Culver Misses More than a Funeral

Few people know how to maximize a political opportunity as well as Edward Campbell did. Campbell was a political and policy strategist who left an indelible mark on Iowa’s political landscape before he lost his long battle with cancer. He advised candidates like former President Bill Clinton, former Senator John Culver and Culver’s son and Iowa’s Governor Chet Culver. The public relations importance of a large semi-public event like the funeral of a prominent political figure would have been obvious to Campbell. The concept was, apparently, lost on Governor Culver who decided a fundraiser in Boston was acommitment not to be broken.

President Bill Clinton attended the funeral and gave, in his trademark style, a eulogy that connected with those attending and captured the intense personality those who knew Campbell loved and hated at the same time. The Governor’s wife, Mari Culver, gave a speech that, according to one Register report, “probably made a few in attendance regret that she’s not running for anything.” The Governor’s absence was conspicuous, to say the least. If this had been another funeral and Campbell was advising candidate Culver, I have little doubt that an emergency of state would have been deemed by Campbell as the only worthy excuse for Culver to miss the opportunity to rub shoulders with such Democratic notables.

Culver’s opting to travel out of state to raise money and, maybe, to spend time with his father who today was named interim director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics is yet another in a string of odd travel/appearance choices made by the Governor. As the election year got into full swing, Culver decided to sneak away to Florida to run in his first triathlon. With a tough budget looming and the Legislature in session, the Governor went to visit Iowa troops in Iraq. And, a year or two back, he spent time at the Florida condo of a contributor leaving a sputtering spokesperson to make excuses as to where the Governor was and why the Governor had kept the trip a secret.

The Governor has not done anything illegal. It is his right to run a triathlon, to vacation, to visit Iowa’s brave servicemen and women, and to keep his commitments in Massachusetts instead of attending the Campbell funeral. All of these things are legal and visiting the troops, for one, may even be noble. But, when you look at the decisions together, you have to think a veteran strategist like Edward Campbell might be left scratching his head. Culver is in an uphill battle for re-election and he is making scheduling choices that make him look out-of-touch.

I did not know Edward Campbell personally, so I should not surmise to know what he would think. Even more important, as a guy who is married to a woman who is much more impressive than I am, I know what it is like to be upstaged by a spouse. I am fine with that, but having people wish your wife was on the ballot and that it would be OK if you stayed in Boston eating chowder is probably a bad idea for a candidate who is in a fight for his political life. You would think Culver would have taken the opportunity to pay tribute to his family’s longtime friend and political mentor and be visible at such an event. The people in Boston would have understood and it is likely Mr. Campbell might have been giving Culver an “atta boy” from the great beyond for having learned his political lessons so well.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Senator Gronstal Starts Schoolyard Fight with Des Moines School Board

An interesting letter to the editor appeared in the Saturday Des Moines Register. The Iowa Senate Majority Leader, State Senator Mike Gronstal, offered a scathing rebuke of Superintendent Nancy Sebring and the Des Moines School Board. Gronstal was troubled by their actions during this year’s budget process. His tone was strong and stinging. Almost as surprising as a person in Gronstal’s position making such an accusation is the Register’s relegation of Gronstal’s comments to a mere letter to the editor. The relationship between Des Moines School officials and State leaders has deteriorated to such a point they are calling each other names. This situation demands further investigation by the media.

In his letter Senator Gronstal said Des Moines school officials “deliberately set out to scare parents, teachers and students with doomsday scenarios that were irresponsible, inflammatory and, well, pure fiction.” He said Superintendent Sebring and the School Board “conspired to unnecessarily scare families, teachers, parents and residents of Des Moines with irresponsible budget scenarios.” He used phrases like “flights of fancy” and suggested that the officials in Des Moines were less than honest. Even in today’s caustic political climate, such chilling words are unusual. There is trouble right here, right now in Iowa’s capital city. If the parties do not come together and patch up their differences before the next budget season, our school district might suffer.

