Posted 8/23/2010 by IPP Staff

Iowa's unemployment rate edged up to 6.8 percent in July from a revised June rate of 6.7 percent, Iowa Workforce Development said today. The state's jobless rate was 6.1 percent a year ago. Iowa gained 1,700 jobs in July over June and 3,700 jobs over July 2009. Leisure and hospitality added 2,500 jobs in July over June, construction snagged 1,100 more jobs, and trade and transportation saw 700 more positions. "In contrast to the U.S. employment situation, Iowa's private sector hired at a strong enough pace in July to overcome the job losses on the government side," said Elisabeth Buck, director of Iowa Workforce Development. "Nonfarm jobs in the state have increased in six of the first seven months of 2010, which has managed to keep the recovery intact," Buck said. In July, 113,800 Iowa residents were unemployed, 700 more than in June and 11,600 more than in July 2009. Unemployment rates often increase as the economy recovers, because people who had quit looking for work earlier come back into the job force when employers resume hiring. 

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Des Moines Register
Donnelle Eller

Posted 8/9/2010 by IPP Staff

State transportation agencies in Iowa and Illinois have submitted a joint application seeking $248 million in federal money to establish daily passenger train service between Chicago and Iowa City via the Quad Cities, Gov. Chet Culver said Friday. In January, federal officials rejected an earlier request by Iowa and Illinois for $256 million for Chicago-to-Iowa City train service. Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie and Iowa Department of Transportation Director Nancy Richardson both lobbied U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on the issue when LaHood visited Des Moines in June.

Posted 7/27/2010 by IPP Staff

Calling persistent flooding "the new normal," Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said Monday the state needs to continue investments in flood fighting, and he added his controversial IJOBS initiative is an important part of that strategy.

Meanwhile, the governor's re-election campaign lashed out at a new web video posted by Republican opponent Terry Branstad that attacks the IJOBS program, saying it's insensitive to flood victims.

The governor was touring flooded areas in eastern Iowa on Monday, including Maquoketa and Davenport, where he stopped at Modern Woodmen Park.

Davenport has built a sandbag wall at the ballpark to protect it, but it's planning to erect a $2 million flood protection system that will avert that need in the future. The project, which will utilize a $1 million IJOBs grant, will be built around the front of the stadium.

‘We're now dealing with a new normal," Culver told officials and reporters gathered outside the stadium. "We are now dealing with constant flood-related issues. It wasn't just 2008 where we saw these record flood levels."

Click here to continue reading.

Posted 7/23/2010 by IPP Staff

By O. Kay Henderson, Radio Iowa
Thursday, July 22, 2010

The head of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says in January he’ll ask the legislature to rewrite or repeal state laws his the agency is not following.

An audit released this week revealed the agency is not following 16 different state laws.  Iowa Department of Natural Resources director Rich Leopold says some of the laws that apply to his agency have been on the books for 30 years and are outdated.

“Once the legislature’s back in town, we’ll be working with them to change pieces of code that need to be changed to more accurately reflect the implementation of the public health protections that we have in place,” Leopold says. 

According to Leopold, it’s an administrative issue and he says the public’s health has not been endangered by the laws which haven’t been enforced. ”We are taking seriously the initiative necessary to change these items, to bring them up to date to what’s really happening,” Leopold says. 

A similar audit review of the operations of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship found that agency has not been implementing eight different state laws.  Ag Secretary Bill Northey issued a written statement Thursday afternoon, saying his agency would ask legislators to repeal of some of the “outdated” laws.  Other programs which are on the books aren’t operating because of budget constraints.

Click here to view the source story.

Posted 7/21/2010 by IPP Staff

By: David Elbert

Iowa's unemployment rate remained at 6.8 percent in June, providing additional evidence that the state's economic recovery is stalling after peaking at 6.9 percent in April. Iowa's unemployment rate in June 2009 was 6.0 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate for June was 9.5 percent, down from 9.7 percent in May. The June report shows three Iowa counties with unemployment rates above 9 percent percent - Lee County at 10.1 percent, Harrison County at 9.4 percent and Jasper County at 9.1 percent. Four counties had rates below 5 percent - Lyon County at 4.1 percent, Mills and Shelby counties at 4.5 percent and Sioux County at 4.7 percent. Two bad signs in the Iowa Workforce Development report for June were the fact that both the numbers of employed and unemployed Iowans were down from May. The seasonally adjusted employment number for June was 1,567,100, down, 4,500 jobs from May and 5,300 fewer than June 2009. The number of unemployed Iowans also fell to 113,600 from 114,800 in May, an indication that more Iowans have quit looking for work as their unemployment benefits expired.

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Posted 7/21/2010 by IPP Staff

Posted 7/21/2010 by IPP Staff

Posted 7/19/2010 by IPP Staff

Gov. Chet Culver personally solicited political contributions from two of the four groups that applied for casino licenses in 2009, but received money from only one, a series of Des Moines Register interviews shows. That news comes as special prosecutor Lawrence Scalise investigates the legality of a $25,000 contribution to Culver's campaign from three Fort Dodge businessmen. Scalise said his efforts over the next six weeks would focus on determining if charges should be filed in that case.

The disclosure that Culver sought money from a second casino applicant - Daniel Kehl of the Lyon County casino group - at a critical time in the licensing process also raises new questions about whether the solicitations have the appearance of impropriety. The issue of how political candidates, particularly officeholders, raise money is receiving increased scrutiny across the nation and in Iowa. For example: * The Office of Congressional Ethics has launched a review of congressional fundraising, particularly by lawmakers who solicit and take contributions even when debating bills affecting contributor interests.

* Former Illinois Gov. Ron Blagojevich is on trial in federal court in Chicago, accused of scheming to take in campaign donations in exchange for official acts. Prosecutors rested their case last week and defense attorneys are to present their case beginning today. * Culver's Republican opponent, former Gov. Terry Branstad, has used the investigation to urge voters to oust the first-term Democratic governor from office. But similar questions were raised about Branstad's fundraising practices in 1982 when he accepted a campaign contribution in the lieutenant governor's office from for-profit nursing home operators seeking to boost their state subsidy.

Scalise declined last week to comment directly on his investigation into the $25,000 contribution to Culver's campaign. He wouldn't guarantee that a final determination would be reached before the November election. Lyon official: Donation would have looked bad The president of Lyon Investment LLC - the only one of four applicants granted a casino license by Iowa's Racing and Gaming Commission in May - told The Des Moines Register that Culver asked for a contribution as the group's application was under consideration.

But Kehl said he declined - despite having contributed $25,000 to Culver's campaign in 2007 and 2008. Three members of the Lyon County group also contributed $6,000 to Culver in October 2009, state campaign finance reports show. "We were afraid that it would be construed the wrong way," Kehl said. "Exactly what is going on today is what we didn't want to have to deal with. If we had made a donation and received a license, it would have looked bad."

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Posted 7/9/2010 by IPP Staff

By Jason Clayworth, Des Moines Register
Friday, July 9, 2010

Iowa's top elected officials who have declined to take furloughs or pay cuts required of lower-ranked employees have jeopardized the morale, public confidence and even the productivity of their offices, leadership experts said Thursday.

Posted 6/28/2010 by IPP Staff

Posted 6/16/2010 by IPP Staff

Governor Chet Culver used his time on stage at the 2010 Iowa NASCO Conference in Des Moines to promote the signature piece of his time in office, the I-JOBS plan.

In his audience were dozens of transportation experts from the United States, Canada and Mexico. The governor tells them his plan is building jobs. Afterwards, Channel 13 wanted to know how many. The governor responded, "We've now invested in 1500 projects. If you're talking about one job per project, you're talking about 1500 jobs. 10 jobs per project, you can do the math."

Channel 13 had hoped Culver or his staff had done the math. At one time, Culver said his plan would create nearly 30,000 jobs. But in recent months, he has cut that estimate to a few thousand. Iowans will pay $875 million plus interest to fund his program.

Channel 13 asked again to find out who is now working because of that money. Culver said, "We are working to compile as much possible information as we can on each of these 1500 projects."

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Dave Price
WHOtv.com

Posted 6/15/2010 by IPP

Iowa must repay $576,000 in misspent federal money that Gov. Chet Culver's office appropriated when he was secretary of state, a federal audit resolution released Monday said.

According to the resolution, the correction must be made before Dec. 10.

Culver spokesman Jim Flansburg said the governor and the attorney general's office were working with federal officials and "intend to resolve all outstanding questions."

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Jason Clayworth
Des Moines Register

Posted 5/21/2010 by IPP Staff

Iowa’s unemployment rate pushed to 6.9 percent in April from 6.8 percent in March, with the state shedding 900 jobs at the same time more discouraged workers returned to the labor market, a report today shows.

In April 2009, the state jobless rate was 5.5 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate in April was 9.9 percent compared to 8.9 percent a year earlier.

April’s losses halted three months of gains for the state, which added 15,400 jobs in the first quarter. Despite the setback, state leaders say the economy continues to improve, with industries like manufacturing adding jobs.

Posted 5/17/2010 by IPPCMS

Posted 5/13/2010 by IPP Staff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, May 13, 2010

Contact:  Amanda Weiland (515) 664-7990

Racing and Gaming Commission Denies Fort Dodge Casino License

Criminal investigation continues

Des Moines, IA—Today, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission denied a casino license for a proposed casino in Fort Dodge amid allegations of corrupt business practices between casino backers and Governor Chet Culver.

The decision comes under a cloud of controversy.  Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller asked for a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation of alleged illegal contributions to Governor Chet Culver’s campaign by casino interests. Culver’s campaign received $25,000 in contributions from three Fort Dodge businessmen.

Culver pressured the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to grant Fort Dodge a license.

Iowa Progress Project Spokeswoman Amanda Weiland said, “Despite Fort Dodge losing its bid for a casino, serious questions still remain for Governor Culver and the casino operators involved in the pending criminal investigation.”

# # #

Posted 5/4/2010 by IPP Staff

Posted 4/28/2010 by IPP Staff

The state ombudsman’s office may investigate Cedar Rapids’ management of funds raised through the local option sales tax for flood recovery.

“We are assessing the issue to determine whether it’s appropriate for us to investigate,” Ombudsman William Angrick said Tuesday afternoon.

Angrick said his office has received requests from local residents for an investigation, but staff must first determine whether the office is authorized under state law to act.

Posted 4/21/2010 by IPP Staff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Contact Amanda Weiland 515-664-7990

 IPP Calls for Culver’s Campaign Manager to Resign

Des Moines, Iowa – Last week Governor Culver announced his third campaign manager in five months, Donn Stanley.  In announcing Stanley as his new campaign manager Culver stated that he was “delighted that Donn is taking a leave of absence from his work at the Iowa Attorney General’s office to take over the campaign.”

It is ironic Culver announces a new campaign manager taking a “leave of absence” from the Iowa Attorney General’s office a week before it was made public the Governor and Lt Governor are under criminal investigation.

The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation and the Iowa Attorney General’s office are investigating allegedly improper campaign contributions to Governor Chet Culver’s campaign by individuals associated with the proposed Fort Dodge casino.

Today’s IowaRepublican.com asks if the hiring of Donn Stanley from the Attorney Generals’ office was a strategic move by Culver to help him navigate through this very serious investigation. Either way, Stanley has a clear conflict of interest and should resign immediately.

IPP spokesperson Amanda Weiland stated, “The people of Iowa deserve better from their elected officials. An employee of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office serving as campaign manager of Culver’s campaign that is under investigation by the same Attorney General’s Office is deeply disturbing.  Governor Culver’s campaign manager, Donn Stanley should resign immediately.”

