John Deeth Blog

Taking the day off

2009-11-11T16:56:00.005-06:00

Taking the day off

Veteran's Day is traditionally my outdoor cleanup day, as it comes at a convenient time just after election day. (I've got a lull for at least a couple days... after that we'll see.) Plus it's one of those rare days that I get off but the kids don't. Now with the sun down and the Smallest Farm sleeping under a bed of leaves for the winter, I get to tweak the Linux on the just-returned laptop.

So I got a lot done but not nearly as much as Phineas and Ferb get done in a typical morning. Who? You like Calvin and Hobbes? Of course you do. Well, multiply him by two, keep the creativity but inverse the polarity on the attitude, and that's them. Oh, I forgot: remember when Calvin built the time machine out of the same cardboard box that used to be the transmogrifier? When Phineas and Ferb make one it really works. And the tiger is a platypus instead.

What I need is a giant Rake-inator to rake up all the leaves in the Tri-State Area for my evil plan.

But we do have a Backyard Beach:

Aren't I a little old to be watching cartoons? Why, yes. Yes I am.

Kids: the best excuse ever for not growing up.

DI nails city election a week too late

2009-11-10T08:12:00.002-06:00

A little late for this

The Daily Iowan editorializes about city issues:

The city should also shift downtown police tactics. The police should concentrate their forces on the Pedestrian Mall — rather than inside the bars — and target public intoxication and violence instead of PAULAs.

Gee, this would have been nice LAST week, when, you know, there was an ELECTION with STUDENTS ON THE BALLOT... at least they give you a little poll to vote in.

In other events: you can tell the GOP is stressing about Roxanne Conlin because they've already burned more bytes bashing her in one day than they've spent on Fiegen and Karuse combines in months. A lot of it's the Microsoft suit, but as you know I'm a Linux geek so anyone who sues Bill Gates is fine by me.

Conlin Launches Web Ad

2009-11-09T09:08:00.005-06:00

Conlin Launches Web Ad

The ~~soon to be~~ officially launched Roxanne Conlin Senate campaign hit the webwaves with a two-minute re-introductory ad Monday morning.

"The special interests have had their turn, now it's our turn," Conlin says in the tag line (she does the full voiceover herself). There's no specific mention of Chuck Grassley, but some references to "career politicians" imply the target. O. Kay has full text and press release.

Indeed, "target" is the wrong word, as Conlin plays up her humble roots. Defusing the Rich Trial Lawyer attack that's ~~soon to be~~ sure to come, she talks of living paycheck to paycheck and working through school. We see lots of Ken Burnsy still photos of Ordinary Iowans; the only moving pictures are of Conlin.

No work yet on whether it will hit broadcast; my bet is that a short version is in the can ready and waiting for the Official Announcement.

Linux Monday

2009-11-09T07:51:00.002-06:00

Linux Monday

With local election season over--or at least on hold until Friday's petition deadline for a special supervisor election--I'm trying to revive some of my other writing habits. It's Monday, so that means Linux.

Geeks out there know that the much-promoted launch of Windows 7 coincided with the latest upgrade to the top Linux distribution, Ubuntu. With my best machine in the shop, I haven't been able to test out version 9.10 ("Karmic Koala") in my usual setting. But I've been testing out Karmic on one of my old machines that's slated to go to a family member as soon as the laptop gets back.

For the most part, no problems; the always touchy audio and flash-based video are working well. The only issues have been byproducts of my dozen windows at once work style and limited (512 meg) memory. I've done several of the top ten things to do listed here, with the exception of the snazzy visual effects. (Never been a big fan of those.)

I also seem to be selling Linux well, at least according to this piece at the well-named Terminally Incoherent. The intended user of my old machine doesn't do much: browses, web-based email, and occasionally takes a Microsoft Office file home. Firefox and Open Office can cover all those needs. Termilally Incoherent writes:

Now, I’m fairly sure my friend will continue using Windows. I didn’t “convert” him and made him into an exclusive Linux user. But he will give Ubuntu a try, and hopefully will like it becoming an OS agnostic nut bag like me. And that’s more than I could ever ask for.

We really don’t need to convert people, or try to wean them off of Windows. All we need to do is to show them the alternatives and find places in which they work well – like mini notebooks for example.

As for those netbooks, my occasional bored forays into big box retailers find Linux netbooks less available to the non-techie masses than they were say 18 months ago. But this article says Microsoft is lowballing the Linux market share:

The study shows that 32 percent (about 11 million netbooks) of this year's netbook shipments will be used with a Linux-based operating system. Since Apple has yet to release a netbook, the remaining 68 percent belongs to Microsoft Windows, projects ABI.

As Lai points out, despite the two to one edge for Windows, this is a far cry from the 96 percent advantage Microsoft claimed to have enjoyed in April.

While I'm MS-bashing, here's a nice understandable article on why Windows security is lousy:

Desktop Windows stands firmly on a foundation as a stand-alone PC operating system. It was never, ever meant to work in a networked world. So, security holes that existed back in the day of Windows for Workgroups, 1991, are still with us today in 2009 and Windows 7.

How many people, in two thousand freakin nine, are using PCs in a stand-alone, non-networked environment. Heck, since the entire netbook market is based on the concept that a computer is just a device that you use to connect, why would you even look at a Windows netbook?

Saturday Clips

2009-11-07T09:44:00.002-06:00

Saturday Clips

There's only one story in Iowa City today, of course, but here's a few other things:

It's an administrative recount Monday in University Heights to double-check the two vote margin. The best part here: In the Iowa Code, recounts are covered under section 50.50. Think about it a moment.

Steve King does it again, attending a teabagger rally instead of voting.

And while I'm still gloomy about Maine voting no on marriage equality, there's literally hope for the future in this graph. The takeaway quote: "Even in states that we normally consider quite hostile to gay rights, there is still a significant age difference: 18-29 year-olds in Alabama, for example, are more supportive of gay marriage than people 65 and older in Massachusetts."

