Republicans Question Regents’ Bonuses and Tuition Hikes

(DES MOINES)—Today three Republican Representatives came together to argue that during these tough economic times and while tuition increases linger, bonuses for presidents of state universities should not remain a viable option.

“The discussion of these bonuses along with the creation last winter of a new ($140,000 per year) Chief of Staff position at the University of Iowa, indicates that our Regents universities are completely out of touch with the very taxpayers who fund them,” said Kaufmann.

Rep. Jeff Kaufmann (R-Wilton), a teacher with a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, was joined by Rep. Chris Hagenow (R-Windsor Heights), a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa College of Law, who agrees that granting bonuses for these presidents at this time would be inappropriate.

“Most Iowans are not seeing a bonus or a raise this year. Many families are sacrificing to make ends meet, tightening their belts and living within their means,” said Hagenow.

Last year two House Republicans offered legislation which directed that if tuitions were increased at state schools, then salary increases would not be allowed. Kaufmann is prepared to add bonuses to the bill.

Mother of an Iowa State University student and State Representative Annette Sweeney (R-Alden) questions tuition increases at this time.

“A tuition increase at this time could be devastating for Iowa families. Every state-funded institution must be more vigilant at finding savings. And to even discuss bonuses at this time is certainly disheartening to many Iowans,” said Sweeney.

Fiscal Mismanagement, Historic Spending Levels Define Governor

Governor Culver raises taxes on flood victims and teachers

DES MOINES, IA – Senate Republican Whip Steve Kettering (R-Lake View) issued the following statement today regarding Governor Culver’s shifting of funds to pay for the largest budget in state history:

“During the legislative session, Governor Culver forgot about teachers and flood victims by choosing not to couple with federal income tax law. Apparently, the Governor forgot about them again today when he claimed he balanced the budget without raising taxes.”

“Iowans expect an open and honest budget done in broad daylight and not secret deals in back rooms to shift money around to balance the budget.”

“Iowans can expect Senate Republicans to continue to offer smart solutions to curb excessive spending, reduce the size of state government and provide accountability and transparency.”

House Republican Leader Statement on 2009 Budget

(DES MOINES)—House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) released the following statement today in response to the governor dipping into the economic emergency fund to balance the 2009 budget:

“The governor’s actions today once again prove that Legislative Democrats and Gov. Culver were reckless with taxpayer dollars, spent too much money, and borrowed even more to cover their excessive spending.

“When the 2009 books closed, the governor came up short so he raided our savings account to balance the checkbook. Not only is this kind of budgeting irresponsible, but it also puts Iowa’s economic future for fiscal year 2010 and 2011 in further turmoil.

“House Republicans remain committed to reining in out-of-control spending and protecting Iowa taxpayers.”

RASMUSSEN REPORT POLL: VANDER PLAATS LEADS CULVER IN HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCH-UP

DES MOINES – Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats has opened a lead on Gov. Chet Culver in a head-to-head match up of likely general election voters, according to a poll released today by the respected Rasmussen Reports.

“This poll reflects Iowans’ strong belief that Chet Culver is simply in over his head and has poor leadership instincts,” Vander Plaats said. “He’s swimming against the tide. As far as the majority of Iowans are concerned, his last day in office can’t get here soon enough. Iowans are going to sweep him out of office next November and a growing number of Republicans, Democrats and independents are joining our campaign to get the job done.”

Vander Plaats, a Sioux City businessman who was the GOP’s 2006 lieutenant governor nominee, leads the first-term governor 43-to-39 percent, the survey of 500 Iowa voters indicates.

The polling also shows that 50 percent of voters have a somewhat unfavorable or strongly unfavorable opinion of Culver. In fact, 27 percent of voters say they have a strongly unfavorable opinion of Culver’s performance. Meanwhile, 17 percent had a strongly favorable opinion of Culver, 26 percent have a somewhat favorable opinion and seven percent were unsure.

Fourteen percent of the poll respondents had a strongly favorable opinion of Vander Plaats while 31 percent expressed a somewhat favorable opinion, 16 percent had a somewhat unfavorable opinion of Vander Plaats, 14 percent had a strongly unfavorable opinion and 25 percent were unsure.

“In addition to having a better overall favorable rating than Chet Culver, it’s telling that very few voters are unsure how they feel about him. At the same time, a quarter of the people responding to this poll said they need to learn more about our campaign and that represents a big opportunity to increase our lead in this race,” Vander Plaats said.