Much of what Senator Gronstal says make sense to me this time. I could never get the Des Moines School District’s numbers to add up before the State allocated money and the revised numbers discussed at last week’s School Board meeting still appear suspect. In the numbers the District bandied about in what Gronstal calls the “doomsday scenario” was an overall potential $30 million shortfall. The District told us this meant approximately 346 teaching positions would be eliminated. Now the shortfall appears to be $11 million, yet the District predicts 173 teaching positions will be lost. So, the cuts in dollars are 73% less than expected, but the cut to teaching positions is only 50% compared to the doomsday number. Either there is something odd about the District’s math, or the District feels there are things more important to use these additional tax dollars on than teaching positions.

I cannot say if Senator Gronstal is being fair or honest in his remarks and I do not know what motivated him to get out his acerbic pen. I certainly am not writing this to defend him. But, something is terribly wrong when people in power do not trust each other. The Des Moines School Board, the Administration and Senator Gronstal all have some explaining to do. Since they are all adults and cannot be sent to the principal’s office, the public needs to hold them accountable. The place to start might be taking this feud off the letters to the editor page and making it a front page investigative piece.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Equality is NOT a Ballot Issue

This week marks the anniversary of the Iowa Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage. The ruling touched off a sometimes rancorous political debate that promises to continue for years to come. I have heard some say that Iowa and our country are not ready for this debate. I have to agree that the marriage question has brought out the worst in some people, but it also has shown us at our best. I recognize gay marriage makes some people uncomfortable, but the time to end marriage discrimination in this country is now.

Perennial gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats has built the foundation for his campaign on the issue. The Iowa Republican puts it this way, “For much of 2009, Bob Vander Plaats focused on one issue – gay marriage.” For an entire year, nothing was more important to him. And, political rhetoric, some of it absurd, has not been confined to Iowa. J.D. Hayworth, Senator John McCain’s opponent in Arizona, drew a bizarre picture that same sex marriage is a step toward a man being able to marry his horse. Four time Iowa governor and returning candidate Terry Branstad has found it difficult to juggle this issue at all, stumbling over it numerous times.

Branstad and some who are even more vocal about ending same sex marriage are trying to build a case for letting the people decide by forcing a statewide or national vote on marriage. There is much hot air about how letting the Supreme Court ruling stand without a Constitutional question being put to the voters is tantamount to creating a judicial oligarchy. They argue the people should decide. When you take two steps back from this argument, it is laughable. The Iowa Legislature passed a law that defined marriage as one man and one woman. The people never voted on it. Last April, the Court found this legislative action to be in conflict with the Iowa Constitution.

It is not that the question of marriage is so big that it demands a vote of the people. What is at stake is bigger than marriage, something more important than an issue to be decided by a simple and single vote of the people.

This week, Governor Chet Culver made his strongest statement on the matter to date. He said a vote was unnecessary. “I think the overwhelming majority of Iowans do not want to amend our constitution in such a way that’s discriminatory. That’s the bottom line,” explained Culver. He was trying, I guess, but this statement proves the Governor also misunderstands this issue. It has nothing to do with the latest public opinion survey.

Our state and national constitutions were established on the most basic of underpinnings, we are equals. We are entitled to the same rights and protections under the law. There is no litmus test to determine who among us is ‘more equal,’ who among us is be entitled to own property, speak freely, or get married.

I got to marry the person I love, the person I chose to marry and the person who chose to marry me. No law or constitutional amendment can be written to say two other people can be denied the same ability because they share the same type of human plumbing, for doing so would violate the most basic tenet of our state and national constitutions. We are equals. Our sex, sexual orientation, religion, color, political belief and any other thing that makes us who we are cannot change that fact. If our Legislature passes a law that says differently, it violates our Constitution and should be struck down. If a ballot measure is passed by the electorate that says one segment of our population is not entitled to the same rights as another, the Court should invalidate it. If we say that it is OK for one couple to marry because they are straight, but it is unacceptable for another to marry because they are gay, we invalidate the very Constitution which created Iowa and the one that formed the greatest country on earth.

