Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa (Lauren Victoria Burke/wdcpix.com)

“There’s not a seat in America held by a Democrat that can’t be won,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio told “Fox and Friends” Monday. “Massachusetts proves that. When Scott Brown wins Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, any seat’s in play.”

But while Republicans are hoping Brown’s victory foreshadows a GOP landslide, a number of political experts are warning that the country’s restless anxiety — as evidenced not only in Massachusetts, but in Virginia, New Jersey, and now Florida as well — is less a backlash against Democrats in particular than a rebuke of the business-as-usual politics of Capitol Hill in general.

Even as unemployment soared and housing markets tanked, voters have watched lawmakers bicker endlessly over a stimulus bill that proved too small and a health reform proposal that remains unfinished. Meanwhile, the banks have bounced back on the wings of a taxpayer bailout, paying out billions of dollars in employee bonuses this month while the jobs crisis outside Wall Street only worsens. In such an environment, some experts caution, incumbents on both sides of the aisle could find themselves surprisingly vulnerable in November.

“The public is mad, and they’re prepared to take it out on the establishment,” said Tony Coelho, the former California congressman who served as campaign chairman for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential run. “That doesn’t just mean the party in power. That means everyone.”

In Iowa, Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is looking at the first tough re-election campaign of his career, as three Democrats line up for the right to challenge the veteran lawmaker. While his approval numbers remain above 50 percent, something many incumbents can’t say, they are down significantly from 2008.

Iowa’s Democratic delegation is no safer, as five Republicans are vying to take on 3rd District Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell and three are running to unseat 2nd District Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack.

There are even two Democrats starting the uphill struggle of unseating 5th District Republican Rep. Steve King.

David P. Redlawsk, a political scientist at Rutgers University and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling, agreed. “The stock market has gone up, but that’s Wall Street, and many voters do not see how that benefits them,” Redlawsk wrote in an e-mail. “There is real risk to incumbents on both sides of the aisle.”

Redlawsk said that the Democrats, because they control both Congress and the White House, have absorbed the brunt of the nation’s discontent. But for Republicans to interpret that as partisan anger, he added, would be a mistake.

“This is not a partisan backlash by voters as much as it is a backlash against the powers that be — who happen to be Democrats,” he wrote.

The evidence of voter discontent has been everywhere in recent months. An early signal came in Virginia and New Jersey last November, when the incumbent Democrats were swept out of the governor’s office by Republican challengers who wouldn’t have stood a chance a year earlier. More recently, the virtually unknown Brown overcame a 30-point deficit to steal the Senate seat vacated by the late Edward Kennedy in the liberal bastion of Massachusetts.

“The message coming out of the Massachusetts special election is clear: No Democrat is safe,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “In the aftermath of Scott Brown’s victory this past week, it has become evident to Democrats that to run for reelection in this toxic political environment is to ensure defeat at the ballot box in November.”

Yet recent polls indicate that the voters aren’t exactly thrilled with Republicans either. In a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted earlier this month, for example, just 24 percent of respondents said they have either a “great deal” or “good amount” of confidence in Republicans to lead the country – down from 29 percent a year earlier. For Democrats, the number was 32 percent, down from 43 percent in January 2009.

Another survey, conducted this month by NBC and the Wall Street Journal, tells a similar story, revealing that just 30 percent of respondents have a positive feeling about the GOP, while 42 percent view the party negatively.

The message hasn’t been lost on some Republicans. Indeed, Brown packaged himself more as an independent outsider than a man of the Republican Party — a bow to the anti-establishment tea-party movement that mobilized so ardently behind him. Republican consultant Brad Todd told CQ recently that the mid-term elections will be governed by a “taint of incumbency.” Even Boehner conceded this week that voters “don’t trust either party.”

Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., might have summed it up best. “The American people have fallen out of love with the current direction, but they haven’t fallen in love with Republicans,” he said last week.

“It’s a pox on both your houses,” Coelho said of the country’s mood toward Democrats and Republicans alike. “That’s why the teabaggers have a voice. They’re saying, ‘The hell with both of you.’”

Supporting that theory, new polls Tuesday revealed that Marco Rubio, the upstart Republican contender fighting for Florida’s Senate seat, is leading GOP Gov. Charlie Crist by three points. The party scheme is different, but Rubio’s anti-establishment theme mirrors that of Brown’s message to Massachusetts voters.