November Johnson County Dems

2009-11-05T21:19:00.003-06:00

November Johnson County Dems

After a longer than usual gap the Johnson County Democrats are back. No liveblog thanks to my once-again out of action laptop but here's some highlights:

A unanimous endorsement of a One Iowa resolution opposing the constitutional amendement against marriage equality. (There's a double negative here: Yes means no means yes, meaning yes to marriage equality.) This position should go without saying among Johnson County Democrats, but in the wake of Maine is worth saying.

Janelle Rettig on hand, in her new role as supervisor.

A couple events coming up: A Friday the 13th party at the Dvorsky's for legislative candidate Kirsten Running-Marquardt, and US Senate candidate Bob Krause at the Mill Sunday 11/15.

Let's not forget Vice President Joe at the Jefferson-Jackson 11/21...

And the rest was administrivia focused on the Jan. 23 caucuses.

As for the laptop, it's my own damn fault for dropping it on a hardwood floor in a Wisconsin hotel room three weeks ago. That's one of the limiting factors in my writing productivity, along with a nasty cold that I'm just shaking and my bad attitude about the city election.

City Election Wrap-Up

2009-11-03T22:54:00.004-06:00

Well, That's Over

Aaaand... just like the primary. Near-record low turnout and Susan Mims and Terry Dickens win with almost identical percentages as they had four weeks ago: 75 and 70 respectively.

It used to be progressive orthodoxy in Iowa City that the students should be represented, but I was literally alone in holding that position. The lefties found Jeff Shipley's libertarianism unpalatable, and Dan Tallon hurt himself with potential allies (Two elected officials, independently, have told me that Tallon told them he planned to run against them in the future. Word like that travels among their supporters...)

So instead lefties got behind Sara Baird's last-second write-in, and it looks like she may get the moral victory of breaking 2 percent and getting reported by name instead of as "scattering" in the final results.

It's hard to see microtrends under this deluge. Mims generally did just a little bit better than Dickens most places and Shipley just a little better than Tallon most places.

Buried under the apathy was an actual close race, where District B incumbent Connie Champion held off challenger Mark McCallum by 172 votes. This makes Champion the first person to win a fourth term since the current council format was established in 1975.

Who would have figured that Connie Champion would be the heroine of the left, but her best showings were in lefty strongholds on the north side (precinct 21) and her own Longfellow neighborhood (18). McCallum ran best in senior-dominated precinct 6, relatively high-income precinct 8, and the southeast side hotspots of precincts 12, 14 and 15. They're mad at the incumbents and Champion was the only one to vote against. McCallum's respectable showing under poor circumstances--he was recruited on the premise Champion was retiring--suggests he may be back in a couple years.

The surprise of the night came out of Coralville where 16 year incumbent Henry Herwig lost. First-timer Bill Hoeft, up and running for months, came in second behind John Lundell, with Tom Gill in third.

The Coralville Courier, blogging arm of the Ax The Tax/Flip No crowd, backed Hoeft, and Gill (an early Conservation Bond and Janelle Rettig supporter) was likely the target. But instead, ironically, the "fiscal conservative" Hoeft knocked off the business conservative Herwig. Hoeft finished first in his far-north Coralville base (precinct 6) and it looks like that cut into Herwig's support. Gill finished first in old-town Coralville (precinct 1) and Lundell led everywhere else.

Donald Baxter, our man in U Heights, writes: "Looks like the pro-density side will mostly win in University Heights. This is a good thing." The Lesotho of Johnson County saw 52 percent turnout, which is pretty darn close to the 56 percent we had countywide in the 2006 gubernatorial election.

But back on campus, Iowa City 5 at the UI library tells the story. Dan Tallon carries the precinct... and it's less than one percent turnout.

Things to Watch Tuesday

2009-11-03T07:34:00.004-06:00

Things to Watch Tuesday

The DI chimes in with an election morning endorsement of Connie Champion, Dan Tallon and, again, Susan Mims: "While many have lined up behind UI senior Jeff Shipley, we view it as more important for a candidate to substantively represent student and community interests than to merely be a student."

Here's some numbers to watch for until the numbers that matter come out at closing time:

Turnout: Our benchmark is record low 1999: 7,842 Iowa City voters. The early voting is barely half the already low `99 level: 1065 in the box vs. 2017 a decade ago. You might even want to look at the 5,914 voters from October 1979, the record-high primary. We might be hard pressed to top that.

Turnout by precinct: That's the ball game in Iowa City, but 1999 doesn't work for comparison because the lines are different. (Especially precinct 6. In the 1990s that was a campus precinct; in the 2000s it's a senior-heavy east side area.) Look at 2003, the only city election under the present lines with relatively low turnout. Then look at the 2008 presidential election. Basically, if you don't see presidential numbers in the key student precincts, you know how this will turn out. Precincts 3, 5, 11 and 19 are student-dominated. 20, 21 and 22 have significant student populations, but 22 is also home for Terry Dickens and Susan Mims.

The Southeast Side: Watch turnout in 12, 14 and 15. How will that play in the Champion-McCallum Race?

University Heights: By all accounts this is the hot spot in the county. Don Baxter notes:

"The pro-rezoning/density group can be remembered by the male candidates first letters of their last names coincide with the first letters of our town 'slogan', 'Height of Good Living', plus all the women candidates: Haverkamp, Giese, Laverman, From, Yeggy and Moore."

UPDATE: 9:00 turnout is only 435, less than 1 percent and less than half of 1999. Factoid: the four core student precincts (3,5, 11, 19) have seen a total -- a TOTAL! -- of three voters.

UPDATE 2: 11:00 Iowa City turnout is 933 (1.93%). In the first 4 1/2 hours, Precinct 5 at the UI Library has seen ZERO VOTERS. And it turns out 1985 actually had lower turnout than 1999--but we're below even that.

UPDATE 3: 3:00 Iowa City turnout is 1772 (3.7%) At least someone finally voted at the UI library, but the student precincts are all still under 1 percent.

