Friday, 30 October 2015
Shaking The Taxpayer Tree
Tomorrow November 3rd, we will be allowed to go to the polls and vote to determine the shape of our local government
And as has been the case most of the time recently we will get to decide whether or not our Taxes will be raised.
The City has decided it can no longer run the Library on the Funds it has available and therefore needs to raise the Library Levy from 4¢ per $1000 to 27¢ per $1000
An increase of 575% in our Library Tax.
This is odd considering just few years ago they were telling us a totally different story.
I have a young friend who was running for a seat on the Town Council who made a few statements on the subject and the Gazette ran a Fact Checking Article which determined that what he said was
Mostly Fiction?
In a Wednesday evening debate, candidates Justin Wasson, 23, and Carl Cortez, 66, were generally critical of post-flood decisions made by the city council, while candidate Ann Poe, 58, defended the post-flood spending on the downtown library, saying, "you can't have a good apple if the core is rotten."
Here's a look at some of the claims made by the three candidates during the debate and whether the statements were fact, mostly factual, half true, mostly fiction or fiction.
Issue: Is the new library too big, expensive?
Claim: Wasson thinks the city is building a downtown library that is too big, too nice and too expensive. He said the city is getting a "giant" library downtown that is "significantly bigger than the older library" In the end, with the cost to maintain the building, "I'm going to be paying off this library for the rest of my life."
Determination: Mostly fiction
Why: The city's former downtown library at 500 First St. SE was 84,000 square feet in size. The new library will be 94,000 square feet, with more space for children and teens, library officials said.
The new $49 million library is being built without local property taxes. The money comes from a mix of federal disaster funds, a state I-JOBS grant, private donations and $4 million in revenue from the city's local option sales tax, which already has been collected.
Bob Pasicznyuk, the city's library director, said Thursday the operational costs at the new library will not be any larger than the operational costs at the old one, and may be less.
Isn't INTERESTING in just a few short years the City and the Gazette have gone from the Library costs too much to run being
Mostly Fiction
To
We must Raise the Library Levy 575%
Now did they LIE to us?
Or are they just so INCOMPETENT that we should NEITHER believe a word they say NOR let them touch any Tax Payer Funds.
There has been a furious debate on the Iowa Conservative Fanpage in responce to this ad
You should go there and put YOUR 2¢ in and see what others have said
One thing I learned was that the
" CR Library has a budget that far exceeds that of
Des Moines. "
Which makes me think that we HAVE the answer.
We don't need to Raise Taxes
We just need to send someone to
Des Moines
To find out how to run a Library
Monday, 21 September 2015
Breakfast With Carly
I received requests from a couple of the LCRCC Executives to help spread the word about this event.
There are two things to take into consideration.
1. This lady is always well worth listening to.
2. The breakfast is being held at the Kirkwood Center, and THEY have a great reputation for cuisine!
Go Hear and Enjoy!
Tickets can be
Obtained HERE
One Week Left to get Tickets
We must report to the vender
how many places by
Wednesday Oct 14
They start at $25
Monday, 14 September 2015
Dan Zumbach For Iowa Senate
One Last Vote
You know the saying? One Person, One Vote One Time?
Well some of us are going to be given the opportunity to do something close to that Tuesday.
We may be allowed to Vote on whether we will still be allowed to Vote next year.
There is a proposed By Law Change which will do away with the current system of Assistant Committee Persons.
II. ASSISTANT COMMITTEE PERSONS The County Central Committee shall have the power to designate and select additional members from each precinct to assist the Committee persons. They shall have the right to attend meetings and to be heard. They shall not have the right to vote, except in the absence of a Committee person form their own precinct.
A Case has been made that this accomadation cannot be found in the County, and State Constitutions nor the State Election Code which all state.
The County Central Committee shall consist of two precinct committee members elected from each precinct at the precinct caucuses. The Constitution of the Republican Party of Iowa permits a provision to be adopted in the County by-laws for the election of additional Central Committee members from each precinct in a number proportionate to the Republican vote cast in the precinct at the last preceding general election for President of the United States or for the Governor of Iowa, as the case may be.
I could point out that it does not prohibit it either and the last time I checked we did not live under a standard of Law where anything not Mandatory was Forbidden
I could also point out that what we have does not add a single extra Vote to the Central Committee it only allows the Assistants to step in and represent their Precinicts when a Permanent Member is absent
But just for a bit for the sake of Debate let us stipulate their claim.
