Winter storm watch issued for Linn, surrounding counties
Corbett asks Cedar Rapids residents to ‘fall in love’ with city
Woman backs into Cedar Rapids police department’s red Jeep
Corbett announcing new naming rights deal with U.S. Cellular Center for arena, convention center
Subject of Hawk Alert at University of Iowa found in Washington County
Vander Plaats calls on remaining judges to resign
JOHNSTON — Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats last week called on the four remaining Iowa Supreme Court justices to use next month’s annual message to lawmakers to announce their plans to resign.
Vander Plaats urged the four justices to “do the right thing” by stepping down rather than face impeachment by state lawmakers.
“We’re giving this court an opportunity to lead,” Vander Plaats said during the taping of an Iowa Public Television “Iowa Press” show slated to air Dec. 31.
Vander Plaats, who led the successful campaign to oust three justices in last month’s election, said it would be “disingenuous” for the four justices who were not up for retention to ignore the will of the people by staying on until they face retention votes in future years. He said he preferred resignation to impeachment.
“I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the people of Iowa to go through a long, drawn-out impeachment hearing. There’s a lot of issues on the plate (next legislative session),” Vander Plaats said.
I call on Bob Vander Plaats to resign.
This was my first thought when I read the headline. Why does the Gazette give voice to this man?
For the same reason it gives you a voice! iI’s called freedom of speech!
Even you are allowed to show off your “wonderful” Ideas! WE on the other hand have the right NOT to listen to you!
Hey jrdean? How’s the new sockpuppet working for ya?
Julie, there was a “Dean Johnson” floating around as well who used the same gravatar as jr dean.
I call on Taliban Ayatollah Vander Platts and all his Revolutionary Guards to please leave the country. Just go away PLEASE and just leave us alone.
Having this right-wing fanatic around is like having a bad dream.
Resign for what? Doing their job?
Current practice recognizes same sex unions with regard to housing, custody of children, coverage under health insurance, recognition of these unions as marriage by a number of mainstream churches, recognition by even the most conservative churches that persecution of gays is wrong, recognition of these unions as marriage by friends, relatives, associates of same sex couples, and the list goes on.
Same sex unions are recognized as de facto marriages already. The judges were merely bringing the law in line with current practice under the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
The precedents, at least in discussions of the issue, are Loving v Virginia 1967 and Perez v Sharp (Califonia)1948, both ruling against anti misegenation laws as racist.
The arguments against same sex marriage are purely sectarian and, as such, are a violatin of the First Amendment separation of Church and State.
VanderPlaats and his ilk are trying to impose practices based solely on religious beliefs, which are not universally shared by American religious organizations, on the rest of us. Who, the last time I checked, were people too.
BVP, the American Taliban who is pulling the strings on High Tax Terry…
BVP: the Iowa political scene’s equivalent of email spam.
Gazette, quit enabling this grifter! Let him get his publicity the old-fashioned way: by having out-of-state special interest groups buy it for him.
Sure, said interests should be ready spend more on his cause. After all, they spent a lot of money and they succeeded in removing 3 justices (for doing their job) who will likely be replaced with justices who would rule the same way if the same law were presented to them and the DOMA law is still unconstitutional. With a big win like that why stop there?
Okay, Benito Vander Plotz, you have exceeded your fifteen minutes of fame, or in your case, infamy.
Here’s my take-it-or-leave-it proposal: the four remaining justices remain seated, the Iowa GOP leadership acts like leaders by taking the three freshmen to the woodshed and stopping the impeachment drama before it begins, and Benito is marooned on a desert island with his buddy, Bryan “I hate gays so much my brain won’t work” Fischer of the AFA.
Deal?
It’s time for Branstad to show some leadership and courage by speaking out in defense of our justices.
Like that will happen….NOT
I couldn’t agree more. But I’m not holding my breath…
Watch out, Booby. You might get what you ask for. When your issue goes away, what about Boob?
What utter rot! Vander Plaats obviously has some deep seated issues and fears about gay and lesbian people. He is ridden the milk train on this issue simply because, like other politicians, he has no plans or ideas to help the people of Iowa. Get people at each other’s throats and full of fear – divide and conquer. If you don’t like the decision, start a war with those who made it. Rubbish.
He’s probably gay. Aren’t the guilty ones the ones that speak out the loudest?
I call on the Governor to appoint Justices Marsha K. Ternus, Michael J. Streit and David L. Baker to the vacancies on the bench.
We are seeing a total lack of leadership by Governor-elect Branstad and Representative Paulsen on this issue. Weren’t they elected to lead?