“There is a deep and increasingly restive anger stirring in the country,” L.A. Times columnist Tim Rutten wrote last week. “Its focal points at the moment may seem to be healthcare and ‘big government,’ but if there were a Republican in the White House, they might just as well be tax cuts and ‘limited government.’ The fact is that the president and both parties’ congressional delegations have approval ratings under 50 percent.”

The Massachusetts shakeup means that Democrats are without a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and that has left party leaders scrambling to prevent a catastrophe in November. “Every state is now in play, absolutely,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said last week. “You have to make the case that you’re the one that’s on the people’s side. And people have to get it.”

With that in mind, President Obama will address Congress tonight in hopes of relaying the thought that he feels the country’s pain. The real audience, though, will be an American people grown frustrated with lawmakers’ partisan hostility, and skeptical of their capacity to lead in times of duress. For Obama, Coelho said, it’s also an opportunity to reframe his approach to governing, recognizing that the 2008 elections were a cry from voters for real change in Washington.

“It was a revolt against the system,” Coelho said of those elections. “Obama interpreted that to be a victory for his policies. But what it was was a frustration with the system not working.

“His political operatives needed to read the tea leaves,” he added. “And they failed.”

Amid the excitement of a new decade, the unresolved issues of 2009 and other years past are becoming more irksome and in need of solutions.

The Road to Recovery … or Not

The entire country watched in June 2008 as flood waters savaged downtown Cedar Rapids. The videos and pictures of the Cedar River overtaking downtown structures, destroying businesses and displacing residents were simultaneously heartbreaking and striking. Yet for every headline garnered by Cedar Rapids, another smaller Iowa town was left to cope with its own slow and tedious recovery without the benefit of national news crews.

Veterans Memorial Coliseum is shown drenched by flood waters on June 11, 2008. (file photo: Lynda Waddington/The Iowa Independent)

State officials have argued that all that could be done was done. They tout Iowa’s swift recovery, comparing the progress here to natural disaster recovery in other parts of the country. Yet even now families remain displaced, businesses are shuttered and Iowans, long known as America’s most politically intense residents, are becoming more and more disenchanted with government as a whole.

The few times that national cameras panned away from downtown Cedar Rapids, national viewers glimpsed thousands of working family homes drenched to their rooftops. Urban viewers were enchanted by footage of cows, herded onto a Vinton resident’s deck for protection from flood waters. Large portions of the residential area in the small town of Creston were damaged as a result of basement and ground-level flooding. No one can forget the images of a leveled Parkersburg following a May 2008 tornado. Many of the aftermath stories remain on public display at the state’s I-JOBS page, and much remains unfunded.

But once it is understood that the working class — farmers, nurses, shift workers, teachers and others — bore the brunt of Iowa’s disasters, it is much more easy to understand the state’s following economic downturn. Working class Iowans pay a disproportionate share of their income in state and local taxes, according to research by the Iowa Fiscal Partnership. This means that the very economic foundation of the state has been rattled by tornadoes, pounded by flood waters and then mostly left with empty platitudes of progress to bolster its continued support.

Those set aside in favor of corporate bailouts and unable to surf the tides of promised change remain disillusioned, confused and, at times, angry. Their way of life has not only been threatened, but, in many instances, decimated. Their long-held beliefs in the value of hard work, helping neighbors and self-reliance have been shaken and, for some, shattered. They no longer relate to a government that appears uncaring, and they no longer believe in political parties that provide soundbites that would be offensive if they weren’t so tired and humorous.

Iowa politics in 2010, despite being the vehicle by which reform and recovery could happen, have been regulated by those outside of Des Moines’ affluent circles to an oddity or, worse yet, a distasteful fairgrounds freak show. For when economic reality becomes too horrible, it is sometimes easier to grasp the nearest unfathomable boogyman than to confront the true monster on your doorstep.

It is in front of this backdrop of dismay and disconnect that Iowa politics will play in 2010, and it will factor into every facet of the state.

The Right to Love and Marry

Several participants in April's Tea Party protest at the state capitol advocated for legislators to allow a vote on same-sex marriage (file photo).

In April, same-sex marriage was legalized in Iowa. As some state politicians rallied against the Iowa Supreme Court decision and others praised it, most Iowans quietly pointed to increased farm supply costs and skyrocketing health care payments.

