Transcript
The Jacobsen Group with Jon Jacobsen · Tue Aug 1, 2023
Hello, this is John Jacobson, and welcome to this podcast of The Jacobson Group.
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It's where Iowa comes to talk.
News Talk 1540 KXC out.
The Jacobson Group on KXEL Scott Corey in studio Mike Shane at the engineering deck you are listening to America's one and only the hemispheres one and only 50,000 watt clear channel 1540 signal caroming across all the big 10 states as the Hawkeyes March
36 days toward opening and guys it's so great to be back with you today Scotty also on that 100.5 FM signal we have a terrific show today Let's start to march to the trenches here mr. Shane Scott before we get into our Politico here We're gonna talk a little sports, but not before the studio audience
welcomes our special guest today.
The one and only matriarch of Iowa life, Jennifer Bowen.
Our Eastern Iowa RACON Tour, Mr. Timothy Grover.
And Iowa State Representative, Sherri Lynn
Westridge.
Oh, she's a senator,
John.
Oh, my goodness.
And Iowa State Senator, Sherri Lynn Westridge.
erstwhile colleague of mine in the Iowa House of Representatives.
Scott Corey, we've got the best engineer in town.
He can fix any mistake made on this program here.
He's got his own ringtone.
When you hear this ringtone, you know that it means serious business.
You know, that's a ringtone fit.
for the Iowa Cattle Call last night in Des Moines when our own KXEL, Jeff Stein, was the, uh, introducer like the UFC introducer of the combats and contestants.
KXEL, we're the pivot of the Leader of the Free
World election here, Scott.
You know, absolutely, John.
It was great being there.
Got a chance to say hi to Jeff Stein real briefly.
And, uh, I actually, when he was
gonna have the wwe uh let's get ready to rumble type situation but he said that's going to be coming later on he also mentioned that he's got some great things coming up uh that he's going to be announcing this fall that we're really excited to be a part of john
absolutely guys uh there's there's some really cool stuff going on we'll unfold that more i understand the other night that every presidential candidate was there
Except for Chris Christie because there wasn't enough room on the stage for all the candidates and Chris Christie
Absolutely John and the caterers actually refused to partake if he was going to be there so the food budget would have been blown out the door so There's one of those one of those events
well into every life a little rain must fall Let's march back with the trenches Scott.
You've got some sports news Updating for us.
There is so much going on as you know We follow the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten
including on our other two networks.
And Scott, a lot happened this week.
Take us on a tour.
What's going on with the conferences here?
Absolutely, John.
And it was a busy week.
It was big 10 media days in Indianapolis.
Coach Kirk Farrance was there for the 25th time leading his Hawkeyes.
Talked a lot of great things about the improved offense with Cabe McNamara, QB1, as well as the strong defense.
But all eyes were on Commissioner Tony Petiti.
new big tank commissioner.
He made some important statements regarding schools and how they're going to handle hazing and some of the consequences that will be moving forward.
But then all of a sudden there was something that was happening out west.
There was a lot of smoke coming from Boulder and all of a sudden we had the Colorado buffalos going back to the Big 12 to take on the Iowa State Cyclones and their Big 12 brethren.
And so it's very interesting.
Is time linear or circular?
It is
circular.
And so it's very interesting that a member of the Pac-12 has finally left the Pac-12.
Colorado is the first one.
to leave since the Big 10 took UCLA and USC here about a little over a year ago.
And now there's a lot of talk, and my sources at Iowa have confirmed there have been high level meetings in the conference between the presidents and chancellors, the Big 10 media partners, NBC, Fox, CBS, as well as the Big 10 network.
There is talks of bringing on four packed 12 schools to the Big Ten Conference.
If a deal can be reached, the block that is led by Wisconsin, Iowa and a few others have acquiesced and agreed to bring them in if certain requirements are made financially and that also my sources have confirmed that Ohio State's athletic director Gene Smith has been the spearhead of all talks and has met personally with Phil
of Nike in an Oregon alum and Nike will sweeten the deal is what I was told.
This is a big deal.
The pack is on the move.
Brent, your mark in the big 12 are on the move.
It looks like Arizona State and Arizona as well as Utah could be in the mix and a few others.
There's gonna be a lot of things going on.
The big 10 and the big 12 will not be the same by Labor Day in my opinion.
Guys, you heard it from Scott Corey.
Scott Corey, the first person on air in Iowa to boldly predict the Iowa special session of the legislature about a month ahead of time down to the day.
So listen here.
So, so Jen and Tim are frequent contributors of the program.
Mr. Shane, let's bring in Sherilyn Westridge appropriately.
She was the lead singer for the rentals, that top MTV video with millions of hits in the mid-90s.
Let's play a little excerpt from Waiting.
She's a female vocalist, so she's doing the u-u-u-u, obviously, and she's playing that moig, the M-O-I-G.
And she's driving the car on that video Scotty.
She's she's gonna mow you down like a juggernaut.
Absolutely.
She is a woman of many trades and Senator Westridge.
Thank you for joining us.
It's been a busy summer and there's some breaking news on Rag Bride too with one of your colleagues that couldn't keep his wheels between the white
line.
Yes, special report special report Klaxon.