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 Paid for by Iowa Progress Project

www.iowaprogressproject.com

Posted 4/20/2010 by IPP Staff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Contact Amanda Weiland 515-664-7990

 Culver’s Chief of Staff Needs to Answer Questions

Iowa taxpayers deserve the truth in John Frew’s role in securing millions for Cedar Rapids

Des Moines, Iowa – Yesterday, Governor Chet Culver’s Chief of Staff, John Frew, announced he was resigning after eight months to take a job with the City of Cedar Rapids.  Frew and his firm, Frew Nations Group, will be spearheading the construction and development of the $50 million Cedar Rapids Event Center and the $15 million upgrade to the U.S. Cellular Center.

Some of the funding for the new construction and upgrades comes from Iowa taxpayer’s pockets and bonding.  Cedar Rapids received $15 million in I-JOBS funding from the State of Iowa this spring.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette asked Frew why he was leaving his post in the governors office to return to his private development firm on the same day his firm stands to benefit from the public dollars the governor’s office secured for this project. To which Frew claimed he did not help lobby for any of the fund.

The people of Iowa have a right to know if the Governors Chief of Staff, John Frew, lobbied for funds that his development firm would stand to benefit from. 

IPP spokesperson Amanda Weiland stated, “Iowa’s taxpayers need to know the truth about John Frew’s role in securing millions of dollars of funding for a project his private development firm is spearheading.  This has an appearance of great impropriety. Was John Frew using his taxpayer paid position in state government, and at the same time lining his pockets with taxpayer funds?.”

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 Paid for by Iowa Progress Project

www.iowaprogressproject.com

Posted 4/19/2010 by IPP Staff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 19, 2010

Contact Amanda Weiland 515-664-7220

 Chet Culver Needs to Address Criminal Investigation

Iowans deserve to know if their governor or his staff are being questioned in a criminal investigation

 Des Moines, Iowa – Today, the Des Moines Register reported that a criminal investigation has commenced by the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation involving campaign contributions to Governor Chet Culver’s campaign by individuals associated with the proposed Fort Dodge casino.

The Register states the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is looking into ‘improper contributions’ made by three people aligned with Fort Dodge casino that received $25,000 from Peninsula Gaming for ‘consulting’ work, and just happened to contribute $25,000 to the Chet Culver campaign committee.

When asked by reporters if Gov. Culver, Lt. Gov. Judge or any administration or campaign officials have been questioned in this investigation, the Governor’s office declined to comment.

The people of Iowa have a right to know if Gov. Culver, Lt. Gov. Judge, or their staff has been questioned in the ongoing criminal investigation. 

 IPP spokesperson Amanda Weiland stated, “Governor Culver must clearly tell the people of Iowa his role in this scandal, and answer questions about his role in the ongoing criminal investigation. If law enforcement officials are questioning the Governor, Lt. Governor or their staff, the people of Iowa deserve to know.”

###

 Paid for by Iowa Progress Project

www.iowaprogressproject.com

Posted 4/16/2010 by IPP Staff

Iowa’s state auditor, David Vaudt, says he is worried about the state’s financial health.

He outlined his concerns about the state’s 2011 budget during a presentation in Oskaloosa this week. He also said he is troubled by what he views as a lack of long-term goal-setting in Iowa government.

Vaudt said Iowa had kept expenditures and revenues in line from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. But more recent financial management trends are troubling, Vaudt said.

Vaudt called “unsustainable spending growth” a big part of the problem. Simply put, Vaudt said, state legislators have been spending more than the state is taking in.

In fiscal years 2008 and 2009, the state budgeted for revenue growth of almost 5 percent each year. But spending during that same two-year period was budgeted to grow by 15 percent.

“Somehow our elected officials thought that for every dollar of new revenue we could somehow spend a dollar and fifty cents,” Vaudt said.

This has created a spending gap that we have not been able to close, Vaudt said. Since 2007, the spending gap has risen to around $690 million, he said. In 2007, the budget was set up so that for every dollar the state spent, it had 99 cents in revenue.

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McClatchy Newspapers, on Omaha World-Herald

Posted 4/7/2010 by IPP Staff

That former film pitchman state officials have accused of giving away the bank?

He wants you to know he is not the only one to blame.

In his first interview since being fired last September, Tom Wheeler didn't deny that he made mistakes running one of the state's newest and fastest-growing economic development programs. But, he said, legislators, revenue officials and others share responsibility for the widespread problems that emerged in the past year.

Wheeler said a broad tax credits law crafted in 2006 to rapidly lure the film industry to Iowa permitted much of the activity now being called into question.

He also contends a trail of his e-mails over the past two years eventually will prove the Iowa Department of Revenue told him to approve for tax breaks many kinds of expenses that industry experts call unusual.

And he hinted he feels strongly the effort to prosecute him is political in nature.

"I am not allowed to say the word 'Culver,' " he said, smiling, as he looked at his defense lawyer, Angela Campbell. Gov. Chet Culver ordered his firing and suspended the film tax credit program last September.

In the seven months since problems first emerged within the program, Wheeler has been painted as both a reckless and incompetent steward of the public's money and the feckless victim of an embattled administration looking for a scapegoat.

This Friday, his attorney hopes to sway a Polk County judge to dismiss the charge of official misconduct filed against him in February. The attorney general's office is pushing to hold him accountable for approving "blatantly false, fraudulent and exaggerated" claims for state tax breaks.

Wheeler, 41, was at the helm of the state's one-man film office when lawmakers passed legislation offering lucrative incentives to filmmakers and investors willing to bring productions to Iowa. Hired in 2004 to market the state to the film industry, he had no previous experience drafting contracts, no law degree and no staff when the new program began in 2007.

By late August last year, a month before that program imploded, Wheeler had approved 103 applications for pending film projects worth as much as $230.9 million in tax credits; $32 million in tax credits already had been given away.

In that time, the budget of his one-man office within the Iowa Department of Economic Development shrank: from about $125,000 to $118,000.

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Des Moines Register
Lee Rood

Posted 4/5/2010 by IPP Staff

Former Governor Terry Branstad is rolling out his plans for creating new jobs in Iowa as he campaigns for a fifth term in office.

“We’ll increase the number of jobs by 200,000 over the next five years and raise family incomes by 25%,” Branstad said. The Republican gubernatorial candidate’s plan involves a couple of tax cuts.

Branstad proposes a reduction in commercial property taxes in Iowa to less than the Midwest average and cutting Iowa’s corporate income tax rates in half.

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Radio Iowa

Pat Curtis

Posted 3/26/2010 by IPP Staff

March 26, 2010 | For Immediate Release
Contact: Don McDowell (515.281.6043)

DES MOINES - Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley (R-Chariton) today strongly condemned Governor Culver’s plan to plow an additional $150 million including raiding $45 million from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF) into his failed temporary work debt scheme know as I-Jobs. All of this on the same day Iowa’s unemployment rose again to 112,500, a 23 year high:

“A year ago, Governor Culver promised Iowans that his I-Jobs plan would create 30,000 new jobs but since that time, Iowa has actually lost over 30,000 jobs. If the goal was to create jobs, Governor Culver’s plan has been a colossal failure.

“Senate Republicans believe we need policies that promote long-term sustainable private sector job creation. All we get from Governor Culver is more unacceptable spending, more debt and more Iowans out of work.”

-30-

Don McDowell
Office of the Senate Republican Leader
don.mcdowell@legis.state.ia.us <mailto:don.mcdowell@legis.state.ia.us>
Office: 515.281.6043
Cell: 712.324.1243

www.mckinleyforiowa.com <http://www.mckinleyforiowa.com/>
www.facebook.com/paulmckinley <http://www.facebook.com/paulmckinley> 

Posted 3/26/2010 by IPP Staff

By: David Elbert, Des Moines Register

The number of jobs in Iowa and the number of unemployed Iowans continued to grow in February, as the state’s unemployment rate continued to climb to it’s highest level in more than 20 years.

The February rate edged up to 6.7 percent from 6.6 percent in January, making it the highest monthly unemployment rate since the farm crisis of the mid 1980s, when the July 1986 rate was 6.8 percent.

Compared with the rest of the country, though, Iowa’s 6.7 percent February rate was a full 3 percentage points below the U.S. rate of 9.7 percent. But the statewide rate was still up substantially from the year-earlier rate of 5.3 percent.

The seemingly contradictory trends of more jobs and more unemployed are “a sign that the state’s tenuous recovery may be gaining momentum,” said Elisabeth Buck, director of Iowa Workforce Development.

When economies recover, workers who had previously dropped out of the labor force and ceased to be counted, resume looking for jobs and that appears to be what’s happening in Iowa now.

February marked the second month in a row that the seasonally adjusted number of non-farm jobs in the state has increased, after having been in a periodic decline for most of two years.

Click here to read more.

Posted 3/15/2010 by IPP Staff

Job creation will be job one at the Iowa Legislature this week, but majority Democrats admit approval of spending another $105 million on I-JOBS projects may depend on Republicans.

Republicans say that have no interest in approving the allocation of funds for Gov. Chet Culver’s infrastructure program that relies on long-term debt to create what they say are mostly short-term jobs. Culver last year predicted I-JOBS would create as many as 30,000 jobs. This year he scaled his estimate to “hopefully hundreds if not thousands” of jobs.

Democratic leaders say they will roll out their job creation plans in Week 10 of what they predict will be an 11-week session. Leaders insist they can get their work done and adjourn by March 26.

That’s doable, GOP leaders say, but only if Democrats don’t load appropriations bills with policy the majority party can’t get passed on its own merit.

It’s unlikely there won’t be policy in the appropriations bills both chambers will take up this week. That means long, contentious debates with numerous votes the parties will use against each other in the upcoming campaign. Last year, Republicans voted against the budget bills after their money-saving suggestions were rejected. All indications are they are likely to oppose the budget bills again this year.

Posted 3/11/2010 by IPP Staff

Iowa’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.6% in January from the December rate of 6.5%. Iowa Workforce Development spokesperson, Kerry Koonce, says the small increase is a positive sign. Koonce says when they look at trends in unemployment, they don’t see a tenth of a percent change over one month as being drastic, but instead say it is relatively stable.

Koonce says the total non-farm jobs increased by 4,600 in January, even though some industries saw a downturn. Koonce says the unemployment rate increased despite the new jobs as more people entered the job market.

Koonce says the change is the difference in the overall labor force and the number of people who’re considered unemployed. She says college graduates entered the labor force at the end of December and that led to the increase in the number of people looking for a job, which was not offset by the number of new jobs.

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Radio Iowa
Dar Danielson

Posted 3/11/2010 by IPP Staff

Governor Culver has signed a state government reorganization bill into law. It eliminates 14 different state boards and commissions and consolidates state computer systems.

It also seeks to reduce the number of “middle managers” in state government. Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, started working on the reorganization project last summer and she spoke shortly before the governor signed the bill into law.

“The bill is the largest reorganization effort in the history of the state,” Mascher said. Senator Staci Appel, a Democrat from Ackworth, worked alongside Mascher for the past eight months to craft the legislation. “Some of these decisions were simple solutions,” Appel said, “and others were difficult and tedious to sort out.”

Most Republicans in the legislature voted for the reform package and while a few dozen Democrats from the House and Senate stood behind Culver for today’s bill signing, only one Republican lawmaker attended the event. Top aides to Republican legislative leaders say there was no organized boycott by Republicans and Culver, a Democrat, praised Republicans for joining Democrats in passing the bill.

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Radio Iowa
O.Kay Henderson

Posted 3/11/2010 by IPP Staff

The state’s troubled film tax-credit program took center stage again Wednesday with critics questioning its payback value and backers promoting its draw to keep and attract young workers.

“It’s absolutely a complete boondoggle giveaway,” said Victor Elias of Child and Family Policy Center, who cited numerous studies indicating film tax credits in other states have produced a poor return on investment at pennies on the dollar. He said the money spent on moviemaking could have paid for 1,500 to 4,000 school teachers.

