By Lynn Campbell  |  IowaPolitics.com

DES MOINES — Opponents of same-sex marriage stormed the Capitol on Tuesday, with a target on retiring Democratic senators who could tip the balance in a closely divided Senate and allow Iowans to vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

“Let us vote! Let us vote!” chanted the crowd of about 250 people, a sea of red T-shirts in the Capitol rotunda.

Outside, a handful of same-sex marriage supporters — a married lesbian couple, an openly gay state senator, a union leader and a Christian pastor — put a human face on the issue. They countered what they considered an attack on themselves, their friends and their neighbors.

Tammy Steinwandt, of Solon, gushed about how much it meant to marry Melanie Muth, her wife of three years, “to be able to love a person that I totally fell in love with, that is my soul mate, the light of my life, and who drives my every day.”

The debate over same-sex marriage has raged in Iowa for almost three years, since the Iowa Supreme Court’s unanimous April 2009 decision in Varnum v. Brien legalized such marriages here.

This election year, the conversation appears to have some urgency.

The redrawing of legislative districts based on population shifts in the 2010 U.S. Census gives Republicans new hope that they can regain control of the Iowa Senate this November and bring the issue to voters. Democrats have a narrow, 26-24, majority.

“We need to have an election … That’s what solves this better than any maneuvering on the floor of the Senate,” said state Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, who will face state Sen. Mary Jo Wilhelm, D-Cresco, in the general election. “I would say, particularly since it’s a redistricting year, the power of incumbency isn’t as strong.”

State Sen. Thomas Courtney, D-Burlington, scoffed at assertions that three years of gay marriages in Iowa have hurt the state.

“It’s just hot air is all it really is. I’m not gay, but I don’t mind that two people that love each other get married. To me, it’s just a hate race,” Courtney said. “If it’s against God’s law, that will be straightened out some other time — not in the Iowa Legislature.”

Leading the effort by opponents is Bob Vander Plaats, CEO of The Family Leader, a nonprofit social conservative group. He mockingly compared same-sex marriage to other forms of illegal unions.

“Why stop at same-sex? Why not have polygamy? Why not have a dad marry his son, or marry his daughter?” Vander Plaats asked. “If we’re going to have marriage equality, let’s open this puppy up and let’s have marriage equality. Otherwise, let’s stick to the way God designed it, one man and one woman.”

Democratic senators shot back at Vander Plaats, who unsuccessfully ran for governor three times and is now the front man in the effort to ban gay marriage.

“The truth needs to be told: Bob Vander Plaats needs to get a real job instead of working on spreading a message of hate and discrimination,” said state Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, who is openly gay. “It’s time for Bob Vander Plaats to hang it up. He’s been running for governor for what seems like the last 20 years.”

Only a constitutional amendment can make same-sex marriages illegal once again. State law requires such an amendment to pass two consecutive Iowa General Assemblies. If the proposed amendment is approved by lawmakers in 2013 and 2015, the issue could be taken to voters in the 2016 general election.

That won’t happen as long as Democrats control the Iowa Senate.

“I’m not going to put discrimination into the state constitution,” Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, repeated Tuesday.

Gronstal has said he is willing to pay the ultimate political price, even if it means losing re-election or the majority in the Iowa Senate, to prevent a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Adding fuel to the fire this year is a judicial retention election on the November ballot.

Iowans in 2010 voted to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were part of the unanimous decision legalizing same-sex marriage. This November, another justice who was part of that decision — Justice David Wiggins, of West Des Moines — will be up for retention.

“I don’t think that Justice Wiggins should be able to wiggle out of his vote,” Bartz said.

Minnesotans will vote in November on a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Thirty-one states have constitutional restrictions limiting marriage to one woman and one man.

“In 31 of 31 states, every single time the people have had a chance to vote, in liberal California, in liberal Maine, it didn’t matter, the people voted to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, a national nonprofit that advocates against gay marriage, said at the Iowa Statehouse rally.

Iowa is one of six states where same-sex marriage is legal, along with New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia. Washington state and Maryland also have approved same-sex marriage laws, but they are not yet in effect.

