Week In Review: February 17-23

Actually there's 1 place @HillaryClinton could visit besides IA that would make me more supportive. Can't say in public, ask me for details.
— John Deeth (@johndeeth) February 20, 2014

We had yet another long Facebook war about Hillary (not) In Iowa but no one has asked me yet what I meant by this.

It was Funnel Week in Des Moines and Rod Boshart has his annual Funnel vs. Fail list of which bills are alive or dead. This is the kind of story that is hard, tedious work, unappreciated because there's no room for creative flourishes, yet priceless. But the Register's Jason Noble won the week for getting the headlines "Spay-and-neuter bill needs to be fixed" and "Distillery bill on the rocks" in the same news cycle.

It seems City Hall is the new hot spot, or warm spot, for homeless sleepers. Terry Dickens is OK with that because it's not in front of his jewelry store.

Legislative announcements: Rep. Jeff Smith, R-Okoboji, is stepping down in House District 1. Kevin Wolfswinkel of Sibley, who polled 45% primarying Smith from the right and from the new post-redistricting turf in 2012, is running again.

Cedar Rapids Democrat Art Staed is seeking a second consecutive third total term in House 66. Staed won one term in 2006, lost by 13 votes to Renee Schulte in 2008, then came back to beat Schulte in 2012 after the new map improved the turf.

Former Grinnell-Newburg School Board President Eric Pederson is running as a Democrat in House 76. He's challenging GOP freshman David Maxwell, who won a close 53-47 race against Rachel Bly when the seat was new last cycle.

New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio was busted for speeding in his official vehicle WHICH WOULD NEVER EVER EVER HAPPEN IN IOWA.

The Secretary of State's office is fixing a glitch in driver's license voter registrations which was causing some Greens and Libertarians to show up as No Party. Some Libertarians, including Secretary of State candidate Jake Porter, had grumbled about the issue but no press seems to have picked up on it till Friday's release.

The funny part is this is happening soon before the partisan primary, which the third parties don't participate in, so a lot of these same folks will soon be changing to Democrats or Republicans anyway.  But the funniest part is the staffer quote: “We want their information to be 100 percent accurate.” Like when people's rights have been restored?

And one last note on my unanimous rejection for the Iowa City Charter Review Commission: I specifically requested a creative rejection letter, but got back a form letter which may or may not have been signed by Matt Hayek. Let's hope the commission itself is more creative.