U-Heights is already over 20% turnout; once the absentee is figured in they could to 50 percent. Getting up toward governor's election levels there... Hills is emerging as another hot spot.

Iowa City Election: Slow Weekend Voting

2009-11-02T07:05:00.001-06:00

The Townies Don't Care Either

Last week's early voting on campus showed how disinterested students were in getting out to vote for fellow students Jeff Shipley and Dan Tallon. But weekend voting has illustrated that the Lifelong Residents and Taxpayers are either confident in a Susan Mims-Terry Dickens landslide, or just plain bored.

Sunday saw only 288 voters at four sites, vs. 502 the Sunday before the 2003 election. That was the last "normal" Iowa City election with no ballot issues and the last city election with early voting Sunday instead of Saturday. (Saturday voting on home game days just doesn't work.)

1999 is the record low turnout year (7,842 votes, a record likely to stand just two more days), and that year saw 502 weekend voters at two Saturday sites. 1999, of course, was the year that the election only got interesting AFTER it was over and Steven Kanner wound up two votes ahead of Charlie Major.

This year is likely to be... significantly more decisive.

Iowa City has rarely seen true landslides in November city elections, because the primary system culls the weakest candidates. The biggest margins have been in years without primaries, as in Ross Wilburn's 71-28 thumping of the eccentric Karen Pease in the 2003 District B race.

The last at-large blowout was in no-primary 1991 when we schizophrenically, simultaneously, re-elected socialist Karen Kubby with 80% and conservative Bill Ambrisco with 66. Then there was a big drop to Paul Egli at 33% and John Crabtree at 21. So, a two to one gap between second and third place. (Compare that to the nearly five to one gap between Dickens and Shipley in the primary.)

I don't remember much about Egli; he ran again in 1993 and finished last in the primary. Crabtree was a progressive guy and was active in the Democrats. Unfortunately for him, the lefties were distracted by a library levy, Jim St. John's district race against Susan Horowitz, and a sense of urgency for re-electing Kubby. So the relatively unknown Crabtree was left hanging while Kubby picked up a lot of bullet votes and set a record for most votes in city history that stood till 2005. Crabtree, meanwhile, is continuing his progressive activities at the Center for Rural Affars in Nebraska.

Vote Tallon and Shipley

2009-10-31T06:00:00.007-05:00

A tantrum in the voting booth

Today is a great day to live in Iowa City, as town and gown come together to celebrate.

But before we all settle in for the game, let me tell you about my absolute least favorite thing about my beloved, adopted home town. It's people who love the Hawkeye hoopla, or love the opera at Hancher (wherever they decide to rebuild it)... but hate the students.

I rarely do flat-out endorsements here. I usually just put out the facts I select as important and let people draw their own conclusions. But this time I'm making an exception.

In the wake of last year's conservation bond vote, it was openly argued, and not for the first time, that only property taxpayers should be allowed to vote in local elections. And that same resentment was voiced in the wake of the student-driven defeat of the 21 bar initiative in 2007.

But the students are the economic engine that drive this town, pumping in millions in tuition, rent, sales taxes, and jobs. Without students, there's no Iowa City as we know it. It's time for them to be represented in local government.

We have 25,000 or so students in a city of about 65,000. Mathematically, that works out to two students on a council of seven. But for nearly 30 years, we've had zero. Students have run, sure, but they've invariably been also-rans in the primary.

Now, for the first time in that 30 years, and merely by default since no one else filed, we have students on an Iowa City general election ballot.

Vote for them.

The 2009 city election has been one of the two most frustrating elections of any sort in my almost 20 years here (the other contender being the 2000 presidential). I've rarely been so frustrated by the lack of good choices. I've never stuck my neck out so far, or been bashed so hard, or alienated so many people, for candidates who have been more certain to lose by so much.

I've never felt less confident, yet at the same time more certain, about my vote. I've heard the most complaints over my support of Jeff Shipley. Don't interpret my vote for Jeff as a full endorsement of his staunch libertarianism. And while Dan Tallon is sincere, he's got a lack of political savvy that alienated potential supporters.

I have nothing against Susan Mims and Terry Dickens. Mims is a little conservative for my tastes, and Dickens a lot more so. But Terry is a suitable replacement for Mike O'Donnell, and while Mims is several notches to the right of Amy Correia, I anticipate she'll be approachable. They'll be able to do the job, which I can't say with certainty about my own choices.

But Mims and Dickens, with their conventional backgrounds, are exactly like nearly every other city council member in the last 30 years. For me it's really just about one thing. They're 50something, Jeff and Dan are 20something.

Would that be a good enough selection criteria for every office? No. I wouldn't vote for Jeff or Dan over, say Vicki Lensing or Mary Mascher for the legislature. But for the Iowa City council, it's what we need: representation for the single largest un-represented segment of our community.

I knew my decision, and anticipated the outcome, as soon as filing was done. "I'm voting for whichever two students make it out of the primary," I wrote.

And so I did.

(My biggest no-prize for this election goes to Jared Bazzell, the third student candidate, who endorsed Dickens over Shipley and Tallon after losing the primary and promptly vanished.)

The primary gave us a stark preview of what Tuesday will look like. All signs point to record low turnout (benchmark: 1999). Everything possible aligned to reduce interest: the lack of a card-carrying lefty in the race, no ballot issues for the first time in a couple cycles, the distractions of the fantastic football season and the supervisor appointment, even the lousy weather last week.

Everything also points to a record-size margin exceeding even the primary percentages: Mims 75%, Dickens 70... big gap... wait for it... lower... Shipley 15, Tallon 11. The general election benchmark is the 2003 District A blowout: Ross Wilburn 71%, Karen Pease 28.

But this outcome, as inevitable as the moment when you see the glass falling, time slows down, and you know it's going to break but it hasn't shattered yet, wasn't necessarily predetermined on filing deadline day. Two years ago, we saw that the students can swing a city election when they want to. But the last faint hope died this week as Shipley and Tallon failed to mobilize their own base of potential support. Votes trickled into campus satellite voting sites by the dozens when they needed to flood in by the thousands like they did in 2007.

