Former high school teacher & coach, times two

Iowa Governor Chet Culver often reminds audiences that he is a former teacher and coach.  Bob Vander Plaats was a Republican candidate for governor in 2002 and 2006; he was the GOP's lieutnenant governor nominee in 2006 and he is a likely candidate for governor in 2010.  Vander Plaats is also a former teacher and coach. (Vander Plaats also played on the first boy's basketball team from his high school (Sheldon) to reach the state tournament.)

Today, Vander Plaats held a statehouse news conference to again urge Governor Chet Culver to issue an executive order on the gay marriage issue.  Culver's deputy chief of staff, Phil Roeder, issued a statement in response. 

Governor Culver, during an improptu news conference following a bill signing ceremony in his office, had this to say in response to a question about Vander Plaats' statements today.  "I do know that he said something about silence, and I think he must have been talking about Senator Grassley because Senator Grassley has said he needs a month to decide what his position is on that," Culver said.

Has your legal counsel told you that you can't issue an executive order?

"Exactly," Culver said. "Basic Government 101 has a separation of powers between three co-equal branches of government, so Mr. Vander Plaats is suggesting we do something that we don't have the authority under the constitution to do."

Is this something you used to teach?

"Absolutely, it's Government 101," Culver said. "So I think it's important that we respect the powers of the three branches and I think if candidate is serious about running for governor, they should know about those powers and the separate of powers, so hopefully he'll learn something about this and not continue to suggest we do things in the executive branch that we don't have the authority to do."

FYI:  I have asked the Vander Plaats campaign for electronic versions of the documents they handed out at today's 11:30 a.m. news conference and will post those when, if they arrive in my inbox.

UPDATE: Here is the letter from Vander Plaats to Culver, followed by the draft executive order which Vander Plaats proposed (with notes):

The Honorable Chet Culver
Governor’s Office
Statehouse
Des Moines, IA  50319

April 23, 2009

Dear Governor Culver,

I am writing today in response to your contention that the April 3 opinion issued by the Iowa Supreme Court pertaining to the issuance of same-sex marriages is now the law of our state and that you have no authority to intervene.

I have worked with a team of attorneys for more than a week, reviewing the Iowa Constitution and crafting an executive order that would stay same-sex marriages in Iowa and withstand a legal challenge until either the General Assembly or the people of Iowa are giving the opportunity to have their say.  The constitution does not grant the Supreme Court the power to write, amend or strike legislative law; only the Legislature has such power.  And, only a vote of the people can change our state constitution.

Our state’s 99 county recorders are now caught between a rock and a hard place.  They’re being threatened with legal action from our state attorney general if they don’t comply with a court opinion that does not carry constitutional weight to change our marriage laws. I believe you have a legal and moral responsibility to take that burden off them and issue a stay on same-sex marriages in Iowa until this matter can be resolved by the only two authorities in the state legally qualified to resolve it: The General Assembly or the people of Iowa.

On behalf of the majority of Iowans who recognize the court clearly overstepped its bound and desire a voice on this most fundamental societal matter, I strongly urge you to sign the enclosed executive order prior to Monday, April 29.  We also stand ready to work with you and your staff should you have any questions about legal moorings of this document.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Bob Vander Plaats

PROPOSED EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER ONE
 
WHEREAS, on Friday, April 3, 2009, the Supreme Court of Iowa rendered its opinion in Varnum v. Brien In His Official Capacities as the Polk County Recorder and Polk County Registrar (No.07/1499) that Iowa Code section 595.2 violates the “equal protection provision” of the Iowa Constitution and,
 
            WHEREAS, the  Court  has unconstitutionally exercised legislative power in that its opinion purports to order that “the language in Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman must be stricken from the statute”;  and
{NOTES: Article III, Section 16 “Every bill which shall have passed the general assembly, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor.  If he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his objections, to the house in which it originated, which shall enter the same upon their journal, and proceed to reconsider it; if, after such reconsideration, it again pass both houses, by yeas and nays, by a majority of two thirds of the members of each house, it shall become a law;”}
            WHEREAS, the Court has unconstitutionally exercised executive power in that its opinion purports to order that “the remaining statutory language must be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage”; and
{NOTES: Article IV, Section 1 “The supreme executive power of this state shall be vested in a chief magistrate, who shall be styled the governor of the state of Iowa.” Article IV, Section “He shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed.”
WHEREAS, the court has unconstitutionally exercised the power of the people to amend the Constitution, in the opinion purports to rest upon the justices’ evolving “doctrine of equal protection,” a doctrine that changes the meaning of “equality” with “each generation,” in conflict with the enduring principals of the equal privileges and immunities guarantee, as established by the People in Article I, Section 6 of the Iowa Constitution; and
{NOTES: Article I, Section 6 “All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation; the general assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens;” Article X, Section 1 “Any amendment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the general assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature to be chosen at the next general election, and shall be published, as provided by law, for three months previous to the time of making such choice; and if, in the general assembly so next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to, by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the general assembly to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner, and at such time as the general assembly shall provide; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of the constitution of this state.”
            WHEREAS, neither Brien, in his official capacities as Polk County Recorder and Polk County Registrar nor any other County Recorder and Registrar has any constitutional or legal authority to strike language from Iowa Code section 595.2 nor to apply said Code section in any manner except as it is enacted into law by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor, nor otherwise to comply with the Court’s unconstitutional amendment to the Constitution; and 
{NOTES: Article III, Section 16 “Every bill which shall have passed the general assembly, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor.  If he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his objections, to the house in which it originated, which shall enter the same upon their journal, and proceed to reconsider it; if, after such reconsideration, it again pass both houses, by yeas and nays, by a majority of two thirds of the members of each house, it shall become a law. notwithstanding the governor's objections;” Article X, Section 1 “Any amendment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the general assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature to be chosen at the next general election, and shall be published, as provided by law, for three months previous to the time of making such choice; and if, in the general assembly so next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to, by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the general assembly to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner, and at such time as the general assembly shall provide; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of the constitution of this state.” }
WHEREAS, the Court has misused its judicial power, by unconstitutionally exercising: (a) legislative authority vested by Article III, Section 1 of the Iowa Constitution in the General Assembly; (b) the supreme executive authority vested by Article IV, Section 1 of the Iowa Constitution in the Governor; and (c) the constitutional amending authority vested by Article X of the Iowa Constitution in the People; and
{NOTES: Article III, Section 1 “The powers of the government of Iowa shall be divided into three time of making such choice; and if, in the general assembly so next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to, by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the general assembly to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner, and at such time as the general assembly shall provide; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of the constitution of this state;” Article X, Section 3 “At the general election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred and seventy, and in each tenth year thereafter, and also at such times as the general assembly may, by law, provide, the question, "Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution, and propose amendment or amendments to same?" shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting at such election, for and against such proposition, shall decide in favor of a convention for such purpose, the general assembly, at its next session, shall provide by law for the election of delegates to such convention, and for submitting the results of said convention to the people, in such manner and at such time as the general assembly shall provide; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly, voting thereon, such amend
ment or amendments shall become a part of the constitution of this state.  If two or more amendments shall be submitted at the same time, they shall be submitted in such a manner that electors may vote for or against each such amendment separately.”}
 
