Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, the first potential 2012 presidential candidate to make more than one visit to Iowa since the November 2008 general election, denied Wednesday that he's running for president but said he came to help and endorse a friend, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats.
"People are reading too much into my being here," Huckabee said. "That's a decision that is way, way off. Right now, the answer is no. I'm helping some other people that are running for offices locally all over the country. My plate's full doing Fox News on the weekends and radio on about 500 stations three times a day, five days a week the rest of the time."
Huckabee spoke at the Iowa Association of Business & Industry annual convention at Okoboji. Later that night, he endorsed Vander Plaats, his former campaign chair, during a fundraiser at the Arnolds Park pavilion. The event featured Huckabee on guitar and Vander Plaats on tambourine. It unofficially kicked off the 2010 Republican gubernatorial campaign, one year in advance of the primary election.
"As long as this guy is going to run for governor, I will be back in Iowa to campaign for him," Huckabee said. "This is a man who knows who he is and what he believes. He won't have to talk to a consultant to find out what he needs to take a position on before he takes the position. Because deep within his soul he knows what he's here for, he knows his purpose in life, he's comfortable in his own skin. And his convictions are not the convictions of convenience; they are convictions of moral clarity and moral courage."
About 300 supporters, including several state legislators, attended the fundraiser. About a dozen Republicans are considering a run for governor, but none has officially begun a campaign. Huckabee pledged his support to Vander Plaats regardless of who else may enter the race.
Vander Plaats told supporters that as governor, he'd have a "steely-eyed focus on opening up Iowa for business" with a competitive business and regulatory climate. He said he'd take bureaucracy out of the classroom and "let teachers teach" again. On health care, he touted personal responsibility and having people in charge of their own health, rather than the government. And in human services, he promoted giving "a hand up, not a hand out."
But Vander Plaats got the most applause for his statements promoting traditional marriage. "Let me be clear. ... I personally believe that marriage is one man and one woman. Period," he said.
State Representative Rod Roberts (R-Carroll) was among those who attended the convention and heard Huckabee speak. He's leaning toward his own run for governor and asserted that Vander Plaats doesn't have a monopoly on Iowa's social-conservative vote.
"No matter how you might want to describe that group within the Republican Party's base -- social conservatives, evangelicals -- it would be wrong to presume that Mr. Vander Plaats has secured that component of the Republican base at this point in terms of support," said Roberts, a development director with the Christian Church of Christ. "I think there are a lot of folks who are very open-minded and willing to consider whatever other candidates come forward."
Whoever wins the Republican primary will have to face Democratic Governor Chet Culver, who on Thursday night held an invitation-only fundraiser. His campaign reported having $1.5 million as of January.
School-Nutrition Guidelines Sent Back to Legislature for More Debate
Continuing controversy over a rule establishing new nutrition standards for food and beverages sold in Iowa schools led a panel of lawmakers this week to refer the issue back to the legislature for further debate.
After a 90-minute discussion, the Administrative Rules Review Committee voted unanimously to send the rule implementing the Healthy Kids Act of 2008 back to committees of the legislature.
"I'm not trying to delay this rule," said Senate President Jack Kibbie (D-Emmetsburg), noting that the State Board of Education had already pushed implementation back a year until July 1, 2010. "We need more discussion on this. This gives time for all parties to provide more comment."
The nutritional standards limit calories, fat, sugar, dietary fiber, and sodium in à la carte items, "snack food" sales in vending machines, and fundraisers aimed at students. Juice must be 100-percent fruit or vegetable juice; soda and other carbonated beverages would be banned. But high-school students would be allowed to have flavored water, sports drinks, coffee, and other caffeinated beverages such as iced tea.
Carol Greta, an attorney with the Iowa Department of Education, said the intent of the rule is to knock out the "truly evil stuff" such as sugary sodas and candy bars -- junk food with no nutritional value. "You will find division among your colleagues," Greta told lawmakers. "There are some who would like no more than skim milk and water in the machines."
"What do you have against carbonation?" asked Representative Dave Heaton (R-Mt. Pleasant). "To me, it looks like there's a bias against bubbles. I understand caffeine. I understand sugar. What's wrong with carbonation?"
Senator Merlin Bartz (R-Grafton) called the rules overkill. "It's creating a food police scenario," said Bartz, who also questioned the one-year delay in implementation. "It kicks the can down the road. If these are truly so good that the department is advocating for them, why are we putting them off for a year?"