Neil Wells, a writer and filmmaker, countered that the program has been a windfall — directly from movies shot and produced in Iowa and spinoff spending, jobs and image benefits associated with those projects. He said recent state budgeting decisions, not “evil Hollywood people,” are responsible for the state’s financial woes.

The comments were made during a Senate Ways and Means subcommittee meeting on a bill seeking to end the film tax credit. A separate subcommittee approved a measure to suspend the program at least through June 2011 while legislators revamp the credit.

State Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, an Iowa State University economics professor, said he sees no way to fix the film tax-credit program under a suspension that would make it pay.

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Quad City Times
Rod Boshart

Posted 2/15/2010 by IPP Staff

Gov. Chet Culver's economic recovery I-JOBS program is off to a slow start, with only $20.7 million - or about 3.5 percent - spent from $596.5 million awarded over the past eight months for roads, bridges, community centers and other projects. The program was created to help Iowa escape the grip of a two-year-long national recession, but the state can't expect an economic boost with so little of the money actually being used, some economists and business leaders say.

"You don't get results until the money is spent. That's just all there is to it," said David Swenson, an economist at Iowa State University. "It's one thing to project impact, but it's another thing to realize it. And what you see is that there's been precious little impact to date." Culver has touted the $830 million I-JOBS program as key to putting many of the state's 110,800 unemployed residents back to work. "We're moving as fast as humanly possible," said Culver on Friday. "I'm very happy with the progress we're making. I see it firsthand as I travel around the state.

"And I guarantee you by late spring and summer, we're going to have a record amount of job creation and economic development in the state." But economists see - and state data show - little evidence so far. Iowa has 7,700 fewer construction workers employed in December than a year earlier. Overall, Iowa has lost 40,100 jobs compared with December 2008. January employment data won't be released until March. A Des Moines Register analysis of data available at the I-JOBS Web site shows little spending for most projects:

- 1,135 of 1,500 total projects had no money funneled into them so far. About 300 projects had less than $100,000 spent on them. - The largest amount of money awarded so far - nearly $200 million to about 570 projects - has no completion date set. - Some of the state's largest spending - such as $100 million to renovate and replace University of Iowa buildings ravaged by flooding - is three to five years away. Culver initially estimated the program would create as many as 30,000 jobs, but backpedaled last month, saying he hoped I-JOBS would create "hundreds if not thousands of jobs." The state expects to release a tally of I-JOBS jobs this week.

"We see some impact, but it's very isolated," said Scott Norvell, chief executive of the Master Builders of Iowa. Norvell said the state needs to refocus spending so that more I-JOBS money is getting spent on "vertical infrastructure" such as courthouses, arenas and schools than "horizontal construction" - roads, bridges and sewers. "The I-JOBS program is well-intended, but the bulk of craft workers with vertical construction - 23 trades - is significantly unemployed, probably upwards of 25 percent," said Norvell. The state unemployment rate in December was 6.6 percent.

Boom in construction coming, state says

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Des Moines Register
Donnelle Eller

Posted 2/15/2010 by IPP Staff

“Absolutely devastating numbers for Iowa Gov. Chet Culver.”

-Chris Cillizza, “The Fix”, Washington Post, February 14, 2010

Posted 2/10/2010 by IPP Staff

All Iowa employees who work at least 20 hours a week would get paid when they are home sick, under a bill before the Legislature. Business owners and industry groups immediately expressed worries about how much that would cost. But Sen. Tom Courtney, who proposed the bill, said he thinks businesses could save money in the long run with greater employee retention and better productivity among healthy workers. "On the surface, this looks like this is going to be expensive for business," said Courtney, D-Burlington. "I think we need to get them over that feeling and help them realize this would be good for them. All the studies point to the facts that workers who have some sick leave are better workers, and that's better for everyone."

Democratic lawmakers said Monday the proposal likely will not go anywhere unless employers have a voice in crafting it. The bill is in the very earliest stages in the Legislature. A subcommittee considered the bill on Monday; the same group of senators will meet on the topic again Wednesday. As of last year, about 33 percent of full-time Iowa employees did not have paid sick days or flexible paid time off that can be used during an illness, state work force agency records show.

Among part-time workers, 81 percent did not have such paid time-off offered to them, according to a survey of a random sampling of Iowa employers by Iowa Workforce Development. Courtney said in an effort to tamp down the outbreak of H1N1 flu virus, public-health leaders pleaded with people to stay home when they feel ill. But many workers ignore that advice because they can't afford unpaid days off, he said. Workers who deal closely with the public, such as service workers and restaurant workers, typically do not get paid to be home sick, Courtney said.

"So they're mixing my salad and coughing, which scares me," he said. Nasty colds have made sandwich delivery driver Dustin Creagan of Des Moines crave bed rest. But the need for money and a desire not to disappoint his boss when he's short-handed have prompted Creagan, 21, to go to work anyway. "If I'm sick and I go out to any customer, I shake hands and exchange money. That's a lot of germs passed around," Creagan said. "I haven't really felt guilty about it in any way. It's been like, 'Here's your sandwich.' What else can you do?"

Creagan added: "I live off tips right now. If I don't make those tips, I don't have any money for that day." When he heard about the proposed bill, Creagan said: "Nice! I think that would be fair." However, one restaurant owner, Jim Lacona of Noah's Ark restaurant in Des Moines, said the expense would drive up costs for Iowans when they go out to eat. "I don't think we could afford to pay it without passing it on to the consumer," he said. None of Lacona's 55 employees gets paid sick time. "My first response is everybody's going to be out sick," he said.

Click here to continue reading and think about the negative impact this would have on small businesses.

Des Moines Register
Jennifer Jacobs

Posted 2/10/2010 by IPP Staff

Gov. Chet Culver’s proposed budget is at least $25 million above the state’s legal spending limits largely because of inaccurate calculations, State Auditor David Vaudt said this morning.

Culver released his proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 to the legislature last month.  By law it must not exceed 99 percent of the projected revenues.

According to Vaudt’s report:

¦Culver budgeted $341 million in savings to the general fund, the chief operating budget of the state based largely on recommended savings from a consultant. Even if the consultant’s findings are completely enacted, at least $83 million of the savings would be allocated to other accounts outside of the general fund.

¦The consultant’s recommendation of savings are overestimated. One item to modernize unclaimed property searches was estimated to pump $40 million into the general fund but that is money that belong to taxpayers and must be returned, Vaudt said.

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Des Moines Register
Jason Clayworth

Posted 2/8/2010 by IPP Staff

One of the state's largest public employee unions has registered against a union-related bill that it supported in previous years.

The proposal is commonly known as "fair share." It would allow public employee unions to charge nonunion workers a fee for services they provide for such things as handling grievances and taking the lead in arbitration.

Opponents said the bill, House Study Bill 702, erodes the state's "right to work" law, which prohibits requiring the payment of union dues or fees as part of employment. Advocates, however, said it simply would provide payment for services that unions provide.

The Iowa State Education Association, which has roughly 34,000 members, registered Friday against the bill.

The problem? The bill is too watered down, said spokeswoman Jean Hessburg.

The bill applies only to state executive branch employees. Local governments, including schools that are not one of Iowa's three state universities, would not be affected.

“You will have a situation where some employees at a regents university would be covered and then just across the street at a public school they are not covered,” Hessburg said.

Race could signal direction of GOP

Republicans in Iowa will be watching a GOP candidate forum in Pocahontas next week for a test of "tea party" strength and a glimpse at the potential impact of divisions in the party.

Republican primary opponents Tom Shaw of Laurens and Steven Richards of Algona will meet on Friday to discuss with party activists the race for Iowa House District 8.

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Des Moines Register
Iowa Politics Insider

Posted 2/4/2010 by IPP Staff

Gov. Chet Culver bolstered his ties to organized labor Wednesday by signing an executive order sought by construction unions, although he quickly emphasized he won't try to repeal Iowa's right-to-work law.

Critics seized on the issue and indicated Culver's support for unions could become a rallying cry for Republicans as they try to oust the Democratic incumbent in the fall election.

Culver signed an executive order Wednesday that will require all state departments and agencies to consider using so-called project labor agreements, known as PLAs, on large state construction projects. He received a standing ovation from union members attending the 57th annual state convention of the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, at the Hotel Fort Des Moines.

A PLA is an agreement designed to coordinate labor relations, including wages and benefits, between multiple construction trade unions and contractors on a specific construction site. Supporters say PLAs ensure that large projects are completed on time and in an efficient manner. Opponents disagree, saying the deals discriminate against nonunion contractors and drive up costs for taxpayers.

Culver's critics said they were alarmed at Culver's executive order, describing it as a significant effort to erode Iowa's right-to-work law, which is more than six decades old. The law means that employees who work in Iowa, except on federal property or for a railway or airline, have a right to resign from union membership and not pay union dues or fees. Twenty-one other states have right-to-work laws, mostly in Southern and Western states.

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Des Moines Register
William Petroski

Posted 2/4/2010 by IPP Staff

Gov. Chet Culver encouraged lawmakers to make a run at prevailing wage legislation that led to a three-day standoff in the Iowa House last year as majority Democrats struggled to find a 51st vote.

“I still believe we need to push forward,” Culver said Wednesday after signing an executive order telling state agencies to consider using project labor agreements on large-scale construction jobs. “We’re talking about paying a carpenter, a pipe-fitter a couple more dollars an hour at a time when, again, families need more income, they need to work, they need to have good wages and that’s what prevailing wage will do.”

Although there’s been no action on prevailing wage this year, House Labor Committee Chairman Rick Olson, D-Des Moines, is having a bill drafted he thinks might be more palatable to the so-called “six-pack” of Democrats who refused to vote for prevailing wage last year.

House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, kept the voting machine open for

68 hours in March, waiting for someone to change their vote to give Democrats a majority on the prevailing wage bill. It didn’t happen.

“It’s what you might call a softer bill,” Olson said, noting it would require the state, regents and community colleges to pay prevailing wage on projects of $100,000 or more. However, local government — cities, counties and school districts — could opt-out of paying prevailing wage on a project-by-project basis, Olson said.

His bill also would set prevailing wage — the hourly wage, usual benefits and overtime paid to the majority of workers, laborers and mechanics for each trade and occupation in a given area — on a county-by-county basis.

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Quad-City Times
James Q. Lynch

Posted 2/3/2010 by IPP Staff

Iowa's economy has likely cleared the recession's grip, a new state report shows. But expect Iowa's recovery to be long, without rapid job growth or a push to the state's income, economists say. "We're on the path to recovery, but we still have a long way to go to get back to normal," said Amy Harris, an Iowa Department of Revenue analyst. "A lot of people are still unemployed." For the first time since April 2007, a state index that tracks Iowa's economy showed all eight of its components - from farm profits to building permits and manufacturing hours worked - improved over the previous month.

Looking at longer trends, the December report indicates the state has escaped "recession territory," said Harris, who compiles Iowa's Leading Indicators Index. Charles Whiteman, an economist at the University of Iowa and interim director of the U of I's Institute for Economic Research, said, "All of those components moving in the right direction is really a good sign. "Our prediction since October has been that things were looking up." Iowa employment is expected to climb in the third and fourth quarters, inching 0.2 percent higher for 2010, the group said. Also, 2011 will bring "recovery numbers" in job growth, climbing 1.8 percent, Whiteman said.

Next year's projected job growth would outpace employment gains in 2007 and 2008 combined, the group's data show. "The recovery is beginning now," Whiteman said. "Recovery to what is the $64,000 question." Harris said the gains that Iowa experienced in December factor in the recession that began about a year ago. The index's monthly values are calculated using a 12-month rolling average. "If you look at things like building permits and unemployment claims, yes, they're positive contributors," she said. "But the levels are a long way from normal December levels."