Nothing would make me happier than seeing massive throngs of voters Tuesday at the student-rich precincts at the Rec Center and the Courthouse and the Quad. But nothing would shock me more, either.

So I'm frustrated with the very student constituency whose case I'm trying to advocate.

Hypocrisy and inconsistency are two of my least favorite things about political life. And nowhere do I see it more than in our public policy attitudes toward alcohol.

The 18 year old age of adulthood, as measured by the right to vote, was cemented into the Constitution in 1971 with a supermajority, wartime argument of "old enough to die, old enough to vote." And "old enough to drink" followed suit as I came of age. But self-appointed do-gooders, with a prohibitionist agenda couched as "safety," deliberately confused the issues of abuse and age. With purse string blackmail over highway funding they bullied the states into moving the drinking age up again.

I have heard countless elected officials tell me in private that they agree with me that the 21 year old drinking age is an unenforceable failure. Almost none will say so in public.

"It's the law," I hear. But it's a bad law. The Iowa City police could use more discretion. But backed by the permanent council majority, who in turn are backed by the love the Hawks hate the students constituency, they choose an aggressive approach of systematic harassment.

Far, far too many 18, 19 and 20 year old adults end up with career-damaging rap sheets, arrested for "crimes" that were non-issues back in my day. Is there excessive behavior that should be punished? Sure. But are there also people who are only guilty of socializing normally and getting caught? Absolutely.

Why has every "non-alcohol alternative" in Iowa City failed? I'm too old now to really say, but I still have some meaningful contact with undergrad-age people and I'll speculate: Young adults want to be treated as adults, learn adult responsibilities, and have adult fun.

And in my book, you're an adult at 18. Only when we separate the artificial age issue from the very real abuse issue can we credibly address the more pathological aspects of the drinking culture.

The University of Iowa has enough problems coming up, with budget cuts and tuition hikes. We also have a growing reputation: Go to UIowa, graduate with a police record. If you're back home in Aurora and you hear that your older brother's friend got busted by the Iowa City cops, that's not a good recruiting message.

My dad's best friend lived in a paper mill town, and when we were visiting as kids we complained about the smell. "That's the smell of our jobs," he'd say, and without endorsing his environmental outlook note that Iowa City's smell is the Saturday night bar rush. Our undergrads are the geese that lay our golden eggs, and as the University goes, so goes Iowa City.

Neither Jeff Shipley, who himself picked up an "underage" (sic) drinking ticket at 18, or Dan Tallon have made these issues central to their campaigns. And those certainly aren't the only issues that affect students. But Jeff and Dan's mere presence on the council would change the game. The next class of council members would notice at re-election time. The police department would notice at budget time.

The students saw the connection between local government and police policy in 2007, when that connection was directly on the ballot. But they have ignored the slightest level of abstraction, the necessary follow-up step of seriously striving for actual representation in city government.

Part of the problem is the structure: you can't get on the city council without ultimately winning city-wide, and Jeff and Dan aren't going to get a vote east of Governor Street. My preference would be for a completely revamped city government along the lines of what I grew up with in Wisconsin: a larger council, smaller precinct-sized districts with only voters IN the district voting, and shorter terms. What kind of person would get elected to a two-year term in a district made up of Burge, Daum, Currier and Frat Row? (Throw in an elected mayor while you're at it.)

But that's not an option--yet. Would Dan Tallon and Jeff Shipley have been my first choices? Probably not. But they were the ones nervy enough to step forward and do it.

I wanted to see a campaign to raise hell, even if it wouldn't win. But ultimately, the students need to do it their way, themselves, and not listen to what an old bald grandpa like me says.

Sara Baird has emerged as a last-second write-in candidate. I like her politically and personally, and had she started sooner I would have been right there. I hope she takes a serious look at 2011. But since this election, for Iowa City progressives, is a choice between a protest vote and mere acceptance, a write-in just mixes whatever message you're trying to send.

I've been told by good friends that I'm fighting the wrong battle, that I'm addressing the problem to the wrong level of government (and yes, some of my friends in state and federal government deserve criticism), and even that I'm marginalizing myself.

But it seems throwing a tantrum in the voting booth is the only way to get people to listen.

Vote for Jeff Shipley and Dan Tallon.

2009-10-30T09:33:00.006-05:00

Rettig Appointed

2-1 vote with Treasurer Tom Kriz backing Mike Lehman.

Quoted at the meeting: post-appointmment, applicant and Newport Road resident Greg Pickett said, "thank you for not overturning the election." (Refresher course: the late supervisor Larry Meyers had knocked off Lehman in the 2006 primary over the Newport Road issue.) So it seems the coalition of Newport Road residents and Republicans that had been backing a special election may be split. Petition deadline: Friday the 13th.

Rettig ~~is scheduled to be~~ was sworn in at 4:00 this afternoon at the courthouse.

Update: Tom Cardella now claiming in Press-Citizen comments that petition drive is "close to 5000 signatures."

PC Endorsements

2009-10-30T07:50:00.000-05:00

PC Endorses the Predictable

Friday's big news of course is the supervisor appointment, but the forgotten city election keeps rolling with the Press-Citizen endorsements for... of course, Dickens, Mims, Champion:

Although we appreciate the number of ideas that Tallon and Shipley bring to this debate, they have suggested many non-starters that show they don't yet have a pragmatic sense of what's politically viable (selling the Senior Center), economically feasible (selling the parking ramps even though they are making money) or just good policy (relying less on employees and more on volunteers to staff the city's services from recreation centers to fire stations.)

Mims filed her campaign finance report late yesterday. You may recall she raised $7,010 pre-primary and spent $4,584, leaving her with $2,426. Since the October 1 report, Mims has raised an additional $3,224 and spent $3,912, leaving her at $1,738 in the bank. Less than Terry Dickens. Champion, Shipley and Tallon's reports aren't posted yet.