Bill Wimmer and Craig Schoenfeld of the Iowa Beverage Association said Iowa's rules go further than national school-beverage guidelines established in 2006 by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which involved the American Beverage Association working with the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation.
"It seems like we're reinventing the wheel," said Representative Linda Upmeyer (R-Garner). "It's not the same wheel. Perhaps we're driving a different vehicle in Iowa."
More Federal Help Announced as Cedar Rapid Marks Flood Anniversary
One year after record Iowa floods put 10 square miles of Cedar Rapids underwater, caused damage estimated at up to $10 billion statewide, and became ranked as the fifth-costliest disaster in U.S. history, frustration remains over red tape in the state's recovery and mitigation efforts.
More than $3 billion has been allocated to Iowa, and nearly $1.9 billion has been approved for use. But just $635 million has been spent, about 21 percent of available funds.
"Here's the tension," explained state Senator Rob Hogg (D-Cedar Rapids). "There are lots of people who are very concerned about state and federal money being used inappropriately, and that's a legitimate concern. But when you're driven with that concern, what gets sacrificed is speed."
Still, the federal government this week announced an additional $516.7 million in block grants and an increase in the federal contribution for debris removal and emergency-protective measures for Iowa, as Cedar Rapids marked the one-year anniversary of last summer's floods.
U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday toured Cedar Rapids neighborhoods to mark the anniversary. Governor Culver, U.S. Representative Dave Loebsack, and Rebuild Iowa Office Executive Director Lieutenant General Ron Dardis joined them on their tour.
The $516.7 million will be used for home buyouts, public-infrastructure projects, assistance to businesses, economic revitalization, and flood mitigation.
Meanwhile, the White House announced Thursday night that President Barack Obama had ordered additional disaster assistance for Iowa by increasing from 90 percent to 100 percent the federal share of funding.
That means the federal government will now pick up the full tab for debris removal and emergency-protective measures.
Legislature Cuts Its Own Budget 10 Percent
The Iowa Legislative Council this week approved a 10.16-percent budget reduction for the Legislative Services Agency and the ombudsman's office. House Speaker Pat Murphy (D-Dubuque) said next year's session will be 10 days shorter, and all legislative employees will be under a pay freeze until at least May 15, 2010.
The council also approved nine legislative studies to be conducted between now and the start of next session, including the State Government Reorganization Committee, the Care of Animals in Commercial Enterprises Study Committee, and the Job Training Needs Study Committee.
All of the committees will meet just one or two days for budgetary reasons, except the Legislative Health Care Coverage Commission, which has a $200,000 budget.
Iowa Seantors Set for Pivotal Roles in Health-Care Debate
Congressional Democrats are rushing to pass a massive overhaul of the nation's health-care industry before the House and Senate adjourn at the end of July, and U.S. Senators from Iowa Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin look to play pivotal roles in the eventual outcome.
While Democratic leaders in the House press ahead with a partisan health-care reform bill, and plan to pass the legislation out of their chamber by the end of next month, their counterparts in the Senate are taking a stab at cobbling together a proposal that can garner significant Republican support. Grassley, as the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is central to that effort, given that Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Montana) is the lead Senate Democrat on health-care reform.
Harkin, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee, is also a key player. With committee chair Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) absent from the Senate with brain cancer, Harkin has taken on added responsibility for developing much of the policy that could end up in the final bill; the plan in the Senate is for that committee and the Finance committee to pass separate bills, and then merge them together into one legislative vehicle for floor consideration.
"We have to have a plan that is reasonable in cost -- that's affordable, that you can get no matter where you live, no matter for whom you work, no matter your pre-existing condition, no matter how often you move, and no matter your age, or your gender or anything," Harkin said Wednesday during a press briefing with Capitol Hill reporters.
Harkin's committee unveiled its bill this week; Grassley's committee is still hammering out the details of its legislation.
Grassley on Wednesday met with President Barack Obama as part of a bipartisan group of four senators who are the most involved in trying to develop the Senate's version of health-care reform.
Obama has demanded that Congress deliver a major health-care reform bill to his desk by October 15, and much of his meeting with the four senators on Wednesday was to impress upon them his desire that they stick to that deadline.
Senators in both parties are still struggling with how to pay for health care, as well as whether to include a government-run, public insurance plan option as a part of reform.
This weekly summary comes from IowaPolitics.com, an online government and politics news service. IowaPolitics.com staff contributed to this report.
