Iowa House Democrats elect new assistant leaders
October 2, 2009 by O.Kay Henderson · Leave a Comment
The 56 Democrats in the Iowa House are meeting in private today in Grinnell. They’ve elected two new assistant leaders to replace Representative Mike Reasoner, a Democrat from Creston who resigned from the job of assistant leader last spring, and (former) Representative John Whitaker, a Democrat from Hillsboro who resigned from the House to take a job in the U.S.D.A. Whitaker is now serving as the head of the Farm Service Agency in Iowa.
Whitaker and Reasoner are being replaced by Representatives Dave Jacoby of Coralville and Sharon Steckman of Mason City. (Read the news release below about Steckman & Jacoby.)
Representative Polly Bukta of Clinton remains as House Speaker Pro Tempore. Representatives Ako Abdul-Samad of Des Moines and Representative Eleisha Gayman of Davenport remain as assistant leaders. (Gayman has ruffled some feathers with her consulting work for the Iowa Federation of Labor, but she did not lose her leadership post.)
Reaction to Culver’s cash transfer
September 25, 2009 by O.Kay Henderson · Leave a Comment
Earlier today, Governor Culver’s staff announced the governor had transfered $45.3 million from the state’s cash reserve to balance the books on FY09.
Democrats control the debate agenda in the Iowa Legislature because Democrats occupy a majority of seats in both the Iowa House and Senate. None of the top Democrats issued a statement. Instead, the chair of the committee in the House that drafts the state budget issued a statement. Republican legislators and a GOP gubernatorial candidate issued statements, too. Read all below.
