On Saturday May 16, Polk County Republicans and the Republican Party of Iowa will team up to sponsor a tent at “CelebrAsian! The 7th Annual Asian Heritage Festival“, which is put on by the Iowa Asian Alliance.  This event helps mark the history and bond of Asian Culture in Iowa and features music, food, dance and other great activities!  The event will be held at the East Campus of the Iowa State Capitol Complex (400 East 14th Street – [map]) from 10 AM to 8 PM.   John Bloom and Will Rogers will each be working at the tent part of the day (other officials to be announced later this week).

Polk County GOP Central Committee and Executive Committee members: we are seeking your help in manning the tent.  There will be four 3-hour shifts:

• 8:30 – 11:30 (includes setup)
• 11:30 – 2:30
• 2:30 – 5:30
• 5:30 – 8:30 (includes tear down)

If you are available to work one of these shifts, please send an email to: arthursmith@polkgop.com.  If you have questions, please contact Stephanie Wells at 778-0097.

Tonight was the speech by former New York Governor George Pataki at Drake University.  He had some great comments about the current state of affairs, and took questions which he answered well.  Some in New York (see comments on this post) have speculated about him running for other posts in that state, others have suggested he could be a possible contender for President in 2012. Even if he does not run for anything, he certainly provides a strong sense of some of the things the GOP needs to do to take back the People’s Government.

There were about 90 people at the event tonight, including a number of Republican/Conservative activists that I’ve gotten to know, former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad,  Joseph Heuertz (and other leaders) of the Drake University Republicans, John Bloom from Polk County Republicans (along with probably a dozen members of the Polk County Republican Central Committee), Steve Rathje, David Van Ahn, Kim Schmett, Ed Failor Jr. (Iowans for Tax Relief), Craig Robinson (The Iowa Republican) and a host of others.  As sponsors of the event, it was great to see such a solid turnout from the Central Committee members!

The organization that put on the event was America Future Fund. They tout themselves as the conservative answer to moveon.org, and they did an excellent job of arranging this event (future lectures in the series are planned for other locations in Iowa… more info here as it becomes available). The group is headquartered here in Iowa, and they were active in 18 states during the 2008 election. The Communications Director, Tim Albrecht, runs The Bean Walker, an Iowa version of the Drudge Report.   This group is worth a close look.

This coming Wednesday evening April 22, at 7:00, George Pataki will be speaking at Drake University in the first of a lecture series being provided by The American Future Fund.  The Polk County Republicans are a sponsor of the event.  The lecture is titled: “Yes We Still Can: Why Washington Failed and How We Can Reclaim America’s Future”.
Event details:

Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 7 p.m.
Cartright Hall, Room 213
Drake University Law School
2621 Carpenter Avenue
Des Moines, IA

For more information and to RSVP, click here.

Thursday morning April 9th at 8:30 there will be rally at the Iowa State Capitol West Lawn.  There is good information at letusvoteiowa.org.  Please go there and read the information on parking, purpose, etc.

There are a number of legislators, along with Governor Culver, who are questioning the political safety of supporting this amendment.  Between their fears and the outright obstinacy of Democratic leaders to prevent the voice of the people from being heard, we are in dire need of people to take a stand now, to show the Iowa General Assembly that this matters to Iowans in a big way.

WHAT CAN I DO TODAY?

You can continue to keep pressure on the Iowa House by calling the following Members who are still undecided as to how they will vote on the Iowa Marriage Amendment.  Urge them to vote yes on the procedural vote.  Remind them that the procedural vote is a vote on the Iowa Marriage Amendment.

Representative Brian Quirk – brian.quirk@legis.state.ia.us, 515.242.6436 (desk),
Home Address: 1011 Sunset St., New Hampton, IA, 50659

Representative McKinley Bailey – mckinley.bailey@legis.state.ia.us, 515.281.7480(desk),
Home Address: 521 Elmhurst Dr., Webster City, IA 50595

Representative Mike Reasoner – mike.reasoner@legis.state.ia.us, 515.281.3238 (desk),
Home Address: 702 New York Avenue, Creston, IA, 50801

Representative Kurt Swaim – kurt.swaim@legis.state.ia.us, 515.242.6417 (desk), 641.208.6330 (cell)
Home Address: 504 North Davis, Bloomfield, IA, 52537

Representative Larry Marek – larry.marek@legis.state.ia.us, 515.242.6442 (desk), 319.430.0294 (cell)
Home Address: 1741 Riverside Road, Riverside, IA, 52327

Representative Kerry Burt – kerry.burt@legis.state.ia.us, 515.281.7342 (desk), 319.215.8685 (cell)
Home Address: 150 Hawthorne Ave., Waterloo, IA, 50702

