Letters: Much is missing in Iowa review of state boards

Much missing in review of state boards

The report of the Boards & Commissions Review Committee is an insult to all Iowans concerned with good governance in Iowa. In fact, calling it a report is quite a stretch. A context-free 11-page list is much more appropriate.

First, there is no description or discussion of the work the committee did to reach its findings and recommendations. What was the methodology used to review the boards and committees? And, why? Who conducted the review? Committee members? Staff? Consultants? Or some combination thereof?

Second, how did the five, one-sentence findings flow from the review? Or are they basic assumptions going into the review? For example, Finding 2 states: “The current organization of advisory boards is neither effective nor efficient.” Is that a finding of the review or a basic assumption of the committee? How and why did the eight, one-sentence overall recommendations flow from the findings?

Third, there is no discussion or description or definition of what the recommendation for each of the boards and commissions mean. For example, what is meant by “reorganize/other” and “consolidate/merge”? And, overall, what criteria were used to determine the recommendation for each board and commission?

Fourth, these types of reports usually have an appendix listing all committee and subcommittee members, as well as staff and consultants contributing to the report.

Finally, this is a report that impacts civic-minded volunteers across the state, yet the public comment was confined to one two-hour meeting in Des Moines. Why were there not public hearings in other parts of the state? A proposal of this magnitude should be heard outside of Des Moines also.

The lack of transparency and public input should be offensive to everyone.

— Charles Williams, Des Moines

Iowa’s leaders are guilty of bullying

Gov. Kim Reynolds has established a school safety bureau with a program, named Safe + Sound Iowa, where people can anonymously report bullying, harassment, etc. in the schools.

Governor, I wish to report multiple instances of bullying and harassment. The victims are our LGTBQ+ students and the bullies are the state Legislature. What are you going to do about it?

— Barbara Persoon, Pleasantville

Are we being responsible with our water?

I’m wondering if in the next few summers when I can’t get water at my own house because of drought conditions, will I need to fill up buckets at the nearest Microsoft tap? Or an ethanol plant? Wake up, Iowa, the biggest reason these companies are here is because we have water; at least, for now we do.

— Mark Mahoney, Urbandale

Trying to parse what is and isn’t socialism

A report released this year from the Environmental Working Group reveals Iowa ranks second highest (behind Texas) in federal farm subsidies distributed from 1995 to 2021, at $39.6 billion. Yet Sen. Joni Ernst calls the current student debt repayment proposal (SAVE) a “socialism scheme.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, too, is upset with giving anything to the 39,900 Iowans currently enrolled in the SAVE program. Yet the same report shows the family farm managed by his son received more than $1.4 million. The hypocrisy is, quite frankly, stunning.

— Lettie Prell, Des Moines

Concern about rape victim numbers

You can buy reputable "Day After Emergency" birth control pills from Amazon for $5 each. Only one pill is recommended per event. Obviously Johnson County, Iowa, could buy them much more cheaply in bulk, so $10,000 buys thousands. If Johnson County has thousands of rape victims who can not afford the $5, then I think they have a problem that needs addressing with more than pills.

— Michael Montross, Winterset

Why the lack of transparency?

The Boards & Commissions Review Committee was created in Gov. Kim Reynolds’ government reorganization plan. The Aug. 29, 2023, recommendations listed names of boards to be continued, reorganized/changed, consolidated/merged or eliminated. Five findings and eight recommendations included no data, rationale or facts as to how decisions were reached.

Chairman Kraig Paulsen created three two-member subcommittees allowing each to meet privately without violating Iowa’s open meetings law. Why deliberately avoid this law? Finding any documentation, resources or rationale used to make recommendations is difficult if not impossible, contributing to secrecy and lack of transparency. Supposedly recommendations were made based on which boards were effectively serving Iowans. Numerous comments made during a Sept. 6 public hearing spoke to the harm, risks to health and safety, and dangers these recommendations would cause Iowans if implemented. Did subcommittee members spend any time actually gathering facts and data, or talking to members, professionals and practitioners of these boards?

