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The Storm Lake City Council should fire its lawyers and the city manager for fleecing the taxpayers in a lawsuit the city is waging against Buena Vista County that Mel Brooks and Sid Caesar could have written for its absurdity. District Court Judge Shane Mayer ruled last week that the city’s law firm, Dorsey and Whitney of Des Moines, overcharged the taxpayers by 28% as it presses its case against the county, also represented by Des Moines lawyers, over misallocation of tax revenue.
The county for several years collected tax revenue from a tax increment financing district that was supposed to be directed exclusively to the city. Instead, the county sent the revenue to other taxing authorities, such as the school district. The city says it amounted to several million dollars. (The city finance director who uncovered all this subsequently was sent to prison for child pornography. So much for the star witness.) The county refuses to own up. The lawsuit languishes.
County Supervisor Paul Merten is first among those in the courthouse to thump his chest to joust the city and bill the taxpayers at up to $370 per hour to pay the county lawyers. He deserves to be defeated Nov. 3 by challenger Tom Grau for mismanagement and depriving Storm Lake taxpayers their due.
Dorsey and Whitney charge the city up to $730 per hour for a single attorney. Even other lawyers think it is unreasonable. Again, city hall is asleep while the meter spins up an unsustainable tab.
Together, the county and city could have settled their cash dispute for what they paid in lawyers. The city is not getting paid any of the misplaced tax revenues from years past. The county is racking up legal bills apace, and a trial might be heard in another year or so. Both sides lose. The lawyers win, even at $370 per hour. How many hours of this are the taxpayers expected to endure?
The public officials should settle their mindless dispute. If the city can muster a judgment in its favor, it will be a pittance. The county is ripping off the city. All the public officials are eager to head into battle using someone else’s money — the taxpayer’s money. It is a bottomless well when you put laggards in charge of the public funds. The city did not notice for years that it was missing millions in revenue. When the wake-up call came, the county told the city to bugger off.
We all deserve better than that.
This shows a lack of respect for the taxpayers from the city, the county and the lawyers. Somebody deserves to get fired. Start with Merten. Voters can send a signal that they will not tolerate this foolishness. Fire the city manager for devising this losing scheme. Fire the lawyers who charge without shame. Storm Lake could hire a full-time city attorney who could live high on the hog if we can swing Dorsey and Whitney. We pay white-shoe lawyers on a meatpacking wage. It is an offense to hard-working people.
Little wonder that the public is frustrated with government at every level. Our property taxes go up, water and sewer bills go up, our streets are a wreck, and then we are expected to write another check for pointless litigation.
This battle has been going on for years. Buena Vista County messed up. It should make things right for Storm Lake, which should have paid attention in the first place. There should have been an audit, but public officials on both sides of Erie Street refused to seek one. Settle the lawsuit. Hire a couple local lawyers to get it done for a tenth of the cost. Heads should roll. It is up to the public to demand accountability. The judge made it clear we are getting slicked. Vote out Merten, at least, because Tom Grau is not someone who burns money. That is one thing the public can control.
President Trump’s agents shoot citizens and other legal residents dead in the streets. His administration detains immigrant children in concentration camps. When reporters try to cover this madness, they are charged criminally. He declared that reporters should be tried for treason, punishable by death. The administration searched the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in an attempt to deport her to Somalia. Trump uses the Justice Department to investigate his enemies. He incited an insurrection against the Republic and pardoned the traitors who attacked the US Capitol.
We live in an authoritarian state when innocents are gunned down in the streets and telling the truth is deemed an act of treason.
This is our opportunity to stand up for freedom, democracy and real justice, as opposed to tyranny.
We have to free ourselves.
We must put a check on the Trump Administration. Ashley Hinson has marched in lockstep with Donald Trump as a Republican Member of Congress from Iowa’s Second District. Now she is trying to run away from Trump as she competes for the Senate against Democrat Josh Turek. It’s a bit late for that. Meanwhile, she runs ads against Turek claiming without a shred of credibility that he wants to protect heavily tattooed immigrants guilty of indecent exposure. It’s preposterous. Hinson needs a reality check that the voters see through the farce. They must, because Trump was scheduled to rally in Sioux City on Thursday in hopes of shoring up her Senate bid. He might not be much help.
From ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll published Sunday: “Majorities of Americans say Trump is ‘not committed’ to respecting the authority of Congress (68%), protecting freedom of the press (67%), respecting the authority of the courts (66%), free and fair elections (61%) or protecting freedom of speech (61%). Shares of Americans saying that Trump is not committed to protecting freedom of the press, free and fair elections and freedom of speech are all up from last October.”
Vote for freedom. Vote for the Constitution.
Vote for checks and balances to save democracy.
Vote for Turek.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird needs a different job, and voters should help her along by electing Democratic challenger Nate Willems on Nov. 3. No better illustration of why comes from a Montgomery County jury that acquitted local election board member Joey Norris of Red Oak on charges brought by Bird.
Norris was charged with First-Degree Election Misconduct some 20 months after he served on a county election board. During the election, he tried to help voters with the assent of other election board members to get information to cure their ballot defects. This was considered after the fact to cause an unnecessary delay, because Norris read the rules and thought he was following them by trying to help make every vote count. The rest of the board agreed. Bird charged Norris anyway. He is a well-known Democrat whose aunt and uncle, Jackie and John Norris, are prominent in state politics.
The case shows Bird’s poor judgment. