Des Moines, Iowa - House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines has appointed three local legislators to top posts in the Iowa House for the 2011 legislative session. Rep. Cindy Winckler will be the lead democrat on the House Education Budget Committee, Rep. Jim Lykam will be the top democrat on the House Transportation Committee, and Rep. Phyllis Thede was appointed to lead democrats on the Environmental Protection Committee.

"The Quad Cities will be well-served with these key legislators in top posts in the Iowa House," said McCarthy.  "These dedicated representatives will be key to keeping the state budget balanced while maintaining the key priorities of Iowans."

"I look forward to continuing my leadership role for House Democrats on state education issues," said Winckler. "We will continue to strengthen Iowa's educational system and make sure our kids graduate with the skills needed to land a good-paying job."

"A world-class transportation system is essential to growing Iowa's economy in the 21st Century.  I will do all I can to modernize our transportation infrastructure and keep our roadways safe for Iowans," said Lykam, who will also serve on Commerce, Natural Resources, and the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee.

"I look forward to my new leadership role on the House Environmental Protection Committee.  Iowans in cities and rural areas deserve clean air and water," said Thede.

Rep. Winckler will also serve on Appropriations, Education, and Human Resources.  Rep. Thede was also appointed to serve on Ethics, Local Government, Natural Resources, and the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee.   The 84th General Assembly will convene its first day of session on January 10, 2011.

# # #

TEA PARTY EXPRESS CELEBRATES VICTORIES

Turns Attention to 2012 Elections and Holding 2010 Victors Accountable

The Tea Party Express issued the following statement regarding the 2010 election victories by tea party candidates across the nation:

"The Tea Party Express congratulates the scores of tea party candidates who won campaigns across this country, including hundreds of candidates who were supported by the Tea Party Express and our membership.

"The biggest victory might be the fact that the impact of the tea party movement was so strong that everyone - even many Democrats - started adopting the messaging  and positions of the tea party movement.

"There weren't all that many candidates running on the platform defending tax-spend-bailout policies or big government excess, such as ObamaCare.

"In one race where a candidate turned against the tea party principles, and was closely linked to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the candidate lost.  That candidate was Congressman Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) who had been endorsed by the Tea Party Express in the primary.  After he turned against the Tea Party Express, rejecting our endorsement, accepting the endorsement instead of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and refusing to commit to the repeal of ObamaCare, the Tea Party Express endorsed his Republican challenger, Raul Labrador.  After a late blitz of radio and TV ads by the Tea Party Express opposing Minnick and supporting Labrador, Minnick found himself voted out of office once the election returns came in.

"There were a few races where tea party candidates came up short including Senate races in Delaware and Nevada.  In those races, the tea party candidates had to battle both the Republican and Democrat political establishments during their quests for election victory, and this is exactly as it should be.

"We cannot simply say that the Republican Party's preferred candidate should be the tea party candidate.  Winning Republican control of the Senate at the expense of the platform and principles of the Republican Party is no victory.  Our nation got itself into the mess we face because Republicans sold out their principles and joined Democrats in supporting the policies of tax-spend-bailout.

"The tea party movement will continue to hold both political parties accountable as the 2012 elections approach, and we at the Tea Party Express look forward to building on the election gains of Tuesday, to further strengthen and build the constitutional conservative constituency in the House, Senate and White House in 2012."

What: Iowans For Accountability Scott County Supervisors Candidates
Presenting Research to Tea Party of the Quad Cities Monthly Meeting

When: Tonight, Monday Oct 25th at 6pm

Where: Wise Guys Pizza, 2408 E 53rd Street, Davenport, IA 52807
Who: John Riley, John Green, Jesse Anderson - IFA Candidates

DAVENPORT, IA Oct 25th - After presenting their findings last week (see below), the Iowans For Accountability candidates were invited to make their presentation to the monthly meeting of Tea Party of the Quad Cities attendees, happening tonight at 6pm.  The IFA effort is the first time in Scott County history that a Non Party Political Organization (NPPO) has been formed and nominated independent candidates for the ballot. All three candidates, vying for the three open Supervisor seats, will be available for interviews at the meeting.