Widely respected by Republicans and Democrats for its independence and the accuracy of its polls, Rasmussen Reports does not sell its polling services to any candidates or corporations.

ACORN: A Nut That Needs To Crack

By Steve King

Until last fall, most Americans had never heard of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, more commonly known as ACORN. This relatively obscure community organizing group emerged on the national scene in 2008 after producing more than 400,000 false or fraudulent voter registrations during the 2008 election cycle.

Aside from being in the business of electing liberals, ACORN’s stated objective is to advocate for traditionally liberal policies of behalf of low and moderate income families. However, a deeper investigation into ACORN and its approximately 300 corporate affiliates reveals a complex organizational and financial spiderweb that functions both as a criminal enterprise and a self-contained economy.

ACORN has corroded the integrity of our electoral process by attacking the integrity of the ballot box. It is a crime to produce fraudulent registration forms and in many states, it is against the law to hire people and pay them commission to go out and gather voter registrations.

Yet ACORN is currently under investigation in 14 states for voter fraud and has frequently paid employees on a commission basis to register voters. ACORN was charged with voter fraud in Nevada.

According to an October 2008 article in The Economist, during the last election cycle, “in Orlando, home to the Magic Kingdom of Disney, Mickey Mouse tried to register. In Indiana there was an application from a sandwich shop called Jimmy Johns. Authorities in Nevada were surprised to receive voter registration forms from the starting line-up of the Dallas Cowboys.” All of these fraudulent voter registrations were later traced back to ACORN.

Any reasonable person would conclude that false voter registration almost inevitably lead to fraudulent voting, a felony charge. Because voter fraud is a crime nearly impossible to investigate and prosecute, there is no telling how many fraudulent votes have been cast across America because of ACORN’s illegal activities.

ACORN’s fraudulent voter registration drives may have been funded with taxpayer dollars. To date, ACORN and its business units have received more than $53 million in federal tax dollars via Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank and ACORN’s other friends in Congress. Recent stimulus legislation could give the organization access to up $8.5 billion in additional funding. The interlocking web of financial connections between ACORN and its affiliate organizations are rife with waste, fraud and abuse, yet have never been investigated because ACORN has been protected by cronies in Congress.

The White House also has deep ties to ACORN. President Barack Obama represented ACORN as an attorney in a voter registration case, and Obama forged his political reputation while leading a get-out-the-vote effort known as Project Vote, a subsidiary of ACORN.

ACORN also played a significant role in the mortgage meltdown by pressuring banks to make bad loans, by facilitating them and by lobbying Congress to lower the standards required by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. ACORN and many of its affiliates co-mingle funds and use the same accounting firm and same mailing address in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Individually, each of these factors is troubling, but added together, the facts surrounding ACORN warrant quick and decisive action. I believe an all-out, full court press federal investigation is the only way to bring ACORN to heel.

The Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service need to jointly investigate ACORN and perform a complete forensic analysis of the activities and finances of ACORN and its affiliates. Multiple congressional committee investigations need to occur to ensure this partisan criminal enterprise will not continue its shady practices while collecting taxpayer funds. People need to go to jail for their criminal activities.

Legislative action also needs to be taken to ensure ACORN will not receive any more of your taxpayer dollars. On September 17, the House, by 345-75 margin, passed an amendment blocking federal funding for ACORN. This vote sent a loud and clear message that no more taxpayer dollars should be given to ACORN, and I will be working with the Senate to try and get this ban enacted into law.

Taxpayers do not want their hard-earned money placed in the coffers of this partisan criminal enterprise. It is time for ACORN to crack and end its fraudulent operations.

LATHAM SPONSORS LEGISLATION TO BRING TRANSPARENCY TO CONGRESS

RESOLUTION REQUIRES 72 HOURS AND PUBLIC NOTIFICATION BEFORE DEBATE OF BILLS

Washington, Sep 24 – Iowa Congressman Tom Latham is spearheading an effort to make sure citizens have the time they need to analyze legislative proposals before Congress can vote on them.

Congressman Latham has signed on as a co-sponsor of a bipartisan resolution that would stop lawmakers from rushing votes on critical measures without allowing citizens adequate time to read the proposals and register their feedback with their representatives in Congress.