Tomorrow, many will gather to celebrate the Iowa Supreme Court ruling on marriage. I wish them well, but I hope they will pause for a moment in their revelry to realize that this is not a gay issue. This is not about marriage. This is about equality for all.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Stand Up for Education, Stand Up for Teachers

Last night I went to the Callanan Middle School band concert. It, like all of the others I have attended over the last few years, made me marvel about the difference a good teacher can make. While I know better, it would be easy to believe Dana Andrews employs magical powers to transform these gangly, disorganized and often unfocused adolescents into musicians. I know many of the kids who were up on that stage and like them very much – one in particular. In fact, it is my familiarity with these kids that makes me appreciate Mr. Andrews all the more. In the hours and days he spends with his students, he teaches more than music. He weaves respect and discipline into the lessons, and leads theses hormone raging beings down a path of discovery that ends in a belief in themselves.

Mr. Andrews and his colleagues in classrooms across our District do something remarkable. They teach and, in doing so, they mold the future for thousands of students. Due to budget cuts, it is likely there will be 300 less teachers in Des Moines next year. This will mean fewer band performances and math competitions. More important, there will be fewer individual interactions between teacher and student. Many of the teachers will find other jobs, but how many magical, life transforming connections will be lost for the students they leave behind? Over-crowded classrooms and pared back curriculums will have a monetary and social impact that we cannot calculate.

During a Facebook discussion on Monday about the likely loss of teachers in Des Moines Public Schools next year, one of those commenting said something fuzzy about it being time we stop “throwing” money at schools until parents get more involved in raising their children. She said personal responsibility starts at home and went on about turning off the TV, silencing cell phones and reading books to kids. OK, American kids do watch too much TV and wonderful things happen when adults read to children, but could she really think this alone would balance the probable loss of more than 300 teachers in our schools next Fall? I hope she wasn’t serious.

My Facebook friend is a good person who volunteers her time and does good work for the community. And, adults need to play a role in helping children reach their potential. However, the funding crisis faced in Iowa schools will not be solved by a lecture on the importance of personal responsibility. Class size will go up, some subjects will be reduced or eliminated, and learning will suffer next year unless something is done.

After the concert, many of the parents gathered in the Callanan lunchroom to discuss what could be done to protect music, art and classroom teachers in these tough economic times. I heard frustration and anxiety in their voices. If you share this concern, I ask that you join us in doing something about it. Des Moines Schools Superintendent Nancy Sebring and the School Board face some terrible decisions. They should not make these without hearing from you. It is equally important for you to contact Governor Culver and members of the General Assembly. The most likely place to find dollars to fill the budget shortfall is at the state level. Without new money, the District has to decide where and, ultimately, which teachers to cut.

Please join us in letting school and state officials know how important teachers are to the education equation. The next School Board meeting is Tuesday, March 9 at 6:00 p.m. Attend, if you can. Watch the meeting on cable channel 12, if you cannot. Contact the officials below to tell them how you feel.

Contact Information
For a list school board members and their contact information click here.
To contact Des Moines School officials click here.
For a list of Iowa House members and Iowa Senators click here.
To contact Governor Chet Culver click here.

More Information
For a link to Des Moines Public Schools Board agenda that includes the proposed budget cuts click here.
Here is a list of the positions being cut at each Des Moines school

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Checks, Check, Please – A Game of Gubernatorial Proportions

Culver Asks for Checks, Please
The Culver Campaign is reaching deep. Word has it the Governor himself is calling down a list of former Vilsack donors seeking campaign contributions. Yes, money fuels a campaign, but I find it interesting the Governor is spending time cold calling for dollars. The Governor might be better off spending time raising his visibility. Poll after poll indicates Culver lacks in that department. Maybe he is the Iowa version of the groundhog – upon sticking his head out into the winter air, the Governor saw his shadow and retreated for six more weeks of phone calling before campaign season begins.

Vander Plaats Asked for Check, Please
Perennial gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats is going to be waiting tables between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m. today at the Applebee’s in Fort Dodge. As a PR guy, I know gimmicks can work. However, this one is so flawed it is laughable. According to the Vander Plaats machine, he wants to work alongside Iowans so he can better understand their jobs and concerns. OK, but I would suggest if Mr. Vander Plaats wants insight into food service, he consider sticking with the job for more than 90 minutes and waiting tables when more than a handful of diners are present. What’s next? Is he going to teach school during recess?

