99counties.org

Well-placed sources tell TheIowaRepublican.com that Sarah Palin is slated to be the keynote speaker at the Republican Party of Iowa’s Ronald Reagan Dinner on Friday, September 17^th. The state party is slated to release more details about the event tomorrow.

From the WSJ Law Blog:

In states that appoint judges, rather than elect them, judges are supposed to be largely insulated from politics.

But witness Iowa, where supreme court judges are first appointed and then, if they care to stay in office, typically approved by voters in low-key retention elections.

But this year, conservatives in Iowa are waging a campaign to vote out of office three supreme court judges, who joined a ruling last year that Iowa’s law barring the recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

Here’s a Washington Post article about the move to oust the three judges, including chief justice Marsha Ternus.

“We need to vote them off the bench to send a message across Iowa that we, the people, still have the power,” said Bob Vander Plaats, a Republican state politician who is leading the campaign. “Not only will it send a message here in Iowa, but it will send a message in California, in Arizona and across the country.”

Three of the court’s seven judges are on the ballot this year: Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, Justice Michael Streit and Justice David Baker.

The effort in Iowa, the Post reports, worries gay rights advocates and legal experts who say it is wrong to punish judges for unpopular decisions. But on the flip side, campaign advocates say they are simply exercising their democratic right to rein in a judiciary that has overstepped its authority.

Vander Plaats announced this month the creation of Iowa for Freedom, which has rented office space and hired six full-time staff members, who plan to wage a political campaign replete with mailers, phone calls and door-knocking, according to the Post.

The targeted judges have not publicly defended themselves. But former Supreme Court justice Mark McCormick said: “I’ve used the word ‘vengeance’ before in describing what this campaign is about . . . it is a challenge to judicial independence.”

Congressman Steve King (R-IA) has issued the following statement in response to the press conference held this week between former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. During the press conference, Sherrod revealed that she would not be accepting an offer of employment from Secretary Vilsack.

“Before the press conference, we knew that Mrs. Sherrod was hired three days after being awarded $13 million in the nation’s largest civil rights case, Pigford v. Vilsack. We knew that Mrs. Sherrod was forced to pull over to the side of the road and send in her resignation. We knew that she had maintained that the White House pressured her to resign immediately.”

“After all the friendly gestures between Secretary Vilsack and Mrs. Sherrod, there are still several questions unanswered. Why is Secretary Vilsack taking responsibility for the decision when Mrs. Sherrod has maintained she was contacted by the White House? Did the White House demand Secretary Vilsack fire Mrs. Sherrod? Is she still being paid by the federal government? Has Mrs. Sherrod agreed not to file another lawsuit against Secretary Vilsack or the federal government? Was Shirley Sherrod granted an additional settlement in exchange for her silence and an agreement not to sue Vilsack again? Why is Mrs. Sherrod filing suit against Andrew Breitbart, but hugging the man who fired her?”

“Without transparency, the American people will never know the truth behind the thousands of fraudulent Pigford claims for $2.3 billion, will never know who really fired Shirley Sherrod and will never know if other potential agreements were made to keep Mrs. Sherrod quiet.”

In a remarkably tone-deaf move, the Omaha city council approved a budget Tuesday on a 4-3 vote that includes several new taxes.

Mayor Jim Suttle proposed a $313-million dollar budget that included an increase in the property tax by 4.4 cents. On Tuesday, the council reduced it to 2.335 cents.

The mayor also proposed a $23 increase in the wheel tax. The council reduced that to $15. To reach that level, council members cut spending in the public works and public parks departments.

The mayor had also proposed establishing a restaurant tax of 4%. After much debate, the council reduced that to 2.5%. This should be known as the waitress tip-reduction fee.

The council had considered a controversial occupation tax where anyone who works within the city, resident or not, would pay $8 a month through their employer. That was eliminated. However, the council approved a commuter transportation fee which is, in effect, the wheel tax. The fee, which is now $50 a year, would generate $8.5-million and be collected through employers.

The city of Omaha has just added a $50 tax on employment by calling it a “commuter transportation fee.” Fifty dollars if you have the audacity of working in Omaha and not living there.

Tags: iowa, nebraska

The Republican Study Committee chaired by Rep. Tom Price releases a “greatest hits” compilation video of Democrats over the last eighteen months that speak to their attitude and approach to constitutional government.

Ace: Holy Frickin’ Reagan: Best Advertorial You’ll See.
Ed @ HA: “Those voices don’t speak for us”
RSM: VIDEO: Ronald Reagan Still Kicks Butt

Indeed he does. Video embedded:

Watch the full speech here.

From Smart Politics:

As Democrats brace for a Republican pullback in the 2010 election cycle, the question on the minds of officeholders, party leaders, and D.C prognosticators is not whether the GOP will gain seats in the midterm elections across state and federal legislative and executive offices, but how many.

While the Republican Revolution of 1994 is perhaps most remembered for the tremendous gains the GOP made to take back the U.S. House (+54 seats), Republicans also won 24 of 36 gubernatorial races that year.

But in light of the current political environment and the latest horserace polls, political reporters may need to come up with a new term in 2010 that is even more grandiose than ‘revolution’ to describe the Republican advantage this November.

A Smart Politics analysis of nearly 1,800 gubernatorial elections since the beginning of the 20th Century finds that Republicans are poised to win more gubernatorial seats in 2010 than they have in any election cycle over the past 90 years.

In 2010, 37 states will hold gubernatorial elections – one more than normal due to a special election in Utah after John Huntsman became U.S. Ambassador to China last summer.

The latest public opinion polls give Republicans the advantage in a whopping 28 of these states, including more than half by double digits (Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming).

The GOP also has more narrow advantages in the latest polling out of Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Democrats,by contrast, currently lead in the latest polling in just seven states (Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York.)

This is, in no small part, due to the excellent work that Haley Barbour and Co. are doing at the Republican Governors’ Association.

RGA Video: Remember November

Remember the Dream. Remember November. from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

Mattera calls out Harkin on his shameless comparison of health care inequities to Jim Crow.

h/t Hotair

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Washington is increasingly trouncing on your freedoms. Its time to fight back from the states. Join America’s Comeback by visiting governorsalliance.com

The US Census Bureau’s annual population estimate predict that Iowa will be among the handful of states to likely lose a congressional seat after the 2010 decennial census.

Of the states losing seats, only Ohio would suffer multiple losses, with two. The remaining states that are projected to have downsized House delegations include four in the Northeast (Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania), four in the Midwest (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota), plus Louisiana.

The biggest likely winners of the census are Texas, with a likely gain of four, and seven states — four in the West (Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Washington) and three in the South (Florida, Georgia and South Carolina) each likely to gain one.

Based on recent historical experience, these projections will likely be close to the final results when the actual House reapportionment is officially announced in December 2010.

Using the complex formula for apportioning the House, Missouri would be on the cusp with the 435th seat and Minnesota is listed for the mythical 436th seat — by a margin of roughly 10,000 persons each. Those states, consequently, will be among those states with the most at stake to assure a full count of their residents.

Segregation? Tom Harkin wants to stop charging higher premiums to people who incur greater health costs.