Stories

There is no need for legislators to get involved in the investigation into allegations of misconduct surrounding the state’s film tax credit program, Democratic leaders in the state House and Senate said Wednesday.

An ethics complaint against a lobbying group that was five months late in filing a disclosure report was dismissed Tuesday by the state Senate Ethics Committee.

Despite giving itself authority over disclosure reports for legislative parties paid for by lobbyists, neither the House nor the Senate ethics committees have the power to initiate investigations into violations.
In order to open a legislative investigation, a third party must file a formal ethics complaint.
This process has come under scrutiny of late after the Iowa [...]

Huck PAC, the political action committee of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, failed to file proper disclosure forms with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board (IECDB) after it donated $2,500 to the gubernatorial campaign of Bob Vander Plaats, the board’s executive director said Tuesday.
Charlie Smithson, executive director of the IECDB, said his staff has [...]

While state Rep. Kerry Burt’s drunk driving arrest has garnered many headlines, there is a bigger scandal emerging from the lobbyist reception where his evening began, according to one activist organization.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley is taking heat from campaign finance watchdogs for hosting a fundraiser Monday night with lobbyists and a political action committee representing the mortgage, insurance and financial industries.
The problem, critics say, is that Grassley recently backed those industries in his opposition to legislation allowing judges to renegotiate mortgages.

Interest groups spent $235,828 for functions designed to lobby legislators during the 2009 session, according to reports made public Thursday by the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, or IECDB.

The Senate Ethics Committee unanimously voted to reject an ethics complaint filed against Republican state Sen. Merlin Bartz of Grafton alleging he violated his oath of office by encouraging county recorders to break the law.
The complaint was filed by former Democratic state Rep. Ed Fallon and his wife, Lynn. Bartz used the resources of the [...]

A formal complaint filed against Republican state Sen. Merlin Bartz of Grafton will be heard Tuesday by the Iowa Senate ethics committee.
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.

Former Democratic state Rep. Ed Fallon has filed a formal ethics complaint against Republican state Sen. Merlin Bartz for “encouraging Iowans to pressure county recorders to break the law when same-sex couples begin to request marriage licenses.”
Bartz has begun a petition drive asking opponents of same-sex marriage to collect signatures and deliver them to county [...]