First District Republican candidate Steve Rathje has called for the appointment of special counsels to investigate recent allegations about the Obama administration’s handling of Benghazi, IRS monitoring of conservative groups and the Department of Justice monitoring news reporters’ phone records.

Steve Rathje

“While I have the utmost respect for (House Oversight and Government Reform) Chairman Darrell Issa and (Ways and Means Chairman) Dave Camp, these investigations need to be removed from the regular order of the House and be placed in the hands of special counsels,” Rathje said. “Several independent special counsels can do the work required by the American people, do it efficiently, and on a number of fronts.”

Those fronts include the “ever-changing stories” involving the Sept. 11 murder of the American ambassador to Libya and three others at a Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the IRS’ targeting of 501(c)(4) applications made by conservative groups, and the “unconscionable creation of an ‘Enemies List’ of both media and others being built by the Obama Administration, and used as a tool of intimidation,” said Rathje, a Cedar Rapids businessman.

Rathje believes the integrity of the office of the president is more important than the image of the officeholder.

“My announcement today is part of a growing bipartisan effort, which insists on a credible, independent effort to discover the truth about these weighty issues and determine the accountable parties,” Rathje said.  “I invite both Republicans and Democrats to join me in this call for a responsible investigation.”

For more about Rathje, visit www.steverathje.com

One likely topic for Gov. Terry Branstad’s weekly news conference underway now likely will be the firing of an Iowa Senate Republican communications staffer who claimed she was the target of sexual harassment.

Here’s a report from Radio Iowa’s O.K. Henderson:

A woman who was fired Friday after working five years for Republicans in the Iowa Senate this morning said her statehouse workplace was “toxic.”

DES MOINES – Millions of dollars and solutions to unfulfilled dreams were one elusive number away for three Iowans.

For hordes of other Iowans, they have far less or nothing to show for their long-odds, high-stakes gamble.

So it goes with lottery drawings.

Officials with the Iowa Lottery said Sunday the final results showed that 77,640 tickets sold in Iowa won prizes in Saturday night’s record Powerball jackpot drawing, including three tickets that came within one number of having at least a share of the jackpot.

The $590.5 million jackpot was won by a single ticket purchased in Florida.

Strong sales across the country pushed the jackpot to $590.5 million if taken as an annuity or $370.9 million as a cash option. That surpassed the previous Powerball jackpot of $587.5 million jackpot won by two tickets purchased in Arizona and Missouri last Nov. 28.

Lottery officials say an initial look at Saturday’s drawing and its Iowa results revealed the following:

• A total of 77,640 tickets purchased by Iowa Lottery players won prizes ranging from $4 up to $40,000. Two tickets purchased at Iowa locations in Fort Dodge and Aurelia matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to win prizes of $10,000 each. One more also matched those same numbers, but had the Power Play option added to it, so that ticket purchased in Dubuque won a prize of $40,000.
• The winning numbers in Saturday’s $590.5 million Powerball jackpot drawing were: 10-13-14-22-52 and Powerball 11. Complete overall results for the drawing were not yet available late Saturday, as some lotteries in the game were still processing records to determine their in-state results.
• Iowa Lottery players bought more than $5.1 million in Powerball tickets for Saturday’s drawing, including nearly $2.8 million in tickets on Saturday alone. During Saturday’s busiest stretch from about 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., Powerball tickets were selling at nearly $5,000 per minute in Iowa. However, the average Powerball purchase on Saturday in Iowa remained just $5.81, or 3 plays per ticket.

The odds of winning the jackpot in Powerball were about 1 in 175.2 million because there are about 175.2 million ways to combine the numbers in the game to make a play. By tracking sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of the possible combinations have been purchased for a particular drawing. About 80 percent of all the possible combinations were purchased in Saturday’s drawing.

Republicans are stuck in the 1950s, Democrats in the 1960s – at least in their musical tastes.

Elvis Presley

Public Policy Polling’s music-centric poll also found a partisan divide in the favorability ratings of many of the biggest music stars of the past several decades. Voters overall  have extremely favorable reviews of Elvis Presley (73-14), The Beatles (76-15), The Rolling Stones (61-26) and the Beach Boys (74-16).

They’re split on Michael Jackson who holds a 48-44 favorability rating. Kurt Cobain is viewed favorably by just 25 percent while 44 percent say they have an unfavorable opinion of the late grunge icon. And a majority of voters view Madonna unfavorably (36-51).

When asked who is their favorite Beatle, 41 percent of voters choose Paul McCartney, 29 percent say John Lennon, 12 percent pick Ringo Starr and 11 percent go for George Harrison. Most voters (30 percent) chose Lennon and McCartney when asked who they thought was the best songwriting partnership of all time.

When asked what they thought was the best decade for music, Republicans chose the 1950s as their favorite decade and Democrats the 1960s. Overall, fully 75 percent of voters said the best decade of music was either the 50s, 60s or 70s.

For more on the partisan musical tastes, click here.

By James Q. Lynch

The Gazette

DES MOINES – A brainstorming session last year lead to development of an iPhone app to help connect Eastern Iowans to volunteer opportunities.

That app, created for the United Way of East Central Iowa Volunteer Center, has earned a mention in a congressional budget justification on volunteer services.

In the Corporation for Community Service congressional budget justification for 2014, the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service is highlighted as well as the app that works on Apple iPhones, iPads and iPods.

The app was the result of a conversation between United Way Vice President of Communications and Innovation Christoph Trappe and local app developer Karl Becker of http://karlbecker.com.

