Free Republic

DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Iowa first lady Mari Culver has pleaded guilty to public intoxication after troopers saw her stumbling at the Iowa State Fair last month. In a statement Friday, Culver says she's "very disappointed" in herself and it won't happen again. A complaint says an Iowa State Patrol officer observed Culver "stumble into three people" Aug. 19 before contacting her on the Midway.....

COUNCIL BLUFFS — At the moment, outgoing Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has no definitive plans for the future but would like to remain a voice for renewable energy, he said during a farewell stop Wednesday in Council Bluffs. Advertising “I think energy security is the most important issue we're dealing with in this country,” he said. The growth of Iowa's renewable energy industry was his biggest accomplishment during his four years as governor, Culver said. “Today, 20 percent of our power in this state is renewable power, and that's up from 5 percent when I started.”

In the lightning round of yesterday’s final debate in Iowa’s Gubernatorial race, Governor Chet Culver and former Governor Terry Branstad were asked a series of questions by The Des Moines Register’s Kathie Obradovich....

The gubernatorial debate Thursday brings the state spotlight to Cedar Rapids and to host site Coe College. Such high-profile events are a nice way to draw attention to the state’s smaller private colleges and show their importance to Iowa, higher education officials said. “Certainly the big universities get a lot of attention both athletically and academically, with good reason,” Coe political science Professor Bruce Nesmith said. “But we have a lot of good small liberal arts colleges around Iowa and to draw attention to that is pretty important.” Coe plays host to the 7 p.m. gubernatorial debate between Democratic Gov....

The economy Voters are not known for acting rationally when it comes to the state of the economy. Economists recognize the economy has peaks and valleys and that climbing out of a deep valley rarely happens quickly. But voters who are losing their jobs and income often feel powerless, and so they respond in one of the few ways they can — lashing out at the people in power. A strong economy on Election Day rarely helps an incumbent, because the public simply focuses on other issues. However, a weak economy almost always hurts the incumbent, often unfairly. The situation...

Ever since the passage of the Democrats failed stimulus package that saddled Americans with almost a trillion dollars in new debt, there have been widespread reports of abuse. From a ‘tunnel to nowhere’ to international ant research, projects across the country have wasted untold amounts of taxpayer dollars – and now we can see it happening right here in Iowa. Yesterday, Iowa House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen asked the State Auditor’s office to review the circumstances surrounding a real estate company owned by Roxanne and James Conlin receiving more than $1 million in federal stimulus money to purchase an apartment...

Republican Terry Branstad continues to hold a double-digit lead over Democratic incumbent Chet Culver in Iowa’s gubernatorial race. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Branstad picking up 52% support, while Culver gets 36% of the vote. Eight percent (8%) prefer another candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided. Most voters in the state view Branstad as a conservative and Culver as a liberal. Troubling for the incumbent is that nearly half (47%) of Iowa voters think his political views are extreme, compared to 39% who put them in the mainstream. Branstad's views, by contrast, are...

wa Governor Chet Culver said Saturday night the immediate danger near Lake Delhi had passed after a "catastrophic" dam breach sent water spilling downstream and hundreds of people fleeing for safety, The Des Moines Register reported. Culver praised the quick action of emergency personnel in response to the dam break which sent water downstream from the Maquoketa River into the streets of Hopkinton and Monticello. The Iowa National Guard was activated

DES MOINES — A report released to the public Friday by the state auditor finds a number of questionable purchases within the state’s alcoholic beverages division and a failure to follow the state bidding process under the agency’s previous administrator. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division regulates the distribution and sale of alcohol in the state. Some of the questionable purchases by the agency identified in the report include a camper, industrial strength dishwasher for the employee break room, bicycles, high-definition televisions and more than $23,000 of artwork. The audit report covers fiscal year 2008, when former administrator Lynn Walding oversaw...

A briefing book for Iowa Governor Chet Culver -- obtained by POLITICO and posted here -- illustrates the depth of the challenges facing him and other incumbents in a down economy, and his attempts to salvage a second term with a focus on jobs. The 86-page briefing book is a detailed guide for Culver to the 20 stops on the statewide tour announcing his reelection this week, and its loss is an unusual political slip. Its most striking feature is a reminder, stop by stop, of the reason Culver is often viewed as the underdog: The state's rising unemployment. Culver's...