Yes, special rag by report.
Scott Corey, back to
you.
We had breaking news this week that State Senator Adrian Dickey was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor in Sac County during Raigbride this week.
And in a plot twist, former Secretary of State and Madison County attorney, who is now in the private sector, Matt Schulz is his attorney.
And so we have
once again, a Republican that claims to be law and order getting arrested.
We heard
after the arrest that there was a lecture given to the senator.
Let's go right now to that scared straight lecture that was given to Adrian Dickey by Deputy Fife.
Now boys, I'd like to just add a word or two to what the sheriff has said, so as to make everything absolutely clear.
I think it's only fair to warn you that if you keep on getting into trouble and breaking the law, it can only lead to one thing, incarceration.
Now I know none of you likes the idea of being incarcerated.
The idea does scare you a little bit, doesn't it?
Yeah, and we don't even know what it means.
Well, to be incarcerated?
I know what it means.
It's like when a doctor gives you a shot.
No, that's inarculated.
Now, I mean jail, locked up.
Now, boys, if you'll just step over here a minute.
Uh, Barney, I... Andy, please, I'm not finished.
Boys, these are our maximum security cells.
This is where convicted persons are inarculated.
Incarcerated.
Inarculated.
You like where the doctor gives you a shot?
Oh, they know what I'm talking about.
Yes, boys, take a good look.
This is the last stop on the road of crime.
A man...
Confines a prison is a man who has given up his liberty.
No more carefree hours.
No more doing whatever you want whenever you want.
No more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Why can't you have peanut butter in prison?
Well guys, Tim Grover, we go to you.
The arrest of an Iowa State Senator evidently
Scott, I like Tim's take and then Jen's and then Shari Lynn's Was it because some of the writers were?
in the middle of some sort of thoroughfare and they didn't disperse quickly enough is that what this generally is about
that is what the report states and so there's a lot of he said she said at the moment i know there's been some media request to get a hold of the body camera footage and so we'll see what happens here and it's very interesting tim that this had to happen on rag bri
And it was also interesting too that about a session or two ago, Adrian Dickey was actually one of the main sponsors of a bill that would limit the arrest authorities on Raghbri as well as a large public event.
So I found it very interesting that this happened and he was the main culprit that was the one that finally got arrested on something like this.
Yeah, Tim Grover, you out of the chute first, you can't make this stuff up.
Oh no, I'm not doing that at
all.
It's, you know, I think probably he's probably going to
defend himself by saying he was actually drunk on power.
And I also hear the hunter plea deal fell through because he couldn't have peanut butter.
You know, that's not bad for spontaneous.
He didn't have time to prep for this.
We just called him up and said, you want to be on the show?
Jay Bo Jennifer Bowen, what say you?
Well, I found it very interesting as I was reading about the responding officer.
Now, it did take over 90 some minutes for the police to arrive, whether that was traffic or whatever held him up.
But it was very interesting reading the officer sounded as though he did everything that he could to modify Senator Dickey, and he just would not stop.
arguing with the officer so much so that he got to the point where he told the officer to arrest him and at some point the officer had to do that because they had been tying up this area for such a long time.
You know the sense of entitlement Scott Corey now maybe it's because Dickie comes from a town named
Pac Wood and his dad was mayor there for 30 years, but Sherri Lynn, you were in the house with me.
What's going on there in the Senate, girl?
John, I have to say and confess that I don't know all the details and I've never been on rack, Brian.
I've also never been on a power trip.
I can't say I know what went on there, but when I look at it, I think the way that it went down.
It seemed like a political stunt knowing the previous legislation kind of, you know, it feeds right into that.
Well, by golly, this time I've been, you know, I have been inoculated by the authorities and you can't inoculate people on rag bar.
So in fact, that he pushed himself to the point of having it become where it looks to me like a political stunt.
I'm not sure.
I'm not saying that.
Well, he was arrested.
I hope he doesn't go to jail.
By the way, folks, this segment is sponsored by Soap on a Rope.
Hi, everyone.
It's Lisa from I Dream In Soap.
Welcome to my channel.
And thanks for dropping by.
Now, for today's soap, we're going to go back to the 70s and we're going to do a soap on a rope.
Soap on a rope because you don't want to have to bend over when somebody is coming over.
Back to you,
Scott.
Thanks, John, for that great segue there.
But, Sherilyn Westridge, talk to us just a little bit.
I know the Senate has very strict rules of decorum.
Do you know of anything that could be used against Senator Dickey moving forward by the Ethics Board or Ethics Committee or anything like that?
You know, I really don't.
And when we, and I'm going to be wrong, but I think back to the days of Senator Sheldron and it is a great experience as the chicken man.
So I think if we need to go back and look at the conduct and hon.
Radbrie compared to what the little bit that happened this time.
I'm more concerned, Tim Grover, in general, when members of the legislature vote on issues that are intersecting with their own livelihoods.
And Senator Dickey was a big proponent of what would be called tort reform.
Basically, it was to limit the liability of some of the trucking transportation companies.
And Senator Dickey, I think Scott is involved in that industry.
Tim, does it bother you?
Do you think folks should recuse in these types of situations?
I do.
Yeah, so I totally 100% agree with that.
