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and information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns
and issues IOWA
MORNING REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever. Our
Mission: To hold the Democrat presidential
candidates accountable for their comments
and allegations against President George W.
Bush, to make citizens aware of false
statements or claims by the Democrat
candidates, and most especially, to defend
the Bush Administration and set the record
straight when the Democrats make false
or misleading statements about the
Bush-Republican record.
Thursday,
May 15, 2003 Top
headline on Business section of today’s Des
Moines Register: GENERAL
NEWS: Among
the offerings in this morning’s
update: ...
Kerry
postpones scheduled appearance in Des
Moines today to outline health care
plan, returns to DC for tax cut vote ...
Former
Harkin press secretary to become Dean campaign
spokeswoman ...
Edwards
becomes “early target”
of conservative, pro-business group, anti-Edwards
billboards appearing in IA and NH ...
Lieberman
hissed and jeered in New York City while
discussing his Iraq war position before young
Dems ...
Graham
says Bush administration’s focus on Iraq
contributed to bombings in Saudi Arabia on
Monday ...
Columnist
Dick Morris: Gephardt has dug
“early grave” – missed 84%
of House votes so far this year…And
Gephardt missed three more votes Tuesday
night. ...
Edwards:
Livestock producing states will suffer if Bush
administration is successful in rolling back
air-quality regulations, charges EPA
holding secret meetings with factory-farm
producers ...
It’s
high school graduation time in Iowa: Seven
LeMars students go to federal court seeking
“moment of silence” during graduation
ceremony ...
NY
Post columnist: Dems see health care as “a
hot issue a decade after the debacle of the
Bill and Hillary Clinton push for
universal coverage.” ...
Three
men charged with supplying beer for western
Iowa teen party that resulted in student’s
death ...
July
election set for riverboat gambling on Okoboji
& Iowa Great Lakes ...
Iowaism:
ISU mushroom expert says bountiful season
about to end All
these stories below and more. Morning
report:
...
More
on Gephardt’s voting record
– The Morris numbers on Gephardt’s voting record are already outdated.
The
“no show” congressman from the Show-Me
State missed three more votes on Tuesday night.
The Gephardt vote
wouldn’t have made much difference since
they were by overwhelming margins, but
that’s missing the point – which,
as Morris noted, is that Gephardt isn’t
there,
but
is still getting paid for being there.
...
The
Quad-City Times reported yesterday – under
the headline, “Edwards accuses EPA of
secret talks” – that Edwards said
leading livestock producing states like Iowa
“will suffer if the Bush administration is
successful in rolling air-quality regulations
for livestock confinements …Edwards is
accusing the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, or EPA, of secretly negotiating
with the hog industry to protect large factory
farms from air-quality regulations.” The
Times report said Edwards alleged the
EPA is set to grant immunity to
large-scale livestock producers
from Clean Air Act regulations if they agree
to be part of an air-quality monitoring
effort. Reporter Charlotte Eby reported Edwards
based his accusations on recent New York
Times reports and that, in a conference call
with Iowa reporters, he said: “What
they’re doing is cutting secret deals in
the middle of the night that threaten the air
and also the health of thousands of people in
rural Iowa and rural North Carolina.” He
is a U.S. Sen from NC – the home, like IA,
of a major pork production industry.
...
Headline from this morning’s Union Leader
online in New Hampshire: “Dean taps
Harkin press secretary” Dean has
hired Tricia Enright -- former press secretary
for IA Sen Harkin – to join his
campaign operation at its new headquarters in
South Burlington, Vermont this week. Enright
worked in the 2000 Gore presidential campaign.
This
morning’s headlines: ...
Top
front-page headline, Des Moines Register: “17
found dead in trailer at Texas truck stop” ...
Quad-City
Times, main online story: “Iraqis sift
mass graves” ...
Daily
Iowan (University of Iowa), top online
world/national headline: “Saudi security
lax, U.S. says” ...
Top
story, Sioux City Journal online: “Senate
Democrats want to replace state aid to local
governments” (More below.) ...
Omaha
World-Herald, main online head: “Saudis
say security for foreigners was lagging” ...
Chicago
Tribune, top headlines: “China Threatens
to Execute SARS Spreaders” & “Judge
refuses to block hazing suspension” A
Cook County judge yesterday refused to bar
Glenbrook North High School from suspending a
student who allegedly participated in hazing
earlier this month.
...