I think we should give Vander Plaats credit for not being TOTALLY simple-minded and ignorant. He many not want an impeachment hearing because he knows he won’t be able to bring his “throw ‘em out” bus into the hearing room but rather have actual evidence of “misdemeanor malfeasance” brought to the hearing. And he probably knows he can continue to make money off the issue — more than doing something worthwhile.
So Vander Plaats is self righteous and annoying. This is news?
Bob “The Grifter” Vander Plaats is not the problem. Terry Brandstad and the rest of the weeny Republicans who do not speak out against this are the problem. BVP is the outlier who has now made ok for the rest of them to remain silent. It is the continuing silence of cowards.
Riell,
First off, Republicans already “spoke out” on the issue pretty loudly by not electing Vander Plats in ANY election that he’s ever run in.
They spoke out again when Vander Plaats attempted to hijack the State Republican Convention and tried to make himself the Lt. Governor nominee.
So, tell use Riell, just what are they supposed to do? Seems to me that they’ve spoken pretty loudly about Vander Plaats.
Thanks for the comment Todd, what I think Republicans are supposed to do is clearly come out and say: “this is a wrong idea and I oppose it”. That is pretty simple. Both Paulsen and Brandstad have danced around the question without really answering it – to me that is political cowardice. They have rejected The Grifter for elected office, yet they silently support his signature issue by refusing to unequivocally oppose it.
Only God may judge. One may have a completely reasonable explanation for breaking a commandment, but the commandment is still broken.
Only God may judge ? Then why do we have judges and juries ? In fact, why even charge someone with a crime — leave it up to God.
You know what she is talking about.
I must say, what commandment is that you are quoting from? I don’t recall anything that says having a gay relationship is breaking a commandment. On the other hand, the beatitudes might make for better reading since they are in the new testament, and not buried in all the law of the old testament that was thrown out when Jesus showed up on the scene.
Yonkna, not everybody is Christian, and not even all Christians agree with your apparent interpretation of this matter. Anything that can only be backed with a religious argument has absolutely no place in public laws.
Don’t make someone bust out the FSM arguments…
Who says I need a reason to bust out the FSM arguments? Anyone who speaks out against the One True God “FSM” will go to hell, so be careful about what you say.
Join us or spend eternity drinking warm flat beer.
http://www.venganza.org/join/
I agree with you, Yonka. But, this shameless pandering to the worst in all of us by VDP is really getting irritating.
Bear in mind, this guy is literally paid by his new employer to keep stirring the pot.
Here’s the worse news. a lot of the rubes that were elected to the Iowa House for their first time ran on impeaching every Justice. This issue will appear on the floor on the House this year, to our unending embarrassment, and Reps will vote. I am sure Paulsen hopes this just dies somewhere, but it won’t.
The R’s have a 60-40 advantage there, but there are very few suburban Rs that will vote to impeach. Hopefully, this crazy idea will die right there…if not, well, there’s always Gronstal!!
Excellent point Jack, it bears repeating. “[Bob Vander-Plaat’s] is literally paid by his new employer to keep stirring the pot.”
BVP is a failed politician who has been rejected by Iowans three times, yet he is still given a microphone by the media as if he were a govt official. He is not a public official, nor is he a professional expert in legal matters- he is simply a paid propagandist.
Why doesn’t the Gazette give a microphone to experts in legal matters such as the Iowa Bar Association? http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101222/OPINION04/12220325/1038/End-these-reckless-attacks-on-judiciary
BVP was school principle and a business man- those are his areas of expertise- not law so he is not a credible source that the Gazette should be allowing to disseminate false information in the News section without proper balance/ analysis from reputable/professional sources in the field of law.
If impeachment rather than resignation is pursued BVP will be exposed as a “flim-flam man” for distorting the truth and misleading Iowans. It is obvious for anyone who cares to educate themselves in legal matters that the judges did nothing to warrant removal from office. Any evidence (not one-sided rhetoric/slogans) brought forward can be quickly proved false in a trial stetting. So, let’s get on with it and prove BVP claims to be false in an impeachment trial, so we finally once and for all set the facts straight and move the public discourse onto more important things that affect ALL Iowans. If our elected officials are too squeamish to prove BVP claims to be false, his lies and misinformation will only continue to fester until next election- That is what he gets paid to do. Simply ignoring it will not make it go away. It must be dealt with so he is proven to be a false-profit bearing false witness before he misleads any more Iowans. The sooner BVP’s lies are confronted, the sooner he will be marginalized and possibly out of a job with the anti-gay Iowa Family Policy Center.
Why are you libs so scared of this???
Your name calling here only reinforces your lack of professionalism!! This is a hoot to see you libs sooooooo afraid!!
I bet you’re the toast of the fourth-grade playground.
