IOWA INSIDER

JOHNSTON – U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin thinks the country should have a debate on whether the Medicare program providing health care to U.S. seniors ought to be expanded to cover children as well.

Harkin floated the idea with reporters after a taping Friday of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press.”

“It’s not going to happen overnight. I just think it’s something that we ought to be talking about, and we ought to debate it. And we ought to see what’s the cost, but what’s the savings,” Harkin said.

The Democrat, who is chairman of the Senate committee leading health care reform efforts, said it would help solve the problem of children moving on and off the Medicaid rolls based on their parents’ income.

The Medicaid program has income guidelines for eligibility, while Medicare coverage would not be reserved for low-income families under Harkin’s scenario.

Putting children in the federal Medicare program also would help take the financial burden off states, which pay for a share of Medicaid costs, Harkin said.

He spoke of the administrative problems these state programs face when Medicaid families see a job loss or changes in their income.

“They’re in and out, and in and out. Every time that happens, it’s an administrative nightmare, and it costs a lot of money,” Harkin said.

He compared the idea of opening up Medicare to children to American public schools – available to all regardless of income.

Another idea he said should be discussed is allowing Americans over the age of 50 to buy into Medicare. He used the example of people who work physically demanding jobs and retire early.

“I think that deserves to be discussed too,” Harkin said.

He also talked about allowing states to develop their own single-payer health care system, considering states are often testing grounds for policies.

“This might be a good test to see if it works or not if a state wants to do it,” Harkin said.

He expects the idea will be offered by someone in Senate floor debate.

Harkin predicted that the long-awaited health care reform legislation would land on President Obama’s desk by the end of January.

That’s later than Harkin’s prediction earlier this year that a bill would be finished by Christmas. But Harkin said he believes the plan Congress will pass will include a strong, public health insurance option, which he said has shown support in polls.

“The American people want this,” Harkin said.

DES MOINES – Days before coming to Iowa to headline a Republican Party fundraiser, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was noncommittal about whether he would run for president but didn’t shut the door to a campaign.

In recent weeks, Pawlenty has launched the Freedom First PAC, fueling speculation that he is gearing up for a presidential run in 2012.

Pawlenty appears Saturday at a Republican Party of Iowa gathering at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, where he will keynote the event.

Pawlenty said he’ll make a decision about his future shortly after he finishes out his current term as governor.

“But I haven’t ruled anything in, and I haven’t ruled anything out,” Pawlenty told Iowa reporters on a conference call Wednesday. “I really don’t know the answer to what I’m going to be doing after I’m done being governor.”

Pawlenty said he will speak to issues he thinks are important for the country and on how the Republican Party and GOP candidates can do better.

He said he’s learned lessons being elected and re-elected as a mainstream conservative in Minnesota, which he described as a “pretty liberal state.”

Pawlenty said he’s alarmed by the rate of growth of the federal government, its spending and debt.

“It’s unsustainable, it’s reckless, it’s irresponsible and it needs to stop, and those of us who are concerned about it need to rise up and fight it,” Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty, who serves as vice-chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said GOP wins in Virginia and New Jersey governor races Tuesday were an affirmation of the candidates’ economic policies.

“They spoke to the importance of jobs and the economy, particularly as it relates to training and educating the work force and trying to create an environment where people could have access to a job,” Pawlenty said.

Next year, Pawlenty expects many of the 37 governor’s races on the ballot to be competitive, especially in swing states.

Pawlenty and Sarah Palin were not so lucky after shunning their party’s candidate to back Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in a New York U.S. House race.

Hoffman lost to Democrat Bill Owens Tuesday.

Pawlenty said Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, a moderate who dropped out of the race in the days leading up to the election, had “embraced” the stimulus bill, the bank bailout and “card check” for union elections. He also objected to her selection, which he said was done by a small group of people and was not transparent.

Pawlenty said he doesn’t intend to endorse other conservatives who don’t run on the GOP ticket in 2010.

My Lee colleague Ed Tibbetts of the Quad-City Times has this dispatch from the southeastern part of the state –

A registered lobbyist at the Iowa Legislature has been arrested, accused of threatening to extort $1 million from the conservative Iowans for Tax Relief, authorities said today.

Mary Katheryn Moravek, 51, of Mechanicsville, Iowa, was charged Tuesday with extortion, a Class D felony.

The Muscatine County Attorney’s office said Moravek tried to extort money from the group and its chairman, David Stanley.

The release did not indicate what wrongdoing was being alleged, and an assistant county attorney declined to be more specific.

Ed Failor Jr., president of Iowans for Tax Relief, said today, “All I can tell you is somebody did try to extort our organization, and we turned it over to the authorities.”

Alan Ostergren, an assistant Muscatine County Attorney, said contact in the incident was first made on Monday.

Stanley talked with Moravek on the telephone this morning, and she agreed to accept “$30,000 in lieu of making false allegations of wrongful conduct,” according to the county attorney’s office.

Two Iowans for Tax Relief employees were to meet with Moravek, authorities say. Instead, an undercover sheriff’s detective arrested her about 1 p.m.

Moravek was being held in the county jail while awaiting an initial appearance before a judge.

Ostergren said that wouldn’t happen until Wednesday.

“She was threatening to accuse them of all sorts of things that were false and demand payment not to make those accusations,” Ostergren said today.

He added he didn’t think there was any political motive behind the attempt.

“I think it was more personal for her,” he said.

Moravek was registered as a lobbyist for the Iowa Commission of Persons with Disabilities during this year’s legislative session, according to the legislature’s Web site.

She also is listed as being a member of the organization’s board. The Web site said she was appointed to a two-year term last July.

The penalty for a conviction on a charge of extortion is up to five years in prison and a $7,500 fine.