As for the supervisor front, the P-C quotes Lori Cardella claiming "close to 4,000" of the 7,299 signatures needed for an election.

Iowa City Summary

2009-10-29T18:04:00.001-05:00

Thursday Afternoon City Election Update

Satellite voting on campus has come to an end and I've run out of anti-superlatives to describe how bad it did. 22 voters at Schaeffer and 28 at the Old Capitol Mall brings the eight site, four day campus total to 153. Compare that to the 2,890 on-campus satellite votes in the 2007 21 bar election, and 4,493 in the presidential.

Early voting now moves toward townie turf: the Iowa City Library and University Hospitals tomorrow, Saturday off to watch the Hawks, then the library and Hy-Vees Sunday.

The Gazette offered its endorsements this AM, backing Connie Champion for re-election in District B: "Champion especially has the history and perspective the city needs to navigate a difficult road ahead."

In the at large, they back Susan Mims ("a practical and decisive person who takes a critical look at issues and options") and, in a surprise, Dan Tallon:

But as the 20-year-old has said, he’s more than a “student candidate.” As a National Guardsman, Tallon has developed discipline and broader life experience than many students. In an interview with The Gazette’s Editorial Board, he showed a competent, thoughtful grasp of issues from public housing to taxation and economic development.

Look for Herteen & Stocker to pull their Gazette ads soon.

District B challenger Mark McCallum has filed his campaign finance report. He raised $775 from donors and loaned himself $1050; of that he's spent $829 and has $996 on hand. Not a lot by Iowa City standards, but then Champion hasn't opened her committee yet so she may not be above the $750 limit. Reports are due today but there's usually a day or so lag time on the campaign finance web site.

Thursday Morning Coffee

2009-10-29T06:29:00.007-05:00

Thursday Morning Coffee

Five days to election day and I'm slacking a bit on the writing, sorry folks. Here's the factoids you need:

Another slooooow day of voting on campus with 37 at the UI library and a mere SEVEN at Hillcrest. Today: Old Capitol Mall and Schaeffer Hall.

The PC endorsement comes tomorrow, and today they address Coralville, backing incumbents Tom Gill and John Lundell and stealth Republican Bill Hoeft.

Blatant student bashing emerges for the first time this campaign season (OK, no candidates are mentioned) in Marshall Poe's guest piece in the PC, in which he proposed the likely unconstitutional solution of "Banish these students from the university and Iowa City for a definite period." I thought exile went out of the book of punishments about the time of Botany Bay.

Over at the DI, Will Mattessich proposes a more creative solution to downtown drinking: a wet campus.

To the north, Johnson County campaign veterans will recognize the name Kirsten Running-Marquardt, who looks set to go to the Legislature after winning the Democratic nomination last night for Iowa House District 33. Republicans nominate tonight but Kirsten is heavily favored.

And one of my least favorite plays in the book is announcing that you've "invited" a speaker to your event, without any actual concept that said speaker is going to attend. Both sides have been guilty; this time it's the Iowa Family Policy Center, who got a day worth of news for "inviting" Sarah Palin. Everyone took the bait seriously enough that Palin's peeps had to deny it.

Midweek Roundup

2009-10-28T07:36:00.004-05:00

Midweek Roundup

No news to speak of at the Adler journalism building as a mere FIVE voters exercised the franchise at the satellite site. Burge fared a little better with 31 people... but compare that to 945 two years ago. Student city council candidates: now officially 97 percent less interesting that 21 bars. Today the (lack of) action moves to Hillcrest and the UI library.

Other local stuff:

The DI does the Iowa Courts on line thing and finds Jeff Shipley's PAULA from 2006. All the more reason to vote for him:

The 21-year-old said his history with downtown Iowa City and the police shouldn’t be a deterrent for voters.

“It hasn’t been an issue yet,” he said. “A lot of students get PAULAs. I don’t think it’s anything.”

Shipley said the tickets give him a “unique experience” of being able to relate with students’ concerns on drinking issues.

Exactly. 21 now = 18 then = an ADULT. (UPDATE: It must just be an Iowa-City-ism since more than one person asked: the acronym is for Possession of Alcohol Under Legal Age.)

The Press-Citizen starts its endorsement rollout with North Liberty.

In honor of tomorrow's Ubuntu Linux upgrade, I get all cutesy at the Register about Grassley, Conlin, Macs and PCs.

Campus Satellites Fizzle on Day One

2009-10-26T18:32:00.001-05:00

Campus Satellites Fizzle on Day One

Campus satellite voting sites were drowned in waves of apathy Monday with less that two dozen voters participating.

Pappajohn Business say only 17 voters, while Mayflower Hall was in single digits with a mere six. (Two years ago today, in the 21 Bar election, Mayflower drew 174--and that was one of the weaker campus sites in 2007.)

Maddeningly, Mayflower is hosting a student legal clinic "What to do if you're busted" workshop Monday night, advising students about the ins and outs of PAULA and public intox.

Gee, do you think if there were two students on the City Council -- you know, the police department's BOSSES -- the Iowa City cops might behave differently? I can make that connection, you can make that connection, but only six people at Mayflower Hall can make that connection.

Tomorrow campus voting, such as it is, moves to Adler Journalism, a first time site, and Burge. The 945 Burge voters in 2007 set an all-time record for biggest satellite site in Johnson County history, topping even day before presidential election sites.

Let's just say it's a record that's not likely to be broken tomorrow.

The petitions which required the sites were the work of Jared Bazzell, the student candidate who lost the primary then immediately endorsed Lifelong Resident candidate Terry Dickens.

Dickens, for his part, was the first candidate to file his campaign finance report. He raised another $1220 and spent $3140, leaving Dickens with a whopping $10,685 in the bank. Reports are due Thursday.