In that case we MUST vote against the By Law Change because what has been mailed out to us is a a plan that does NOT add additional Central Committee members from each precinct in a number proportionate to the Republican vote cast in the precinct at the last preceding general election for President of the United States or for the Governor of Iowa, as the case may be.
I submit we cannot rationalise abolishing the Assistant Committee Persons because a provision for them is not in the Constitutions and the Election Code only to replace it with something that is not in their either.
It seems in their continuing efforts to create Second Class Committee People they propose a new classification.
Associate Commitee Persons who will not ba able to Vote, or Make Motions they will be able to engage in Debate (If the Chair decides to recognize them)
I have been told there is no prohibition against them voting in Team Meetings but then off course the Executive Committee has already chosen who will be allowed to do that.
Nope it would appear that our New Second Class Associate Committee Persons will only be allowed to do the Work,.
I had a man recently tell me that before the Executives Disenfranchised him and quite a few others who worked on Sub Committees he was on 3 but had not been asked to be on any Team and indeed saw no point
Since he would have no say in anything.
I will probably vote against these measures or at a minimum move to amend the Associate to be allowed to make motions.
It is kind of sad.
When our present Chair Cindy Golding took over from the Former Chair our meetings sometimes numbered 200 attendees or so.
We used 2 to 3 rooms the size we do now.
Our events were attended by similiar numbers, We had volunteers stacked on top of each other.
We had gone from Dead Broke in 2 short years to a Treasury of over 20K
Now?
Attendence has dropped by about 80% a large number of those still attending have been disenfranchised ie have no real vote or say outside of hte General Meeting
And now it seems in their quest for Control and Power the Executives Plan to Disenfranchise even more of the remains of the Body.
I am certain this will be reflected by a Boom in Participation.,
Monday, 7 September 2015
First Break It
We are blessed with Leadership in the Linn County Republican Central Committee who have a simple strategy.
First: Break It.
Then: (GASP) "OMG, we have a CRISIS!"
And demand Emergency Powers which include full and total control over what they have broken,
In order to FIX it.
We got an example of this at the August LCRCC meeting.
There was a problem with credentialing.
Which, to my knowledge, had NEVER happened before.
The usual process is that credentialing starts at 6:30 PM.
Voting members are given their credentials with the lime green card that
shows they are entitled to vote.
Now, it is true that some do not understand this, and have tried to vote
without credentials in the past, but most do understand and abide by the process.
Assistant Members get yellow cards, however, if both permanent members have not shown up by 7:00 PM, the start of the meeting.
The Assistants are given lime green voting cards.
Or, at least, they have at EVERY meeting until August.
To understand how this all came about, we must go back to July's Meeting.
Another thing that has always happened is that after the meeting, the Team Leader (or in the past, the Sub Committee Chair) takes all the materials home to re-sort them.
Except for at our July meeting, when our County Chair, Cindy Golding, and our Secretary, Gary Ellis, decided at the end of the meeting that THEY would do take possession of the credentials, rather than leaving it up to the Team Leader, Justin Wasson.
Now, they may or may not have had a valid reason to take the materials home.
But what IS true is that on the night of the August meeting, they STILL had possesion of the credentialing materials,
A month after they improperly took them,
For which, in my opinion, THERE IS NO EXCUSE.
But there IS a reason, that reason being that they have, since the "Teams" were enacted, tried to take control away from the duly appointed Team Leader,
Who has been affirmed in his postion by TWO votes of the full Central Committee.
You see?
They REALLY do not like that portion of our Constitution, which states:
The Executive Committee is subject to the orders of the Linn County Central Committee, and none of its acts shall conflict with actions of the Linn County Central Committee.
So it turned out the Chair, Cindy Golding, and the Secretary, Gary Ellis, had possession of the materials AND decided to start credentialing members almost an hour earlier than the Membership's Team's standard practice.
In doing so, they made a Dog's Breakfast of the whole process,
Which does not come as much of a surprise to anyone who has been around the LCRCC for a few administrations.
Before Cindy Golding took over as Chair, we often had as many as 200 people attending meetings. We required a meeting room two to three times as big as the one we use now.
Since her advent as Chair, attendance has dropped 80%, while a similiar drop has been seen in attendance at fundraisers and other events.
The new Executive Committee, along with our Chair, decided to disenfranchise a large portion of the Central Committee by abolishing the sub-committees, and replacing them with "teams" who had limited voting members (who were chosen by them.)
That had the expected result.