Branstad, Please
A couple weeks ago Todd Dorman interviewed former Governor Terry Branstad. Dorman asked what about gay and lesbian marriage made Branstad uncomfortable. Branstad responded, “Well, it’s got to do with the whole structure of the American society. And, uh, a lot of people say when other ancient societies have gone this direction, it was the beginning of the end of their society.” Awkward and odd. In answering a subsequent question, Branstad mentioned a former employee whose gay son and “friend” have adopted children. According to Branstad, the very conservative religious woman had difficulty dealing “when this became the situation.” Like the White person who wanted to be seen as open minded during the Civil Rights Movement by saying “some of my best friends are Black,” Branstad said he knows conservative religious people who are related to gays. It is possible in constructing this verbal twofer Branstad offended both gays and the religious right. I know this topic makes you uncomfortable, Governor Branstad, but please.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

School Board Huffing about Culver is Ironic

Last week I took the opportunity to bash the Des Moines School Board in this space for voting to dismiss school 90 minutes early every Wednesday next year. I believe this decision is bad for education. I also railed about the board making little effort to involve parents, students and the community in the decision. Now it appears the School Board got a taste of an ironically similar acrid brew and they are feeling left out.

Des Moines joined the other six large Iowa school districts and refused to sign on to Governor Chet Culver’s entry application for the federal government’s Race to the Top funds. Des Moines School Board president Connie Boesen said, “We’ve had no input, and we’re the ones that have to be accountable and implement it.”

Wow, I bet those words tasted nasty coming out of a school board member’s mouth after spending more than a week telling parents and community members that the opportunity for discussion about early dismissals had past. Hopefully, she and her colleagues will learn how it feels to be excluded from the conversation and revisit their recent actions.

Regardless, Ms. Boesen did the right thing. In truth, she had little choice. The board and the community need to be a part of the process. The Governor and the Legislature were told by the feds months ago that the application for the Race funds would be due January 19. Waiting until this week to push legislation through at record speed and ask for school board presidents to sign on to the application with scant to no public discussion is flat out wrong.

Often, those who pay the price for well intended, yet hastily concocted government programs are the very people the government is supposedly out to help. The Race to the Top looks like a contender for such a program. It is fraught with numerous potentially harmful consequences for our nation’s schools. Let alone the fact the program description and the application itself sound like NBC’s latest reality show. Building better schools will not be done with gimmicky competitions. It is going to take a real commitment to fund schools and empower teachers, parents and communities to reinvent the way we run our schools.

A handful of school boards and states are letting the first of two application deadlines pass without being bullied by the federal government to play a bobbing for dollars contest. If most of them were to do so, perhaps Washington would figure out it is time to stop waving tax dollars in our faces and expect we are going to ask how high when they say jump. Good policy isn’t a race to be won. Good government comes through setting standards and cooperating with each other to get results.


Note: The following was added Saturday, January 16, the day after the original post.
Today, the school board president made statements to the Des Moines Register even more thick with irony than yesterday. “We need to be more centered on students than adults.” Really? Siding with the union to dismiss school early once a week was more about adults than students? Maybe the president will ask the board to reconsider their own actions next week now that they understand that education is more about students than employees.

From the Saturday edition of the Des Moines Register: “Des Moines school board chairwoman Connie Boesen said state leaders made serious missteps in drafting the legislation because they didn’t allow districts ample time to weigh in.

‘We have shown success and we need more flexibility to get schools turned around, not more constraints,” Boesen said. “It was all so hastily done, and I don’t understand that. We want to be able to have the latitude to handle educational programming in ways that make differences for students. We need to be more centered on students than adults.”