The legislation, H. Res. 554, would require any legislation to be made available to the public 72 hours before Congress can begin debate. It also requires that a document be made available to the public outlining the impact proposed legislation would have on existing law 72 hours ahead of any debate. The resolution applies to all significant amendments to legislation in addition to original bills.

“In my eyes, it’s simply common sense to give the American people the time they need to analyze proposed legislation,” Congressman Latham said. “Unfortunately, it’s become a common practice for lawmakers in the House of Representatives to offer sweeping legislative measures just hours before we’re expected to vote on them. Sometimes, these proposals are introduced in the dead of night. This is undemocratic, and it needs to stop.”

For example, lawmakers added a 300-page manager’s amendment to the cap-and-trade energy bill at about 3 a.m. on June 26, the day the House voted on final passage of the bill. Citizens had only a few hours to look at the proposal before it was approved by the House of Representatives.

Congressman Latham also is co-sponsoring H. Res. 721, which calls for any major health care reform legislation to be available to the public for 30 calendar days before a vote in the House of Representatives.

“Shadowy legislative practices shut the people out of the process and force representatives in Congress to vote on important proposals without knowing what’s in them,” Congressman Latham said. “It’s time to bring transparency back to Congress.”

Iowa Republicans announce state-based solutions for health care

Iowa Republicans announce state-based health care reforms

“Iowa Health Care Initiatives” focus on accessibility, affordability, and portability

Cedar Rapids, IA – Republican Party of Iowa State Chairman Matt Strawn today joined State Senator David Johnson, State Representative Linda Upmeyer, and Cedar Rapids health care professional Cynthia Roehr at Kirkwood Community College’s new Healthcare Simulation Center to announce a series of bold state-based health care initiatives.

“Market-based solutions with minimal state interference, not a sweeping federal takeover, are the key to making health insurance in Iowa more accessible, affordable, and portable,” said Strawn in announcing the Iowa GOP’s “Iowa Health Care Initiatives.”

The Health Care Initiatives are: 1) Accessibility: adopt the Patients Right to Know Act and provide low cost catastrophic health plans for those under age 30; 2) Affordability: pass medical malpractice and tort reform, expand health insurance tax deductibility to individuals and all small businesses, and provide prevention credits that reduce premium costs when successfully participating in wellness activities; and, 3) Portability: prohibit exclusions for pre-existing conditions when changing plans with the same insurance provider.

“Republicans have real plans to increase the accessibility of health insurance without a massive government takeover of the system. With more than half of all Iowa’s uninsured age 18-30 we can make a huge dent in this number by simply incenting insurance carriers to create a basic insurance product at a modest price point,” said Rep. Upmeyer, a health-care professional who also serves as second-ranking Republican in the Iowa House.

Senator Johnson said, “We can take bold steps to reduce health costs. We can free doctors from the need to practice defensive medicine. We can expand the tax deductibility of health insurance premiums. We can create a true financial incentive for individual Iowans and their employers to participate in wellness programs,” said Sen. Johnson, who serves as Assistant GOP Leader in the Iowa Senate.

Strawn concluded, “The Healthcare Simulation Center here at Kirkwood and the training they are doing here is a great example of what is right with our health care system. However, Iowa Republicans understand our system is far from perfect and we offer these initiatives in a good faith effort to fix that which is broken without breaking that which serves Iowans well.”

In the coming months the Republican Party of Iowa, in conjunction with Iowa House and Senate Republicans, will continue to travel the state and offer additional solution sets on such issues as education, family, energy, environment, and transparency and ethics.

Details on solutions here.

Republican Party of Iowa: Culver’s Lack of Leadership

Can-Do Conservatives of America Endorse Bob Vander Plaats

McKinley Statement on Iowa’s New Unemployment Rate

Iowa Democrats raise taxes and create deficits, then obstruct GOP attempts to create jobs for Iowans

DES MOINES, IA – Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley (R-Chariton) issued the following statement today in response to the new unemployment rate figures released today by Iowa Workforce Development today showing 114,000 unemployed Iowans:

“Today’s jobless numbers are another unfortunate reminder why Governor Culver and legislative Democrats’ agenda of higher taxes on disaster victims, unbalanced budgets, record setting deficits and unpopular $1.7 billion dollar debt schemes is the wrong track for Iowa.

Republicans have offered a series of aggressive job creation initiatives aimed at immediately spurring new employment in Iowa but Democrats said NO and then continued to raise taxes, spend more money, create additional deficits and add decades of debt to the state’s credit card.”