For example, weekly unemployment insurance claims in December were 14.3 percent less than December 2008 claims, but they were 57 percent higher than the average December claims for 1987 to 2007. "We're seeing some strength, but it will take a while to get back to where we were in 2008," Harris said. Fred Abraham, an economist at the University of Northern Iowa, said Iowa may never see the return of some jobs, especially in manufacturing. "We've been losing jobs in manufacturing for a long time, both statewide and nationally," he said. "A lot of the goods we consume come from other countries. ... And productivity in manufacturing has increased."

Employment is always going to lag in a recovery, Abraham said. "The unemployment rate didn't rise as rapidly as output fell," Abraham said. "And when you get into recovery, the unemployment rate doesn't fall as rapidly as output rises. "You don't get the jobs back that fast. It's going to be a while before we get back to 4 percent unemployment rate in Iowa." Iowa's unemployment rate in December was 6.6 percent. In December 2008, the rate was 4.4 percent.

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Des Moines Register
Donnelle Eller

Posted 1/29/2010 by IPP Staff

January 29, 2010

McKinley’s Memos

Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley

 As it looks now, if the governor’s plan is adopted, Iowans can expect more of the same fiscal problems that have plagued our state during the last three years.

Last year, Governor Culver signed the largest budget in state history at a time when our economy could not support it. As Republicans, we offered hundreds of millions in common sense savings but nearly all were ignored or voted down in partisan fashion.

Only months later, after the governor had denied he spent too much all summer long, he could no longer ignore his unbalanced budget any longer. He was forced to make a ten percent across-the-board cut in October. Unfortunately, this was all avoidable.

To be clear, Iowa does not have a revenue problem – we have a severe spending problem. Governor Culver should have scaled back his spending, listened to Iowans and accepted the Republican solutions. There was a real opportunity to sign a sensible budget that reflects the true priorities of our citizens. Iowans did not receive the fiscal leadership they deserved.

As the new budget discussions begin anew, Governor Culver has a fresh opportunity to put Iowa back on a path of sustainable and responsible spending that does not add to the tax load already burdening taxpayers. The question is, will he take this occasion to do just that?

If his initial budget outline is any indication, that answer is no. His new proposed spending is over $400 million dollars larger than the level the state’s budget is at today. At a time when families and employers are still forced to make sacrifices and cut backs, the spending increases continue.

Unless a more fiscally responsible vision for Iowa is adopted in the coming weeks, Iowans will continue to see their taxes increase. Already, Governor Culver’s actions have lead to property tax increases estimated at approximately $270 million dollars. He likes to say he has not raised taxes but Iowans know better and they can point to their property tax bills to prove it.

This new budget is also crafted by continuing the practice of using one-time dollars for ongoing expenses. He plans to raid Iowa’s savings and rainy day funds by over $200 million dollars, leaving the state’s reserves dangerously low. He continues the practice of using one-time federal bailout dollars that will not be available in the years ahead. Unless the programs are ended, a new revenue source will have to be found to pay for them and that will result in higher taxes.

Much of his projections are based on hypothetical savings from an out-of-state, highly taxpayer paid consultant. Yet, when the non-partisan analysts who work for Legislature look at the same proposals, they find results that are only small fractions of what was originally touted. For example, the consultants said one all-inclusive aspect of the government re-organization bill being pushed through the Legislature in the next few days would save $200 million dollars. Yet, when the non-partisan analysts scored it, they found it to be closer $43 million. Those kinds of financial discrepancies are found in several aspects of the governor’s budget statement and could easily leave the state’s budget unbalanced by hundreds of millions of dollars if not corrected.

If Iowans are looking for bold action in making it easier for jobs to be created, this budget proposal is also sure to disappoint. Senate Republicans believe this session should be all about jobs and growing our state. Governor Culver continues to only focus on trying to create temporary government make-work positions through his unsuccessful I-Jobs debt program, but nowhere in his budget does he make it clear that long-term private sector job creation is a priority. Instead, the higher property taxes that will come as a result of this budget are only going to erect more barriers to the creation of real sustainable jobs.

Not a single Republican in either the House or Senate voted for the budget last year because we all understood the people of Iowa were sick of the out-of-control spending and we knew the budget was unbalanced.

As Republicans, we will continue to offer our suggestions and solutions because Iowans want their senators and representatives to work hard on their behalf. But if the unfettered spending continues as it has the past three years, you can expect Senate Republicans to once again cast our votes in favor of families’ budgets rather than bigger government budgets.

As always, I welcome hearing from you and can be reached by phone at 515-281-3560 or by e-mail at paul.mckinley@legis.state.ia.us

Paul McKinley

Senate Republican Leader

www.mckinleyforiowa.com

www.facebook.com/paulmckinley

www.twitter.com/mckinleyforiowa

Posted 1/25/2010 by IPP Staff

State Auditor David Vaudt is taking issue with Gov. Chet Culver's plans to reduce the cost of state government, saying he merely shifts costs in one case and raises state revenue in another.

Culver's proposal to use Road Use Tax Funds to pay for the Iowa State Patrol is no savings, Vaudt said. It merely changes the use of funds already collected and obligated, he said.

"Taking costs from one pot of taxpayers' money and moving those costs to another pot of taxpayers' money does not reduce spending," the auditor said. "Simply shifting costs out of the general fund does not result in savings for the taxpayers of Iowa."

Click here to continue reading.

Sioux City Journal
James Q. Lynch

Posted 1/21/2010 by IPP Staff

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver is asking Congress for a second round of economic stimulus money and appealing to the Obama administration to ease rules for existing aid that could force the state to reverse some spending cuts.

Culver told a Senate appropriations subcommittee on Thursday that Congress should extend federal unemployment benefits and provide additional aid to states for education, health care and other needs.

“No one has been immune form these economic realities that we’re dealing with,” Culver told the panel, which was chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia.

Some 40,000 Iowans have exhausted their state unemployment benefits, which usually last 26 weeks, he said.

While he was Washington, Culver also asked the U.S. Education Department to waive rules in the 2009 stimulus bill that were designed to prevent states from slashing their budgets and filling the gap with federal stimulus money.

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Des Moines Register
Philip Brasher

Posted 1/19/2010 by IPP Staff

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver on Friday scaled back expectations for the number of jobs his $830 million public works program enacted last year would create.

The Democrat said his 2009 legislative centerpiece, known as I-JOBS, is as much aimed at building Iowa's 21st-century infrastructure as it is about creating jobs.

"I don't think people should expect huge job numbers," Culver said at a meeting with Des Moines Register editors and reporters. "But if you're one of these employees who was just hired by a contractor on a road project in Estherville, this is a big deal."

In urging the program's passage last year, Culver had said it could create 21,000 to 30,000 jobs. Friday, Culver trimmed the estimate to "hopefully hundreds if not thousands."

But he stressed the long-term benefit of rebuilding roads and bridges, telecommunications and energy infrastructure.

"These are, I think, very smart investments in Iowa's future," he said.

About 1,400 projects receiving $530 million from the program have begun.

The Iowa Finance Authority on Thursday is scheduled to release a report showing how many jobs the program has created.

Foes have attacked I-JOBS as increasing Iowa's debt by $600 million and costing $360 million in interest payments in the next 25 years.

Culver, running for a second four-year term in the fall, also expressed his support for the 2007 Iowa Power Fund, a centerpiece initiative in his first race for governor.

He pitched the program as a $100 million, four-year account to spur the renewable energy industry and create jobs. Analysts and Culver foes have questioned the program's job estimates.

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Des Moines Register
By:Thomas Beaumont and Jason Clayworth

Posted 1/8/2010 by IPP Staff

Gov. Chet Culver's chief of staff thinks there's "a legitimate chance" legislation will pass this year allowing public employee unions to charge nonunion employees for some expenses.

But he said he did not think it would apply to private employers.

The idea is among four that unions have pushed in the Legislature since Democrats took charge of the Statehouse in 2007. But they have failed amid strong resistance from the state's construction and business lobbyists.

It's an explosive issue for some state lawmakers and business leaders, who say they want to preserve Iowans' freedom to work without being forced to pay any money to a union.

Labor unions refer to their union-expenses proposal as "fair share," arguing that nonunion workers should have to pay their share for services that unions are required by law to provide. Opponents call that forced unionism.

"Fair share, I think, has a legitimate chance of success," chief of staff John Frew said in an interview with The Des Moines Register this week.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said no fair share proposal is on the table at the moment.

"If the governor is proposing a piece of legislation, we'll certainly keep an open mind, but we haven't seen anything yet," said McCarthy, D-Des Moines.

The 2010 session of the Legislature opens on Monday.

Frew said a pared-down version of fair share was the most likely to pass of the four labor union priorities.

The others are a so-called prevailing wage, a rate private companies would have to pay employees when working on government projects; allowing injured workers, instead of their employers, to choose the doctor who treats them; and an expanded list of topics that governments would be required to discuss with unions at the bargaining table.

"Whether one or all four of the pieces of the labor legislation will see the light of day is a big question," Frew said. "But fair share is one that we expect to see some significant traction."

Frew said Culver is not dictating the bill's provisions and suggested they depend on what House Democrats will accept.

"We would anticipate that this would be a narrow application of the concept and would only apply to the public sector," Frew said. "I haven't heard anyone suggest that it would involve the private sector."

The Senate passed a bill in 2007 that would have allowed government unions to assess nonunion workers a fee for services they provide, but the proposal failed to advance in the House.

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs said the concept still "has a pretty fair shot in the Senate," but consensus is less certain in the House.

Click here to continue reading.

Des Moines Register
Jennifer Jacobs and Thomas Beaumont

Contact your leaders today and let them know you do not want 'fair share'!

Posted 12/28/2009 by IPP Staff

Minnesota Governor Seeks Limits in His State and Amendment to U.S. Constitution

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, considered a possible 2012 Republican presidential candidate, is calling for strict spending limits as states and the federal government confront enormous deficits.

Mr. Pawlenty has proposed an amendment to the Minnesota constitution that would limit spending during any two-year budget period to the amount of revenue collected during the previous budget cycle. At a Republican fund-raiser in New Hampshire on Dec. 16, the governor also pushed the idea of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would force Congress to pass, and the president to sign, a balanced budget.

"Government spending in the country and in many states is progressing at an unsustainable, irresponsible and reckless pace," Mr. Pawlenty said in an interview this week. "The bathtub is overflowing onto the floor, and the first thing we need to do is shut off the faucet."

Although the U.S. economy is showing signs of improvement, states are coping with major revenue shortfalls. States' budgeted general-fund spending for the current fiscal year totaled $627.9 billion, down 5.4% from a year earlier, according to a Dec. 2 report from the National Association of State Budget Officers and the National Governors Association. Even after those cuts, state deficits total $14.8 billion for their current fiscal year, which for most began July 1.

At the federal level, the Senate voted Thursday to temporarily raise the nation's debt limit, currently $12.1 trillion, by $290 billion. The House passed the measure Dec. 16.

All states except Vermont have at least a limited requirement to balance their budgets. The federal government has no such restriction.

Previous efforts to pass a national balanced-budget amendment have foundered in Congress. Many lawmakers believe deficit spending can help boost the U.S. economy during downturns, and calls to balance the budget sometimes fade as other priorities surface.

Changing the U.S. Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress, followed by approval of three-fourths of states. State legislatures have petitioned Congress about a balanced-budget amendment, but they haven't reached the threshold needed to call a constitutional convention.

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The Wall Street Journal
Amy Merrick

Posted 12/13/2009 by IPP Staff

A state audit alleges that the Iowa Workforce Development failed to track spending for a computer system that handled unemployment insurance taxes.

In a report issued recently, state auditors say they couldn't determine the cost of the nine-year project because the agency's budgets were vague and rules on competitive bidding weren't followed, among other problems.

