Posts Tagged ‘Labor Unions’

Written by Patti Brown The lines in the sand have been drawn and it’s unlikely that the public hearing in the State House last night on HF2420 —the controversial “fair share” or “reasonable reimbursement” bill as it is being called this year— changed anyone’s mind last night. For more than three hours advocates and opponents to ... Full story

The Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) has launched a grassroots media campaign this week aimed to stop a controversial proposal that forces workers to pay fees to labor unions. The statewide radio campaign will focus on a union-sponsored bill in the House Labor Committee that if adopted would be very detrimental to ... Full story

Roberts Criticizes Culver’s Executive Order for Big Labor Special Interests Republican gubernatorial candidate Rod Roberts is criticizing Governor Culver for signing an executive order intended to benefit “Big Labor” special interests. Culver’s Executive Order 22 requires state agencies to consider using Project Labor Agreements, which would result in state government only awarding public-works projects to contractors with unionized workers. Roberts says the executive order—which Culver signed ... Full story

Governor Culver’s fundraising numbers might not be all that they seem to be after all. Yesterday, Culver said that his campaign had raised over $2.14 million in 2009. The number is impressive, but some of the other stats that Culver’s campaign released raised some suspicions, such as the fact that his $2 ... Full story

This month, Iowa PACs and political parties will have to disclose their contributions and expenditures for the first half of the year. In the past, I have not paid much attention to this report. Instead I focused on the candidate filings. This year however, I wanted to see what some of these ... Full story

With the legislative session winding down, it seems like some bills are finally dead. The mental health parity bill is dead. A 5% biodiesel mandate is dead. The so-called puppy mill bill is dead. It was going to cost the state $100 million in revenue. A .08 blood alcohol limit for boaters is dead. ... Full story

Time is running out on the 2009 legislative session. May 1st will mark the 110th day of the session. That is also the day when legislators will stop receiving their daily per diem. Many expected the legislators to be gone long before then, but if that’s going to be the case, they ... Full story

This past Monday, Senator Paul McKinley, the Republican Leader in the State Senate, asked Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal if he would allow his collogues in the Senate to vote on a measure that would let the people of Iowa decide if they want gay marriage in or not. By now, you have undoubtedly heard that Gronstal’s ... Full story

Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor and treasurer of the Iowa Democratic Party, urged legislators yesterday to stop making budget cuts and instead increase taxes to bring in additional revenue to help deal with the state’s financial problems. If Governor Culver and legislative Democrats follow Sagar’s recommendations, they will have to increase taxes on ... Full story

Many times leaders are prophetic. They have an uncanny ability to see into the future. Iowa has its own prophetic leader, Democrat Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. You see, last fall Leader McCarthy was so concerned about the safety of people at the State Capitol, he alerted the Des Moines Register by giving them every speeding ... Full story