According to the latest data from the Iowa Department of Public Health, 3,377 same-sex couples reported being married in Iowa, during the first two years it was legalized. That’s 8 percent of the 42,019 total marriages in the state in 2009 and 2010.

Weddings and tourism by same-sex couples gave Iowa a $12 million to $13 million economic boost, according to a December report by the Williams Institute, a national think tank at the UCLA School of Law that advances sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.

That translated into $850,000 to $930,000 in tax revenue for the state and local governments.

See video of dueling marriage events at the Capitol:
http://youtu.be/t725UCCEmlM

See photos of marriage rally and news conference:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowapolitics/sets/72157629263607726/

Listen to an interview with Courtney:
http://www.iowapolitics.com/1009/_120320Thomas_Courtney_IV.mp3

Listen to an interview with Bartz:
http://www.iowapolitics.com/1009/120320Merlin_Bartz_IV.mp3

See a Let Us Vote petition:
http://tinyurl.com/7nhrcbh

See the Williams Institute report:
http://tinyurl.com/6u3fgfr

By Lynn Campbell  |  IowaPolitics.com

“I think it’s a very dangerous road to go down,” Iowa House Ways and Means Chairman Tom Sands, R-Wapello, told IowaPolitics.com. “The state started down that road just a little bit with the racetrack, and now, here are two other proposals that are coming off of that. So the next question is, so where will this end?”

By Lynn Campbell  |  IowaPolitics.com

DES MOINES — Politics are personal.

That being said, Friday was more than just a tangible deadline to get one’s name on the ballot for the June 5 primary election.

It was much more.

Friday was the deadline for Iowans to make the sometimes gut-wrenching decision about whether to end a legislative career, or whether to pick up and move a house and family to further political ambitions.

It was a day for newcomers to choose whether to jump into politics, and for incumbents to decide whether to stay put, even if it meant facing a fellow incumbent.

Friday was the deadline for tough decisions, such as the one state Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, R-Wilton, struggled with over for the past year.

Last Sunday, he announced that he would retire. He said his wife and three sons have picked up the slack at home and have “sacrificed mightily” during his time in the Legislature, and it’s time to put them first.

“In the last eight years, my job as state representative has dominated and completely enveloped my life. Weeknights in a hotel room in Des Moines, 100-hour weeks, vicious attacks from the partisan extremes and over 300,000 miles on the highways of this wonderful state,” Kaufmann wrote. “In the last eight years, I have lost my mother, six beloved uncles and aunts, and many friends. I was not there for them like I should have been.”

Kaufmann joins Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg; Sen. Tom Rielly, D-Oskaloosa; Sen. Gene Fraise, D-Fort Madison; and Sen. Tom Hancock, D-Epworth; and Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, in retirement.

Newcomer: Experience dampened view of politics 

Jake Highfill, 22, of Johnston, isn’t even in the Legislature yet, but he said he’s been exposed to some of the drama.

Highfill filed a complaint with the Iowa House Ethics Committee, accusing state Rep. Erik Helland, R-Johnston, of bribing him with a job as a clerk in the Iowa House or on a Republican campaign this summer or fall, if he agreed not to challenge Helland in the June 5 GOP primary.

He didn’t listen. Highfill and Helland will face off in House District 39.

“It kind of dampened my view of how politics works,” said Highfill, a strength coach with Acceleration Iowa, an athletic training center and fitness facility owned by state Sen. Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny. “You have a perfect optimistic image of how politics work. There’s a darker, gloomier reality of how politics really work. It disappoints you how people treat you, even if you’re a member of the same party.”

In a written response, Helland strongly denied Highfill’s accusations and said the House Ethics Committee lacks jurisdiction for such matters. The committee will meet Monday to determine whether to dismiss the complaint, or decide whether the complaint is valid and deserves further investigation.

Two pairs of incumbents face off in primary 

The 2012 primary election will be the first since redistricting, the redrawing of political boundaries based on population shifts in the 2010 U.S. Census.

The new map initially pitted 39 state lawmakers against a fellow incumbent — 27 in the Iowa House, and 12 in the Iowa Senate. But by Friday morning, that number had whittled down to 13 legislative incumbents facing primary challenges — including two races where incumbents are facing one another.