Johnson County Dems BBQ

2009-10-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

Loebsack, Senate Contenders at JC Dems BBQ

"Because we've been pusing hard in on the public option, we're beginning to see some movement in the Senate," Congressman Dave Loebsack told the 150 or so Democrats gathered in Hills Saturdayfor the Johnson County Democrats fall barbecue. "We in the House helped move the Senate and, yes, the President."

Responding to critics of health care reform he noted, "Not only have I read the bill, I've amended it" to provide better federal funding for direct care workers.

Loebsack also took credit for improving reimbursement rates. "Finally, Iowa can be treated fairly."

The second term congressman, who casually acknowledged ("not an announcement") that he's seeking a third term, shared the stage with the two announced US Senate candidates, Brb Krause and Tom Fiegen. But some of the buzz in the room was about the likely entry of former gubernatorial nominee Roxanne Conlin into the Senate race.

"The grass roots isn't excited about her," said Fiegen. "There's a sense of been there, done that. She's our party's Doug Gross -- ruch and connected in Des Moines but not in touch with the grass roots." In contrast, Fiegen said, reaction to his economic message has been "tremendouus. People react to me like they've been in the dark and I'm bringing them a flashlight. They're excited to see someone who can go toe to toe with Grassley."

"Grassley's going to have 14 or 15 million dollars," Fiegen told the crowd. "Tom Harkin says I can compete if I can raise 3 million."

"(Conlin)'s going to have to draw heavily on the women's vote and she has a lot of support in Des Moines," said Krause, "but I don't know about the rest of the state."

But plenty of beret-off conversations circled around the new entrant into the race.

Reminders of the Board of Supervisors vacancy were also present, with the podium decorated with a sign from the late Larry Meyers' campaign and one of Larry's trademark "Don't Tread On Me" flags near the stage. Even the President got in on the act.

Supervisor candidate Janelle Rettig worked the crowd, but none of the other applicants were on the scene. Also notably absent were the Iowa City council candidates (Mayor Regenia Bailey, not up this cycle, was there), though Coralville's John Lundell was on hand.

Almost the entire courthouse and legislative delegations were on hand. The event was on the northern end of Larry Marek's House district. The first term Democrat says he hasn't hear any rumors of opponents -- "primary or general," acknowledging reports that some labor-leaning Democrats have been unhappy with his record. (Aside: one possible opponent, former legislator Sandy Greiner, seems a bit busy with Terry Branstad these days.) In the meantime, he's trying to get the crops in despite "the wettest fall I've seen in 40 plus years of farming."

A sizeable Fairfield contingent was present: Krause, Senator Becky Schmitz, Secretary of Agriculture candidate Francis Thicke, and newly elected State Rep. Curt Hanson. "Hope and footwork carried the day over fear and money," Hanson said of his special election win.

Hope was also a theme for Secretary of State Mike Mauro. "Democrats are all about having people participate," he said, bragging of the 45,000 people who used Iowa's new election day registration law in last year's presidential election. "The other side tries to mumble-jumble things with fear and doubt. Their real message is that if they can make things difficult and put enough doubt in people's minds, more people will stay home and maybe they can win. Don't let them do it."

Mauro brought nomination papers for next year's election, as did staffers for Gov. Chet Culver.

The crowd evaporated almost instantly after the conclusion of the last speech (Fiegen's), rushing home to catch the 6:00 Hawkeye kickoff. The 8-0 record and next Saturday night's home game is one more distraction from the poor, forgotten city election. (My Press-Citizen piece, specifically my announcement that I'd voted for Jeff Shipley and Dan Tallon, seemed to have been noticed.)

Iowa City faces quietest election ever

2009-10-24T05:42:00.000-05:00

Iowa City faces quietest election ever

The 2007 Iowa City election was like no other in city history, as a massive wave of student voters was pulled to the polls with the gravitational force of a black hole by a ballot initiative that would have kept those under 21 out of bars.

The student vote defeated the 21 bar issue, and on the surface, the 2009 election breaks out along the same Town vs. Gown lines, with Long Time Resident candidates Susan Mims and Terry Dickens facing students Jeff Shipley and Dan Tallon.

Had student candidates run in 2007, we could have two to four students on the council today. Should the 25,000 students, unrepresented in city government since David Perret left office in 1983, have a say? I say yes, and that's why I've already voted for Shipley and Tallon.

But the October 6 primary gave us a snapshot of the race in progress: record low turnout and a huge Mims and Dickens lead over Shipley, Tallon, and a third student, Jared Bazzell, who was eliminated.

Without the bar issue, student involvement in the election is fizzling. The deep pockets of bar owner Mike Porter, who financed the No on 21 vote, have been absent from the 2009 race.

Student solidarity is in tatters as well. The Daily Iowan endorsed Mims, along with Talon, in the primary, and Bazzell bizarrely endorsed Dickens after his loss.

All this could change next week. Bazzell's legacy to the November election is the seven campus-area early voting sites he petitioned for. The rules are different than in 2007, since Iowa now has election day registration.

Yet it's unlikely any of these sites will see anything approaching the 945 students who voted at the Burge Hall site in 2007. By this point in 2007, 3,800 ballots were in the box, fueled by campus voting. This year (as of Friday) only 132 were returned.

In the weeks leading up to the 2007 election, Iowa City voter registration among 18 to 24 year olds increased by 4,500 voters. But this year, in the seven weeks since the school board election, 18 to 24 year old registration has actually declined.

Progressives, distracted by Janelle Rettig's supervisor campaign even before the too-soon death of Larry Meyers, are also sitting this one out. They failed to recruit candidates, and all eyes are on the supervisor appointment instead.

Dickens and Mims, for their part, are playing it smart. They've raised huge amounts of money—Dickens had nearly $16,000 before the primary--and seem focused on getting their own supporters out. No one has indulged in any gratuitous student-bashing, which is so 2007, anyway. Iowa City's new scapegoats are Chicago People If You Know What I Mean.

