Sources tell Radio Iowa that in a few minutes the Governor will announce that Michael Blouin will return to his old job as director of the Department of Economic Development. He won’t be getting any more bonuses, however. His annual salary will be $145,000 — but remember there’ll be a new governor in town in January, so Blouin may not be asked to stay on by the new guy.
Ed Fallon sent out an email this am, saying he would be working for Democratic candidates on the ticket this fall, singling out Denise O’Brien and Chet Culver in the first paragraphs. Notable in the bottom of the email: Fallon listed Ako Abdul-Samad as one of the other Democratic candidates for whom he will continue to work. For those of you following the CIETC soap opera, Abdul-Samad is the director of Creative Visions who resigned from the CIETC board after the scandal broke. The City of Des Moines recently froze city support of Creative Visions because there’s no paperwork on file to show how (or whether) the agency helped clients.
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
Its curious that a small town newspaper editor can be beaten to a pulp because of a story he wrote and no other media takes notice. Dan Ehl, editor of the Centerville Iowegian, was in hospital with a broken leg last week after being clobbered by the owner of a bar in Centerville. Is there more to this story?