Submitting comments to bcrcomments@iowa.gov is great; however, comments don’t seem to be publicly available. Why? Was the public hearing recorded? Searching committee meeting minutes provides no information. I wonder how Reynolds and Paulsen can explain and justify all the secrecy and lack of transparency surrounding recommendations that will impact the professions, lives and safety of so many Iowans.

— Diane Duncan-Goldsmith, Iowa City

Republicans puts limits on freedom

The political party which touts "less government!" actually is heavy-handed in imposing more government interference, while limiting our freedoms by:

• dictating which books can and cannot be in schools or libraries.

• restricting women's access and choices regarding their full medical care.

• dictating who can and who cannot play on school teams.

• legislating who can and who cannot use public bathrooms.

• prosecuting women who travel out-of-state to obtain life-saving medical help.

• prosecuting doctors, other medical personnel, family members and friends who help women from dying as a result of a pregnancy gone wrong.

• deciding which medicines you can or cannot take & which pharmacy can or cannot dispense the product.

• trying to limit whom you may marry.

• reducing state boards and commissions that knowledgeably served constituencies with specific concerns, reducing the assistance people get while limiting their voices and input.

All of these measures make the governor's (expensive) new state slogan "Freedom to Flourish" a farce.

Asserting this degree of power over citizens' daily life is associated with authoritarian governments, not with freedom. I hope Iowans recognize that this is happening in our state, as well as in other Republican-dominated states. These kinds of authoritarian barriers and restrictions cause people to leave.

— Susie Petra, Ames

Immigrants deserve better

I am 95 years old and writing this letter to Americans; ALL Americans. We claim the name American, forgetting our neighbors of South America. So, I ask you, where did you come from? No, not where you were born but how did you get to be an American?

For me, the journey began when a young Irishman left his home seeking a better way of life. He arrived in an angry New York. Businesses had signs in windows, “No Irish need apply.” So he went west and settled in Wisconsin. There he married a young girl and together they raised 10 children. The youngest became my grandfather. On a trip from Minneapolis to St. Louis, the train stopped in Mallard, Iowa. There he saw a great slew filled with all kinds of ducks. He decided to stay and start a business. He married a young farm girl and together they raised a son and daughter. That son became my father. He met the new preacher's youngest daughter. They graduated, married and produced two children, one of them me.

It took four generations before I arrived, an American.

What we have done on our borders is criminal. Taking children from their parents and placing them in cages is immoral. We deny these people the right for a good life.

How many generations did it take before you were born as an American? Who was your refugee who started it all?

— Jane Cox, Clive

Farm bill needs public input

In 1933 northwest Iowa farmer, Oscar Heline, along with others went to Washington, D.C., to see fellow Iowan Henry A. Wallace, who had just been appointed secretary of agriculture by President Franklin Roosevelt. The men had heard a new Agricultural Adjustment Act was being considered and they wanted to know what Wallace was going to put in the bill. To their surprise, Wallace said he was not going to write the bill, according to Heline. He wanted the farmers to write it themselves. “I will work with you. It must be your program” he said. And, in a great part, the farmers did help write the bill.

Far cry from today when Iowa will have very little input to the new farm bill, although some will claim they did. With Iowa’s flyweight House delegation that leadership pays little attention to and no Democrat in the Senate, the new farm bill will contain things not be favorable to Iowa’s farmers. Sometimes the consequences of how people vote are not foreseen.

— Robert Runge, Des Moines

Um, what was Biden before his presidency, again?

Regarding the front-page story where the Register’s editors have decided to finally give significant coverage to Joe Biden and allegations of his misdealings, this reader finds it curious that you say these events happened before he was president. What you would have said, had you chosen to be accurate, is that Joe Biden was vice president when he was when these action took place.

— Stu Bassman, West Des Moines

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Letters: Much is missing in Iowa review of state boards