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Chicago Tribune/Associated Press

Posted 12/11/2009 by IPP Staff

December 11, 2009 | For Immediate Release

Contact: Don McDowell (515.281.6043)

McKinley: New REC Projections Another Reminder

of Culver’s Serious Spending Addiction

Growing Iowa’s economy through private sector job creation is the way forward

DES MOINES, IA – Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley (R-Chariton) issued the following statement today regarding the Revenue Estimating Conference’s new projections:

“The new projections today once again serve to underscore how short-sighted and fiscally irresponsible it was for Governor Culver to sign and legislative Democrats to pass the largest amount of spending in the state’s history when Republicans were consistently warning them to control their overspending addiction. Just today, another $50 million dollar hole was discovered as a result of Governor Culver’s extravagant spending.

A flourishing Iowa economy that provides jobs is the best way to move Iowa forward and put Iowa’s fiscal footing back on solid ground after too much spending. Iowa needs a commitment from its leadership to enable long term private sector job creation and Senate Republicans will continue to advocate for policies that will accomplish that goal.”

-30-

Don McDowell

Office of the Senate Republican Leader

don.mcdowell@legis.state.ia.us

Office: 515.281.6043

Cell: 712.324.1243

www.mckinleyforiowa.com

www.facebook.com/paulmckinley

Posted 12/8/2009 by IPP Staff

Gov. Chet Culver's team of economic advisers believes that Iowa has seen the worst of the recession, but that employment will not begin to grow again until next summer. "If things go to history, and we have a lot of history, we should see better times starting pretty much right now," said Charles Whiteman, interim director of the Institute for Economic Research at the University of Iowa. The personal income of Iowans will rise 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, Whiteman predicted.

For now, Iowa will continue to see a decline in employment, but forecasts show growth in nonfarm jobs will begin again in the third quarter of 2010, he said. The state's unemployment rate stood at 6.7 percent as of October, up from 4.3 percent in October 2008. "There are a lot of little positive signs," Whiteman said. "None is particularly striking, not like an in-your-face thousands of jobs being created, but it looks like things are getting better."

Another member of the Governor's Council of Economic Advisers said Monday that to prevent erratic spending and cuts in state government, Iowa could base its future budgets on an average of tax collections in past years rather than relying on predictions for the future. Culver has been seeking ways to change budget forecasting so Iowa does not face big hits like the 10 percent, $565 million cut he ordered in state government general-fund spending in October.

"It's a very interesting concept," Culver said of the suggestion. Now, a three-member team called the Revenue Estimating Conference sets the amount of money state lawmakers can spend each year. The group next meets on Friday. Culver will use its estimates in January to craft his proposed budget for fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1. Culver said Monday he is heartened that revenues from sales taxes and corporate income taxes are better than the Revenue Estimaing Conference anticipated in October.

However, he cautioned that tough cuts still lie ahead for the 201l budget. The Legislative Services Agency has forecast a gap of $1 billion between projected revenues and expenses for 2011. Legislative leaders note that some federal stimulus money will still be available, and they can dip into the state's cash reserves, but that still leaves a gap of $500 million or so. "I think we're still going through a really tough time," Culver said. "We're not out of the woods yet. ... I think there was a general feeling that we're slowly seeing some signs of improvement, and that's good news for the people of this state."

Click here to continue reading.

Des Moines Register
Jennifer Jacobs

Posted 12/7/2009 by IPP Staff

You decide... From today's Des Moines Register...

Iowa's largest government employee union wants state government to cut 365 of its nearly 2,000 supervisory positions, but opponents say that could erode efficiency and dismantle oversight.

Leaders of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees say the move would create efficiencies by focusing resources on front-line workers doing the hands-on work to deliver public services.

Union and government insiders refer to the issue as "span of control," which refers to the number of subordinates per supervisor.
 
Union members want the state to increase its supervisor-to-employee ratio from 1 to 11 to 1 to 14. That would eliminate 365 positions, which cost taxpayers at least $27 million a year.

Most supervisors are not union members, as outlined in Iowa law.

Continue reading here.

Posted 12/7/2009 by IPP Staff

Iowa's total government debt has grown by almost $3 billion in the past five years and is expected to take another jump in the current fiscal year, partly because of Gov. Chet Culver's $830 million I-JOBS program.

Iowa's total state and local government debt, including schools, is $11.6 billion, according to an annual report released last week by State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald. Cities had the greatest amount of debt, with $4.3 billion, followed by schools, with $2.3 billion. State government authorities and agencies have a combined debt of $2.56 billion.

"It shows that the schools, counties and others have had to borrow more money," Fitzgerald said of the past year's nearly $693 million growth in debt. "In these tough times, to keep things going, governments have had to access their credit more."

Several rankings show Iowa's public debt per person is lower than that in most states. Iowa ranks 16th-lowest in total government debt, according to the Census Bureau. Moody's investment services company this year rated Iowa second-best in the nation, trailing Nebraska, when looking at tax-supported debt compared per capita to personal income ratios.

Still, some officials worry about the increased borrowing.

"I don't think Iowans would mind if they believed the borrowing was absolutely necessary for effective governance, but just because you have a credit card doesn't mean you should use it," said Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton.

Culver promoted I-JOBS, signed into law in May, as a way to help recover from the 2008 floods that crippled Cedar Rapids and caused damage in nearly every area of the state. He also portrayed it as a way to strengthen Iowa's economy and to preserve or create thousands of jobs.

The program includes $115 million for repairs to bridges and roads, $600 million for flood recovery projects such as home and building reconstruction, and $115 million for repairs and construction at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University.

Iowa will borrow $601 million for I-JOBS. Interest over the 25-year life of the loans will cost Iowans $360 million, according to the state treasurer's office, which is less than $5 per person per year.

Opponents favored a pay-as-you-go approach. Iowans agreed with them in an Iowa Poll taken in early April. When asked, "Is it a good idea to borrow money for state projects now, or better to pay as the state has money over time?" 24 percent thought it better to borrow, and 71 percent wanted to pay as the state had money.

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Des Moines Register
Jason Clayworth

Posted 12/7/2009 by IPP Staff

Gov. Chet Culver was at the wheel when the state’s budget hit a red-ink blizzard and slid off the road and into a billion-dollar ditch. So who is to blame? The forecasters.

Culver says a three-member panel of experts that tries to forecast state tax collections isn’t looking at enough economic “indicators” to get its predictions right. He’s also unhappy that state lawmakers, who are required to use a tax estimate crafted in December to build the state’s budget, are instead waiting for a potentially rosier estimate in March.

Before we get too far into the fiscal weeds, the bottom line is that Culver is suggesting the mechanics of estimating and budgeting are the real problem here. If only the forecasts were better, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

Gov. Tom Vilsack also tried tinkering with the revenue estimating process when the budget busted under his watch. So there’s precedent for tinkering.

But I’d be more sympathetic to Gov. Culver’s argument if I hadn’t watched him spend months insisting that everything was fine and dandy while gloomy, dire economic indicators piled up all around him. It’s tough to hear a call for more indicators from a chief executive who tried to convince us endlessly that a triple A bond rating was the only indicator that mattered.

In the fall of 2008, while the economy was commencing its spinning butt-fall, Culver insisted to our editorial board that the downturn wouldn’t affect Iowa. A chorus of smart people warned otherwise while he and Democrats crafted a $6 billion state budget balanced with smoke and mirrors and lots of one-time federal stimulus money. No worries, was the reply.

And now we face a $1 billion budget shortfall. This is not simply the margin of error in a faulty revenue forecast. If that’s what Culver is selling, we’re not buying.

Posted 11/30/2009 by IPP Staff

Chet Culver continues to bailout big labor and campaign cronies while Iowa families suffer  

Des Moines, IA – The Iowa Progress Project (IPP) launched a new TV ad calling on Governor Culver to start putting hardworking Iowa families ahead of campaign cronies. The ad campaign began running yesterday.

Last week, the bi-partisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA) released a report that Iowa will face a $1 billion budget shortfall. The rate of spending under the Culver administration is unsustainable and those who will suffer from his out of control spending habits will be hardworking Iowa families.

Instead of cutting back like most Iowans, Culver increased spending by $1 billion dollars over the past two years. As a result of his spending spree, funding for K-12 schools and public universities has been cut, and the state’s unemployment is at an all time high of 6.7 percent – an estimated 112,700 Iowans are out of work.

Culver has been racking up huge deficits when Iowans can least afford it – Now is the time for Chet Culver to put hard working Iowa families ahead of campaign cronies.

“Sacrifice” is running in the Des Moines TV market.

You can view the ad at www.YouTube.com/IowaProgressProject

 IPP: 30 TV – “SACRIFICE”

ANNCR:

As the recession worsens… more bad news from Chet Culver.

K-12 education…cut.

College funding…cut.

Massive unemployment

Why?

Because for three years, Culver bailed out his big labor allies and corporations and spent like there was no tomorrow.

Racking up huge deficits and crippling debt when we can least afford it.

So now you sacrifice…to fix Culver’s mistakes.

Tell Chet Culver:

Help Hardworking Iowans… Not Campaign Cronies

(515) 281-5211

IowaProgressProject.com

PAID FOR BY IOWA PROGRESS PROJECT

Posted 11/30/2009 by IPP Staff

More Iowans consider themselves to be conservatives than moderates or liberals, offering the state's Republican Party a potentially large pool of converts as it struggles to win back voters, according to a new Iowa Poll.

Most current and former Iowa Republicans agree on two reasons why the party has lost elections and voters. It has nominated lackluster candidates, and officeholders have neglected to make spending control a top priority, according to the poll.

But Iowans who have fallen away from the GOP differ with current members in how they view the party's tone and tactics:

- By roughly 2-to-1, former Republicans say the party's lawmakers have become too partisan, have become the party of "no," and have made some people feel unwelcome.

- Three times as many former Republicans as current members say the party is controlled by the religious right.

- More than 60 percent of Republicans who have left the party say it has focused too much on social issues such as abortion, compared with roughly 40 percent of party regulars.

Iowa Republican leaders say they're optimistic about the 2010 elections, citing rising dissatisfaction with majority Democrats at the Iowa Statehouse and in Washington, D.C., and a national swing among independent voters away from the party in charge.

But Iowa Republicans will not capitalize on unhappiness with Democrats unless they find a way to reignite interest from conservatives in their ideas, national Republican pollsters say.

Forty-three percent of Iowans consider themselves conservatives, 36 percent say they are moderate, and 17 percent say they are liberal. Fifty percent of Iowans consider themselves fiscal conservatives, while 42 percent say they're conservatives on social issues such as abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

"I think the conservative brand is generally fine," said Republican pollster David Winston. "But the Republican brand has difficulty at this point. And there's no question that, until the party stops being the opposition party and starts being the alternative party, it's not going to help its brand."

The predominance of conservatives in Iowa tracks closely with national patterns. Conservatives represented 40 percent of the national population last month, up from 37 percent in 2008, according to a Gallup Poll. Moderates made up 36 percent of the population and liberals 20 percent.

The Iowa Poll, conducted Nov. 8 to 11 for The Des Moines Register by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 800 Iowans age 18 and older and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. It includes responses from 477 current and former Republicans, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

Frustration on fiscal matters tied to decline in Republican affiliation

Iowans' greater identification with conservatism than other political philosophies has not equated in recent years with support for Republicans.

Republicans led Democrats in voter registrations midway through the decade, but now Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 105,000 and account for 35 percent of registered voters. Registered voters who affiliate with no party narrowly outnumber Democrats.

Iowans have elected Democratic governors in the past three elections and Democratic state legislatures in the past two. They went with Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain for president last year.

More than 60 percent of current and former Republicans say the party has declined because its leaders have not focused enough on fiscal issues, according to the poll.

Fiscal conservatives became frustrated with spending allowed by Republicans in Congress under President George W. Bush, such as expanded health care and education programs, said longtime Webster City Republican activist Drew Ivers.

In Iowa, conservatives saw majority Republicans go along with elements of former Democrat Gov. Tom Vilsack's agenda, including expanded access to preschool education.

