IOWA INSIDER

From my Lee Enterprises colleague Ed Tibbetts at the Quad-City Times —

Bob Vander Plaats, the former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, apologized Friday for a news release sent out with a rather startling headline.

The news release was titled, “Vander Plaats charges Culver with sexual misconduct.”

Vander Plaats, the president of MVP Leadership Inc., was on the GOP gubernatorial ticket in 2006, a ticket that lost to Gov. Chet Culver.

What the news release was reacting to was Culver’s rejection of thousands of dollars in federal money for abstinence-only education.

Vander Plaats said abstinence is the only way to prevent teen pregnancy and disease.

“I think it’s misconduct as it relates to sex education in Iowa,” he said Friday.

He conceded, however, the headline was misleading.

“I take full responsibility for that. That’s not the connotation we want,” he said. “My apologies. I’m glad you called it to my attention early.”

Brad Anderson, a spokesman for Culver, said the headline was “extremely irresponsible” and he defended Culver’s rejection of the money. Anderson said it would tie the hands of the state by requiring it to teach abstinence-only education.

A corrected news release was sent out later with a headline reading: “Vander Plaats charges Culver with ‘sex education’ misconduct.”

Hillary Clinton dismissed the Iowa caucuses after she came in third. But now that she’s facing must-win situations in upcoming contests in Texas and Ohio, she’s asking Iowans to man the phone banks for her last-ditch effort.

From my inbox Friday in an e-mail from former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack entitled “Iowa, Hillary Needs You”

Dear Friend,

Crawford Law Firm
666 Grand Avenue, #1701
Des Moines, IA 50309

It didn’t take GOP operative Tim Albrecht (known as “Timmy” among members of the press corps) to find work after Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign came to an end.

The Republican Party of Iowa on Wednesday named the eternally cheerful Albrecht its new communications director. He replaces Mary Tiffany, who served as the party’s spokesperson during the caucus campaign.

Albrecht, 30, is an Ida Grove native. He most recently served as the Iowa spokesman for Romney’s campaign and stayed on past the caucuses as the national media coordinator. Before that, he served as a press aide for Christopher Rants.

“Tim is a tested, proven communications director, and I look forward to working with him as we focus on the fall campaigns,” said RPI chairman Stewart Iverson. “He brings a wealth of experience and will be instrumental as we share our conservative message to the voters of Iowa.”