State Sen. Jim Hahn, R-Muscatine, will face state Sen. Shawn Hamerlinck, R-Dixon, in Senate District 46. And state Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, will face state Rep. Annette Sweeney, R-Alden, in House District 50.

Grassley, in effect, is returning home.

His new district includes the county where he went to high school. It’s a place where he and his wife are from. Running for the Senate, he said, wasn’t an option, because his district is represented by a good friend — state Sen. Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock.

“I never even thought about moving. I said from the first day, I have no interest of moving. The plan was to run for House District 50,” Grassley said. “I feel like I have a lot of roots in each part of this district, so I don’t feel like I was thrown off into another part of Iowa where I never spent any time.”

State Rep. Jeremy Taylor, R-Sioux City, also will stay put in his district, even though it means he’ll face fellow freshman incumbent, state Rep. Chris Hall, D-Sioux City, in the general election.

“I’ve never liked when people have tried to move or avoid maybe a more difficult situation. Everything happens for a reason,” Taylor said. “I think, ultimately, it comes down to a personal decision when you’re talking about moving your family or getting a second residence … When I get to the point where I’m staying up late at night, figuring out where I can move or how I can stay in this place, it’s time to quit.”

A similar matchup between incumbents will occur between state Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, and state Sen. Mary Jo Wilhelm, D-Cresco, in the general election.

Three-way House race avoided 

A three-way potential primary — involving House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, R-Garner; state Rep. Stewart Iverson, R-Clarion; and state Rep. Henry Rayhons, R-Garner — was avoided.

Upmeyer moved to Clear Lake. Iverson is retiring, and Rayhons will stay where he is, although he has a primary challenger.

“A lot of people thought I’d just run for that since I’ve been in the Senate,” said Iverson, a former Senate majority leader. “I thought about it for a while. Then in September, I came to the conclusion, you know what? I’ve done this for almost 20 years now and that’s long enough.”

Iverson was first elected in 1989 and left the Legislature for four years before staging a comeback in 2010. He said the biggest reason for his return was because he felt Iowa was going in the wrong direction, having witnessed a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut by former Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.

“I think we’ve gotten it turned around, getting the spending back in line with the revenue,” Iverson said. “It’s time to move on now. I’m not looking for a political career. Been there, done that. This is more about the team effort.”

Two Iowa House members — state Rep. Nate Willems, D-Lisbon, and state Rep. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines — are running for the Senate.

“The opportunity to go home, in some respects, is a big motivating factor for me,” Willems said. “This new Senate district includes Anamosa and Jones County and Monticello and Delaware County and places, my hometown where my folks still live, places that I grew up with, going to Manchester, going to Monticello for sports or music competitions.”

Citizens United chooses challenger 

A decision by an incumbent to move doesn’t guarantee a victory.

Republican state Sen. Pat Ward moved from West Des Moines to Clive and avoided facing state Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, in the general election.

Ward is confronting a new challenge in Senate District 22, where she will face Jeff Mullen, the lead pastor of Point of Grace Church in Waukee, which hosted several Republican presidential candidates last year.

Citizens United Political Victory Fund, the affiliated political action committee of Citizens United, recently endorsed Mullen and contributed $2,500 to Mullen’s primary election. Citizens United President David Bossie said Mullen “is the conservative candidate in this primary election.”

Ward said 60 percent of the district is made up of people she has represented. She said her track record in the Iowa Senate shows that she’s a conservative Republican, and she criticized the Citizens United donation as out-of-state money for Mullen.

“I’m taking my cues from my voters, not from some national organization,” Ward said. “I don’t know that endorsements mean all that much. I think votes and responsiveness to constituents mean the most. Endorsements are really about money and we’re both going to have to raise a lot of money in this primary.”

Campaign finance reports are due May 19 to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, and again the Friday before the primary.

See the list of candidates for the June 5 primary election:
http://sos.iowa.gov/elections/pdf/2012/primary/candlist.pdf

By Kirsten Adshead | Wisconsin Reporter

Read the full story

By Lynn Campbell  |  Iowa Politics.com

DES MOINES — Iowans who have been fighting city hall, the school board or the state for access to government meetings and records scored a key legislative victory Wednesday.

Read the full story