Sioux City Journal reports that a 7/8
election has been set for Dickinson County
(Spirit Lake) voters to decide whether to
allow gambling on area lakes – including
Lake Okoboji and other Iowa Great Lakes. The date was set after the county board of supervisors received a
petition with required number of signatures
– although there is currently a moratorium
on new gambling licenses in the state. Local
backers of a riverboat said, however, they
want to be prepared if licenses become
available in the future.
Iowa
Briefs/Updates: ...
News
reports and newscasts report that Webster
County (Fort Dodge) sheriff Charles
Griggs, 63, is expected to remain on the job
– despite being charged with theft,
misconduct and tampering with records. The
charges were filed after a state audit claimed
that Griggs had used $10,000 in county money
for personal items. ...
VOANews
(Voice of America) headline: “Russian
Duma Ratifies Nuclear Arms Treaty”
Excerpt: “Russia’s lower house of
parliament has ratified a key nuclear arms
reduction treaty with the United States after
a nearly two-month delay because of Russian
opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq …The
treaty, already ratified by Congress, requires
the United States and Russia to cut their
strategic nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.” ...
On
the school prayer front: The Sioux City
Journal reports that seven LeMars High
School seniors have sued the school district –
claiming an administrative decision not to
allow them 30 seconds of silence at graduation
violates their right to free speech. The
students are seeking a temporary restraining
order in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to
prevent the school from denying the senior
class a moment of silence at the 5/25
graduation ceremony. Journal staff writer Nick
Hytrek wrote that the “controversy revolves
around the words of LeMars High school
principal Larry Johnson who, while overseeing
a senior class meeting April 10, told
dissenting students that they had just voted
for ‘a moment of silence for prayer or
silent reflection’ …On April 11, two
students who objected to the moment of silence
met with Superintendent Todd Wendt and
demanded that he overrule the class vote. Wendt
did so, responding to moment-of-silence
supporters on April 14 that because Johnson
mentioned the word prayer, the 30-second time
period had become unconstitutional.” ...
In
the Sioux City Journal this morning, Todd
Dorman reports that Democrats in the Iowa
Senate indicated yesterday they would push for
action during the upcoming special session to
erase a planned $60 million cut in state aid
to local governments. The Dems argue that
a potential package of federal aid to states
struggling with budget woes would provide
enough money to fill in for the local cuts.
Communities across the state have warned of
extensive program cutbacks and layoffs because
of the $60 million reduction in state aid to
municipalities. ...
This
morning’s Des Moines Register editorials:
State issue -- “Keep Values Fund as Job 1
…The Senate Republican plan looks like
progress, though the trade-offs involved are
troubling.” & “Defeating the
terrorists …A greater global effort is
essential, because America can’t win this
war alone.” ...
Register
columnist David Yepsen, headline: “Think
green (trees, plants), not gray (wall-to-wall
concrete)” Says communities and
neighborhoods could be more attractive by
adding more trees and plants. ...
Citizen
comment from Sioux City Journal online: “The
precious freedoms of religion, conscience,
speech, press and others which we enjoy have
once again been protected by our military –
all blessing of a loving God who is to be
praised. May He continue to bless America.”
Alberta Kautsch, Ida Grove ...
Headline
in this morning’s Des Moines Register: “IT’S
WAYNE’S WORLD …Morgan recruits, but can he
coach?” It’s official – the Great
Iowa State Coach Search is over with hiring of
ISU one-year assistant as new head basketball
coach. ...
The
Iowa softball team opens play today in the
NCAA regional tournament in Lincoln, Neb. The
Hawks, seeded third in the regional, play
sixth-seeded Pacific. If Iowa wins the
regional, it would be the fifth time since
1995 the Hawks have advanced to the softball
World Series. ...
Radio
Iowa reported that Briar Cliff University
in Sioux City – which has been known as
an outstanding basketball school over the past
several years – will embark on a new
challenge next fall by fielding a varsity
football team. The Chargers will become
part of the Great Plans Conference and opens
the 2003 season on 9/6 with a home game
against Northwestern College of Orange City.
Coach Dick Strittmatter has 29 years of head
coaching experience, but this is the first
time he’s started a program from scratch.
Briar Cliff was 6-3 playing a club schedule
last fall. ...
Budget cuts & coaches cut. The
Marshalltown school board has fired three
high school assistant coaches and decided
to leave several open coaching positions
unfilled in a move to save about $25,000.