DES MOINES – Gov. Chet Culver today praised the Democratically controlled Legislature for not starting the process to amend the state constitution to declare that civil marriage in Iowa can only legally enjoin one man and one woman. “We stood firm for the civil rights of every Iowan by saying loudly and clearly that any and all efforts to add discriminatory amendments to our state constitution have no place in our state constitution,” Culver said in assessing the 2010 legislative work product. Culver said he personally believe marriage should be between a man and a woman and there has been...

MASON CITY, IOWA -- Republican Terry Branstad's lines have a familiar ring as he campaigns to return to the governor's office after 11 years away.

Jonathan Narcisse, a former Des Moines school board member, will announce Saturday he will challenge Gov. Chet Culver for the Democratic nomination for governor. Narcisse will announce his plans to seek the nomination at a news conference at 10 a.m. at the Bob Mickle Center, 1620 Pleasant St. Narcisse, former co-chairman of the Polk County Democratic Party, has been signaling his interest in running ever since touring the state last fall conducting policy debates with Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Chris Rants of Sioux City. Rants has dropped out of the race for the GOP nomination. It will be the first...

First-term Democratic Gov. Chet Culver is trailing badly in a match-up with one of his Republican predecessors and also running behind a lesser-known GOP challenger, according to a Rasmussen Poll published Feb. 22. Former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad leads Culver 53 percent to 37 percent among likely Iowa voters. Branstad, when first elected, was the youngest governor in Iowa history and subsequently served from 1983 to 1999, longer than anyone else in the state’s history. In a match-up with another Republican, Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats, Culver trails by just four points, 46 percent to 40 percent. Vander Plaats...

Former Gov. Terry Branstad once gave Gov. Chet Culver some sage advice. A severe ice storm hit the state in early 2007. Culver was at a governor’s conference in Washington D.C. just after taking office. “I told him, ‘Get back here as quick as you can and be hands on. What you need to do as governor is reassure people that there’s going to be help provided,’” Branstad said in an interview last month. Now the adviser wants his old job back. According to a poll over the weekend in The Des Moines Register, Branstad would beat Culver 53-33 if...

WASHINGTON D.C. - The planned return of Chicago-Iowa City passenger trains won’t receive federal stimulus money. The Chicago-Iowa City route wasn’t among the corridors sharing $8 billion for high-speed rail projects announced late Wednesday night by the White House. (see full list of the awards) Iowa’s share: $1 million to study an extension of passenger service between Chicago and Omaha via Des Moines, and $17.3 million to install four remote-controlled powered crossovers on the BNSF Railway across southern Iowa. “We’re excited that we got some funding and that will move us a step ahead, but we’re disappointed we didn’t get...

Thanks to the ineptitude of Iowa Governor Chet Culver, the state faces a $1 billion budget deficit in the coming year. Last week, Culver delivered his Condition of the State speech and failed to address any concrete ways to solve the crisis. That is because he has no clue how to solve it. Like any good liberal, when in doubt, head to Washington D.C.and beg for more federal taxpayer dollars...

DES MOINES – The two leading political contenders heading into the 2010 governor’s race flexed their fundraising muscles on Thursday. First, former Gov. Terry Branstad opened the bidding by announcing that he had come out of the fundraising chute fast in his bid to land the Republican gubernatorial nomination – raising more than $1.5 million since mid-October. Not to be outdone in a game of political one-upsmanship, the Culver/Judge Campaign announced it had raised $2.145 million in the past year and Democratic incumbent Gov. Chet Culver enters the election year with $2.59 million on hand. “We are excited and energized...

owa Governor Chet Culver says he plans to use his State of the State address on Tuesday to "set the record straight." Allow me to translate. Setting the record straight for Culver means he will offer a complete distortion of his disastrous tenure. So, instead of listening to the lies he plans to unleash Tuesday morning, please read Chet Culver's real State of the State address, if he bothered to tell the truth.....

A new Des Moines Register poll is great news for Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, as well as GOP gubernatorial hopefuls Terry Branstad and Bob Vander Plaats. It is very bad news for Iowa's current Governor.