I think we see this rampant at every level of government.
I mean, right down to your smallest city hall in the country.
People aren't interested in citizenship or service.
They're more interested in getting legislation to promote either the special interest of a donor or their own personal gain.
It's becoming just rampant and will be becoming dysfunctional because of
it.
Jen Bowen, good take by Tim.
What do you say, Jen?
Well, I think not only is he part of that,
industry, he's actually the president of Dickey Transport.
So he's quite involved there and should have absolutely recused himself on such legislation.
And you know, this is really bearish the point that it becomes embarrassing, and it blurs the line of the Democrats and the Republicans.
how can you point to democrats for bad behavior when it's in your own party whether it was a political stunt whether there was alcohol involved it doesn't matter it's an embarrassment
scott uh... i would say that uh... as much as we fall in love our iowa hawkeyes it's also embarrassing uh... if senator dickie was the one who expelled
a member of the Iowa legislature from the Iowa Skybox during a Hawkeye football game because he was unhappy with the way that that representative voted on trucking legislation.
That indicates to me a small person who's a bully.
Absolutely, John.
It's very disconcerting that something like that would happen.
And so, you know, you know, Adrian Dickie, the state senator has made his own bed and he's going to have to lie in it too, because now he's opened himself up to some going to be some pretty interesting mail pieces and radio pieces, I would think in the upcoming election.
I can just imagine what some of them are going to look like.
Well, guys, we're going to move on to issue two here.
Again, we've got to stay away from voting in areas of our industry.
Bud Light has made it in the news and you know, should we take a look at IPERS like Rhonda Sanchez is doing in Florida and making sure that state pension funds
aren't invested in companies that are ruining their stock by going broke.
Now, the Anheuser-Busch stock has not gone down, but we know Budweiser sales are down.
As a matter of fact, the loneliest person in Iowa is that Bud Light forklift driver looking for pallets of Bud Light at a distributing
I don't know if there's any legislators who are lonely Budweiser pallet drivers at a distributing company, but it must be lonely like the Maytag Repairman today trying to look with that forklift to grab those pallets of Bud Light.
Yeah, you would think it'd be very interesting moving forward because on Thursday it was announced that Bud Light is letting off
400 people and they're throughout their company and with the sales now just in the absolute tank right now.
Sherilyn Westridge is the Senate going to be looking at State Treasurer Robbie Smith and seeing what kind of investments the state of Iowa is in when it comes to IPERS and as well as other
uh... funds
well yes and we've had uh... many many discussions on this and and looking at where our dollars are going and uh... who it would have been literally what countries are backing these dollars and where they're coming from uh... because it doesn't matter who you're investing in and uh... and that does matter to add to us and the whole will call a g uh... basically it you know
It's what investments are going to be safe for the people of Iowa is where what we need to look at.
But we also have to really take into consideration what they're doing to society, like how our investments are affecting society and what the people want.
So yeah, I mean, it's definitely a topic, a conversation up there and something we have to look at.
And the auditor needs to get in on those conversations.
He really needs to take a look at that.
I'll give Sherri Lynn Kudos when I was in the house a couple years ago.
I was on the floor helping lead that bill to prevent disinvestment due to left-wing groups who wanted to completely divest of companies doing business with Israel.
Because as a fiduciary in my line of work, you've got to protect the shareholder.
You can't put crass political interests above shareholders' rights.
Issue three!
Equal opportunity employers Scotty.
Democrat JD Shulton stepped in it this week.
You can't make this up.
He's not even on the same continent.
Yes, it was announced by KCAU the ABC affiliate in Sioux City that state representative Shulton is no longer in the state of Iowa or even in the country.
He is now in Europe playing baseball at 43 years old.
And so I raised the question if you're a state representative, how can you work with constituents and what the
response was while there is zoom in an email.
I'd like to get everybody's thoughts on this, but first, Sherilyn Westridge, you're in the Senate.
What is going on here?
We all know it's not a full-time gig being a state senator based on your payroll, but it is a full-time job dealing with constituents and helping them navigate the state bureaucracy.
But should state representative Shulton resign if he's going to be in Europe playing baseball?
Yeah, that's a little far stretch to be living in Europe.
I actually am attending a donut meeting this morning to let my constituents know why I've only had 20 meetings this month.
There was some pushback on me.
I didn't make a few of the parades.
And so not only do they want you to have these meetings about legislation and things that affect us, but they want you to show up for that pancake breakfast and that parade.
And to be in all four of your counties at once.
So I don't see, I know that I cannot do that Zoom parade from Europe.
I think that's a far stretch to say that you're really going to be able to keep an eye on what's going on in your local district.
So yeah, I don't think, I think he needs to take a look at what he's doing, taking that $25,000 and more.
When when he's so far away, that's that's crazy.
I'll let Tim and Genway in here But the problem with JD is come on guys.
He's a crate and alum.
Let's pick up that crate University fight song right now from the Red Army
Now Scott, that's the crate we know and love.
Do you think that's JD's problem is the Creighton thing, maybe?
You know, knowing Creighton as well as we do, I'm not surprised one bit.
And based on his voting record too, I mean, he'd fit right in there with some of the red hammer and sickle.
Tim Kover, what say you?