"We had enough power to change the role of government, and the Republicans did not deliver on their promise," said Ivers, Iowa coordinator of the conservative Campaign for Liberty. "That's when the Republicans lost their credibility. It's desperation on the part of the electorate, hoping to find someone who can deliver on the promise of limited government."

Roughly 80 percent of Iowa conservatives disapprove of the job Obama is doing in managing the budget deficit, according to the poll. However, conservatives think recent increases in several areas of state spending have been justified.

Posted 11/25/2009 by IPP Staff

Iowa next year will face the largest budget gap in its history: more than $1 billion, a new budget review projects.

The review, released today by the state’s Legislative Services Agency, shows Iowa lawmakers will face a projected shortfall between revenue and expenses of $1.07 billion in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The review notes that across-the-board cuts made this year by Gov. Chet Culver are automatically restored, leaving it up to the governor and lawmakers to make the cuts in a more thoughtful way.

Culver, last month, called for $565 million in cuts in the current fiscal year due to falling state revenue.

The latest projections are based upon October revenue projections.  The state’s Revenue Estimating Conference meets Dec. 11 when new revenue estimates will be made. Those estimates will influence the current gap projection, the report notes.

The state has $541.6 million in reserves, today’s report shows.  Lawmakers, however, have cautioned about relying upon that money since it would be considered a one-time fix. Democrats and Republicans alike have said that long-term spending cuts will be necessary in the upcoming budget year.

The LSA has previously projected a shortfall of around $903 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Click here to continue reading.

Des Moines Register
Jason Clayworth

Posted 11/10/2009 by IPP Staff

Iowa has hired 752 people since Gov. Chet Culver called for a hiring freeze 11 months ago, records obtained by The Des Moines Register show.

That’s nearly the number of state workers initially pegged for layoffs to meet Culver’s order of a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut.

And it is about half the 1,525 staffers hired during the same period the previous year. The state had 1,167 unfilled jobs as of Oct.1.Some of Culver’s political foes say the hundreds of hires at a time of economic distress demonstrate disregard for Iowa’s finances and a betrayal of public trust.

But advocates of social programs and at least one national taxpayer watchdog said the hirings are necessary to continue to run programs that protect the public or assist the most economically vulnerable families.

Most of the hires are for front-line workers, such as those at residential treatment centers or correctional officers and nurses in the state’s prisons. But a handful of the jobs represent high-level executive or managerial positions, including Culver’s chief of staff, a $254,000-a-year administrator in the state’s corrections department, and executive positions in the state’s natural resources and finance departments.

The eight highest-paid new employees make more than the governor, whose salary is $130,000. The top 10 will collect more than $1.5 million in base pay annually, records show.

“This is unconscionable,” said Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton. “Government has grown too big, and the governor puts one face on for the public and does exactly the opposite. That’s why we’re in a mess.”

State assesses whether workers are needed

Culver enacted the hiring freeze in December, saying only the most critical jobs would be filled and only after departments justified hires through the state’s management department.

The Department of Management reviews other departments’ applications to hire workers on a weekly basis. Only positions that use money from the state’s general fund require the review. Jobs paid with federal money are not subject to the approval process.

Department of Management officials make the decision to hire or keep a job vacant based largely upon how essential the positions are considered for an agency’s mission, said Dick Oshlo, the state budget director.

The process to fill only the most urgent jobs has worked, said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines. The majority of open positions are not being filled, he said.

“If there are partisan statements about this, saying government is expanding in a time period when we’re in a recession, that’s not the case,” McCarthy said.

Many jobs are paid for without state money

Many of the positions that have been filled are funded by sources other than the state’s general fund, such as federal money or state special funds or fees.

All 73 of the transportation department’s new hires, for example, are paid with money from gas taxes or other taxes, while the majority of the salaries of the 105 people hired at Iowa Workforce Development are paid by federal grants. Failure to hire some of those employees would require the state to return millions of dollars in federal help for such things as unemployment assistance, said Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman for Workforce Development.

“We have told everyone we have hired that is related to the stimulus or other federal funds that it has a life span, and if it’s not renewed, the position will go away,” Koonce said.

An account of how many of the new employees are paid out of the state’s general fund was unavailable last week through the state’s administrative services or management departments. The 752 workers would be paid $31.5million if their employment continues for a year.

Whether the money comes from the federal or state treasuries or out of the state’s general fund is not the issue, said Ed Failor Jr., president of Iowans For Tax Relief, a conservative taxpayers’ rights group in Muscatine.

“The federal dollars, stimulus dollars, we pretend there’s some magical tree, but every dollar came out of taxpayer pockets,” he said.

Failor said many jobs that have been filled are essential, but he expressed doubts about others, such as positions in the governor’s office.

Click here to continue reading.

Des Moines Register
Jason Clayworth

Posted 11/10/2009 by IPP Staff

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver's office took a close interest in the state's film promotion efforts long before questions about spending and bookkeeping prompted the governor to freeze the program, e-mails obtained by The Associated Press indicate.

The 224 e-mails between the Department of Economic Development and governor's office from mid-2007 to fall 2009 show Culver's office was kept fully abreast of the Iowa Film Office's efforts to lure moviemakers to the state by offering them big tax breaks. The AP requested the communication through the state's open records law.

None of the e-mails were sent directly to Culver.

The governor's oversight of the film office has become an issue since allegations surfaced in September of inappropriate tax credits and sloppy bookkeeping. Culver fired the film office manager, Thomas Wheeler. Department of Economic Development director Michael Tramontina and a deputy director abruptly resigned.

Among the e-mails was a June 3 message to Culver aide Cindy Jones from film producer Doug James, noting the governor's availability to speak with him.

"I am thrilled to have the governor's ear, so to speak," James wrote. "Promise not to become a pest."

Another e-mail in 2007 from Economic Development official Shawn Rolland sought the governor's availability to talk with Terry Trimpe, a movie producer who was considering a production in McGregor.

"Gov will have time to talk with Terry," Culver aide Brad Anderson replied. Lauren Burt, the governor's event coordinator, notified Rolland that she would be sure Culver had background on Trimpe's plans.

"I will put this information into the brief for the governor and inform the staffers who will be with him in McGregor," Burt said in an e-mail to Rolland.

Despite the numerous e-mails, Culver spokesman Troy Price said the communications didn't deal with film office details.

"The vast majority of them did not deal with the operation of the film office, until this was brought to our attention," Price said. "After that, obviously we paid close attention."

However, e-mails showed there was interest in the film office's actions.

For example, one from October 2007 from Wheeler to Culver aide Brad Anderson offered details of spending on two movies, "Sugar" and "Duck Farm."

Click here to continue reading.

Associated Press/Washington Examiner
Mike Glover

Posted 10/27/2009 by IPP Staff

All summer long, this sober Midwest city rubbed shoulders with actors such as Forest Whitaker, Adrien Brody and Elisabeth Shue. No fewer than four Hollywood productions were shooting in town.

"It was very surreal," says Michael Braun, a 25-year-old bartender at the Continental, a restaurant near the state capitol. He recalls watching Nick Stahl in the HBO series "Carnivale" one day before work and then serving the actor dinner at the bar that night. "You don't expect that in Iowa," Mr. Braun says.

Now, Des Moines, population 200,000, is dealing with a nasty hangover. A lavish tax-incentive program that brought Hollywood to its doorstep has come to a halt amid allegations of faulty oversight, poor record-keeping and potentially criminal abuse.

One director bought himself a $61,000 Range Rover and a feather bed, as well as an iPod for his 15-year-old son. Another picked up a new Mercedes-Benz for $67,000. All the purchases were made with the help of a 50% tax credit, courtesy of the good people of Iowa.

Iowa's small but growing film industry is now in a state of suspended animation. Gov. Chet Culver temporarily halted the tax credits. The state film program's director was fired, and his bosses at the Iowa Department of Economic Development resigned. The state attorney general has launched a criminal investigation.

At least a dozen Hollywood projects that were to shoot in coming months are taking the action to other states, diverting millions of dollars from Iowa's economy. A half-built pirate ship sits in a city mall turned soundstage for a fantasy film called "Blackbeard" that may never be made. Many young Iowans who thought they had found a promising homegrown industry are considering leaving the state.

"Three months ago, everything was looking rosy," says Nicole Tiernan, 32, who was laid off as a paralegal in March last year but quickly shifted into a series of behind-the-scenes movie jobs. "Now, it's a big freakout."

Many states have chased silver-screen fantasies with generous incentives to lure filmmakers. Results have been mixed. Iowa went whole hog, taking a cue from the most famous film ever shot there, "Field of Dreams," the 1989 Kevin Costner vehicle that popularized the slogan: "If you build it, they will come."

In 2007, the state legislature passed the film incentive program, which granted filmmakers a 50% tax credit on their spending in the state. Since they couldn't use the credits themselves, the filmmakers sold them at a discount through brokers to businesses and individuals who owe Iowa taxes.

The program, billed as "Half Price Filmmaking," was slowly winning over Hollywood. By this past summer, 22 films had received tax credits totaling $32 million. And more than 100 projects were in various stages of applying for hundreds of millions more before the program was put on hold.

Thousands of Iowans have hammed it up as extras earning minimum wage on projects like the cable-TV remake of Stephen King's "Children of the Corn," shot near Davenport, and the theatrical do-over of George Romero's camp horror flick "The Crazies," shot in tiny Lenox.

Posted 10/26/2009 by IPP Staff

Declining demand for washers and dryers will cost Iowa roughly 850 jobs over the next year as Electrolux shifts all its North American manufacturing to Mexico, the company announced Friday.

Production of Frigidaire washers and dryers in Webster City and Jefferson is scheduled to end sometime in the first quarter of 2011.

Electrolux said it now employs roughly 925 people in those communities. The Swedish company has already eliminated more than 1,000 Iowa jobs since 2006.

The announcement surprised no one at the Webster City plant, said longtime employees Dick Golberg and Don "Butch" Burton.

"We knew it was coming," Golberg said. "When they built the plant in Juarez, we knew it was going to happen sooner or later. We were just waiting for the date."

Electrolux built a $100 million factory in Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, for laundry products in 2007. That came after the company said it was eliminating 700 jobs in Webster City.

Burton said there was little reaction from workers who gathered in the warehouse area for the announcement Friday.

"There was no crying, no yelling or hooting and hollering," said Burton, who has worked at the plant for more than 26 years. "It took five minutes."

Iowa State University economist David Swenson said Electrolux, like many of its competitors, has been rumored to be on the verge of moving appliance production out of the United States.

"This is one of those closings that's been a long time coming," Swenson said. "It's not a surprise.

"That's going to have one heck of a multiplied-through economic impact," he said. "They were really good jobs for that area. ... Everything in that entire Webster City area is going to realize a hit from that."

Growing manufacturing losses like those at Electrolux have hammered Hamilton County. The unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in September, spiking from 3.6 percent a year earlier.

It's not just the Electrolux production jobs that will be lost. A sister warehouse across the street will likely close, and suppliers of pallets, plastic parts and other products will likely have to cut jobs.

"It's a lot of smaller businesses that will be hurt, too," said Golberg, who has worked at the plant for 24 years.

The plant closing will hit more than Webster City. Its workers come from places like Stanhope, Eagle Grove and Fort Dodge.

"It's going to hurt Main Street USA," Burton said.

According to data from Iowa Workforce Development, roughly 35 percent of Hamilton County residents made their living from work in factories this year. In 2007, the most recent information available, the average Hamilton County worker was paid $30,871; median household income was $47,603.

Burton and Golberg said workers cannot compete with wages paid in Mexico. The men say workers at the Mexico Electrolux plant are paid about $2.50 an hour. The average union wage here is about $16.50.

Workers at the plant have already struggled with reduced hours as the recession has cut demand for products. Burton will work one day next week, Golberg four. It was a different story five years ago. The men worked six, seven days a week. "We got tired of the overtime," Golberg said.

