Halverson Elected To Fill 1st District GOP SCC Vacancy

Yesterday the 1st Congressional District Executive Committee came together to elect a new State Central Committee member to fill the vacancy left by Karl Gilbertson who resigned from the position a few months ago due to health concerns. Nominated for the position were Carmen Halverson of Blackhawk County, Maggie Tinsman of Scott County and former SCC member Dan Nicholson of Dubuque County.

After three rounds of voting, Carmen Halverson was the decisive winner. The voting for each round broke down like this:

Round 1:
Tinsman - 9
Halverson - 8
Nicholson - 5

Round 2:
Tinsman - 9
Halverson - 9
Nicholson - 4

Per the rules adopted for the meeting, after two rounds the nominee receiving the fewest number of votes (Nicholson) was taken off the ballot for Round 3:

Round 3:
Halverson - 12
Tinsman - 10

Around The Horn

RPI / Matt Strawn

It has been a couple of months now since the election of Strawn as RPI Chair, and I must say that I have liked what I have seen so far. I was an early fan of his, and it seems that my initial instinct (so far) is proving to be correct. I am interested to hear more from the rest of the new Executive Committee members as well.

The huge improvement in communcations has been the biggest change - what a night and day difference. In fact, if anything it seems like RPI is giving us information overload with all of the press releases. Don't get me wrong though, I am not complaining because it beats the alternative. Keep up the good work, everyone.

Of course the real test though will be to see the outcome of the elections next year, but I think we are definitely on the right course to pick up seats at the state level in the 2010 cycle.

1st District SCC

An election will be held in Dubuque next month to elect a new State Central Committee member in the 1st District. The election will fill the vacancy left by Karl Gilbertson who was forced to resign his position due to health concerns. Karl did a very good job of making the rounds in the 1st District, attending events all across the district before his health deteriorated. Karl will be greatly missed, and whoever takes his spot has some rather big shoes to fill.

RPI To Honor Former Co-Chairman Leon Mosley



RPI sent out an e-mail today announcing that they will be holding a BBQ in Waterloo on April 25th to honor former Co-Chairman Leon Mosley. A classy move in my opinion. I realize that there are those who were glad to see Leon go, but you will have a very hard time convincing me that Mr. Mosley does not deserve this honor. Also a nice touch to include the former RPI Chairmen as Honorary hosts for the event.

Iowa GOP News

The Iowa GOP news front has been busy as of late. First, The Real Sporer returns from his hiatus. Then, we get The Bean Walker and The Iowa Republican. Plus all the old faves still alive and kicking. Check these guys out, unlike me they actually update on at least a semi-regular basis!

Without the Stimulus, We Wil Lose 500 Million jobs each month...

...So Says Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi:

Around The Horn

The Fallacy of a Budget "Cut"

Despite the fact that Chet Culver has pledged to make a 6.5% across the board cut for the 2010 budget it is still dollar-wise still the largest budget in Iowa history. Iowa House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen points out that the Iowa budget has grown nearly $1 billion dollars since Culver took office in 2007.

Way To Go

I congratulate our U.S. House Republicans for not taking the bait and unanimously voting against the Democrat "stimulus" bill. House Democrats had enough votes to pass the bill anyway, so why the push to make it "bipartisan"? Because if and when it proves to be a failure they can take us down with them - glad to see our guys not fall into that trap and show some unity that has been severely lacking within the party.

Speaking of the entire slate of House Republicans voting against the bill, our junior Senator Tom Harkin has expressed his "shock" that they voted the way they did. Perhaps he should be more shocked at the fact that 11 Democrats voted against the bill as well. The only bi-partisan vote was against the stimulus.

Vaudt for Governor?

The Des Moines Register is talking about something that has been talked about for the last year, that being the possibly of State Auditor David Vaudt running for Governor. While it certainly is not up to me, I would prefer to see Vaudt seek re-election as State Auditor. He has done a fantastic job in his current position and was sounding the alarm last year on the budget shortfalls in the upcoming state budget at a time when Democrat legislators were completely blowing off the notion. Isn't it amazing how much things can change in a year's time?

Northey for Governor?

Speaking of David Vaudt, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey is also considered a potential Gubernatorial candidate. Like Vaudt, I think Northey has settled in well in his current office and would be better off seeking re-election as Secretary of Ag for at least another term. The Secretary of Agriculture office does not have the statewide visibility of the Auditor, and I just don't see Northey standing out in what will likely be a relatively crowded field of candidates.

Pelosi: Birth Control Will Help The Economy

Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended including hundreds of millions of dollars for birth control in the latest "stimulus" package by telling George Stephanopoulos yesterday that "Family Planning Services reduce costs".



Pelosi also added that economists argue that investing in food stamps and unemployment insurance has more "bang for the buck" than tax cuts -- Huh?? But...they are still committed to the cuts, because they have a positive impact on the economy. Now where have I heard that before...