[Posted by Jonathan on Facebook]

Last night I stopped at Smokey Row in Des Moines in my quest for an Oatmeal Raisin cookie.
I also got a chicken caesar salad, and it was delicious.

While there I ran into a gentleman I hadn’t seen for a while. He’s a passionate community activist and a Democrat. As we chatted he asked me directly “is your campaign being funded by Terry Branstad, that’s what Jack Hatch told me?”

Now this is not the first time I’ve heard this. I was even asked that question on the Michael Devine Show on KVFD in Fort Dodge.

At that point one of his friends, who I’d given a business card said “why would Branstad fund your campaign when it says ‘End the Branstad Era.’”

Exactly!!!

I find it fascinating that Hatch is telling people Branstad is funding my campaign when he is Branstad’s biggest contributor’s business partner.

Iowans deserved a candidate who would compete against Terry Branstad yet it has become obvious to Iowans across this state that Jack Hatch threw this election to Terry Branstad. Hatch didn’t run to compete against Branstad but to keep a Democrat who could defeat Branstad off the ticket.

That’s a shame!

While the first Branstad Administration was open, accessible and balanced, this latest version has brutalized Iowans and cheated taxpayers. The scandals and corruptions that have plagued this administration are nothing compared to the abdication of executive duty.

Gov. Branstad has failed Iowans miserably, as I pointed out on the Ron Steele Show and in many other forums yet he has done so with the full and eager cooperation of Democrats who control the Senate, especially Jack Hatch who years ago stopped fighting for the people and started using his position at the Statehouse to enrich himself.

While partisan rhetoric, especially at the federal campaign levels, keeps rank and file Republicans and Democrats at each others throats, in Iowa there is no statehouse partisan divide. Statehouse leadership operates in a spirit of unity and cooperation as they mutually blunder the public treasure enriching themselves, their contributors and cronies. Farm Bureau is never disappointed at the end of a session. The chamber of commerce lobby is never disappointed. The general contractors are never disappointed.

The most loyal Republicans and Democrats are. Grassroots Democrats denounce the evil Republicans for denying money to the Food Bank never calling out Democrats who supported Branstad’s massive corporate tax cut. Tea Party Republicans award Mike Gronstal, yet again the title of Villain in Chief, never calling out Branstad for yet again submitting a budget bigger than any in Iowa’s history.

And Vince McMahon, the patriarch of World Wrestling Entertainment sheds a tear like the anti-pollution Indian used to so moved by the behind the curtain bi-partisan love fest that is Statehouse politics in Iowa.

And Bruce Rastetter toasts his purchased Republican Governor and his Democrat business partner’s obedience. And the beat goes on.

Am I exaggerating?

I was in Atlantic Iowa at a regional forum sponsored by a 16 county coalition last week, Clel Baudler, a powerful Republican legislator from Greenfield stated he hoped the Democrats keep the Senate.

He didn’t just say it he explained why the Republicans taking the Senate would be a disaster for Iowa. And it might be. But I am not surprised.

Whenever one party takes complete control of government their lies and hypocrisies are quickly exposed because their base expects them to keep their word. Suddenly the party in power has to deal with activist quoting from the party platform.

This is especially tough for Republicans because their platform calls for things like term limits, spending limits, abolishing government.

Republicans love big government – especially in Iowa. Republicans not only love big state government which they partially control they love big county, city and school district government which they overwhelmingly control in this state.

Remember what happened last time Branstad had a Republican House and Senate? His own party ran him out of Terrace Hill. And the last thing Republicans like Clel Baudler and Terry Branstad want is a G.O.P. controlled Senate and House to go with the G.O.P. governor.

That would mean all those foot soldiers from the Tea Party, Campaign for Liberty, The 912ers, VanderPlatters, etc…would expect governance consistent with pre-election rhetoric. Kind of like when the judges were voted out in 2010 and all the Republican candidates were in favor but as soon as the election was over talk of impeachment, etc…died.

Still, the G.O.P. establishment could live with the social and ideological right. What they are most afraid of should they gain control of everything in Iowa are those Republicans who actually believe in effecient, effective and accountable government. They are terrified of the type of Republican who believes government shouldn’t be able to just take your Century farm and give it to a developer to build a casino. They are terrified of the type of Republican who looks at a school district with 94 students and 38 staff and says “there’s fat to cut.”

I could continue but I’ll stop here. I have work to do before I leave for Davenport.

So let me conclude with this, Terry Branstad’s campaign is not funding mine. I wish it was, it’s not like he needs the money to run against Jack Hatch. And if the Branstad machine made a sizable donation – say $1,000,000 to my campaign I’d spend part of it exposing truths about Hatch. Of course I’d spend about $975,000 in the quest to End the Branstad Era but I would spend some hammering Hatch, especially the fact he tanked this election for Rastetter and Branstad.

Have a great day!