Assistant coaches in boys’ basketball,
girls’ track and girls basketball were cut
in the budget reduction process, and eight
other assistant coaching jobs will not be
filled.
... DSM
5 a.m. 54, overcast. Temps across IA in narrow
range this morning – from 47 in Ottumwa
and 48 in Dubuque and Clinton to
54 in Des Moines, Burlington
and Ames. Today’s high 70, partly
sunny. Tonight’s low 50, partly cloudy.
Friday’s high 72, partly sunny.
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“Gas prices decline after war
...
Analyst
says lower crude oil inventories keep Iowa
rates up 10 cents from ‘02” Meanwhile, the
morning team on WHO Radio is fielding calls
from listeners about gas prices going up 10-
to 12- to 15-cents overnight
Bush
Omaha visit update:
Apparent possible success. Several news
reports indicate that Neb. Dem Sen. Nelson
said yesterday he may become the decisive
50th vote for a GOP-backed amendment that
would phase in GWB’s proposed elimination of
taxation on dividend income. The reports say
Nelson has been working with Iowa GOP Sen. Grassley,
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to
develop a proposal acceptable to Nelson –
such as providing directing more dollars to
the states. (That’s right. Nelson was the
Cornhusker gov before being elected to the
Senate.)
...
Kerry
– who was scheduled to announce an $80
billion health care plan at a Des Moines
hospital today – has postponed the planned
high-profile event to return to Washington for
votes on the tax cut package. Aides
indicated he hopes to reschedule the health
care announcement tomorrow. In an interview
with AP’s Mike Glover in DSM, Kerry
“sought to cast the schedule shift in the
best possible light, scrubbing an important
campaign event for a vote on principle.
‘The tax bill is so important to all the
things we need to do as a country,’ said Kerry,
arguing the tax cuts made dealing with health
care issues vastly more complicated.” 
...
On
FrontPageMagazine.com, political
columnist/consultant Dick Morris wrote: “’Presidential
candidate and former House Democratic leader
Richard Gephardt
has
dug
himself
an
early
grave
in his pursuit of the White House. During his
campaign, since the first of the year, he has missed 84 percent of the votes in the House of Representatives,
showing up for fewer than one vote out of
every five. Gephardt
did
not do the honest thing and resign since he
wasn’t planning to show up for work. Instead,
he let us continue to pay him his $154,700
salary. At
more than $5,000 per vote, the American people
might find him a trifle expensive.”
The Morris column continued to list a series
of key votes on tax, family and education
issues that Gephardt
missed,
and added: “When
the presidential campaign begins in earnest,
he’ll eat every one of these votes for
breakfast, served up in negative ads. Nothing
works on the campaign trail like attacks on
candidates for bad attendance.”
He also noted that Gephardt’s
competitors
have found time to vote – Edwards
has made 87% of the Senate votes, Lieberman
(77%), and Kerry (60%). Morris
writes: “If these folks can show up, why
can’t Gephardt?…But
Gephardt asks us to promote him based on a
record of truancy in his current job. Most
voters won’t see a reason to do so.” 
...
Under
the headline “Edwards an early target,”
the News & Observer of Raleigh reported
that a “conservative pro-business group is taking whacks at U.S. Sen. John Edwards, both at home in North Carolina
and on the presidential campaign trail.”
The Raleigh newspaper’s DC
correspondent, John Wagner, reported yesterday
that “Americans
for Job Security sponsored
a full-page ad in The News & Observer on
Tuesday suggesting
the politically ambitious Edwards had sold out
to trial lawyers and forgotten the people
he’s supposed to be serving back home.
The group, with headquarters in Alexandria,
Va., is also paying
for billboards near the largest airports”
in Iowa and New Hampshire. Wagner wrote that
the billboards – which are scheduled to be
posted for several months – will “portray Edwards as an obstacle to tort reform …As
a senator, Edwards
has
endorsed some legal reforms, including
screening medical malpractice cases to cut
down on frivolous cases. Unlike President
Bush, however, Edwards
opposes
capping jury awards in malpractice cases.”
Associated Press reported the Job Security
initiative also will sponsor “a TV ad the
group hopes to air in Charlotte and Raleigh.
All of them skewer Edwards,
a Democrat presidential candidate, for his ties to trial lawyers and his opposition to placing caps on jury
awards …[The
TV ad] also criticizes Edwards
for buying a $3.8 million house in Georgetown,
voting with liberal Sens. Ted Kennedy and
Hillary Clinton, and opposing President
Bush’s tax cuts.”