But groups have galvanized on both sides of the issue and are preparing to continue the battles begun last year at the statehouse.

Same-sex marriage, depending on which group’s advisories you read, is either proof of society’s inevitable enlightenment or the complete downfall of all held dear. And while there are distinct minorities of Iowans on both sides of the issue who are ready to do whatever it takes to ensure that such marriages are the keystone of all action within the 2010 state legislature, many more residents are afraid that the battle over certain couples’ right to marry will overshadow the business that must take place if the state as a whole is to stand on firmer economic ground come summer.

But once your home has been washed away by flood waters, or blown apart by tornadoes, it is difficult to surmount a fight against another struggling family, traditional or non-traditional. By that same token, difficulties paying for needed prescriptions and sleepless nights worried about mortgage payments aren’t often precursors to a rising up against any perceived discrimination. It is hard to fight for anyone else, hard to stand on even preached moral principals, when the very ground beneath one’s feet remains the consistency of sand.

As a result, those who stand to lose the most by having the legislature dominated by political grandstanding on same-sex marriage could be the people who stay home, shaking their heads at a spectacle created and honed in 2010 election madness. Those who stand to gain the most — specifically, those who are paying more attention to November ballots than first quarter earnings statements — will be those who rejoice and revel in the folly.

Renewed Faith in Antitrust

Producing the nation’s food supply has always been a precarious occupation. Natural disasters, weather fluctuations and simple bad luck have historically plagued Iowa’s crop and livestock producers. It is part of the territory, and farmers have come to understand the roller coaster ride that often determines if their seasons will be profitable.

The past few years, however, a new unknown has emerged that many producers view as more threatening than those they’ve previously faced: Market concentration. Within each of the nation’s agricultural industries a few, large corporations have emerged that dominate the sector and, some producers have argued, use collusive and exclusionary tactics to drive independent and smaller operations out of business. The large corporations, on the other hand, argue that their market dominance and sheer size allow them to develop innovative techniques for smaller producers as well as lobby all farm interests before Congress.

While U.S. Supreme Court rulings and national policy have played a significant role in the changing landscape of America’s and Iowa’s agricultural sector, most producers believe the largest culprit to the woes they’re facing is lax government oversight of existing antitrust laws. And, in a move unprecedented in American history, federal agencies appear to be, if not actually siding with producers, at least willing to listen.

Throughout 2010, the U.S. departments of Justice and Agriculture will hold a series of workshops for discussions on possible anti-competitiveness in several key sectors — seed, poultry, dairy and other livestock. The first, which will focus on the seed industry, will take place in Ankeny this March. The workshops mark a significant change from “hands off” life under the George W. Bush administration, when the the U.S. Department of Justice oversaw and approved mergers between Smithfield Foods and Premium Standard Farms (2007) to create the country’s largest hog processor, between Dean Foods Co. and Suiza Foods Corp. (2002) to create the largest milk processor and between JBS and Smithfield Beef (2008) to make one of the nation’s largest cattle feeders.

The U.S. Justice Department, which appears to be making good on then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s pledge for more scrutiny of American agriculture, has brought in Christine Varney, a woman who built a trust-busting reputation within the Clinton administration, to lead its antitrust division. This Justice Department, unlike all of its predecessors, isn’t sitting back and waiting on an anti-trust complaint. It is willfully and meticulously investigating possibilities before formal complaints arrive.

Exactly what this means to Iowa, which maintains critical economic interest in agriculture, remains unclear. Although Iowa has fared better than other states in supporting and maintaining family farms, and has recently found the benefit of promoting smaller organic operations, the state also has strong ties to the large corporations that have now fallen under scrutiny.

Immigrating to Jobs, Congress

Census figures estimate that roughly 450,000 people over the age of 65 live in Iowa, comprising about 15 percent of the state’s total population. By the year 2030, the percentage is expected to blossom to 22.5 percent of the state’s population, or more than 650,000 Iowans over the age of 65.

It is widely known that due to Iowa’s out-migration of younger (and often brighter) residents, as well as its traditionally slow birth and immigration rate, the state is poised to lose a U.S. congressional district following the 2010 census.

What is less discussed, however, is the fact that Iowa’s rural counties are aging more rapidly than urban areas. As of the 2000 census, individuals age 65 and over comprised 20 percent or more of the population in 30 of the state’s 99 counties. Not only are all the impacted counties from 2000 rural, but the U.S. Census Bureau believes that trend will encompass 88 of the state’s counties by 2030, affecting the most rural first. At that time Iowa is expected to be the 12th oldest state in the union.