Champion vs. challenger

Lost in the Town-Gown narrative is the District B race, where Mark McCallum is left hanging. McCallum, like Dickens and Mims, was recruited to the race by the Chamber of Commerce, and the wide assumption was that three-term council member Connie Champion was retiring. Three terms has been an informal voluntary limit. Dee Vanderhoef tried for four in 2007 and lost.

But Champion surprised folks by not stepping down. She's been an important swing vote and won some surprise liberal support after opposing the Wal-Mart rezoning. In an open seat race McCallum might be a strong contender, but against Champion he's an underdog.

(Note: this story also appears in today's Press-Citizen.)

Johnson County Dems BBQ Saturday

2009-10-23T12:39:00.001-05:00

Non-Mystery Candidates to Hills Saturday

Well, the mystery candidate for the US Senate appears to be... Roxanne Conlin. The Reg has the scoop first while James Lynch at The Gazette talks to the non-mystery candidates.

Those non-mystery contenders, Tom Fiegen and Bob Krause, will be in Hills Saturday for the Johnson County Dems BBQ. The big name is Dave Loebsack, but we also get Sec of State Mike Mauro, state party chair Mike Kiernan, and special election winner state Rep. Curt Hanson. Doors open at 2 with speeches slated at 3:15.

(No liveblog; the laptop's in the shop. But tune in after for the usual Deeth details.)

Palin vs. Palin at the bookstore

2009-10-23T07:03:00.000-05:00

A Pair of Palins

It's Palin vs. Palin at the bookstore November 17 as the editors of the Nation make an intentional typo in the title of "Going Rouge."

Official test: a nine year old can tell which one is the Palin book and which one is the critique. But can conservative book buyers? (The easy method: while the anti-Palin book is paperback while the actual Palin book is hardcover, and presumably more expensive.)

The nine year old guest author notes:

John called Barack Obama to challenge the Republicans to a basketball game. The Republicans lost from Barack Obama's awesome shooting skills.

.
Hayden is now working on a screenplay. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, a startling but accurate admission from conservative columnist Ross Douthat:

At first Mr. Douthat seemed unable to get a sentence out without interrupting himself and starting over. Then he explained: "I am someone opposed to gay marriage who is deeply uncomfortable arguing the issue in public."

Mr. Douthat indicated that he opposes gay marriage because of his religious beliefs, but that he does not like debating the issue in those terms. At one point he said that, sometimes, he feels like he should either change his mind, or simply resolve never to address the question in public.

He added that the conservative opposition to gay marriage is "a losing argument," and asked rhetorically if committed homosexual relationships ought to be denied the legal recognition accorded without hesitation to the fleeting enthusiasms of Britney Spears and Newt Gingrich.

After the panel, Mr. Douthat told the Observer: "If I were putting money on the future of gay marriage, I would bet on it."

He added: "The secular arguments against gay marriage, when they aren't just based on bigotry or custom, tend to be abstract in ways that don't find purchase in American political discourse. I say, ‘Institutional support for reproduction,' you say, ‘I love my boyfriend and I want to marry him.' Who wins that debate? You win that debate."

Appointment Postponed To Oct. 30

2009-10-22T17:05:00.001-05:00

Board Appointment Postponed To Oct. 30

The appointment to the Johnson County supervisors will take two days longer than originally planned. The committee of three deciders pushed the appointment, originally planned for Oct. 28, back to Oct. 30.

The move was made to accommodate applicant Edgar Thornton's schedule. What does this do?

It puts the appointment two days before the legal deadline of Nov. 1, the 40th day after Larry Meyers' death.

It lands that much closer to the poor, overshadowed city election. You DO remember there's a city election, right?

It also gives petitioners who want a special election two more days to gather the 7,399 signatures they need. That deadline pushes back to Nov. 13, landing it on... Friday the 13th.

Three interviews are done: City council member Mike O'Donnell, former student government president Maison Bleam, and self-starter Kenya Badgett. (Why didn't Bleam or Badgett run for city council?) But the real drama is tomorrow morning as former supervisor Mike Lehman and announced candidate Janelle Rettig interview back to back.

Supervisor Field Down to Eight

2009-10-20T17:23:00.002-05:00

Supervisor Sweet Sixteen Down to Elite Eight

The supervisor appointment committee settled Tuesday on eight applicants to interview for the Board vacancy. The Elite Eight are:

former UI student government president Maison Bleam

Iowa City Council member Mike O'Donnell

former supervisor Michael Lehman

supervisor candidate Janelle Rettig

Solon city council member Cami Jo Rasmussen

GOP activist Edgar Thornton

and self-starters Kenya Badgett and Gregory Pickett.

Eight others missed the cut. Interviews start Thursday.

Two GOP Clips

2009-10-20T07:45:00.002-05:00

Two GOP Clips

I always read Republican blogs and the Iowa Republican has two good posts:

Craig Robinson has a must-read: Is Romney Planning to Bypass Iowa? It's not a viable strategy for a Democrat, as Hillary Clinton got roped in against her judgement. But John McCain essentially ran a Screw Iowa campaign and got the nomination. I say "got," rather than "won," because it was more a matter of everyone else lost.

Robinson quotes some allusions to the power of cultural conservatives in the Iowa GOP. But he dances around the exact nature of the issue: the fundamentalists won't caucus for a Mormon and vetoed Romney. I've said it before: If Mitt had been a member of Mike Huckabee's church, he would have been the nominee.

Also flashing back to Caucus Season 07: Ron Paul's coming back to Iowa...

Supervisor applicant geography

2009-10-19T17:54:00.002-05:00

Supervisor applicant geography

Since commentators asked, here's the geography on the 16 supervisor applicants.

Badgett: southeast side Iowa City

Bandy: North Liberty

Bickford: rural West Branch

Bleam: near west side, student apartments

Dahms: North Corridor, Penn Township

Dils: Tiffin

Green: east side

Knapp: Longfellow area

Lehman: south rural, near city limits

O'Donnell: Windsor Ridge (formerly Park Road)

Panzer: Solon

Phillips: Tiffin

Pickett: Newport Road

Rasmussen: Solon

Rettig: east side

Thornton: east side

As for the incumbents, we have two on the east side, one in Newport township, one in rural Hills.