Representative Wayne Ford – wayne.ford@legis.state.ia.us, 515.281.4061 (desk), 515.271.0605 (home)
Home Address: 3301 Cottage Grove Ave, Des Moines, IA 50311-3709

Representative Nathan Reichert – nathan.reichert@legis.state.ia.us, 515.281.7332 (desk), 563.571.5242 (cell)
Home Address: 1155 Iowa Avenue, Muscatine, IA, 52761

Representative Paul Shomshor – paul.shomshor@legis.state.ia.us, 515.281.7325 (desk),
Home Address: 3018 Avenue M, Council Bluffs, IA, 51501

Representative Phyllis Thede – phyllis.thede@legis.state.ia.us, 515.281.7336 (desk), 563.508.1773 (cell) Home Address: 2343 Hawthorne Court, Bettendorf, IA, 52722

We just received word that Thursday’s planned debate on House File 807, Repeal of Federal Deductibility, has been canceled.  We don’t yet know when it will be scheduled.  You may have heard that Iowans For Tax Relief were asking for people to show up at the Capitol on April 2, but due to this late event, that request is canceled.

We still strongly urge you to contact your representatives to express your opinion about the bill.  A tax on a tax is not good for Iowa.

To find out who your representatives are and contact them:

http://www.taxrelief.org/legislators

Des Moines Register Reporter Jason Clayworth provided an accurate headline:

BREAKING NEWS: Hundreds of Iowans thrown out of public meeting

Unfortunately his opening sentence was not fully accurate. He said “More than 500 people who are upset with a plan to change Iowa’s tax laws were cleared from a hearing tonight at the Iowa House after they interrupted multiple times.”

The word interrupted means “to break the continuity or uniformity of”.   I was in attendance in the gallery and amongst those removed.  The vast majority of the crowd applauded speakers opposed to House File 807, which eliminates Federal deductibility.  There were a few cases early in the proceeding where a smattering of “boos” or “shout outs” occured against speakers supporting the measure.  House Speaker Murphy cracked when a young college student brought the crowd to it’s feet. 

In no way did the participation by the crowd “interrupt” the proceedings.  I can’t think of one occurence where the next speaker had to wait for the crowd to quiet.  In fact, if anything interrupted the process, it was the removal of 500 taxpayers from the House chamber.   Understandably all of these folks were very very upset.  I felt sorry for the state troopers who were duty bound to enforce this arrogant order.  Thomas Jefferson said “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”.  We did not go silently.

I was impressed by the many self employed individuals and small business owners who spoke so passionately and credibly against this terrible proposal. 

Iowa House members will be taking the measure up for a vote on Thursday, April 2.  When I spoke with a House Member last night he said there were about 52 votes in favor of the measure.  I believe that 50 are required to pass the bill.  You can truly make a difference by contacting your representative today and letting them know where you stand.  If you don’t know who your representative is, go to this link:

http://www.taxrelief.org/legislators

I’m confident that last night’s attendance at the public hearing, along with the great speakers, had some impact on the minds of any wavering legislators.  We need your help to make the final push to stop this bill from passing.

John Bloom

Matt Strawn, Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, released this Call to Action on Friday, March 27th:

“Democrats release Plan to Eliminate Federal Deductibility to Force YOU to Pay a Tax on a Tax:  Elimination of Federal Deductibility looks like it is on the Democrats’ “Must Do” List before Session Ends.  This could be Death Blow to our Economy!”

We stand with Chairman Strawn in condemning this action by the Democratic leadership.  Iowa must not join the states with high marginal tax rates and denial of Federal Tax deductibility.  We dare not risk driving more individuals and small business owners out of our state.

Iowans for Tax Relief and the Republican Party of Iowa are calling all Republicans to the State Capitol in Des Moines Tuesday evening, March 31st, at 6:30 P.M. in the Capitol Cafeteria, to attend the public hearing on this issue to be held at 7:30 PM in the House Chamber.

We encourage Polk County Republicans to attend the public hearing Tuesday night and speak out against the spending and added taxation plans of the 2009 Iowa General Assembly.  Let’s make sure Polk County leads the fight against any effort to raise taxes in Iowa.  Please join me at the Capitol!

If you cannot make it to the Capitol, please email and call your representatives.  Your voice does make a difference!  You can look up their contact information at http://www.taxrelief.org/legislators.

On Tuesday night you can also listen to the hearing online at http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Audio/Audio.html, and click house audio.

Sincerely, John L Bloom

Chairman, Polk County Republican Central Committee