 
WHEREAS, by supplanting the General Assembly and the Governor by its exercise of the powers vested in the legislative and executive departments, the Court as a member of the judicial department has breached Article III of the Iowa Constitution which states that “no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any function appertaining to either of the others”; and
 
{NOTES: Article III, Section 1 “The powers of the government of Iowa shall be divided into three separate departments – the legislative, the executive, and the judicial:  and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any function appertaining to either of the others, except in cases hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.”}
 
WHEREAS, by supplanting the right of the people to amend the Constitution,  the court has breached Article I, Section 2 of the Iowa Constitution which states that “All political power is inherent in the people” who alone have the right to “alter or reform” there government “whenever the public good may require it.”
 
{NOTES: Article I, Section 2 “All political power is inherent in the people.  Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they have the right, at all times, to alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may require it.”
 
NOW THEREFORE I, Governor ________________,by the power vested in me under Article IV, Section 1 of the Iowa Constitution, as chief magistrate with the supreme executive power of the State of Iowa; and,
 
{NOTES: Article IV Section 1 “The supreme executive power of this state shall be vested in a chief magistrate, who shall be styled the governor of the state of Iowa”}
 
PURSUANT to Article 4, Section 9 of the Iowa Constitution charging me as Governor with the solemn duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed,
 
{NOTES: Article IV, Section 9 “He (the Governor) shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed.”}
 
IN ORDER TO preserve, protect and defend the distribution of the powers of government into three separate departments the legislative, the executive and the judicial secured by Article 3 of the Iowa Constitution;
 
{NOTES: Article III, Section 1 “The powers of the government of Iowa shall be divided into three separate departments – the legislative, the executive, and the judicial:  and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any function appertaining to either of the others, except in cases hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.”
 
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the opinion of the Supreme Court of Iowa in the case of Varnum v. Brien(No.07,1499),not be enforced as law; and,
 
{NOTES: Pursuant to the powers of the Governor; Article IV, Section 1 “The supreme executive power of this state shall be vested in a chief magistrate, who shall be styled the governor of the state of Iowa;” Article IV, Section 8 “He (the Governor) shall transact all executive business with the officers of government, civil and military, and may require information in writing from the officers of the executive department upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices;” Article IV, Section 9 “He (the Governor) shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed.”}
 
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the 99 Iowa County Recorders comply with Iowa Code Section 595.2 as enacted into law by the General Assembly on the fourteenth day of April, nineteen hundred and ninety eight and signed by the Governor on fifteenth day of April, in the year nineteen hundred and ninety eight.
 
{NOTES: Article III, Section 16 “Every bill which shall have passed the general assembly, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor.  If he approve, he shall sign it” Original bill: House File 382: Was passed by the Iowa House by a vote of 86 – 8 on March 11th, 1998. Passed the Iowa Senate by a vote of 40 -9 on March 26th, 1998. Signed by the Speaker of the House and Senate President on April 14th, 1998. Signed by the Governor of Iowa on April 15th, 1998.}
 
IN TESTIMONY WHERE OF, I have here unto subscribed my name and caused the Great Seal of Iowa to be affixed. Done in Des Moines this twenty third day of April, in the year of two thousand nine.
 
 
 
______________________________________________________
Governor of Iowa
 
 
{NOTES: The Iowa Constitution defines the Jurisdiction of the Supreme Courts under Article V, Section 4 “The supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction only in cases in chancery, and shall constitute a court for the correction of errors at law, under such restrictions as the general assembly may, by law, prescribe; and shall have power to issue all writs and process necessary to secure justice to parties.”}