Well, that's an interesting thing about JD.
I never hadn't heard about that.
Yeah, he's pretty much absolutely without leave.
I don't know what else.
Yeah.
Obviously, uh, your pay really only covers the session that you're in, but what about constituent interaction and everything?
It's impossible to do that in Europe.
And, but I have her though.
That was JD.
Uh, it is kind of a, he, he, he throws left, but he swings right.
Grover on a roll today.
Jen Bowen top that.
Well, here's what I have to say.
Gaby Shulton is not much more than a carpetbagger who has been known to reside in a bus so that he can move from district to district.
It was a very nice bus.
At one time
he ran against Steve King and then he took his bus down and he ran against Randy Feinstra.
And now he is parked in Woodbury County in no known address that I could find and representing he won that race unopposed.
So you have somebody who clearly has no real allegiance to any part of Iowa.
So why would he not just run off to the Netherlands?
on a whim when they call and say, hey, come play ball for a while.
And I find it incredibly offensive when his response to his constituents is I have a quote, phone plan and zoom.
And I just find it interesting that here in the Des Moines Metro, we have an ultra liberal
Des Moines City Councilwoman, her name is Indira, a BLM supporter, anti-police.
She's as woke as can be, but she doesn't show up at city council meetings, and she doesn't answer constituent issues and calls and all that.
And they're calling for her ouster, and I will find it very interesting to see how long if Sherry Lynn is not
active enough with over 20 appearances in her district in a month's time.
Isn't that
incredible?
Woodbury County not want him in their county.
You know, John, you were talking about representative JD Shulton being absent in Europe.
And then Jennifer brings up what's happening in Des Moines.
It's very interesting too.
In Omaha, they have a city councilman that cannot attend parades or meet with constituents unless they come meet him in the federal jail because he's been charged with racketeering.
And so, I mean, it's just something that's going on left and right.
It's just not a Sioux City problem or Des Moines problem.
It's everywhere.
We got politicians that are getting arrested on ragged
and federal racketeering
well Scott you remember me the previous seven summers as an elected rep I held court out there at West Fair which is going on right now passing out with a lovely and gracious Mrs. Jacobson hundreds of flags to all the attendees free of charge the young people in Pot County are awesome Scott they are patriotic hard-working ag people and you've got
to politics is about relationships, eyeball the eyeball.
Right, Sherri Lynn Westridge, you've run successful businesses.
You know, you're the queen of automotives after being on overhaul in all those years, that very popular cable show.
You gotta go out and press the flash and meet the people.
I once was criticized for working too hard because supposedly,
You're making the rest of us look bad.
I take that as a badge of honor, Sherilyn.
Well, I do too, and you deserve that compliment, because you did do a lot of work, and we're also there for all the information and trivia that people came to you for.
People really used you as a sounding board.
but but i have to i'm just going to be completely honest right now when you said j.b.
schulten i thought who's that because i literally didn't know who he was i just put him up and um so he was in my a but i do believe he showed up for the legislative softball game to play on the democrat's team uh it maybe made his way to town for that uh but i look at his committees even he's on economic growth
Natural resources agriculture.
You need to be in your district and and really paying attention to what's going on there.
So what was he doing?
He's in Europe seeing what the agriculture is like over there.
I guess
well that that's a good point Scott
I say I'm making Mark Costello great again.
I am turning him into the greatest Iowa State Senator.
He all of a sudden is showing up everywhere.
It's a Festivus miracle.
It is a Festivus miracle.
And it's actually interesting, too, that he actually talks with people, too, because he's been known to be somewhat of a hermit in the district.
But as we move forward, it just never just nothing surprises me anymore, John.
Issue four.
Oh, the atrophying of the ancient ones in Washington is everybody ready for the home and why are they still clinging into power?
We go out now to the Mitch McConnell press conference the other day live.
Here's an excerpt from that.
Scott, not a good day for Mitch McConnell.
No, no, absolutely.
And it was actually a very scary moment, too.
During a live press conference there in the Capitol, he was flanked by South Dakota Senator John Thune, as well as Iowa Senator Joni Ernst.
And during his remarks, he basically froze for about 12 to 15 seconds.
And it was later reported that he had a medical incident.
Nobody knows quite what that entailed.
But it, you know, almost appeared like he might have had an acute
cute stroke.
And as we move forward, it also raises the question to, you know, he is a polio survivor, but he's also in his 80s.
And we also this week saw during a committee hearing in the Senate, California Senator Diane Feinstein had to be told just say I just say I and she said I finally
after starting to give a speech indicating why she was supported the bill
which should have been done prior to the holding of the roll call vote.
Absolutely.
And then you talked about, you know, Pennsylvania Senator Fetterman.
We have the many gaffes of President Joe Biden.
You know, Sherilyn, we want to be accommodating, but at the same time, there comes a point where people need to understand that this is a very taxing job being a representative in, you know, a city council member, a county supervisor in the state house and in DC.
And for Biden
to clean up after
After Hunter, that's got to be an extra three hours a day.
Absolutely.
And a
couple of extra
bowls of ice cream.
So, Sherilyn, do we need
to actually... At least he doesn't have to worry about a brain freeze.
Well, the brain freeze is what it looked like to me when I was watching the playback.
