Bleeding Heartland journalist gets her Iowa House press credential days after suing
Progressive journalist Laura Belin has been granted press credentials to cover the Iowa House, days after suing the chamber's chief clerk for previously denying her applications.
Belin, who runs the progressive political website Bleeding Heartland and is a statehouse reporter for KHOI Radio in Ames, filed suit against Chief Clerk Meghan Nelson on Friday, saying her First Amendment rights were being violated.
The lawsuit details unsuccessful efforts over several years, dating back to 2019, to receive credentials to cover the Republican-controlled Iowa House. The lawsuit claims Nelson's previous decisions to deny Belin credentials were "arbitrary" and amounted to unlawful discrimination on the basis of content and viewpoint.
The Institute for Free Speech, which is representing Belin in the lawsuit, issued a news release Wednesday saying Belin had been given credentials.
The Iowa Legislature's website as of Wednesday listed Belin as one of the journalists approved for a press work space in 2024. And a desk on the press bench in the Iowa House chamber that was previously used by House Democratic staff was labeled "Bleeding Heartland" on Wednesday.
Belin said in a statement Wednesday that the lawsuit made House leaders understand that they had been violating her First Amendment rights for years by applying the chamber's credentialing policy "unfairly and inconsistently."
"I’m deeply grateful to the Institute for Free Speech for their work on this case and stunned by how fast the Institute was able to help me obtain my credentials," Belin said in a statement Wednesday. "I hope this victory for press freedom will make any public official reluctant to deny access to reporters, either as retaliation for tough coverage or because of political bias."
Nelson declined to comment. House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, declined to comment.
The Republican Party of Iowa, which is not a party to Belin's lawsuit and does not credential reporters to cover the Iowa House, reached out to the Des Moines Register to comment.
"Laura Belin has conveniently painted herself as a First Amendment martyr, and she certainly has a history of exercising free speech — whether it’s through her left-wing blog or with tens of thousands of dollars in cash and in-kind donations to Democrats over the years," GOP spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement. "Disguised as some sort of impartial, gumshoe reporter, Belin's record makes it clear she's little more than a Democrat activist."
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Progressive journalist given Iowa House press credentials after suing