The direct and indirect impacts to the state, the tax base, local workforces and wider rural geographic health are far too complex for adequate recount in this short discussion of interest areas for 2010 and the next decade. Just in the realm of ongoing federal health reform, for instance, the implications of Iowa communities with 40 percent or more of their populations over the age of 65 — Littleport, Elk Horn, Berkley, Athelstan and Beaconsfield during the 2000 census — makes it clear that providing insurance alone won’t be nearly enough. As The Iowa Independent has documented throughout 2009 in a series of articles on rural health, those residing in rural areas are more likely to be living at or below poverty levels, with more chronic conditions, without sufficient nursing and physician access and lacking critical infrastructure needed for advances in tele- or distance-medicine that might alleviate existing inadequacies.

The 11 Iowa counties projected to maintain a percentage of older residents below 20 percent in 2030 also tell a story. The population centers in Polk, Linn, Johnson, Black Hawk, Pottawattamie, Story, Woodbury and Dallas counties are included among them. The other three — Marshall, Muscatine and Wapello — are all considered rural counties with one big difference from the rest of the state’s other rural areas. Each is home to significant immigrant populations.

At the time of the 2000 census, 12.5 percent of the populations in Marshall, Muscatine and Wapello self-identified as being either Hispanic or Latino. The latest estimates for each of the counties now lists that population demographic at above 15 percent. While this percentage compared to other states would not be considered significant, it stands out in Iowa, a state with an overall estimated percentage of persons of Hispanic and Latino origin at roughly 4 percent.

Iowans, who continue to express both outrage and compassion in the aftermath of a massive immigration raid at a Postville meatpacking plant, are only now starting to come to terms with their desire for maintaining the status quo in rural areas and the true need for a larger and younger workforce. Stephen Bloom, a journalism professor at the University of Iowa and author of a book on Postville, spoke candidly with The Iowa Independent seven months after the raid, noting that the move of slaughterhouses out of cities and into rural areas as well as mechanical advancements in the process has changed the face of rural America.

“The industry now requires a revolving door of employees because the wages are, if not minimum, then very low,” Bloom said. “The locals in these rural pockets don’t want to work for that kind of salary. The plants have this voracious appetite for hiring more and more people because a slaughterhouse worker who works for a year at the same plant is working for an extraordinary amount of time. The turnover in a year is nearly 100 percent.”

Workforce challenges in rural areas, however, are not only limited to meatpacking plants and other large factories. Iowa’s stalwart economic industry, the one most closely associated with rural life, is also beginning to feel the crunch.

At a congressional listening post in October, Clinton County dairy farmer Ben Blanchard discussed both his operation’s need for long-term younger workers and the nation’s need for comprehensive immigration reform.

“The way I feel, and I know that others may not feel the same way, but there needs to be legislation to allow [immigrants} to come over and not just on a work permit or whatever for six months,” Blanchard said, noting that short-term immigration solutions do not allow for farm knowledge and animal consistency.

Sister Mary McCauley

McCauley will receive the honor on Aug. 29 at a special ceremony in the State Historical Building in Des Moines.

In the immediate wake of a May 2008 massive immigration raid at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, many immigrant families took refuge in St. Bridget’s Church. McCauley was instrumental not only in providing for the immediate needs of those seeking sanctuary, but in developing a plan of action to care for the women and children left behind.

Sister McCauley, speaking to The Iowa Independent roughly one month after the raid, said she’s been asked many times how the raid and its aftermath have affected the community and the congregation.

“I’ve thought about it and there are two words that describe it. This has shattered us, and it has strengthened us,” she said. When she opened her mouth to continue, at first no words came. Her eyes filled with tears, and she apologized as she reached into her pocket for a well-worn tissue. Her voice was soft but also resolute when she continued.

“When I say ’shattered,’ I mean that it shattered the families. It shattered the children who were running around and asking, ‘Where is my mother?’ or ‘Where is my father?’ Then there are the poor mothers who are left to care for their children. What is she going to do? How is she going to get back to Mexico? She doesn’t have any money. Should she go back? Should she remain? She is wondering how long her husband is going to be in jail. So, they are shattered, they are afraid, and they are filled with anxiety.