While it is true they got their desired Total Control, one member expressed to me that when he was on three subcommittees, he felt he contributed, but now he is not on ANY teams and sees no point, since he would have NO SAY in anything.
Quite a few of our disenfranchised members were some of our hardest working volunteers.
But if your goal is CONTROL, rather than a healthy, functioning Central Committee, such people are expendable.
But, no matter. I understand from talking to some of them that they have found other ways to "Help Republicans Get Elected" and "Support Conservative Causes," so they are just as busy as they have always been at these endeavors.
In any event, when we realized that the Chair, Cindy Golding, and the Secretary, Gary Ellis, had attempted to take over the credentialing process at the August meeting, we understood why things ended up in a mess.
The most comical outcome was that because the Membership Team Leader, Justin Wasson, having had the credentialing materials taken from him without his permission, stated that he had had nothing to do with the credentialing that night, and, more accurately, the mess it turned into,
THEY tried to claim he had RESIGNED!
Now, I can't make up stuff that like that. It takes an intellect on the level of Cindy Golding to come to that kind of a conclusion:
From: clgolding@aol.com <clgolding@aol.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2015 11:15 PM
To: jrwasson@live.com
Cc: egarye@cs.com; brett.e.mason@gmail.com; tuckerusa@aol.com
Subject: Membership & Meeting setup team leader?
Justin,
There appeared to be a serious breakdown in the communication among the Membership & Meeting Setup Team on August 18th, causing disruption of the LCRCC meeting. Then, when questions arose, you stated publicly that you were not in charge of the Membership Team and credentialing was not your responsibility. This was confirmed by Jim Conklin during his "Point of Order."
Harry Foster, Mike Dupree and Deb Dupree handled the credentialing process but, apparently, were not provided the documentation to credential Assistant Committee Persons, as Jim Conklin requested.
This action and your statement indicates to the executive team that you have tendered your resignation.
Please let me know by 5 PM, Monday, Aug 31, if you intend to complete your responsibilities and have the sign-in sheets and credentials there on time or if you are resigning, per your statement during the meeting.
You can reach me at 319-360-1028 or 319-899-4700 or the office number 319-432-9467 or reply to this email.
The next LCRCC meeting on Sept. 15th will have a Candidate Meet & Greet from 6-7PM.
The membership sign-in needs to begin at 5:45 PM to be courteous to our guests and our members who wish to hear the speakers.
In addition, I have asked the Secretary, Gary Ellis to work with the Membership & Meeting Setup Team to develop procedures to help avoid delays and confusion in future meetings and to assure that we have accurate attendance records for our minutes.
Again, you can reach me at 319-360-1028 or 319-899-4700 or the office number 319-432-9467 or reply to this email.
I hope to hear from you before Monday evening.
Cindy Golding
Chair
Linn County Republican Central Committee
Sunday, 6 September 2015
THE Most Important Election
What elections could be more important for the Future than the ones in which we pick those who will over see our Children's Education
Be sure to Vote in the School Board Election Sept 8th
You can go HERE to see where the Polling Places are this Year
Now as for Me there is one person in Particular I will cas MY Vote for.
Ann Rosenthal for Cedar Rapids School Board
See More Here
- Ann Rosenthal
- I have served the Cedar Rapids Community School District as a volunteer school board member since 1999. I'm a mechanical engineer and work at the University of Iowa as an Associate Director of Facilities Management. I've been in the design, construction and maintenance of facilities for 31 years, which has helped while on the Board.
For those in Cedar Rapids here is another Quick List of your New Polling Places
Here’s a guide to identified Republican candidates in the local School Board Elections which take place on Tuesday:
Cedar Rapids: at large (two seats)
John Laverty, Republican
Ann Rosenthal, Republican
Cedar Rapids: District 4 (one seat)
no Republicans identified
Linn Mar: (4 seats)
George Abouassaly, Republican
Craig Adamson, Republican
Sondra Nelson, Republican
Marion: (4 seats)
Brent Van Wey, Republican
Be sure to vote on Tuesday September 8!
From
Friday, 28 August 2015
Truth To Power
I will have to admit I always did want to use that title. Some time back our Co Chair decided to educate us.
He made this statement
Some folks are confused regarding why the county central committee organizes following election of officers. The reason is simply, our LCRCC Constitution says we do so.
"The officers of this Central Committee shall be a chairman, co-chairman, secretary and Treasurer, and such other members as the County Central Committee in its by-laws may provide. The Central committee shall organize following each general election, but no later than the following April 1."