This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Culver Calls Iowa Resilient, but Fails to Prescribe Remedy to Make State Stronger

Iowa faces a tough, some would say unprecedented, budget situation. For years Iowa’s leaders have avoided making many of the tough decisions Iowa faces. State government is long overdue for a top-to-bottom restructuring and the current budget crunch exposes Iowa’s many weaknesses. Governor Chet Culver’s 2010 Condition of the State Address given today touched on this all too briefly.

Governor Culver proclaimed the condition of Iowa to be resilient. Like a hospital patient, it can be said the state is resilient, but saying this is hardly analogous to laying out the budgetary and policy triage needed to heal a state lying in critical condition. The Governor failed to demonstrate to members of the General Assembly and the people of Iowa that he had a battle plan to take Iowa from critical to stable to healthy and thriving.

Culver missed the opportunity to be a leader in a Capitol in serious need of one, opting instead to play the role of cheerleader. Typically, a Condition of the State Address is part self indulgent back slapping, part political posturing, part agenda setting and part inspirational. While it is likely the Governor’s figurative back is still warm from the first piece, he failed to deliver on all of the others.

The current budget shortfall provides Culver and legislators a choice. They can patch together a budget to see the State through this tough period, or they can seize this as an opportunity to restructure government and a build a new stronger foundation to face the future. Restructuring means drastically changing the way Iowa funds and manages services. To start such a process, Culver would have had to lay out a vision for this new government configuration and inspire legislators to join with him to build it. He decided instead to recite his accomplishments and to praise Iowa for its resilience – Culver left writing the prescription for healing Iowa for later, or worse, to somebody else.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Combining Iowa State Patrol with University Police Will Save Money, Possibly Lives

In April 2007 a gunmen killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University. This tragic event forced universities, law enforcement agencies, local government and the public to consider how best to manage the community response in a time of crisis. A lack of planning and coordination between law enforcement units and public entities make for a loss of time and effectiveness during an emergency. First responders need to work together.

Unfortunately, the Iowa Board of Regents focused on only part of the problem and spent much time debating whether campus security at Iowa’s three universities should carry guns. In a vote of 5 to 2, the Regents passed a measure in late October 2007 to allow campus police to carry guns. While it was true that without weapons campus police generally had to wait for other law enforcement entities to respond before intervening in certain situations, the Regents and the State of Iowa failed to tackle the larger problem, the wisdom of having multiple agencies overseeing public safety in Iowa.

Today, the state budget crisis has reduced the ranks of the Iowa State Patrol to a level not seen in over 46 years. Perhaps this crisis will awaken the General Assembly, the Governor, the Board of Regents and the rest of us to take an action long overdue. Combining oversight, training and coordination of the three currently independent university police forces with the State Patrol will save money, add to the police presence in Iowa and vastly improve the response time when a crisis occurs.

I wrote to the Regents, Governor Culver and legislators in September 2007 urging them to look past arming university public safety officers and to consider the larger issue of coordinating, combining and strengthening Iowa’s overlapping police agencies. I wrote then, “Under a single police agency, safety for our university communities would improve because communication, training and coordination would improve. Problems and successes on one campus would be shared immediately throughout the system. There would be additional significant safety and financial efficiencies to be gained by combining university security and state police activities. When university populations decline during the summer and winter holidays, the State Patrol could reallocate its resources to ensure Iowa’s safety and security is preserved. When a single university hosts a large event or faces a significant threat, resources could be shifted accordingly. In short, Iowa would be better served by one force instead of a State Patrol and three university public safety units.”

Combining the three university police forces and putting them under the command of the State Patrol would save money, increase the number of officers protecting Iowa’s highways and public universities, and would improve critical response times. It does not make sense to continue to equip, maintain and administer three separate security bureaucracies at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. Putting them under the umbrella of the Iowa State Patrol would create a stronger, more efficient and better equipped force on the road and on our campuses.

Under a single police agency, safety for our university communities would improve because communication, training and coordination would improve. Problems and successes on one campus would be shared immediately throughout the system. There would be additional significant safety and financial efficiencies to be gained by combining university security and state police activities. When university populations decline during the summer and winter holidays, the State Patrol could reallocate its resources to ensure Iowa’s safety and security is preserved. When a single university hosts a large event or faces a significant threat, resources could be shifted accordingly.