“At the same time, they have found strength and love, and they are giving it to one another. Our St. Bridget’s community and the Postville community and, really, the entire United States community have given strength. When we receive a letter, for example, from Los Angeles, that says that the writer is praying for us, with us, supporting us and concerned about us, then we know that we can go on another day.”

McCauley, along with other staff members at St. Bridget’s, helped organize public vigils, meetings and demonstrations. Although she does not speak Spanish, she became a both a media contact for the women left behind in Postville and a pillar of strength those in need knew would remain sturdy. She helped organize church staff, volunteers and like-minded agencies to provide legal clinics, medical exams, bill payment and many other services that were never highlighted on newscasts or in print.

“We are aware of some of the pain, suffering and injustice that you experienced in your home country and also upon arriving in the United States,” McCauley said to immigrants who gathered at the church for a prayer vigil on the one-year anniversary of the raid. “For any pain, suffering or injustice that we as individuals, our Postville community, our government or any of our citizens may have caused, we ask your forgiveness.”

Due to McCauley’s unfailing belief that an injustice has been served on immigrant families in Postville and elsewhere she has become a positive role model for those who seek comprehensive immigration reform. The stance has also made her, as well as the Catholic Church as a whole, a lightning rod for those who believe otherwise.

The Christine Wilson Medal for Equality and Justice was established by the ICSW in 1982 in honor of the organization’s first chairwoman. During first four years under Wilson’s leadership Iowa passed legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in housing, credit and education as well as legislation that required recognition of the contribution of homemakers in inheritance tax determinations. The state also began funding and licensing child care center, created a process by which women could be considered for gubernatorial appointment, outlined the first progressive rape statute, and developed the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame. As such, the medal holding her name is given to those individuals whose lives and work have illustrated outstanding dedication and service on behalf of the ideals of equality and justice.

At the same time as McCauley is honored the ICSW will also induct four new women into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame. They are Linda K. Kerber of Iowa City, Mary E. Kramer of Clive, Adeline Lavonne McCormick-Ohnemus of Milo and Lyn Stinson of Burlington.

As Roll Call reports this morning:

Grassley’s meeting with Reid comes the wake of the Majority Leader’s decision to more directly insert himself into the health care reform negotiations. Reid on Tuesday strongly urged Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to stop chasing Grassley’s vote on a health care bill, saying that the price for the Iowa Republican’s support was too high because it would cost critical Democratic support.

CBS News picked up the story and, under the headline “Health Care Bipartisanship Falling Apart?”, added some context:

The change in strategy also corresponds with stepped-up efforts from progressives in Congress to put their foot down on what they consider to be critical components of reform, like the public option. Liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has gone so far as to say he will start a “Coalition of the Unwilling” — a group of progressives unwilling to compromise on the public option – formed in response to Baucus’ bipartisan-minded “Coalition of the Willing.”

Yesterday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus sent a letter to Mr. Obama restating that “its members cannot support final passage of any health care reform bill that does not include a robust public plan option, akin to Medicare, operating alongside the private plans.” The CPC is the largest non-party caucus in Congress and has nearly 80 members.

The letter was sent in response to questions that arose yesterday as to whether the Obama administration would be willing to negotiate on the public option, after White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel indicated as much in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Obama, however, quickly put out a statement — all the way from Moscow — reaffirming his support for the public option.

The Roll Call story also reports that Reid opposes any plan to tax employer-provided health benefits in order to pay for a public health insurance option. That’s one idea Grassley and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) had mentioned as a possibility to help pay for reforms, but other Democrats in the senate are reportedly wary of anything that could be perceived as a tax increase, especially since President Barack Obama used the idea against Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on the campaign trail last year.

Gov. Chet Culver

While official numbers won’t be known until the Revenue Estimating Conference meets in September, Culver said Iowa is in a much better fiscal position than many other states and should be able to avoid future budget cuts.

“I think we’ve done enough so far,” Culver said. “I think people need to understand that our budget in 2010 is $135 million less — a 2 1/2 percent cut — than it was in 2008. We’ve done across-the-board cuts, we’ve cut salaries, we got rid of bonus pay and we’ve trimmed. That puts us in a good position for 2010. Having said that, we’ll have to wait and see what adjustments we’ll need to make when the REC meets in September.”