Click here to continue reading.

The Des Moines Register
Jeff Eckhoff and Donnelle Eller

Posted 10/9/2009 by IPP Staff

The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) announced Wednesday state revenue for the 2010 budget year will be $5.438 billion, down $415 million since March.

Holly Lyons, a member of the panel of financial experts, called the figures “probably the worst I’ve seen.”

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said the state is still reeling from “economic earthquake caused by the biggest recession since the Great Depression.

“It’s clearer than ever that the aftershocks of this deepening national recession will require quick action to balance the current state budget,” he said.

Republican lawmakers put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats.

“The news from the Revenue Estimating Conference, while troubling, is not surprising,” House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said. “Gov. [Chet] Culver signed the largest budget in the history of Iowa and his $1.7 billion borrowing plan has not worked. The out-of-control spending and lack of fiscal discipline expressed by legislative Democrats has caused the economic mess Iowa is currently in.”

Posted 10/9/2009 by IPP Staff

Hundreds of layoffs are on the horizon for state employees, and the pink slips are likely to appear quickly.

State government leaders were left reeling Thursday by Iowa Gov. Chet Culver's order to immediately whack an unprecedented $565 million from the state budget.

"We will start cutting today," Culver said.

The 10 percent across-the-board cut will mean a wide swath of Iowans - including the poor, unemployed, mentally ill and elderly - will feel the pinch of reduced state services.

The Iowa Constitution requires that the state budget be balanced. Culver had to make only a 7.1 percent cut to do that, or $415 million, but he instead chose to go deeper. Raising taxes isn't an option, he said.

The decision came about 24 hours after a three-member panel of budget experts predicted that collections of taxes and fees will plunge between now and the end of the fiscal year in June. The Revenue Estimating Conference lowered its March prediction of $5.853 billion in tax and fee collections to $5.438 billion.

"The fact is clear," Culver said Thursday. "Iowa has not spent too much; rather our revenue has fallen off by significant amounts as the result of this national economic recession."

Culver said no government office that gets money from the state's general fund will be spared.

The exact number of layoffs is unclear, but it will "certainly be hundreds of state employees," he said.

State workers - and that means everyone from corrections workers to school food service staff, state librarians, workers at the school for the blind, addictive disorder counselors, social workers, state attorney general's office staffers, auditors, state crime investigators and treasurer's staff - now face the uncertainty of possibly losing their jobs.

"I would assume there's a great deal of them sitting around on pins and needles," said Danny Homan, president of Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 20,000 state employees.

"I think this will have the magnitude of a plant closing," Homan said. "This is the most devastating thing that could happen to the state of Iowa at this particular time.

A mid-2008 report put state employment at 63,400.

AFSCME members have a contract giving them a 2 percent wage increase on July 1, 2010, and a 1 percent raise on Jan. 1, 2011. Homan said it will be up to members to decide whether to renegotiate that.

Union layoffs are by job classification and seniority. Culver appointed Joni Klaassen, deputy chief of staff for administration, to help unions address reduction in the state government work force.

The cuts will be felt immediately at the state's universities. David Miles, president of the Iowa Board of Regents, ordered a systemwide freeze on hiring for positions paid through general operating funds, and a moratorium on all new building construction projects, except those directly related to flood restoration projects at the University of Iowa.

Posted 10/2/2009 by IPP Staff

The survival of Iowa’s film incentives program is very much in question, a top state lawmaker said this morning.

“If it’s all just a great big give-away with no long-term job creation or economic growth in this state or people having full-time employment, then this isn’t a very good deal for the state of Iowa,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs.

When the next session of the Iowa Legislature begins in January, the same state lawmakers who created the film tax credit program will examine it to see if it will truly keep industry in the state over the long run and create high-paying jobs that lead to more cash in to the state treasury, Gronstal said.

Asked if he regretted his "yes" vote on the film incentives legislation, Gronstal answered: “I may regret having created this. ... I think it’s very much in question as to whether this made sense.”

Gov. Chet Culver put the film program on hold while state authorities investigate reports of abuse and mismanagement.

Iowans in the film industry have pleaded for the state keep the program alive, saying it has brought a slice of Hollywood to the state and has been a ray of hope during a bleak recession.

During a taping of the public television show "Iowa Press" this morning, Gronstal said it’s not inevitable that it will get the ax.

“I think it’s 50-50 as to whether this survives because people are going to take a very hard look at this. And right now, the hundreds of millions in potential credits, I think you can see very little in terms of potential benefits.”

Filmmakers made a rush to capture tax credits before a $50 million cap took effect on July 1. Gronstal said: “If we have existing commitments we’ve made out there as far as I’m concerned we will respect those commitments, we’ll do what we have to do what we have to to honor those commitments, as long as there hasn’t been fraud involved, and we don’t know the answer to that.”

The state is expected to release a report today or Monday with an accounting firm’s review of the program. The report is expected to document problems that arose from scant oversight, a lack of manpower, and exploding interest in the state's best-in-the-nation film incentives.

Click here to read more.

The Des Moines Register
Jennifer Jacobs

Posted 9/25/2009 by IPP Staff

Today, Gov. Culver took $45 million from Iowa's emergency cash reserves to balance the FY 2009 budget. Instead of cutting spending and slashing unnecesary programs, he took from Iowa's rainy day fund. This is a dishonest way of balancing the state's budget. 

Culver claimed this was all done "without raising taxes, like many states have done, and we did it without holding a special legislative session, like many critics said would be needed. We did it because, in good times and bad, we’ve managed the state’s finances."

Unfortunately the grim reality is Culver has borrowed Iowa into an $800 million debt which will be paid off over the next 20 years with interest - totalling over $1 billion dollars. This does include the lastest state tax credit film fiasco which will cost the Iowa taxpayers an additional $400 million dollars. In addition, the fiscal bureau estimates there will be a $1 billion shortfall in the FY 2011 budget.

Governor Culver can "claim" he balanced the budget, but the truth is Iowa taxpayers deserve an open and honest analysis of the state's financial situation. It's time for fiscal restraint from our elected leaders.

You can read the Governor's statement and executive order here.

Posted 9/23/2009 by IPP Staff

Remember the Train to Nowhere? That was a story of taxpayer dollars appropriated to a train depot in Dubuque where a trainline didn't even exist. In today's Des Moines Register there is another kind of "Train to Nowhere". This time Gov. Culver is riding it... 

Culver's trek began earlier this summer with a train rider from West Des Moines (Valley Junction) to the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market, followed by a pleasant journey from Western Iowa back to Des Moines, stopping in small towns along the way, and now the trip continues... and at who's expense? Yes, the Iowa Taxpayers.

Read all about it here.

Posted 9/22/2009 by IPP Staff

A state official said Monday criminal charges could be forthcoming in the wake of widespread mismanagement and abuse reported in Iowa’s tax-credit program for filmmaking.

“I would not rule that out,” said Chief Deputy Auditor Warren Jenkins. “It appears there was a failure to do what is required by law."

Gov. Chet Culver on Monday asked Auditor David Vaudt’s office, the Department of Revenue and Attorney General Tom Miller to assist in a review of a state tax-credit program run out of the Iowa Department of Economic Development’s film office.

“I am very troubled by reports of the lack of oversight and accounting procedures of tax credits under this program,” Culver said. “My first priority on this issue is to the taxpayers of Iowa, and I know that Attorney General Miller and Auditor Vaudt will help us to quickly identify changes that need to be made and how we can best move forward.”

Failure to perform duties required by law is a crime in Iowa. Those who exceed the authority of their office, make contracts “that contemplate expenditures ... known by the person to be in excess of that authorized by law” or who fail to report receipt or expenditures of public money are, at the very least, committing serious misdemeanors under existing statutes. Knowingly making false records of any sort (documents, certificates or receipts) amounts to a felony.

Neither the auditor’s office nor Iowa’s Department of Revenue was consulted by economic development officials about problems in the mushrooming film program until problems surfaced last week, according to both revenue Director Mark Schuling and Jenkins. (Auditor David Vaudt was tending to a medical emergency in his family.)

“I think it’s very unusual to not be informed or at least involved,” Jenkins said. “And to me, it’s unusual to hire an auditor without even talking to us.”

Culver on Friday froze the tax-credit program, officially known as the Film, Television and Video Promotion Program, administered by the Iowa Department of Economic Development. The state’s DED director, Mike Tramontina, resigned his post after a still ongoing audit uncovered poor management and record-keeping and apparent abuses by film producers.

Tom Wheeler, manager of the Iowa Film Office, was placed on paid administrative leave. Wheeler was juggling a reported 50 to 60 current projects and proposals for projects.

Culver said new tax-credit certificates would not be issued until questions about the administration of the program were answered.

Click here to continue reading or here for more breaking news.

Posted 9/16/2009 by IPP Staff

Governor Chet Culver says there are no big changes in store for IPERS, the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System, to ensure future beneficiaries get their benefits. IPERS provides retirement benefits for government workers, including teachers, fire fighters and cops. There are over 300-thousand active and retired “members” in the IPERS system today.

“There’s no need for alarm,” Culver says. “We’ve already taken some steps, legislatively, to give IPERS a little more flexibility in terms of some additional investments and I doubt that we’ll have to do anything next (legislative) session other than to hope that we continue to have economic recovery.”

The stock market collapse put a huge dent in IPERS. On June 30th of 2008, the IPERS fund was worth over $22-billion, but a month and a half ago the IPERS fund was worth just under $18-billion. The fund is paying out over a billion dollars in pension benefits annually. A consultant hired by IPERS fund managers has suggested cutting IPERS benefits for future retirees or having the state plug general state tax dollars into the system.

Click here to continue reading.

Radio Iowa
O. Kay Henderson

Posted 9/15/2009 by IPP Staff

by William Petroski

Billions of dollars in investment losses have put Iowa's largest public employees' pension fund in long-term jeopardy.

A bailout might require more money from Iowa taxpayers and sacrifices by some government workers, a consultant warned Monday.

The Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System has 312,000 members. They are current or former employees or retirees of state government, cities and counties, public school districts and other government agencies.

The Iowa pension fund's market value dropped to $17.99 billion for the 12 months ending June 30, down from $22.4 billion a year earlier.

The problem is even worse considering that IPERS' actuarial projections had anticipated a positive investment return of 7.5 percent, said Patrice Beckham, a pension consultant with Milliman Inc., an international actuarial firm.

Pension funds around the country have experienced similar drops in the past year. In Iowa's case, even before the steep downturn in world markets since fall 2008, the pension fund had already been facing a long-term actuarial shortfall of about $2.7 billion.

Click here to continue reading.

Posted 9/11/2009 by IPP Staff

Iowa's revenue has dropped $406.7 million during the past 12 months compared with the previous year, a report released Thursday shows.

Monthly revenues for August were down $25.8 million from the previous August, according to the report from the Legislative Services Agency.

July's were up roughly $12 million compared with the previous year, but that's largely because of a reporting correction made in July 2008 that made that month's totals lower, said Jeff Robinson, an employee of the services agency.

Monthly reports give a glimpse of Iowa's difficult budget picture but are far from complete. Multiple factors can play into one-month totals, ranging from the number of workdays to various tax collection timelines.

Estimates from the Legislative Services Agency show there will be as much as a $903 million shortfall between revenues and expenses in the budget year that begins in July 2010.

Click here to continue reading.

Des Moines Register
Jason Clayworth

Posted 9/9/2009 by IPP Staff

Gov. Chet Culver said Tuesday the fiscal 2009 budget numbers are playing out as projected and he expects to balance any shortfall in revenues with existing authority and no special legislative session.

Shortly after fiscal 2009 ended June 30, Culver said lower-than-expected state revenues and other factors could result in a shortfall of about $58 million, and that whatever budget shortfall might ensue could be erased with a $45 million ending balance and up to $50 million he has the authority to temporarily transfer from the state's cash reserve.