And it's no joke.
There's a lot of jokes that are going around.
But honestly, I find it hard to comment because I have a lot of more experienced citizens who live in my district.
And they definitely are sharp as a tack.
But I really believe once these legislatures start relying on their staff and relying on lobbyists, and that's where we're getting these votes that make no sense, because that person's not up to the task of doing their own research and working with colleagues like when John and I worked together.
We really would each do our research.
We would rely on other research, but not so much on our staff.
And I think what could they be doing?
I mean, when you look at Mitch McConnell and that,
that he went blank.
That's not the first time he's done that.
And you could tell by their reaction that they're used to this sort of behavior.
Well, you know, Sherry Lynn, I never relied on staff because they would just go right out.
What I was going to do to we should have been Grassley.
Our staff would be holding to leadership.
And Pat
Grassley, that is.
Yeah, it's just you can't when a when a leadership like the Speaker of the House is beholden.
it communicates you in that way, you kind of just decide, all right, well, I'm done with your staff.
I'm going to go ahead and do my own research and count on colleagues like John Jacobson when we were in the house together doing their own research or having that knowledge.
And really, like I said, this is not the first time I have no knowledge of this, but I would guess that this has happened before with...
Well,
now it came out that he face planted the other day, getting off the airplane.
Tim Grover, your thoughts on this?
I mean, Nancy Pelosi, another example, 83 years old.
Why do they cling to power?
Why is DC such a magnet?
I mean, she should be home making sure Paul doesn't get hammered at the front door by some interloper.
What's going on here?
Well, you have an establishment class involved in the donor class.
You go through every
Every four years, here we go through the cycle and the super PAC show up.
But it hasn't changed.
It hasn't changed for 40 years.
New money.
There's a lot of money in politics, but there's actually no new money.
But as far as the age thing, yeah, the McConnell thing was scary.
And again, my impression was it was a stroke.
But at the same time, you have Senator Grassley, who's
Vibrant and effective yet before his age and many people yeah, I'd love to get be his agent and that active yes, so So it's a difficult situation, but I do know one thing I hear that the nursing home inspector was looking the clinic folk room over
Jen Bowen we give you the last word here before our next
segment
As we all know, we are pro-life individuals who believe in the dignity and value of every human, no matter what age.
I do sympathize in some ways with some of the struggles that Senator McConnell has outlined and experienced publicly, being a cancer survivor myself.
At 50, I'm already using a wheelchair sometimes and have no teeth.
So I can understand some of the struggles that he physically has.
But we have an individual who has fallen in the snow in Finland when meeting with the Finnish president.
And we have an individual who days later fell at the Wabau Astoria and was out for six weeks recovering from that.
He also fell in the Reagan Airport recently, as well as other things that are just starting to come out.
We have a significant problem, not only with our president, but now we have Mitch McConnell, who clearly has 18 issues.
And at what point does that preclude you from the job and the strains of such a job?
I've had to personally recognize that the damage that has been done to my physical body, it no longer allows me to work at any kind of pace that I once did.
And at what point do these individuals need to take a hard look at themselves and say, I just cannot do this anymore.
And for the good of America, step aside.
Well, you know, Jen, I'll just do a little personal note here.
Scotty, you know the love and gracious Mrs. Jacobson.
You know, she's going to give me that shepherd's hook off the stage even before it's time to go.
I think, I mean, Jill Biden, I
Dr. Jill, what you're doing to Joe is elder abuse and Scott, you know the lovely and gracious one.
She'll hide me away before I
get bad, won't she?
Absolutely, you know, she'll take you on a boat somewhere and really, you know, have a little conversation with you.
If you do some ice cream, make sure you're tucked in at night.
But, you know, that's where it's all about.
You have to have that support system.
And unfortunately, there are so many grifters and hangarons out there that want to be close to the power in the inner circle that they'll prop up a dummy just like we saw
on a weekend at Bernie's.
I mean, unfortunately, we might even have that situation going on right now at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Yeah, very, very sad.
Issue five.
Scott.
A little article came out this week involving the family leader and Ron DeSantis.
What's going on?
There was breaking news that in the filed FEC reports, Federal Election Commission reports, that the Ron DeSantis, never back down super PAC, had paid the family leader and its leader, Bob Banner plots, over $50,000 in July the third of this year.
And then ironically,
about 12 days later, Bob Vander Plaats made a statement that the Republican Party needs to move on from Donald Trump.
And so then Bob and the family leader had an event in Ames where there was a large cattle call of people, most notably the person that was not there was Donald Trump.
And so it seems like support can be bought and paid for in Iowa and it's very disconcerting moving forward.
that you have such an organization out there taking large sums of money and as somebody mentioned to me during the week was this just an initial payment or is there more payments to come and so that's gonna be very interesting and raises a lot of important issues moving forward.
Senator Westerich you're in you know talk to us a little bit about campaign finance.
I know the Senate has different rules
where basically a senator cannot be, you know, a paid spokesman of presidential campaigns, but does payments to Bob Vander Plaats and the family leader taint the Iowa
caucuses?
the music industry.
So I would just say, you know, follow the bouncing ball.
Like Mitch Miller and the gang, uh, Tim Grover send a Red Rover over.