No one can predict if the 2010 budget, which begins July 1, will need to be adjusted. But it is “nothing that we can’t deal with.”

“We’ve got $440 million in cash reserves,” he said. “We can transfer if we have to or make adjustments if we have to.”

The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency has raised concern of late that revenues may fall further than anticipated, which could create a more immediate budget gap in fiscal year 2009 that is larger than Culver has the authority to deal with on his own. That could mean a special session will be needed to balance the budget. The legislature left a $45 million ending balance, and Culver has the authority to transfer $50 million from the state’s reserves.

“I lend a tremendous amount of credence and have a tremendous amount of respect for the numbers that come out of the Legislative Services Agency,” said David Swenson, an economist at Iowa State University. “They forecast a greater than $100 million shortfall. I don’t know how you can ignore that. Those folks are good. If the governor believes that through a series of decisions or with a buffer to cover the shortfall he can declare a balanced budget at year’s end, I don’t know if that’s the case or not.”

The 2010 budget could also take a hit if revenues continue to fall, Swenson said. But the real trouble could be in 2011, when federal stimulus money will be gone. Without that money, Swenson said, the state would have been forced into far greater lay offs in state government, specifically at the state’s public universities.

“It bolstered the transportation department, and the natural resources and environment as well,” he said. “It has done a lot to stabilize general government activity. Without it, there will be some tough decisions.”

Swenson said even if the economy starts to turn around, which he expects to happen in early 2010, it will take “an extra year or so for the state’s revenues to pick up.”

Culver acknowledged that 2011’s budget, which the legislature will work on starting in January, would be tough.

“No one is saying balancing the budget in 2011 is going to be easy since we’re dealing with a worldwide recession,” Culver said. “But we’re going to do it, and that might involve more cuts. I hope not, but it’s likely we’re going to have to find more savings.”

Culver pointed to work underway this summer by a legislative committee charged with studying ways to restructure state government as one way out of a financial disaster.

“We’re confident we can find significant savings in reorganized state government to make it more efficient,” Culver said. “It’s likely we will have a plan to put on the table early next session.”

He also pointed to the I-JOBS program, an $830 million infrastructure improvement plan passed in April.

“We have nearly a billion dollars in infrastructure projects,” Culver said. “That’s going to create economic opportunities and jobs at a time when we need it.”

Swenson said for every $100 million spent on infrastructure development by the I-JOBS program, 1,500 to 1,700 jobs would be created for the duration of time the money is being spent.

“So if you’re spending $250 million a year for the next three years, you’re looking at 4,000 jobs in the state’s economy,” he said. “That’s about 4 percent of where our current unemployment rolls are. It’s meaningful, and it is not something to be ignored. That money will find its way into the Iowa economy, and it does chip away at unemployment. But it will not significantly change or alter the overall economy.”

Despite the doom and gloom, Culver said Iowa is still in a far better position than most other states.

“The good news is, recent studies suggest Iowa will be one of the first 10 or 12 states to come out of the recession, in part because of our situation, with a strong reserve of cash and a AAA bond rating,” he said. “That would suggest that if we’re not at the bottom we are getting close.”

The complaint, filed by former state Rep. Ed Fallon and his wife Lynn, alleges Bartz used his office and public resources to encourage other elected officials to disobey state law.

Bartz used the Web site of the Republican Party’s Senate caucus to urge opponents of same-sex marriage to collect signatures and deliver them to county recorders demanding that they refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, in direct defiance of an Iowa Supreme Court decision. Attorney General Tom Miller instructed county recorders that doing so would be illegal, and to date no same-sex couples in Iowa have been denied a license.

Ben Stone, executive director of Iowa ACLU, said the ethics complaint is a threat to Bartz’s free speech.

The ethics committee, which is chaired by Senate President Jack Kibbie, will convene Tuesday at noon at the Iowa Capitol.

While the House Democratic caucus and the state party have Twitter feeds, as do five state Democratic lawmakers, it was the Republicans who used the site to document the chaotic hearing.

The first hour was punctuated with several speakers on both sides of the contentious issue getting booed or cheered by an animated crowd organized mostly by the anti-tax group Iowans for Tax Relief.

House rules prohibit demonstrations of any type from the gallery, and after several warnings about their behavior, the audience was ordered removed from House chambers by Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, prompting further shouting, and according to The Des Moines Register, at least one piece of thrown chewing gum.

