A Well-Deserved Recognition for a Respected Public Servant

There was a silver lining today in the dark clouds of the June floods that hit the Birdland neighborhood particularly hard and virtually shut down the Des Moines downtown for several days. Polk County Emergency Management Director A.J. Mumm was named 2008 recipient of ISAC’s Excellence in Action Award in the Outstanding Individual Category.

A.J. directed the [...]

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Even with Good Ideas, Sometimes “No” is the Right Way to Go

When it comes to good ideas, sometimes you still have to say “no.”  That’s the situation I found myself in yesterday as the Board of Supervisors voted on a $785,000 no-interest loan for the Southeast Polk school district to cover the costs for a pedestrian tunnel between its current high school and the new one [...]

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The Right Leader for The Times

Change is almost always hard, but I was pleased to see Iowa Senate Republicans select Paul McKinley as their new leader.
 
Sen. Paul Wieck of Sioux City, who has been in the post since 2007, has been a capable leader during difficult times for our party. But, just as we’ve seen with the Iowa House, fresh [...]

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