The General Assembly, Governor and the Board of Regents should seize this moment to strengthen university security, better manage state resources and improve police protection throughout Iowa. These pressing economic times call for us to rethink policing on a broad scale. If action is taken during the 2010 Session, tax dollars will be put to the best use, but, even more important, Iowans will have a more effective police force. Creating a single, strong and well prepared state police force to oversee Iowa’s highways and universities is in the best interest of the state universities and the state as a whole.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Education Forecast for U.S. and Iowa Remains Cloudy

One particularly cloudy day last spring a 15 year old walked out the doors of Callanan Middle School. He never came back. Nobody noticed him leave and few inside the school that afternoon have given much thought to where he went. Another dropout. Another casualty of our flawed school system. Education in America weeds out kids like him not by design, but by necessity.

With great fanfare, the last U.S. President announced Leave No Child Behind, a federal program to grade schools on performance, establish strict standards for improvement and to penalize schools that fail to make the grade. Leave No Child Behind creates the institutional equivalent of the middle school dropout I mentioned. Like him, once a school falls far enough behind there is little hope it will ever catch-up to its peers. Leave No Child Behind does a great job of identifying a problem, but little to fix it.

The current administration created a new program coined Race to the Top. The name is appropriate, because like any race there will be winners and there will be losers – some will graduate and some will dropout. States and schools compete for federal stimulus money based on a new set of rules. To qualify for the competition and be able to vie for Uncle Sam’s largesse, states and school districts must tie teacher evaluations to test scores, adopt tough sounding standards, turn-around low performing schools, build student tracking systems and remove restrictions on the creation of charter schools.

The “Race,” like its predecessor, is about rewarding those schools that make the grade and penalizing those that fail. Raise test scores and the money flows. The problem is that those who want to win the Race will focus on raising test scores, even though it is widely accepted that testing prowess is meaningless if students cannot apply what they learn in the real world. In Des Moines, fourth grade test scores have improved, but our drop-out rate is still climbing. Eighth grade test scores have ticked upwards, but we still have students graduating unprepared for college or the workplace.

When announcing the Race to the Top, President Obama said, “This competition will not be based on politics, ideology, or the preferences of a particular interest group. Instead, it will be based on a simple principle—whether a state is ready to do what works. We will use the best data available to determine whether a state can meet a few key benchmarks for reform—and states that outperform the rest will be rewarded with a grant. Not every state will win and not every school district will be happy with the results. But America’s children, America’s economy, and America itself will be better for it.”

Really? This sounds a lot like politics to me. States that perform well will be rewarded. Not every state will win. As usual, some will graduate and some will fall farther behind. Boo.

Governor Culver, fresh from his Florida triathlon, announced Iowa is going to enter the Race. It has to. Iowa is awash in red ink and there is $175 million at stake. He offered no details what entering would mean, but he is busily filling out our race entry form anyway.

Because space in a blog is limited, I will not address the rich irony in “stimulus” money being used to dole out educational dollars, money that has nothing to do with stimulating the economy. Education in America creates dropouts because our system is less about helping students reach their potential and more about winning the next test score race. Knee jerk, short-term political efforts to stimulate good feelings and talking tough about education may play well with some core constituent groups, but does little to address the educational failure in the United States. Education gets talked about during elections and when times are tough. The Race provides the illusion something is being done to reform education, but doesn’t do much to solve the real issues festering in our schools.

America’s schools meet the needs of some students at the expense of others. The boy who walked out of Callanan was passed through the system until he was so far behind he saw little reason to stay in the classroom. In the long run, test scores will go up because he and many like him are no longer taking the tests. False incentive programs like the Race and Leave No Child Behind identify troubled schools and push the problems into new places, but rarely solve them. This is similar to a circus clown squeezing the air in a balloon to change its shape from a dog to a party hat.

Waving a one-time prize purse in front of cash hungry states and school districts has gotten some people’s attention. Governor Culver told the Iowa Association of School Boards, “one thing is for certain: Iowa’s school system will not look the same a year from now as it does today.” Well, Governor, it may look different next year, but it will remain the same limp balloon.