The app provides volunteers with a map of volunteer opportunities and a way to connect those interested with the organizations hosting those opportunities, Trappe explained. More than 100 volunteer opportunities are listed.

“It kind of came from thinking about how to get people more involved in volunteering,” Becker said in a United Way video. He wanted to provide a much easier way for people to access the volunteer opportunities by mapping where the opportunities exist.

“You can see a bunch of pins on the map showing, hey, there’s a volunteer opportunity just down the block from your house,” Becker said. “Wouldn’t that be great to go there on a Saturday from 10 – 11 a.m.?  It gets down to those specifics and it’s really easy to use.”

The United Way of East Central Iowa Volunteer Center has made the app available to other United Way agencies since it was launched in May 2012, Trappe said.

Also mentioned in the report to Congress was Gov. Terry Branstad’s Volunteer Iowa: A Call to Service initiative that created a public-private partnership to increase volunteerism in Iowa. The What’s Your 50? Campaign challenges Iowans to give back to their communities by volunteering at least 50 hours per year and the Iowa Volunteer Generation Fund grant is helping to establish partnerships to increase volunteerism in the state.

Comments:  (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@sourcemedia.net

Jason Glass, the director of the Iowa Department of Education since 2010, is a finalist for superintendent of the Eagle County, Colorado, school district.

Jason Glass

Glass, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad’s choice to head the department and lead his education reform efforts, is one of three finalists for the job. Glass was human resources director for the school district where he helped pioneer the district’s performance-based compensation.

Glass taught high school and university in Kentucky and worked for the Colorado Department of Education. He was vice president for Qualistar Early Learning in Denver, where he helped develop an early childhood education quality rating system.

Glass graduated from the University of Kentucky, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees. He earned his doctorate in education from Seton Hall University.

Remember Howard Dean?

The darling of the 2004 Iowa precinct caucuses — right up until caucus night.

Chances are the “Dean scream” is better remembered than the former Vermont governor’s 50-state plan that he implemented as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The Dean plan, quite simply, was a bid to build up party infrastructure and candidate recruitment at every level and in every state — even in solidly Republican bastions.

“We strengthened the parties so sitting governors could find good candidates” for offices high and low, Dean said. “That’s much easier to do from Topeka than it is from Washington.”

Governing columnist Louis Jacobs has done a retrospective on Dean’s strategy for winning elections and found that it produced pretty good results: “Looking at it from today’s vantage point, the project offers a nifty example of how modest investments in party infrastructure can pay tangible dividends — and how those dividends can disappear once the investments dry up.”

Here’s Jacobson’s post-mortem: http://smgs.us/3iro

Iowa had the ninth-highest casino tax revenue among states in 20123. according to the American Gaming Association.

Tax revenue in Iowa were $335 million — about 38 percent of the $869 million Nevada collected and less than one-fourth Pennsylvania’s $1.5 billion revenue.

States with the Highest Casino Tax Revenues in 2012

1. Pennsylvania $1.5 billion
2. Nevada $869 million
3. New York $823 million
4. Indiana $807 million
5. Louisiana $579 million
6. Illinois $574 million
7. Missouri $471 million
8. West Virginia $403 million
9. Iowa $335 million
10. Rhode Island $329 million

Source: American Gaming Association

DES MOINES – Iowans are being asked to sign an online petition urging former Democratic state Sen. Swati Dandekar to run for the open U.S. House seat in Iowa’s 1^st District.

Swati Dandekar

The “coming soon” message at http://swatidandekarforiowa.com, has been replaced with a petition:

“Friends of Swati Dandekar ask you to join us as we encourage her to run for Congress in the 1st Congressional District. (N.E. Iowa)

“Please join us by signing this petition and share it with others who want a committed voice representing Iowa.”

According to the website, it is not authorized by Dandekar.

The Marion Democrat has acknowledged she is being encouraged to run for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, a Waterloo Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Tom Harkin, who is retiring.

“I’m flattered, I’m overwhelmed,” Dandekar said, but added that she hasn’t discussed the race with her husband and sons.

Supporters have suggested they will form an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for a Dandekar candidacy.

State Rep. Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, is the only Democrat in the race, but more candidates are expected. Rep. Tyler Olson, D-Cedar Rapids, Iowa Democratic Party chairman and a potential candidate himself, expects at least three to four candidates in a June 2014 primary.

Dandekar, 62, served in the Iowa House from 2002 to 2008 when she was elected to the Senate. She resigned in 2011 to accept Gov. Terry Branstad’s appointment to the Iowa Utilities Board.

The Republican field, so far, consists of businessmen Steve Rathje of Cedar Rapids and Rod Blum of Dubuque.

The 20-county district stretches from Marshalltown north to Minnesota and east to the Mississippi River. It includes Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Dubuque.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who will headline an Polk County Republican fundraiser May 23 in West Des Moines, says speculation about him running for the Republican 2016 presidential nomination won’t hurt his re-election chances in the Badger State.

Gov. Scott Walker

Walker, who survived a recall election in June 2012, says the chatter about his presidential plans only draws more attention to hims plans in Wisconsin, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“If there’s more buzz, that’s all the more attention they’ll have for our plans,” he said.

And after dodging questions about whether he’d serve out a full four-year term if reelected, Walker said he’d address that issue once his re-election bid gets underway.

“Obviously, I’ve got every intention of preparing to run for governor, but I’ll address that as part of officially being a candidate,” he said.