IOWA INSIDER

DES MOINES – Gov. Chet Culver and the union representing the largest group of Iowa’s state employees announced an agreement to save nearly 500 state jobs by imposing furloughs and benefit reductions.

The deal with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61 must still be approved by the union’s membership. Voting is expected to begin no later than Nov. 19.

The agreement includes five mandatory unpaid furlough days between now and June 30, which is expected to save about $22.7 million.

The state’s contribution to employees’ deferred compensation also will be temporarily suspended until June 30, for a savings of $3.7 million.

The total savings of $26.4 million is expected to save 479 AFSCME jobs. Culver sought concessions from the union in order to avoid the layoffs of state workers, especially state troopers and correctional officers working in state prisons.

Under the terms of the agreement, no member of the union who is an executive branch employee can be laid off until June 30, the end of the current fiscal year. Employees outside the bargaining units who are laid off will not be allowed to displace AFSCME employees.

“I want to thank the leadership at AFSCME for joining with us to save these essential public service jobs,” Culver said in a statement. “This understanding will help preserve vital services for Iowans while meeting our obligation to balance the state budget. This is a positive step forward and I encourage the membership to vote yes on this measure.”
Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan said the union worked with Culver to save as many jobs as possible.

“We thank the governor for giving us the opportunity to sit down with him and have input on this issue,” Homan said in a statement. Homan has scheduled a news conference this afternoon to discuss the agreement.

DES MOINES – Des Moines lawyer and Democrat Roxanne Conlin officially filed papers today to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Chuck Grassley.

Conlin, 65, is a well-known Democratic activist who was the party’s nominee for governor in 1982. That year she became the first woman candidate for governor on a major party ticket.

In a video on her campaign Web site www.roxanneforiowa.com, Conlin rails against career politicians in Washington and the bailout they gave banks and financial companies.

“Taking on the special interests has been the cause of my life. I’m running for U.S. Senate to take this fight to Washington,” Conlin says on the video.

The video highlights Conlin’s humble roots, beginning a job as a waitress at the age of 14 and working her way through college and law school.

Conlin highlights her legal career in the appeal to voters, noting that as a federal prosecutor she “took on drug dealers, corrupt politicians and corporations who violated the public trust.”

She said she later started a law firm to give a voice to “everyday people who had none” including fighting banks when farmers were at risk of foreclosure.

“Join me in taking on this fight because the special interests have had their turn,” she said. “Now it’s our turn.”

Democrats Bob Krause of Fairfield, a former member of the Iowa House, and former state senator Tom Fiegen of Clarence also have announced their intentions to run for the seat.

DES MOINES – Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty delivered a tough critique of the Obama administration and a Congress he said is dramatically off course in the keynote speech at an Iowa GOP fundraiser Saturday night.

As speculation builds that he will make a presidential bid in 2012, Pawlenty sought to highlight his conservative credentials before a crowd of roughly 700 Iowa Republicans who gathered to hear him and the party’s six gubernatorial candidates.

With unemployment over 10 percent, Democrats in Congress around are messing around with a “miserable” health care bill and a cap and trade bill, Pawlenty said.

“They should be focused like a laser on jobs, not acting like a manure spreader in a windstorm,” Pawlenty said.

As the GOP comes off wins in governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey Tuesday, Pawlenty urged Republicans in the audience to do more than just be critics.

“We have a tremendous opportunity as the country sees now that what Barack Obama, President Obama, promised is not being delivered, and they see the dangerous leftward tilt that he’s trying to take the country, there’s an opportunity for conservatives to rally and show the country a better way,” Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty has recently formed a political action committee and said he’ll make a decision about his future after finishing out his current term as governor.

Former state Republican chairman Chuck Larson, who was a senior adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, said no potential 2012 candidate has an edge with Iowa Republicans.

“At this point in time, Iowans are going to begin the slow process of getting to know all of the candidates and their accomplishments,” Larson said.

What stands out about Pawlenty, Larson said, is that he won re-election in 2006 when other Republicans around the country lost.

“That was like the one bright spot in our country from a GOP perspective was his victory,” Larson said.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said one thing that might give Pawlenty an advantage is that he is a fellow Midwesterner, as well as a fiscal and social conservative.

Grassley had this advice for Pawlenty if he chooses to compete in the Iowa caucuses: “He needs to be ready to put as much work into Iowa, because it’s early and because it’s retail politics, as he might put in ten other states,” Grassley said.

State Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, said he is impressed with Pawlenty, but hasn’t started looking at whether he is the right candidate for the top of the party’s ticket.

Johnson caucused for Mitt Romney in 2008, but thinks he may avoid competing in Iowa in the future. Johnson said he’s wide open to in deciding who he will support in 2012.

“It’s still early, but we’re going to need a very strong candidate in 2012, there’s no question about that,” Johnson said.

Andrew Phillips, a Des Moines Republican and Drake University law student, said although it’s still early, he’s beginning to look at candidates for 2012. Phillips, 24, thinks Pawlenty’s position as governor of a Midwestern state will play well in Iowa.

“One of the reasons I like him, he’s fiscally conservative obviously compared to the current administration,” Phillips said.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan sent out a statement in the hours before Pawlenty’s speech slamming him as an insider who has embraced the comforts of Washington.

“Pawlenty’s top advisors are the same Bush/McCain/Swift Boat characters voters have rejected,” Kiernan said.

If Pawlenty were to seek the GOP nomination for president, a poll released in recent days shows he could face a difficult time against some other well-known Republicans.

A USA Today/Gallup poll found 71 percent of Republicans would seriously consider voting for Mike Huckabee, compared to 65 percent who say they would seriously consider Mitt Romney or 65 percent for Sarah Palin. Another 60 percent said they would seriously consider voting for Newt Gingrich.

In comparison, just 32 percent of Republican said they would seriously consider voting for Pawlenty.