Supervisor Vacancy Factoids

2009-10-18T10:53:00.006-05:00

Supervisor Vacancy Factoids

It's bad journalistic form to start with a disclaimer, but it's well known that I work for one of the deciders on the Johnson County supervisor vacancy. It's also well known that I'm a political activist in my own right.

What I'm saying here is my own opinion only, mixed with objective facts that I consider important. It may or may not reflect my boss's opinion at all, indeed, we've been known to disagree (anyone who remembers the 2000 caucuses can vouch for that.)

I've talked to all three deciders about process. Anyone can do that (granted, it's more convenient for me). I have not expressed to any of them my personal preference for any given name, nor have they expressed those preferences to me. Again, anyone can offer their thoughts on who should be appointed and many have.

Johnson County supervisor is an elected, partisan, policy-making position. It isn't a pure merit hire where a blind eye should be turned to an applicant's political views. This makes partisanship a valid consideration.

Personally, my hope was for an eminence grise, a placeholder, to step forward and serve through next November. My first choice would have been Dick Myers, but Carol Thompson would also have been good. They didn't apply, nor did anyone else fitting that mold.

So we need to look at the 16 we have. Four contenders have clearly shown more support based on letter writing efforts. Janelle Rettig is far and away ahead, but Mike Lehman, Norm Bickford and Edgar Thornton also have significant support.

Since the job is a partisan elected office, party affiliation and electoral history are relevant. People want to know the applicants' party affiliations, and should know. So here's where we stand, as of three or so weeks ago when I bought the voter file to prep the Democrats' barbecue mailing:

Democrats: Badgett, Bandy, Bickford, Dahms, Green, Lehman, O'Donnell, Pickett, Rasmussen, Rettig
Republicans: Knapp, Panzer, Phillips, Thornton
No Party: Bleam, Dils

Jim Knapp was a Democrat when he ran for supervisor in 2004 and finished last out of eight (behind one candidate who had quit the race). Maison Bleam has been active for Republican candidates and officials in the past but is now registered with no party.

Other than Knapp, five applicants have run campaigns for big scale offices. (Rettig gets an asterisk here, as she was up and running for the Board before Larry Meyers' death.)

Lehman and Mike O'Donnell both have mixed records with wins and losses. Lehman won a hotly contested primary in 1998, was re-elected uncontested in 2002, and lost the 2006 primary to Meyers. O'Donnell won city council terms in 1997 and 2001, narrowly lost the 2004 Democratic supervisor primary, then won a third council term in 2005. As for the rest:

Cindy Phillips lost two legislative campaigns (the 1992 general and the 1994 GOP primary) in an Iowa City based district (she now lives in Tiffin).

Bickford lost two supervisor primaries two decades ago.

Terry Dahms lost the 2006 general election for soil and water commissioner on an obscure provision of Iowa law. He finished second of three candidates for two seats. But because the first place finisher lived in the same township as Dahms, he was not seated and the job went to the last place finisher instead. In 2008, Dahms was fourth out of four in the supervisor primary, behind the three incumbents.

Ron Bandy, Karen Dils and Cami Jo Rasmussen have won elections in smaller cities. Dils lost for re-election in Tiffin in 2007. Bandy stepped down voluntarily in 2003, but had lost his bid for North Liberty mayor in 2001. Rasmussen is on the Solon city council and currently seeking re-election unopposed.

Thornton won a GOP convention vote to serve as a national alternate delegate, which you may or may not describe as electoral success. The rest have no electoral track record.

With those things in mind, here are important factoids:

Factiod: The three deciders were all elected and are all Democrats. Republicans have demanded that one of the deciders, Recorder Kim Painter, "recuse" herself, as she had previously announced her support for Rettig for the nomination for the full term. Not that she should stand aside, but it's not even clear to me in the code whether she can. And if one of the decider jobs were vacant, the replacement would also be a Democrat, County Attorney Janet Lyness.

Factoid: Johnson County is a heavily Democratic county. The occasional personally popular Republican has carried the county, sure, but events eventually caught up to Jim Leach and may yet defeat Chuck Grassley. But at the top of the ticket, Chet Culver was at 68 percent and Barack Obama was just a smidge short of 70.

Factoid: No Republican has won a top of the ticket Johnson County race since Bob Ray in 1978. For president, you have to go back to Nixon. Not McGovern-Nixon: KENNEDY-Nixon.

Factoid: No Republican has won any courthouse office at all since Sheriff Gary Hughes won his last term in 1984.

Factoid: No Republican has won an election to the Board of Supervisors since Oren Alt, who won his last term in 1958 and served until 1962.

Factoid: Larry Meyers was elected in the 2006 general election, which was one of the few times the GOP has fielded a full slate of supervisor candidates in recent years. There was an active "Split Your Vote" campaign underway for Meyers and for one of the two Republicans, Alan Curry. The result:

Sally Stutsman (Dem) 27,383 61.82%
Larry Meyers (Dem) 27,300 61.64%
Alan Curry (Rep) 13,775 31.10%
Richard Benn (Rep) 10,613 23.96%

The two Democrats nearly two to one ahead of the stronger Republican.

Factoid: Local Republicans have taken a stance against the appointment process itself, calling instead for a special election. I certainly respect their right to do so; indeed, when the shoe was on the other foot in 1994 I participated in a partially successful petition drive. Partially successful in that we succeeded in getting the election--but lost the election itself. That's been the history around here with petitioned specials (1997 recorder as well as some small town contests): He who petitioneth, loseth, with the election itself usually the main issue.

And as I know from experience in 1994, there is a certain cognitive dissonance between advocating on the one hand for a specific person to be appointed, while simultaneously arguing against appointment itself and for an immediate election. Insert the Dennis Miller Disclaimer here.