Students like the former middle schooler above will continue to fall far short of their potential and through the gaping cracks in the system. Their prospects and the forecast for our collective future will remain cloudy until we commit to more than gimmicky races and short-term programs. America’s future is tied to its ability to educate and prepare students for tomorrow’s opportunities. We must stop playing political games with education money and launch a fundamental redesign of U.S. schools.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Governor Culver, the Wizard of IA

Governor Chet Culver released more information Monday night about his proposed budget cuts. Well, not really. The Governor and his staff rarely release unfiltered information. They prefer to hold information closely and decide what, when and which members the public can handle the truth. He and his staff spend a great amount of time and effort withholding information that could influence dialogue between Iowans and policy makers. It has never been proven the Governor’s Office has knowingly broken open access laws, but they are playing a dangerous political game.

At 7:14 p.m. last night, Culver and company emailed the Des Moines Register a 62 page document. It is not known if they sent the document to other people, but they did not send the document to Republicans in the Legislature. House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen did not get it. Moreover, the document the Register received had so much of the document blacked out, that reporter Jason Clayworth could not tell if this “new” information was different than the summary the Governor’s Office released on October 21.

Culver spokesman Troy Price said the redactions are necessary until the cuts are approved to protect state workers from undue stress. Really? State workers who may be about to lose their livelihood might suffer some stress knowing their names are on the list, but they may appreciate the warning and many of them are able to manage their own stress. The Governor’s staff spoon feeding information does not help anybody. Also, the taxpayers deserve to know how the cuts are going to affect them. It is important the public and other policy makers be allowed to study the cuts and offer their opinions. Who knows? Somebody outside of the Governor’s Office might have a better plan.

Governor Culver is withholding information about proposed budget cuts not to protect state workers from stress, but to shield himself from the scrutiny that would ensue should his proposal see the light of day.

Using the same flawed rationale, Governor Culver did not release the savings proposals state department heads submitted nearly a year ago when he called for a 1.5% budget cut. The pressure to release these proposals intensified last month when the state finally realized the coffers were running dry. The Governor decided we were ready to handle the facts after 10 months and he relinquished. Unfortunately, Iowa cannot go back and implement many of these ideas after so much time has passed and money has been spent.

Like many Iowans, I went to see the musical Wicked at the Civic Center last month. Governor Culver reminds me of the wizard trying to manipulate Oz by withholding information and hiding behind the trappings of power. Iowa is in a financial crisis. The best way for the chief executive to chart a course through this mess is to be forthcoming with the facts, data and his plans. It is entirely possible public debate and discussion may reveal a way that is better and/or more acceptable to those he leads than what he first proposed. Trust us, Governor, we Iowans can handle the truth. Put away your black markers, start sharing all of the information and start working with us.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Branstad Blinks During Conservative Staring Contest

Former four term governor Terry Branstad is running to get his old job back. Who can blame him? Governor Chet Culver is not very popular these days and the Branstad team figures it will be easy to position Branstad as the steady hand in a general election against Culver. The problem, Branstad needs to win the Republican primary first and conservatives, especially social conservatives, are not going to support a candidate who ignores them.

Branstad’s soft underbelly was exposed after a meeting with some conservatives this week. As reported by Jason Hancock in the Iowa Independent yesterday, some left underwhelmed. Attending were Mike Demastus, a pastor at Fort Des Moines Church, several Christian pastors, conservative blogger Shane Vander Hart, Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center, Kim Lehman of Iowa Right to Life, Steve Scheffler of the Iowa Christian Alliance, and former Des Moines School Board member Jonathan Narcisse.

(That sound you just heard was a sigh of relief from Iowa Democrats that Jonathan Narcisse continues to align himself with Republicans.)

Demastus wrote in his blog that, in essence, Branstad said, “we’re on the same team. I think the same way you do about these issues. Even if you don’t hear me talk about them, they are important to me privately.” Branstad told the group he would not campaign openly against Iowa Supreme Court Justices who ruled in favor of equal marriage and Demastus wrote, “he said that privately he feels that way but he cannot publicly do something like that. WEAK!”