Click here for Candidate Profiles and Position Statements

IFA Exposes Alarming Scott County Financials

Independent Iowans For Accountability Supervisor Candidates Present Research on Ten Year's Tax and Spend History, SECC911's Hidden Costs and Proposals For Transparency and Accountability Moving Forward

IFA Concludes Board of Supervisors Either Don't Know or Don't Care


DAVENPORT, IA - OCTOBER 20, 2010:  On Tuesday, two weeks to the day prior to the election, candidates for Scott County Supervisors, running on the Iowans For Accountability (IFA) ticket, along with members of the IFA Central Committee, hosted a news conference at the Downtown Davenport Public Library. (The video archive of this news conference is online at YouTube here.)

The public, as well as the media, were invited to attend and meet and question the candidates after the presentation.

The 30 plus page IFA presentation projected on the screen Tuesday, is available online at www.ScottCountyIFA.com or downloadable as a pdf by clicking here.

The group outlined how and why IFA formed and was placed on the ballot in August of 2010, a first of its kind event in Scott County's history ? and potentially in Iowa's history.

IFA found that historically the Scott County Board of Supervisors have avoided scrutiny, surrendered authority and grown government.

IFA reported that over the last ten years population has grown 5% but annual taxes collected have ballooned 76% and expenditures have grown 59%, since 2000 to over $70M.

IFA also outlined how the Board of Supervisors justified creating the SECC911 consolidated emergency dispatching project as saving taxpayers $4.6M over 20 years. IFA compared and contrasted what taxpayers were told by the Board in 2007 with what the results have been in 2010. Such results include $28M in long term debt, a special levy not subject to caps on taxes and no ceiling on future indebtedness, and a 20% increase in property taxes.

IFA Chairman Michael Elliott stated that, "We are hopeful that voters will embrace the refreshing contrast to politics as usual with IFA.  These three candidates have the skills and experience to be stewards for the county taxpayers. We want to see a change from rubber stamping proposals and spending. For decades now, this lack of engagement by the two-party status quo board members has put Scott County in the hole. We need leadership focused on lifting us out of it as opposed to digging us deeper into debt."

The candidates and attendees discussed the frustrations with the lack of consequences for such poor management of the county's resources. "If a local business or even a major corporation ran their business like this, heads would roll," said candidate John Riley, from Blue Grass. As an self-employed structural engineer, Riley has worked on dozens of municipal projects over the years and has experience keeping construction costs in balance.

The challenges and questions about the emergency communications equipment, including over 1400 $5,500 radios for a county with less than 500 employees, were brought up by candidate John Green, a heavy equipment operator, mechanic and contractor from Davenport. "I want to know more about where these radios are being deployed, who is using and not using them, and what are the details of the county's contract with Racom," Green said.

IFA central committee member and researcher Diane Holst stated it was her understanding that each radio came with a $28/month "tower fee" and that while the $28M in the 19 year bonds included amounts for service contracts, those were only good for 3-5 years and "those costs will eventually have to become part of ongoing operating expenses."

Co-chair of IFA, Mike Angelos stated, "That adds up to close to half a million dollars per year for those radio contracts."

LeClaire native and chief operating officer for his family's agribusiness, Jesse Anderson, also an IFA Supervisor candidate on the ballot, outlined his vision for a zero based budgeting policy moving forward. "If this SECC911 has such a mandate for spending that has been outsourced to a new taxing authority, and is going to cost us an additional $8M per year, then we need to find ways to cut expenses elsewhere. I'd like to see us get our expenses down to 2005 levels, that was the lowest level we have been at in the last ten years."

Anderson commented on a quarter million dollar SECC grant contingent provision for geothermal technology that was rescinded as the grant process took too long for construction efforts saying, "They took a gamble on our dollar and lost. They didn't get the grant they had hoped for and now we're stuck with the bill. This is why we need zero based budgeting; It's the fiscally responsible thing to do."

The IFA presentation also included ways an IFA led board of supervisors could protect taxpayers and create more transparent and accountable government. These dozen ideas were presented as a slide show and discussed at the news conference. ?
Some of the proposed measures include :

• Zero based budgeting to reduce expenditures
• Ensure remedies for any front line responders concerns with new SECC911 equipment
• Increase awareness and publicity for board meetings, including implementing a Public with Business line item on the agendas
• Webcast all public meetings and improve search ability of public documents on the website

For the full text and graphics of the presentation visit www.ScottCountyIFA.com or click here and download the presentation PDF.

A "Meet the Candidates" profile sheet is available at the website or by clicking here to download the PDF.

For more information on Iowans For Accountability visit www.ScottCountyIFA.com