Can I also sugge...st that criticism is not an accomplishment. Criticism does not become an accomplishment when taken to another forum. Or another meeting.
Now it is true that he took a passage from the Constitution and the ByLaws
V. OFFICERS The officers of this Central Committee shall be a chairman, co-chairman, secretary and treasurer, and such other members as the County Central Committee in its by-laws may provide. The Central committee shall organize following each general election, but no later than the following April 1.
V. OFFICERS The officers of the Central Committee shall consist of a Cahir, Co-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer whose terms shall be for a period of two (2) years and the same shall be elected immediately following each general election, but no later than the following April 1. The Central Committee shall elect either from its’ membership or otherwise a chair, co-chair, secretary, treasurer and other officers as it may determine. After notification of an election, any vacancies in said offices shall be filled by the County Central Committee.
It seems that the organization required by April 1 following each general election?
Is the Election of OFFICERS.
Not the complete destruction of the structure of the Body.
If that were the case there would be language in the Constitution and Bylaws in the Sections pertaining to the Body saying so
There is not.
But the did create a Faux Crisis.
We HAD to change everthing! We did not have any time left there would be no other meetings before April Fools Day!!!!
They told the body that Robert's Rules of Order SAID that ALL motions etc made before an Officers Election were voided by that Election!!!!!!!!!!!!
The problems with that is that it is comepletely Untrue.
They know that.
They asked the Official Online Robet's Rules Disscusion Forum that same question and were told NO
About 7 weeks before the Election.
There WAS one small bit of information that was True.
In the Motion that they made the Night of the St Patrick's Day Massacre.
There is a Statement
Discussion of motion. • Questions and discussion concerning the charters and previous committees. • The Chair explained that the Iowa Code, the Republican Party Constitution and Bylaws and the Linn County Republican Party Constitution and the Linn County Republican Party Bylaws require that the central committee re-organize by April 1st following each general election. All that survives are the Advisory Committee, the Executive Committee and the Central Committee. The Chair explained that David Chung, Paul Pelletier and Richard Bice had been contacted in regard to parliamentarian review. • A question was raised concerning the elections of Credentials Committee members at the 2014 Caucus. The Chair indicated she would followup and report. • Calls were made to a wide variety of members. • Motion by James Knox (CR04) "Call the Question". Motion Failed • Gary Ellis reported that there are signup sheets to allow people to volunteer for teams
Now everyone ASSUMED that this portion
The Chair explained that David Chung, Paul Pelletier and Richard Bice had been contacted in regard to parliamentarian review.
Meant that those 3 men supported the Chair and the Executive Committees Claim
Turns out in the Case of Daveid Chung
That was NOT True
I understand he not only told them that Robert's Rules of Order and our Documents not only did not support that claim
But that what they were planning was not a good idea.
We jump forward in time and ss late as the May Meeting the Chair was STILL making the Claim
That an Officers Election Voided all Motions make prior to it
When I member tried to enter into the record the portion of Robtert's Rules of Order the refutes this
Page 111 footnote at the bottom of the page
Which by the way is the SAME section that the Official Robert's Rules of Order gave them to explain why an Officers Election did NOT void all previous Motions and Decisions
The Chair Stated that the Exectutive Committee would take the subject under advisement and deliberate,.
That being the May meeting maybe we will be told what their deliberations determined in the September meeting?
In a cute posting recently the Co-Chair in effect accused me of being Divisive.
If speaking the Truth is Divisive?
I stand guitly as charged
Someone has to do it
And it makes a nice counterpoint to all the things we are told in Meetings that are NOT True.
Thursday, 27 August 2015
On Being Famous
I stumbled on one of our Executive Committees essays into humor on Facebook last night
For all my friends at IowaLive and the divisives in Linn County, this really reminded me of you! You're famous!
Now let's admit it is kind of cute. However if the gentleman IS going to be on Facebook one might ask why does he not do his job Before he takes the time to be jocular?
I mean He IS on of the 4 Admins that I know of for the LCRCC. James Knox seems to be still two of them which always confused me
 Information Technology Director (IT Director) at Vertecra Inc. Added by James Knox about 5 months ago |  Cedar Rapids, Iowa Added by James Knox about 5 months ago |  Business Continuity Coordinator at Marathon Petroleum Joined about 5 months ago |
 Cedar Rapids, Iowa Added by James Knox about 4 months ago |
But James we are told has moved to Ohio and Brett has taken his place as Webmaster
So why is it that for instance the LCRCC Facebook Discussion Page has SIX
Posts in a row that say the same thing?
