Iowa Republicans are having fun showing state Democrats that two parties can play at the game of Internet hide-and-seek.
On Friday, in Des Moines, David Kochel announced formation of the Iowa Progress Project, which "will serve as a mechanism for conservatives to engage in important issues debate in this state."
The movement got its start as the Iowa Future Fund earlier this year, running radio ads criticizing Gov. Chet Culver and telling Iowans to call the Democrat and protest his proposed budget. More recently, the ads targeted Democratic senators who supported changing the state's collective bargaining laws in regard to public employee groups.
In the Dubuque area, the ads were directed at Democrats Tom Hancock, of Epworth, and Brian Schoenjahn, of Arlington, Clayton County's state senator.
The Iowa Democratic Party pitched a fit when the anti-Culver ads began running, complaining that simply being credited to the Iowa Future Fund did not make it clear who was paying for them.
Eventually, Kochel stepped forward as spokesman for the Future Fund and claimed its heightened presence on Iowa radio stations and the Internet's YouTube.
Kochel has a long history as a Republican operative in the state, including working for former Gov. Terry Branstad, serving as Iowa GOP executive director in the mid-1990s, and most recently as a senior adviser on Mitt Romney's Iowa presidential campaign.
Talking to the Telegraph Herald on Friday, Kochel painted Iowa Progress Project and the forerunner Future Fund as a kind of rapid response team used to rally Iowans when the cause appears worthy. It will be focusing more on economic issues than social ones, Kochel said, and it will have a separate political action committee arm, as well.
The Iowa Republican Party concentrates on candidates and campaigning, he said, so his group will concentrate on taking on "the liberal segment of the Legislature and Culver, to challenge them on spending."
The Future Fund ads were topical and timely, Kochel said, "making good use of resources to motivate, engage and inform people to take action and do things." Iowa Progress Project will be a recasting of that organization, he said.
Kochel made a point of crediting Democrats for setting the precedent in showing the power of the Internet. The left is "way ahead" with groups like MoveOn.org and The Media Fund, spending millions of dollars to help Democratic presidential candidates in past election cycles, he said.
"We're borrowing from the Democratic model," he said.
Kochel said the Iowa Progress Project "will be financed by contributions from a broad base of Iowans."
And as for the Democrats' complaints about not knowing who the new conservative groups' contributors are, it was obvious Kochel was smiling broadly as he said it was time for Democrats "to get a little taste of their own medicine."
n
Now in its fourth year, the Dubuque County Democrats Annual Hall of Fame Dinner that takes place April 25 again boasts a partisan's delight.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, will be keynote speaker, as well as one of the six new inductees into the county hall of fame. First District congressman Bruce Braley is master of ceremonies.
Other inductees this year are Sen. Mike Connolly, of Dubuque, who retires from the Iowa Legislature at the end of the year after 30 years, former Dubuque City Council member Ann Michalski, and longtime party activists Mary Therese Ahern, who recently moved to Iowa City from Dubuque, and Agnese Hayes, of Cascade.
Fred McCaw, who passed away in 2006, just months before he was expected to retire as Dubuque County attorney, will be inducted posthumously.
The event will be at Happy's Place, in Dubuque, with a cash bar starting at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30. Tickets can be held in advance at $25 each until April 18. Send checks to PO Box 686, Dubuque 52004-0686. Tickets at the door are $30.
n
Not quite one-fourth of state legislators in the United States are females, but as pathetic a number as that is, it's still better than the female representation in Congress, where just 16.3 percent are women.
Then there is the Chamber of Deputies in Rwanda. Women there make up 48 percent of the membership.
Of course, Rwanda had to go through a period of genocide where most of the men either ended up dead or in jail for killing them. Which is certainly one way to get the ladies to step up.
The other top 10 nations in the percent of women in lower or single houses, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union as reported in the April State Legislatures magazine, were: Sweden, 47 percent; Finland, 42; Costa Rica, 38.6; Norway, 37.9; Denmark, 36.9; Netherlands, Cuba and Spain, 36; and Mozambique and Belgium, 34.8 percent. The United States' 16.3 percent puts it in 68th place.
n
Closer to home, for years, Wisconsin was the only state to have a ban on heated sidewalks, stairs, entrances and pedestrian walkways. Then came 2008.
Better known as the Winter from Hell, it was enough to make the Wisconsin Legislature change the law.
State Legislatures magazine said the ban was originally passed in response to the energy crisis of the 1970s. But lawmakers this year decided better technology and a savings on money spent for salt and snow removal made heated surfaces acceptable.
Bragg has been covering politics for the TH since 1996. Her e-mail address is mbragg@wcinet.com.
