Cigarettes, Gambling and Loan Sharking, Oh My!
Pat Murphy yesterday accused Chris Rants for allowing donations to influence debate in the Iowa House.
DES MOINES, Iowa Democrats are accusing Speaker of the House Christopher Rants of putting the Legislature up for sale.They say the Republican is allowing donations to a campaign committee to influence debate.
House Democratic Leader Pat Murphy, of Dubuque, made the accusations today at a news conference at the State Capitol. He targeted the Iowa Leadership Council, a P-A-C he says Rants helped create.
Murphy says donations to the P-A-C included money from tobacco companies, from a casino owner and a beer company, and could be directly linked to the fate of legislation in the House.
This was also noted earlier by the Des Moines Register – with a bit of creative writing from “Loquacious”. Here’s the earlier tally from the Register:
The Iowa Leadership Council raised $177,000 in 2005, its filings show. That included $40,000 from Select Management Resources of Alpharetta, Ga., which is connected with LoanMax; $25,000 from tobacco company RJ Reynolds; $25,000 from Altria Corporate Services, the parent company of tobacco maker Philip Morris; $10,000 from Lorillard Tobacco Co.; and $20,000 from Anheuser-Busch, maker of Budweiser.
Of course, big issues of the session included smoking bans (after the Iowa Supreme Court shot down an Ames ordinance), cigarette taxes, gambling (TouchPlay) and car title loans. You don’t think someone is being rewarded for good behavior now, do you?
The Iowa Leadership Council should work on a few slogans to bolster their image: “ILC: Downtown East Dubuque for the 21st Century”, or “ILC: Because Vice Is Nice”, “ILC: Family Values For Us, Smoky Casinos For Everyone Else”, etc.
- Sousy