DM’s Tom Vlassis in Jeopardy – Won’t Talk about CIETC

By Emily Geiger

Long-time Des Moines City Councilman Tom Vlassis is facing a run-off election because he failed to get 50% of the vote in his district.

Some may be shocked by this, but not if your memory is long enough to remember back to the CIETC scandal.

This is the first election for Vlassis since the employment agency scandal broke, and though Vlassis was not as involved as fellow former city counsel member Archie Brooks (who looked the other way as Ramona Cunningham stole a few million dollars in exchange for sexual favors), Vlassis was also on the CIETC board, and so holds some responsibility for the lack of oversight that led to the plundering of public funds.

When asked last night by a local TV news reporter whether he felt CIETC might have played a role in his failure to get the required 50% of the vote, Vlassis responded with a resounding, “I’M NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT CIETC. I HAVE NO COMMENT ON CIETC.”

Gee, Tom, I wonder why people don’t want to vote for you anymore.

It kind of reminded me of Leonard Boswell’s refusal to talk about socialized medicine at his constituent forums during the August Congressional recess.

Oh, and we can’t forget Leonard’s refusal to talk about the 20 pound tumor for which he had surgery and chemotherapy, but (he claims) wasn’t cancer. He was super forthcoming about that, too.

With this kind of openness and transparency, I can’t imagine why people might distrust these politicians.

Tom and Leonard… two (silent) peas in a pod.