What's your take on this, Tim?
You've been following Iowa politics for decades over there on the Mississippi river side of the state.
Go.
Well, uh, the first time I've kind of noticed that, uh, there was a effort.
on the DeSantis Park.
We didn't hear to Iowa.
This has been going on forever.
We all know this.
And yeah, I do believe that's a down payment.
I believe that was their payment to go to the family leader event for sure.
But, you know, I used to watch these dates for a long time and all of a sudden him and Glenn Beck was gushing over Governor DeSantis.
And it was the gushing type of loving comments that
that really not the setting of a media personality.
And that's what I knew that there was a courtship going on between the DeFantis campaign and the family leader.
And this whole situation bothers me because DeFantis has been a good governor, an excellent governor, but we've seen what's happened.
Once you once you start taking money from the swamp and from people that really don't share your values I I certainly believe a lot of things,
you
know, I've been a huge critic of DeSantis Mostly because I'm upset that a great guy this has happened to number one number two I think a lot of this happened to me didn't know it was coming because I've seen it happen with other candidates and There needs to be a cleaning up of the whole
caucus system because we're spending a lot of money that could be used in the fall in the general elections to swing these elections and also to build a brand of our values.
Wow, that's a powerful statement.
Sherry Lynn, any follow up to that?
Do we need some overall take a look at how
money is handled in these races from presidency all the way down?
I really think we need a total reformation of it.
I mean, when you look at some of the donations and really you just, like I said, just follow it.
What are they voting on and why?
But when you look at, for instance, I received quite a large donation from the county attorneys.
And that was, they liked what I was doing in office.
So if you look at that large donation and then you look at my vote and you look at the legislation that I ran, mine was geared towards protecting women, increasing penalties
on
criminals.
So, okay, that's just a whole other genre.
But when you look at someone who's actually supporting, you know, for instance, their own money making entity,
And then being supported by that lobby that follows that.
So, uh, you know, it, I really wish we would just, uh, lower, lower the cost of running for office and lower the donations
that
can be made and, and really take a look at what we're doing with this big money.
I mean, there can be a million dollar race just in Iowa for
a ridiculous,
ridiculous.
Yeah.
It is absolutely ridiculous.
And, uh, you know, um,
Scott, I never paid attention to what the lobby registrations were and I went out of my way to fight for free speech against the censorship of the Facebook types.
I really went after Big Pharma and Scott, what do you think I received in contributions from Big Pharma and Facebook?
Well, based on your social media presence, I'm not surprised one bit, John.
I'm actually surprised they allowed you to continue going on in your shadow band.
But moving forward, I do think we need to have a strong conversation, not only about the caucuses, but campaign finance here in the state of Iowa.
It's gonna be very interesting moving forward.
And Senator Westridge, you bring up a great point.
I'd like to see in Iowa,
that the Senate as well as the statewide campaigns do not have to report on the same schedule as the Iowa House and I think we should see a more uniform report report moving forward and I think that would actually shine a little bit more light on that and make it a little bit more friendly to our citizens.
Exactly, we need transparency and that's one thing that would contribute to the transparency of it but people need
An easy way to look it up, just to look up what your representative is doing and the lobbies that they're beholding to and whether or not that actually correlates with how they make money.
So it's disappointing sometimes when you see it happen.
I can just say that for me, I never paid attention and didn't realize, and like John said, I didn't look up the bills I was running and to see what lobby was registered for or against.
One being, I didn't know that you could do that, but even when I found out, I just don't care what the lobby thinks.
I talked to my citizens and my counties and I know I try to go on a moral compass of what's right and wrong, not what'll get me reelected.
And I think that's a terrible way to serve the people.
It's terrible.
So here's Jacobson's editorial comment.
We need some fanfare because it's the official John Jacobson editorial comment here on
campaign finance reform.
Scott, we need to get rid of the legislative majority fund.
What people don't realize across Iowa is that most of the folks who donate money, let's say it's Jacobson for house, they expect all of those candidates to then take that money and write a check.
to the legislative majority fund.
Both Republicans and Democrats do this in the House of the Senate and then let the leaders redirect the money from the local constituents
to different hand-picked favorite candidates who might not even agree with the issues of the local folks back home.
Not only that, but it's not done transparently.
The people don't realize they're writing a check that's not gonna go to the local campaign.
Scott, I was one of the few that refused to play that game, got punished a little bit for it, but if we wanna take power back from Des Moines, we've gotta quit sending all of our constituents money to Des Moines.
I got a great idea.
They keep their money.
We keep our money.
We run our races.
What say you, Scott Corey?
You know, absolutely.
And you know, one of the bad things I saw firsthand was actually a Republican candidate was told to go out and raise X amount of dollars and then turn it into the Eisenhower fund, which is the majority fund for the Republicans.
But then about after this person had committed to raise that money, he raised the money, sent the check-in.
And three weeks later, the majority fund said, you're no longer part of our top tier.
We're not going to help you moving forward.
And they never reimbursed that candidate for that money that they sent to the fund.
It was just appalling the kind of things that happened moving forward.
So both parties need to have a soul-searching comment regarding this.
And we need to find a better way of doing it because it's just not working.