The one without any professionalism here is Mr. Vander Plaats, who is funded by out-of-state special interest groups, holds no elected office, and does not understand the role of our judicial system.
If Mr. Vander Plaats truly had the best interests of Iowans at heart, and not moneyed special interest groups like N.O.M., he’d care a lot more about improving our economy and a lot less about his vendetta against our judges.
He is like an annoying fly that just keeps buzzing around your head. We need a swatter.
If A VanderPlaats spoke in the woods, would anyone hear him?
I don’t think “speak” is what Vander Plotz did in the woods…
I hope it don’t turn out that five years from now ..we find out old bob was in the closet….Like some of them fire and brimstone preachers on tv …!!!?…
LOL, I hope it does turn out this way, and the sooner the better! How much fun would that be?
There needs to be a well funded public education campaign with as much clout as Vander-Plaats well funded misinformation group.
Speaking of funding, did you know his group got $3 Million in federal grants?
http://iowaindependent.com/43736/iowa-family-policy-center-didnt-reject-federal-funds-until-last-month
There is a lot more stuff the Gazette fails to report on Vander-Plaats’ organization here:
http://iowaindependent.com/tag/iowa-family-policy-center
The authorities need to investigate this; tax money going to a politically active misinformation group does not sound right to me.
There needs to be a well funded public education campaign with as much pull as Vander-Plaats well funded misinformation group.
Speaking of funding, did you know his group got $3 Million in federal grants?
http://iowaindependent.com/43736/iowa-family-policy-center-didnt-reject-federal-funds-until-last-month
The authorities need to investigate this; tax money going to a politically active misinformation group does not sound right to me.
There is a lot more stuff the Gazette fails to report on Vander-Plaats’ organization here:
http://iowaindependent.com/tag/iowa-family-policy-center
Let Mr. Vander Plaats remember, the judges put their hands on the Bible to uphold the constitution, not the other way around.
Some of you idiots need to learn that the majority of Iowans eleced to toss out these judges! I’m sorry but you are on the losing side of this issue, wether you like it or not!
The vast majority of Iowan’ (nearly 70% favor marriage between a Man and woman in all the polling. So go on now and babble some more about yout bogus nonsense here, no one is listening to you anyway!
Well WR, this is one idiot who has learned enough to understand it was three judges who were tossed out. The remaining judges were not up for retention. The people have spoken on the three judges, so be it. When the others are up for retention vote over the coming years, you and the rest of the “vast majority of white voters over 55 years old” can choose to vote them out. But sleep well knowing this, time, demographics and knowledge are working against you every second and over time you are going to lose on this issue yet again – most people just don’t care if gays marry.
Well WR, this is one idiot who has learned enough to understand it was three judges who were tossed out. The remaining judges were not up for retention. The people have spoken on the three judges, so be it. When the others are up for retention vote over the coming years, you and the rest of the “vast majority of white voters over 55 years old” can choose to vote them out. But sleep well knowing this, time, demographics and knowledge are working against you every second and over time you are going to lose on this issue yet again – most people just don’t care if gays marry.
Well WR, this is one idiot who has learned enough to understand it was three judges who were tossed out. The remaining judges were not up for retention. The people have spoken on the three judges, so be it. When the others are up for retention vote over the coming years, you and the rest of the “vast majority of white voters over 55 years old” can choose to vote them out. But sleep well knowing this, time, demographics and knowledge are working against you every second and over time you are going to lose on this issue yet again – most people just don’t care if gays marry.
WR, this idiot has learned that the majority of Iowans who voted in the last election voted out the three justices that were up for retention. That is the way our system works. Now, the rest of the justices are not up for retention for a couple of years. At that point you and rest of your gang of over 55 angry white republican voters can try to oust the other ones up for retention. But please sleep well knowing that time, demographics and education are working rapidly against you on this issue. Most younger people do not care about this and in fact, they totally resent your approach. We can only hope that you hang on to your anger and bigotry long enough to fully see that day and hopefully realize the futility amd stupidity of your position! Good day, sir!
Yes, sometimes the majority is ruled by ignorance, fear and bigotry. Thank God we have the US Constitution to stand between the mob (the “tyranny of the majority”) and and individual’s rights. Not only regarding same-sex marriage but also in regards to some of the fundamental rights conservatives often align with as well.
It doesn’t matter how many judges are voted out or impeached, that won’t change the constitution. The new US House majority has decided the Constitution should be read at the opening of the new session to remind lawmakers of their role in governing. I’d suggest the Declaration of Independence should also be read.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”
“Governments are instituted” to “secure rights”, not limit them or give rights to some people and not others. As I’ve said before, the belief by some that they somehow have the right to violate the “unalienable rights” of others is pure arrogance. Its anti-conservative, anti-American and anti-Christian.