Sure, I'm late to the game, but something like this is always worth piling on about.
From the Blog For Iowa:
At [the Thursday, April 19th) VOICE Rally at the Capitol in Des Moines, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal stunned Iowa citizens advocating Clean Elections with his arrogance and use of obscenities.
A group of women and elderly men had gathered in the Rotunda after a peaceful rally calling for an end to the use of big money in Iowa's political campaigns, when Gronstal, who has been called "the most powerful man in Iowa politics," came strolling by.
Seizing upon the chance to speak with "the powerful one," members of the group caught his attention and began asking him where he stood on the issue.
When told of the citizen's concerns about how corporate money was impacting elections, Gronstal told them that's the way things work. When asked about the chance of Clean Election legislation reaching the floor he flatly said, "Not a chance."
Gronstal then went on a rant about how "naïve" these Iowans were, thinking that big money could be removed from Iowa elections, warning that "Republicans could just outspend us (Democrats) with a 527."
When someone in the crowd asked Gronstal about the half a million dollars that he raised during the last election cycle and doled out to Democratic candidates, he scoffed at the figure, saying, "I raised twice that much!"
Eventually some 20 citizens gathered around Gronstal, eager to hear the bill's fate during the final days of the 2007 session. What many of them heard was not only disheartening, but ultimately insulting.
Rather than listen to their reasonable concerns about the influence of money in politics, Gronstal arrogantly claimed that the votes for Clean Elections "weren't there." When a woman challenged this claim, Gronstal launched into her. "I make the decisions of what bills come to the floor…I'm the best vote counter in this building. I got 25 years of experience."
At some point, an older gentleman interrupted the Senate Majority Leader, saying, "You're nothing but a Republican in Democrat clothing."
Like a petty tyrant who has finally been called on his bad behavior the Senate Majority Leader lost it. Gronstal squared off with the older gentleman and said, "That's the lowest blow that anyone's ever dealt me. You can kiss my ass!"
Visibly shaken, Gronstal stormed off. He walked a short distance away from the group and then lifted his head up to the top of the Capitol and SHOUTED "F*ck You!" A large group of elementary school children were touring the Rotunda while this was happening.
It's not surprising that Iowa's lamestream media missed this one.
Do a Google News search for gronstal fuck or gronstal expletive or gronstal swear and there's nothing. I didn't even see anything about this until I checked Jan Mickelson's feed from this week and discovered mention of it on Wednesday and I guess Gronstal's belated apology yesterday. Oh well, better late than never.
What's amazing is that Gronstal said this to fellow Democrats.
Can't handle a little inter-party debate, Mr 25 Years Experienced Entrenched Fat Assed Nicotine Addicted Corrupt Piece Of Shit Need Your Moustache-Riding Ass Kicked Out Of Office Majority Leader?
Common Iowan had a post recently about the VOICE legislation, along with some links.
As I said before, I'd be in favor of taxpayer-financed campaigns, but only if the campaign season was whittled down from two years to about two weeks.
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