I agree.
final word to Tim and then Senator Westridge.
Tim, what say you?
Yeah,
we definitely need some cleaning up of the donation system.
The big irony in the Desanda situation is he just had a big funder out in Deer Valley, Utah with a bunch of people who won that one foot inside a family leader event.
So that tells you what happens to candidates.
The disandice thing is a very, very sad situation.
We had a future president on our hands there and he's ruined now because of the system.
Wow, Jen Bowen, what say you?
Well, I will say as a pro-life leader and advocate in the state of Iowa for many years, my comments are more reserved for those who have supported
continue to support Bob Vander Plaats and his family leader organization.
And I would just ask you to consider if this is somebody who you want your money to go to, somebody who has not just received a $50,000 likely down payment from Governor DeSantis and days later.
publicly supported him and trashed former President Trump at the same time.
Is this somebody that you want to continue to support?
And I would say that this is an organization that has systemically stood in the way of life-saving pro-life legislation all the way back to 2010.
forward, they consistently fought a common sense late term abortion ban that would have kept Leroy Carhar out of the state of Iowa, which praise God, he never did come in, but they fought that and it took us seven years to pass that.
They have fought common sense webcam abortion legislation where the woman doesn't even see an abortionist
just participates over a computer before taking chemicals to kill her unborn child and later expel the baby.
This is an organization that has a long history of standing in the way of pro-life, pro-family values and looking at a black and white form where they have accepted money from the never back down pack.
associate super PAC associated with governor DeSantis is very disheartening it's very troubling and it's more so upsetting because as Tim has said we've seen a good governor tainted by this constant badgering of candidates for money years ago uh... president trump came forward uh... through twitter
and made it very clear that Bob had repeatedly asked for visits to Mar-a-Lago and such.
I would just ask those that still consider this organization a leader for pro family, pro life values.
I would just ask you to consider if this is somebody you want to continue to be associated with.
I can tell you babies
have died in Iowa because of their impediments against good common sense legislation.
A
sobering conversation here.
Senator Westrich, we're going to give you the last word on campaign finance reform or anything else as we close the show out today.
Well, I'll just finish off the topic of campaign finance.
And to say that, you know, fixing that system, the campaign, the candidates that are coming up are going to be the ones who are in office right now that are voting to make that not happen.
But, you know, I mean it really comes down to them coming to you as a candidate saying it's about keeping the majority.
And so that's where all that combining of money and giving your money to the state instead of to your own campaign, it keeps that majority.
So it's a fine line, where do we go?
And you do, if you don't jump in and be on that team, you will be punished, which I was and you were, when we only took enough money to run our own campaigns, I guess you're supposed to keep fundraising to keep that majority.
You know, understood people do want to keep that Republican majority, but how are we going to do that?
How are we going to change the dynamic of how fundraising goes in Iowa?
Well, I'm going to take a stab at
it this year.
You can hear us on the radio, statewide at AM 1540 and in the Cedar Valley at FM 100.5.
We stream live on the web, not only through KXEL.com, but also through our free KXEL mobile app.
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Oh, Scott, these have been very, very hot days of summer, although in the current mass media, zeitgeist of presentism, you would think it had never been hot before.
I can tell you walking beans in 1977 for farmer Ralph Blackford in Marion, Iowa, north a few miles from the old Hames, Holmes headquarters,
It was hot even at five in the morning, Scott.
And you know what's beautiful?
One of my favorite men of the 20th century is Willis Carrier because air conditioning has done so much to improve the quality of life.
And you know what, Scott?
There are 3,000 people living in beautiful, affordable, safe,
and luxuriously comfortable Hames Homes in Southwest Cedar Rapids.
The freon works beautifully in those HVAC systems.
Welcome back to show Barbara Hames Bryant, the matriarch of Hames Homes and the official dean of the political caucus.
The panoply, the every four year vision of Iowa helping elect the
Leader of the free world right out of the gate.
Barbara, great to have you back on the show with us again on another... Good
morning,
John.
Good morning,
everybody.
Happy summer, happy eat.
I kind of like the hot weather.
How about you?
I do too, Barbara.
As a matter of fact, you know, I spent all my summers growing up when I wasn't working in Marion.
I was doing a lot of aquatics as well.
And Barbara, it's... But we got a lot of things we can talk about today.
Let's just...
Take one quick political deviation.
You had up the Iowa Federation of Republican Women, Barbara.
Last night they had the assemblage in Des Moines of the presidential candidates.
Even President Trump was there.
I think Chris Christie was the only one not in attendance.
RKXEL Buddy Jeff Stein was the the introducer, kind of like at a WWF.
He was the
baritone doing the introducing Barbara Isn't it great that Iowa is the beacon that starts this process out in the free world?
It's such a great time to be in Iowa Everyone is so engaged and by everyone.
I don't mean the political candidates.
I mean the electorate as well Everybody would like to meet these political candidates hear what they have to say meet them up close in person We're very fortunate here in Iowa that we get to do this
Well, we are in Barbara.
We're even more fortunate
to have this family legacy of Haymes Homes continuing and perduring very beautifully to this day.
And Barbara, we're getting some decent economic news.
