agencies to skip having the state auditor look over their books. Instead, agencies could hire a private auditing firm. That comes after a bill passed last year making it more difficult for the auditor to obtain information from state agencies.
The state auditor, Rob Sand, is the lone Democratic statewide elected official. His nemesis, Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, spearheaded both legislative efforts to defang the auditor’s office and shield executive branch agencies under the control of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds from Sand’s meddling and watchdogging.
Isn’t that what voters wanted when they reelected Sand? Who cares? Besides, an election is only legitimate when Republicans win.
Then there’s legislation that marks the latest chapter in Republican efforts to crush public sector unions. They’re full of Democrats, you know.
In 2017, the Republican majority gutted collective bargaining rights for public workers, narrowing bargaining to wages and requiring bargaining units to hold annual certification elections.
This year, Republicans are pushing legislation that will decertify a bargaining unit if management fails to send the state a list of unit members before a certification vote. Sure, the union can go to court, but why should it be placed in this position by no fault of its members? It’s just one more trap door Republicans are creating to make it harder and harder for government employees to stick with the union.
Since Republicans took over seven years ago, the list goes on and on. Any institution in Iowa inhabited by Iowans who aren’t totally down with the hard-right, red-state agenda must be taken over, damaged or hobbled. Dissent shall not be tolerated.
Reynolds spent the better part of two years maligning public schools, which she and other Republicans argued are chock full of liberal indoctrinators, “pornographic” library books and drag shows. She painted this scary picture of public education to build support for publicly funded private school scholarships. Now she’s going after Area Education Agencies, hoping their services will be handed to private companies.
Reynolds and the Legislature have anointed themselves as the state school board, dictating what books schools can have in libraries, what curriculum they can teach – no LGBTQ themes and no history that makes white lawmakers uncomfortable – and how they would handle the pandemic. Not even the defeat of book-banning Moms for Liberty school board candidates could curb the impulse to micromanage school districts.
Local control has been blown sky high. There are blue cities and counties in this state that refused to toe the Republican line. Counties can’t raise the local minimum wage or prohibit discrimination against renters who use government housing aid to cover the rent. Local governments can’t cut public safety or they risk losing state funding. County auditors can’t set up satellite voting centers unless petitioned by citizens, nor can they set up drop boxes in addition to a box set up near the auditor’s office. A bill being considered this year would make all drop boxes illegal.
Bills remain alive that would prohibit local governments from requiring topsoil replacement on finished building sites and abolish traffic enforcement cameras installed by communities.
At state universities, clear bastions of non-red-state thinking, Republicans have forced the Board of Regents and campus leaders to curtail Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. Instead of focusing on racial diversity or the rights of LGBTQ students, the emphasis will be on ideological diversity. Namely, making the schools friendlier for conservatives.
The regents, including five Republicans, three independents and one Democrat, are uniquely qualified to rise to this challenge.
As mentioned, more voting restrictions are under consideration. Reynolds’ government reorganization gives unprecedented power to the governor. Legislation filed this year would give her appointed “administrative rule coordinator” virtual veto power over state rules and regulations. Positions that used to be insulated from political pressure now serve strictly at the pleasure of the governor. Boards and commissions that might question the governor’s agenda have been rendered powerless, diluted or axed.
Once upon a time, Iowa’s state government was powered by friction.
That friction was generated by split partisan control of the levers of power. A Republican governor had to work with a Democratic Legislature. A Democratic governor had to work with a Republican Legislature. Sometimes, one chamber of the General Assembly was controlled by Republicans with the other controlled by Democrats.
Those were the days when Iowans had to come up with solutions. They weren’t cooked up in some ideological bill mill spreading its bad ideas to many states.
Now, state government runs on high octane pure red ideology that must seep into every nook and cranny in Iowa. I don’t use the term “authoritarian” just to get a rise out of readers. I just don’t know what else you can call a government that insists its authority should have no limits.
When will it finally be enough? We already know the answer.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
Opinion: Powerful Iowa Republicans reach for even more power
Jesse Case, Secretary-Treasurer and Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 238 in Iowa, speaks during a news conference held as labor …
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