With state agencies finalizing their year-end accruals, revenues and other data based on an Aug. 31 cutoff, Culver and his budget experts said the assumptions appear to be holding form with favorable tax refund totals, higher lottery profits and other factors that have offset slumping tax collections. The final balance sheet should be released by the end of September, said Culver budget director Dick Oshlo.

"Everything looks as we had projected in terms of having enough to balance in '09 and we feel good about that fact," Culver told reporters Tuesday. "We don't think a special session will be required."

Click here to read more.

Quad-City Times
Rod Boshart

Posted 9/9/2009 by IPP Staff

Key budget saving recommendations kept secret by Gov. Chet Culver for almost a year will be released, his top budget director said today while being publicly pressured by Republicans.

But, after the meeting, he retracted the offer, saying instead that he’ll have to check with the governor’s legal team, first.

“I’m going to have to talk with Jim Larew about it,” said Culver’s Budget Director Dick Oshlo, referring to Culver’s staff attorney.

Oshlo said there was some confusion over which records Republicans were requesting, even though the request was made very clear multiple times during the public meeting.

The issue stems from actions Culver took in November of last year when he asked for budget-saving ideas from each state department before deciding on Dec. 9 how to cut $40 million from the current state budget. The cuts were largely accomplished by freezing hiring and limiting out-of-state travel.

The governor and his staff, however, have repeatedly declined to share the proposals with the public, asserting that the recommendations are privileged communications between the governor and employees of the executive branch.

Republicans and open record advocates have argued that the suggestions not seen by the public could help the state save millions of additional dollars.

Posted 9/8/2009 by IPP Staff

Steelworker Dennis Green says he feels fortunate on Labor Day to have a job.

"We're still selling tires for John Deere tractors" and other farm equipment, said the Des Moines Firestone worker. "We're lucky. We're not looking the recession dead in the eye. A lot of workers are losing jobs or hours or weeks of work."

As job losses mount in Iowa, about 1,000 union members gathered Labor Day in Des Moines to hash over issues such as health care reform, eroding wages and the economy. Gov. Chet Culver and Rep. Leonard Boswell were among the leaders offering hope that state and federal stimulus spending would create jobs for unemployed workers.

"At a time when families are struggling to make a good living, we're investing nearly a $1 billion in Iowa's infrastructure," said Culver, touting his $830 million I-JOBS program that's expected to create or save thousands of jobs. The state also is expected to receive $2.5 billion in federal stimulus spending.

By July, Iowa had lost 47,100 jobs compared with a year earlier and the unemployment rate had climbed to 6.5 percent, the highest it's been in nearly 23 years.

Click here to read complete Des Moines Register article.

Posted 9/4/2009 by IPP Staff

September 4, 2009

McKinley’s Memos

Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley

Iowa’s fiscal house is a mess and Governor Culver and legislative Democrats, who currently control all aspects of state government, have repeatedly ignored the growing budget, spending and financial problems facing Iowa. Instead, they have only pursued a path of additional spending and borrowing that is only making the problem worse. Late last week, State Auditor David Vaudt, the state’s top taxpayer watchdog, once again issued a statement strongly advising Governor Culver and legislative Democrats to immediately take action and get the state’s budget back on solid footing again.

Senate Republicans have real solutions to help solve Iowa’s budget crisis and protect the very family budgets that will be at risk if bold action is not taken soon. We are offering three important solutions that will protect taxpayers, help guard your family budget and keep government living within its means.

First, Senate Republicans will propose and support an amendment to the Iowa Constitution to limit state spending to no more than 99 percent of state revenue. The current budget limitation law does not work and, just last year, Democrats authorized nearly 70 loopholes in the current law to allow their unsustainable spending increases. Only an amendment to the Iowa Constitution can stop lawmakers from creating record setting budget deficits and searching out loopholes to spend more of your hard earned money. Limiting spending to 99 percent of revenue ensures a balanced budget and the annual deposit of money into a rainy day fund. Amending the Iowa Constitution takes a few years so in the meantime, Iowa Republicans pledge not to give approval to any budgets that exceed the 99 percent limit.

Iowa families must live within their means - state government should be no different.

Secondly, Senate Republicans propose requiring a two-thirds supermajority vote of both houses of the Legislature to authorize new state borrowing. Never again should one party have the sole authority to create these long-term debt burdens. At the local level, a 60 percent vote of the people is required to adopt new public debt to ensure there is widespread community support for the projects to be funded. At the state level, a two-thirds supermajority vote of the Legislature will help guarantee the same kind of broad support for similar taxpayer funded efforts.

This year Governor Culver and legislative Democrats passed a series of bonding debt bills designed to create some temporary government work – but not sustainable good jobs. As a result, Iowa taxpayers are on the hook for a $1.7 billion debt over the next 30 years. The average Iowa family’s share of that debt is more than $2,000 and this year’s college freshmen will be nearly 50 years old before that debt is finally paid off.

This debt was passed without a single Republican vote and was done despite statewide polling that showed over 70 percent of Iowans opposed to this debt scheme. Iowans need greater protection from runaway spending and these decisions should require more than a simple majority vote - especially when the repayment of the debt may extend for more than two decades and impact future taxpayers that are not yet born.

I support pay-as-you-go budgets as the best method for funding state programs. However, if borrowing is at some point necessary to meet critical needs, Senate Republicans want to ensure the proposals only move forward if they have broad supermajority support.\

Thirdly, Senate Republicans propose a systematic process wherein every program funded by state government will be sunset (de-authorized) by a date certain unless the governor and Legislature reauthorize that program or policy. This important process will force a thorough top-to-bottom review of every existing program funded by your tax dollars to determine whether the program is an effective and efficient use of tax dollars.

During these difficult economic times, every Iowa family has been forced to gather around their kitchen table and examine every aspect of their personal spending. They ask difficult questions, go line by line through their budget and set new spending priorities to ensure their essential needs are met. Yet, these common sense budgeting practices are rarely seen in government.

Those programs that are no longer relevant or functioning at a high level will be eliminated, reorganized, or the resources diverted to other priorities - just the way Iowa families eliminate spending that no longer meets their needs or fits their budget.

Iowa’s current budgeting practices are broken, inefficient and have led to a bloated and expensive state government that is both unsustainable and a drain on Iowa taxpayers. Senate Republicans will streamline state spending and state programs in a way that protects taxpayers from excessive state spending and ensures a better delivery of services to those in need.

Iowans are looking for answers and I am offering an optimistic vision built on a foundation of common sense solutions and the right priorities. Republicans are working hard to earn the trust of the taxpayers of Iowa and in return, the taxpayers of Iowa should expect a new direction that focuses on keeping government within its means, giving citizens a greater voice and returning to policies that protects your family’s finances while keeping the state’s budget at a responsible and reasonable level.

As always, I welcome hearing from you and can be reached by phone at 515-281-3560 or by e-mail at paul.mckinley@legis.state.ia.us

Paul McKinley

Senate Republican Leader
www.mckinleyforiowa.com
www.facebook.com/paulmckinley
www.twitter.com/mckinleyforiowa

Posted 9/24/2008 by Staff

Click below to find out the real truth about Iowa’s economic forecast.

Posted 9/23/2008 by David Kochel

http://www.whotv.com/global/story.asp?s=9060570

Posted 9/8/2008 by David

Thought you might find this article from the Friday Cedar Rapids Gazette interesting.  I couldn't agree more with Representative Kraig Paulsen when he says, "The truth of the matter is Eastern Iowans need help". 

What I find most disconcerting after three months is that Eastern Iowans are still looking for help. Why hasn’t Iowa's Governor, and leadership in the state legislature called a special session when fellow Iowans are still living in tents outside their flood ravaged homes?

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080905/NEWS/709059914/1006/news

Posted 6/10/2008 by Staff

Posted 5/28/2008 by David Kochel

According to the Des Moines Register, the Governor and Lt. Governor wanted the bottle bill bad enough they were willing to horse-trade the gambling referendum bill for it, which would have reversed the law that required citizens to reapprove casinos every eight years.  The Des Moines Register article suggests that the Lt. Governor asked casino lobbyists to lobby for the bottle bill the Governor wanted, if they expected their gambling referendum bill to be successful.

They pushed so hard even Democratic Senator Mike Gronstal thought they may have crossed the line. "Hypothetically," he said, "I would say it's unethical for a lobbyist to lobby on things they're not paid to lobby on." Interestingly, the gambling lobbyists were uncomfortable with the Culver administration's approach. 

Posted 5/12/2008 by David Kochel

Since this is the first official blog entry for the Iowa Progress Project. IPP would like to thank Representative Christopher Rants for his Friday humor, therefore we are borrowing “Can I get a veto”. It was too good not to! 
 
Hereby begins the “Can I get a veto?” Countdown. 
 
When the legislative session ended on April 26th, Governor Culver had 30 days to sign into law or veto the legislation before him.  There were plenty of bills this past session IPP can comment on, however, we will stick to just one today.  The Collective Bargaining bill (aka Chapter 20), passed under the cover of darkness, and given the least amount of debate is the bill we here at IPP will spend the most amount of time talking about.
 
Governor Culver has until May 26th to sign or veto legislation that single handedly rewrote 40 years of Iowa’s labor laws and time’s a ticking… if Governor Culver is really serious about improving education, he'll veto the bill. If he cares about protecting Iowa's property taxpayers, he'll veto the bill. If he prefers school boards and local control to out-of-state unelected bureaucrats when it comes to making decisions about our kids, he'll veto the bill.
 
Call Governor Culver and remind him HF 2645 is bad public policy and he should veto the bill.  (515) 281-5211
 
You can view Representative Rants' Friday Newsletter here: http://www.rants.us/RSS.aspx?PageID=107

Posted 4/21/2008 by staff

Over 90% of Iowans OPPOSED to bill that guts Iowa’s labor laws

Posted 4/17/2008 by staff

SILO Will Raise Taxes on Iowans $40 Million

Des Moines, IA -- Last week, the Iowa House passed legislation that would increase taxes by an estimated $40 million dollars.  The legislation would replace the current county based Local Option Sales Tax, with a costly statewide School Infrastructure Local Option (SILO).

Posted 4/11/2008 by staff

Des Moines, IA -- Iowa Progress Project announced today its formal organization and outlined its goals and objectives in the near and long-term.

President David Kochel said, "Iowa Progress Project is the direct result of the response thousands of Iowans have had to ads and issues highlighted by the Iowa Future Fund. While the Iowa Future Fund has been very effective at highlighting important issues in our state, what was also abundantly clear is that a grassroots-centered conservative issues organization is also needed in this state. IPP will provide citizens from all corners of Iowa a voice in their community and state."

Iowa Progress Project will serve as a mechanism for conservatives to engage in important issues debate in this state. Kochel said, "We will build a 21st century grassroots backbone that will bring together like-minded people and enable them to directly connect to elected leaders and educate others about issues that are important to them and are vital to the future of our state."

IPP operates as a 501(c)(4) organization and will advocate a conservative and free market viewpoint on issues and public policy.  IPP will aggressively work to enable like-minded Iowans to have a place to share ideas and empower them with the tools necessary to be effective grassroots activists in their own community.  An important part of that will be IPP's web presence. Kochel indicates that a fully functional state of the art website will be active in a few short weeks.

Kochel also announced that Iowa Progress Project will have a separate political action committee arm as well.

Kochel said, "A number of Iowans have implored us to be more politically active.  In order to do that, a separate Iowa political action committee will be formed."

IPP announced the following Board of Directors for the organization:

President: David Kochel
Director: Kathy Pearson
Director: Gary Grant

Last, Kochel indicated, "There is a vital need for an organization of this type. We will be very active in the weeks and months ahead as we make our hiring decisions and proceed ahead with our grassroots issue education and advocacy efforts."