This is probably the last interest rate hike, and yet your homes right now have just positioned themselves beautifully, manufactured homes.
They're not just incredibly affordable and spacious.
and safe.
But right now financing is very competitive and you have your own financing group that puts this together for you when people want to buy a manufactured home in your beautiful manufactured community in southwest Cedar Rapids.
That's right John.
We have our own finance company.
It's called Circle Finance.
We started it 13 years ago when we discovered that there weren't very many lending options for our buyers.
Remember people own our homes and lease the land.
So instead of relying on outside bankers, we started our own company.
Well, now the banks have gotten into the act and realized that these are really awesome homes and they're well worth financing.
So there's some really good competitive rates right now in banks, even outside of Haynes' homes.
There's never been a time that I can remember where the interest rates between manufactured homes and site-built homes
are virtually identical.
So they're great rates starting at 7% interest going up from there and their short-term loans and by short term I mean usually 20 years or less.
So you build up equity faster.
It's a great way to get started in a home of your own.
Our sales people, excuse me, our sales associates Curtis and Clint
will help guide buyers into the right loan for them so that they build up equity as fast as possible with as low a payments as possible.
You know, Barbara, as we get closer and closer, you know, next week, we're starting August already.
The State Fair is just right around the corner.
We got kids talking about going back to school.
We got people moving in to the dorms in Iowa City and co-college there.
You know, talk to us just a little bit about the amenities that you have at your facilities because you have it all.
You have dog parks.
You have, you're close to the golf courses.
What else do you have there?
Well, we're close to city parks too.
Cherry Hill Pool.
We have two parks and two playgrounds in each of our communities at Grandview and Summit View.
We have a walking trail at Grandview.
We have a disc golf course at Summit View.
We have parks and pavilions.
And there's lots of outdoor activities in our our grounds.
Not to brag too much, but they're perfectly kept.
Our outside crew is amazing.
The grass is always trim.
The weeds are always pulled.
And it looks like a wonderful
neighborhood that you'd want to live in.
I've driven through there recently.
It looks pristine.
The landscaping and lawns are absolutely beautiful.
The the streets are they look like new pavement and the lighting system.
Everything is magnificent.
What I'm proud about the Hames Homes folks is Scott at the main business office there.
Old glory flies proudly.
Along with our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain and the MIA POW flag honoring those who've served for our country
leaving no one behind.
These are great patriotic people.
We ought to patronize them, Scott Corey.
You know, absolutely.
You know, this time of year and everything like that, you know, a lot of people are making that conscious effort to be supporting family businesses.
And, and along those lines, and Hames Homes has been a part of the community for generations.
Barbara, how do you guys do it?
Because you're managing, you're on your fourth generation.
Is that correct now?
We're on our third generation right now, my parents.
Kurt and Norma Haynes founded the company in 1969.
My brother, sister, and I, Troy, Cynthia, and I run it now.
And Troy's son, Troy's son-in-law, and my son all work in the company right now.
You know, it's so great to have these family legacies, Scott, multi-generationally.
The ethic of this family is always one of a Christian worldview living by the golden rule.
against a background of service and patriotism.
Barbara, we congratulate you.
We're always honored to have you on the show.
Barbara, before we exit this segment, how can folks find out more about you as they listen in here on the Blowtorch KXEL?
Well, if you're riding in your car, you can call us at 319-377-4863.
319-377-4863.
If you're at home or sitting at your desk, you can reach us online at HaynesHomes.com or visit us seven days a week at our sales office at the corner of Wilson Avenue and West Post Road Southwest.
Wilson Avenue, West Post Road Southwest.
Guys,
Barbara, it's great.
Barbara, there was a rumor that the other night at the straw poll there, you received votes for president.
Any truth to that rumor?
President of what, John?
The universe.
So Barbara
Hames... I can neither confirm nor deny.
There you go.
As I always say, I pull from Francis Urquhart.
You might very well think that.
I couldn't possibly comment, but I can comment and tell you to get over to Hames Homes, guys.
The Homes people.
Our studio audience erupting in applause.
Barbara Hames Bryant, thanks for joining us.
We'll talk to you again next week, Barb.
As process the nobles cascades with larger volume as we leave the show I want to thank Jennifer bow and Tim Grover center Shailin Westridge Mike Shane the great one of the control Scott Corey John Jacobson yours truly here on the Jacobson group guys this was a loaded show Scott and you can send your friends to this beautifully
digitally mastered edited and spliced program on the podcast kxl.com slash jacobson j-a-c-o-b-s-e-n.
Scott, I looked at the Nielsen ratings the other night for KXL both in the Waterloo and the Sea Rapids area.
Jeff Stein is on the march so many people are listening
to this great blowtorch, caroming through all of the states of the Big Ten on 50,000 clear watts on 1540 and 100.5.
We love being
here, Scotty.
Absolutely, and we couldn't do it without our sponsors.
We want to give them a huge shout out as well and as well as the audience.
Thank you for allowing us to come into your homes and your vehicles every weekend and talk about the important things that are facing Iowa and the nation.
In the meantime, folks, be safe, be smart, be good, be strong.
Love Jesus Christ, and God blesses everyone.
Again, head to that podcast, kxl.com, jacobsen.
Bye-bye.
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