Documenting the entire ordeal was a group of conservative lawmakers and Republican Party of Iowa (RPI) leadership.

Among those giving frequent updates with their opinion of the proceedings were Rep. Chris Hagenow, R-Windsor Heights; Rep. Kent Sorensen, R-Indianola; and Rep. Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Rapids. Joining them were RPI Chair Matt Strawn; RPI Treasurer Matt Randall; and former Polk County GOP Chair Ted Sporer.

After several warnings about the audience’s conduct by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Shomshor, D-Council Bluffs, Sporer tweeted “we really should call their bluff and see if the dems would clear the chamber. they won’t and if they did…..couldn’t look worse for them.”

The crowd continued to ignore the warnings, and Sporer got his wish a few minutes later, prompting this tweet from Sorensen.

“The police are now escorting the taxpayers out. Everything has stopped for the time being. This is a sad way to treat the taxpayers.”

Citizens signed up to speak were allowed to stay, and the public hearing continued for another hour.

After a disastrous 2008 election cycle that ended with even smaller minorities in both legislative chambers, Iowa Republicans continually pointed to what they perceived as a technology gap with the Democrats as one shortfall that had be overcome for the party to be relevant again.

Use of social networking sites to communicate with voters was a key plank in Strawn’s campaign to become the party’s new chairman in January. It has also emerged at the local level, with newly elected Linn County GOP Chair Tim Palmer telling the Iowa Independent that “Twitter, Facebook and the other social media options are definitely a direction that as a party we need to go.”

In January, a Mason-Dixon poll found that a majority of Iowa voters opposed the proposal to allow dove hunting, which is sponsored by State Sen. Dick Dearden (D-Des Moines).  In 2007, Gov. Chet Culver signaled his support for the idea.  Culver’s predecessor, former Gov. Tom Vilsack, vetoed a similar bill in 2001.

Because the metro area did not vote as a bloc, only those areas that passed the local-option tax will see an increase. For instance, Cedar Rapids merchants will collect the additional penny in sales tax. Merchants in Marion, where the voters defeated the proposed tax, will not.

The Cedar Rapids City Council has passed a resolution promising that 90 percent of all the revenue collected during the five-year term will be used for flood-affected housing — buyouts, rehabilitations and relocations. The remaining 10 percent has been earmarked for property tax relief, although property taxes in Cedar Rapids are still expected to climb.

Dale Todd, co-chair for the Vote Yes For Your Neighbor advocacy group that supported the tax, said he’s glad voters in Cedar Rapids approved the tax. More importantly, however, he’s hopeful that the coalitions formed during the election push remain strong. Advocates were able to garner support from organizations that typically find themselves on opposite sides of issues — unions and the local chamber of commerce, for example, supported the tax increase.

Those who opposed the tax were obviously not pleased with the result, but were resolved to closely monitor distributions of the additional revenues. One of their largest complaints about the referendum was that the ballot language was written too loosely to ensure officials would spend money on housing.

The approved tax will take effect April 1 and will sunset June 30, 2014.

“While I was in Postville, I saw the impact on the community of an irresponsible employer who apparently ignored worker safety and worker rights laws,” Braley wrote in a letter today to Matt Dummermuth, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, and John Torres, acting assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The community of Postville is struggling to stay afloat. Church groups have provided food, shelter and clothing to hundreds of people since the May 12 raid. They have been caring for the families of detainees because they are in limbo, but they don’t have the resources to care for these people forever.”

Braley encouraged the officials to expedite the hearings of employees and employers who have been charged with crimes.

In another letter written today, Braley praised newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for providing over $2 million in outstanding payments to previously unpaid livestock auctions and sellers who sold to Agriprocessors in Postville. He also requested that the USDA reassess Postville’s loan payment schedule on a sewage treatment facility that primarily benefited the meatpacking plant. Although Agriprocessors signed a payment agreement with the city in July 2004, the company, languishing in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, has defaulted.

“I encourage the USDA to give fair and prompt consideration to the city’s request to reassess their loan payment schedule and coordinate with elected officials to find a solution that works for Postville and the USDA,” Braley wrote. “I hope that USDA can be a partner to the Postville community during these challenging times.”

Braley, a Democrat representing Iowa’s 1st District, visited the community on Jan. 29. While there he met with church leaders, school officials, business people and elected officials. The letters written today were in response to the information he gathered during his time in the community.