AP also reported that Americans for Job
Security was founded by the American Insurance
Assn. 
...
Graham
wasted
little time blaming
the Bush administration’s efforts in Iraq
for contributing to the bombings in Saudi
Arabia on Monday.
Graham,
who has registered almost daily accusations
since announcing his candidacy that the Bush
team has ignored terrorism, was quoted in
yesterday’s Washington Times as saying, “It
[the bombing] could have been avoided if you
actually crushed the basic infrastructure of
al Qaeda. They would not have had the
capability to launch such a sophisticated
attack.”
Graham,
a
former chairman of the Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence, said: “I think from the
beginning of the war in Afghanistan, which was
in early October of 2001, until about February
or March of 2002, we were making good progress
in dismantling the basic structure of al Qaeda.
Then
we started to redirect our attention to Iraq,
and al Qaeda was regenerated.”
The Times also reported that Senate GOP Leader
Frist, although he hadn’t heard Graham’s
report,
said he would “wholeheartedly
disagree” with the accusation. 
...
Headline
from yesterday’s The Union Leader online:
“Lieberman still jeered for supporting
war” Associated Press coverage from New
York City by Nedra Pickler: “A month after
the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime,
presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman’s
hawkish stance on Iraq remains unpopular with
some Democratic audiences. The Connecticut
senator trumpeted his vote to give President
Bush the authority to strike Baghdad in a
speech Tuesday night to young Democratic
voters and was interrupted by hissing.
‘I understand,’ he said loudly in the
microphone so he could be heard over the
jeers. ‘That is not the first time I’ve
been booed or heckled. But here’s what I
want to say – I don’t go shading it by
saying, ‘Yeah, I voted for it but, you know,
I didn’t really believe it.’’ Lieberman
did not criticize his rivals for the 2004
Democratic presidential nomination, but in the
past he has accused Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry
of being ambivalent about the war. Kerry
voted for the war resolution but
criticized Bush for not lining up more
international cooperation before launching
military strikes.” 
...
New
York Post columnist Deborah Orin – under the
headline, “Doc Dean Unveils Health-Care
Operation” – wrote: “Democratic 2004
presidential candidate Howard Dean yesterday
[Tuesday] outlined a plan to expand health
care with a novel twist that penalizes
companies that don’t provide it. Dean, a
doctor and former governor of Vermont, became
the second Democratic contender to present a
health plan. Sens. John Kerry (Mass.)
and Joe Lieberman (Conn.) will offer
their ideas next week, showing Democrats
see health care as a hot issue a decade after
the debacle of the Bill and Hillary Clinton
push for universal coverage. ‘In the
richest and most advanced country in the 21st
century, it’s unbelievable that a sick child
can go without seeing a doctor because her
parents can’t afford it,” Dean said
at Columbia University. His plan would cover
those up to age 25 with limited income, let
small business buy into government-style
plans, and punish big firms that don’t
provide it by limiting their tax deductions
and government contracts. Dean says
his plan would cost $88 billion a
year.” 
...
Three
adults have been charged – and face at
least five years in prison, if convicted –
of supplying beer for a high school party
in the small western IA town of Hancock that
resulted in the death of a student. KETV-TV
of Omaha reported that Tracy Cleavland, 30, of
Oakland and Michael McSorley, 21, of Council
Bluffs were charged with providing
alcohol to a minor. An arrest warrant has been
issued for Christopher Matejka, 27, of Omaha,
Neb., on a similar charge. Authorities said
Cleavland was a passenger in a car that struck
Riverside High School senior Tyson McCain, 18,
who was found injured along a rural road and
died the following day. 
...
Morel
mushroom season just about
over. Radio Iowa reported that Iowa State
University mushroom expert Lois Tiffany says
perfect weather conditions resulted in a
bountiful mushroom season – but it is
likely to end this week, depending on the
weather. She said a four-week run is about
normal for the season, and if the temperature
gets up into the 80s the mushrooms don’t
stay out. Other notes: Trees are essential for
good mushrooming …Tiffany says morels can
grow in any wooded area, although they are
less likely to grow in the northwest part of
the state …She said they did a 10-year
morel survey a couple years ago and received
samples from almost every county in the state.
to read past Iowa Morning Reports