I will put a screen shot of them at the bottom of this page.
You know? We never had this problem when our Social Media was NOT under the control of Professionals (?)
But then in their Infinite Wisdom the Executive Board Abolished the Communication Sub Committee, replaced it with a Marketing & PR Team
While reserving all the Admin privileges to themselves.
Not that they have been doing a stellar job of it this is not the only multiple post we have seen, At times that have been quite common
Mr Mason tells some of us we are Famous
I sure hope the LCRCC Facebook Presence is NOT Famous .
The only thing that could keep the LCRCC Facebook Pages from being the Laughingstock of Iowa
Would be if no one really looks at them.
So Brett? Do us a favor?
You can make as much fun of me as you want to but
Please clean up the mess you are responsible for?
Here is what I am talking about
ECENT ACTIVITY
New post (Fun with movies for our GOP) has been published on Linn County Republicans
Let's have some fun with cameras! Here’s a challenge – Can you tell in 15 seconds why you joined the Linn County Republicans? We think you can! In fact, we’re having a fun contest, “Why I …” Here’s how it...
New post (RELEASE: Remarks from Iowa Security Expert Steve Ponsetto on Clinton’s Server) has been published on Linn County Republicans
DES MOINES – Iowa Security Expert Steve Ponsetto gave insight into the proper handling of sensitive...
New post (RELEASE: Remarks from Iowa Security Expert Steve Ponsetto on Clinton’s Server) has been published on Linn County Republicans
New post (RELEASE: Remarks from Iowa Security Expert Steve Ponsetto on Clinton’s Server) has been published on Linn County Republicans
DES MOINES – Iowa Security Expert Steve...
New post (RELEASE: Remarks from Iowa Security Expert Steve Ponsetto on Clinton’s Server) has been published on Linn County Republicans
DES MOINES – Iowa Security Expert Steve Ponsetto gave insight into the proper handling of sensitive...
New post (RELEASE: Remarks from Iowa Security Expert Steve Ponsetto on Clinton’s Server) has been published on Linn County Republicans
DES MOINES – Iowa Security Expert Steve Ponsetto gave insight into the proper handling of sensitive...
Thursday, 20 August 2015
The Enemies List
They say Synchronicity is the simultaneous
occurrence of events that appear significantly related but
have no discernible causal connection.
As if the Cosmos conspired to create a series of coincidences that led to a certain outcome.
We may have experienced such an even at the August LCRCC Meeting
But to find the apparent origin of this string we must go back to a not normal occurence after the July meeting
Someone OTHER than the Membership and Meeting Setup Team Leader took ALL the records home
Not supposed to happen but it did,
The August meeting started out as it was supposed to, permanent members got their Credentials and the Lime Colored Voting Card,
Associates got their Yellow Credentials without the Lime Colored Voting Card
At 7:00 PM when the meeting started the Associates who are from Precincts where one or more of the Permanent Voing members were absent
Would normally have been given a Lime Colored Voting Card
But they weren't
This was brought to the Attention of the Chair
Who REFUSED to pause the Meeting or Voting until this error was corrected.
As we gathered to get our credentials
A singular thought struck my mind
It was very interesting WHO had not been credentialed
There were Five
Dan Kauffman (Me)
Jim Concklin
Bill Barrow
Marv Spragg
And another gentlemen I am sorry but I have forgotten his name
The interesting thing is that all 5 of us have usually voted the same way
and in opposition often to the Chair and the Executive Committee
Now isn't THAT an interesting coincidence,
When you also take into account one of the persons working the Credential Table who did NOT credential us
In the May meeting tried to Vote with TWO sets of Voting Credentials,
His own and a set Paul Pelletier left against the rules on his table when he went out of the room.
Some might say that person may think that as long as his side wins a vote there are no restrictions on how that happens.
Some might even say that if you want to ensure the outcome of a Vote
Just Rig the Election
And that you don't have to prevent everyone on the other side from voting just a few
But I won't say that
Because
That would be a Breach of Decorum
And we ALL KNOW that The Chair Cindy Golding and the Exectuive Committee would NEVER Disenfranchise ANY of the members of the
LCRCC
Saturday, 15 August 2015
Down From The Mountain
Question: Why does the Chair of the Linn County Central Committee demand that all members of the Central Committee Teams use only two ply toilet paper?
Answer: Because she wants a copy of everything they do
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