Vander Hart expressed disappointment in Branstad’s response to the group’s questions about gay marriage, “(Branstad) said it is ‘not going to be a central issue’ and that we ‘have to use finesse, and not overplay our hand.’ He also said that in order to win the election we ought ‘not wear our conservatism on our sleeve.’” Vander Hart went on to blog, “I can understand wanting to make the economy a central theme, but an unwillingness to address restoring traditional marriage at all in his campaign is a mistake.”

(Those next sounds were Branstad trying to put the lids back on two smelly cans of squirming worms.)

First, this meeting is evidence social conservatives are not going to sit quietly in the corner and accept Branstad’s assurances he is one of them and once he is moved back into Terrace Hill he will work behind closed doors to implement all that is conservative. These two bloggers are among a group more willing to support a candidate who may lose, but proudly voices social conservative issues at every stop on the campaign than they are making a deal with one who says what he needs to say to get elected, but supports these same issues in the end.

Second, Branstad got caught trying to make a backroom deal before he even turned the ignition of the campaign bus. In the day of blogs, Twitter and Facebook it is harder for a candidate to give a wink and a nod to one group in a closed meeting and then climb to the podium and speak in expansive terms to appease the broader populace. Branstad has a decision to make. Is he going to speak straight to Iowans about how he intends to govern, or is he going to join these conservatives and continue the GOP’s march to the right? If he chooses to join the right in order to win the primary in June, he will pay a certain price in the general in November.

Fewer and fewer Iowans identify themselves as Republicans these days. I believe this is true because many feel uncomfortable with the social stances the Party has taken. Others will say the dwindling numbers are because the Party does not represent these social stances passionately enough. There is a struggle among Republicans over the very tenets that will define the Party in the years to come. Governor Branstad may have learned this week that he is going to have to take a side in this fight. One thing is sure, he will lose votes for whichever decision he makes.

Author’s Note: It is important for me to disclose that I count Governor Branstad as a personal friend. I was a paid consultant for his 1994 reelection campaign and have worked and socialized with him numerous times since he left office. As I do for all who enter the arena, I applaud him for entering this race. By doing so, he has opened himself to intense public scrutiny and what sounds an awful lot like scoffing from friends like me for limited personal return.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Note to Gov. Culver: Leading Takes more than Symbolism

In this space a few weeks ago I suggested that Congressman Steve King was in need of a dictionary so he could learn the definition of socialism. Governor Chet Culver and his staff should borrow Mr. King’s book, thumb to the L’s and take a look at the word Leadership. They do not understand any of the four ways to define the word and they fail to appreciate one cannot self-identify as a leader – only others can give you that title.

Governor Culver decided his taking a pay cut of 10% would demonstrate his self-proclaimed leadership as Iowa trims the same percentage from state budgets. He is now mandating that every department head also take a 10% pay cut or return the equivalent amount to state coffers at the end of the year “as a sign of their leadership.”

First, if department heads are mandated to take a cut, they are following, not leading. Second, the Culver-holier-than-thou act of keeping 90% of his pay while some 1,000 state workers lose a 100% of theirs shows the loose grasp the Governor has on the mantle of leadership. I bet the state workers who receive pink slips in the next few weeks will feel little consolation knowing the chief executive is feeling the pain of doing with 10% less as he rides home to Terrace Hill in a state owned SUV driven by a state trooper.

Iowa pays its governor too little – $130,000. The same can be said for many of the department heads. If they are doing their jobs, they earn every penny of their salaries. The state is in a money crunch and cuts are going to have to be made, but this is not a time for PR gimmicks. The Governor, department heads and legislators need to take decisive and immediate action to cut the budget now and get Iowa on sound financial footing.

Payroll deductions from less than 100 people are a drop in the bucket and insulting to those who are going to be out of work, those who are being forced to take the cut and to the people of Iowa. Charting a course out of this financial crisis is going to take leadership, but it may be easier if one understands what the term means first.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.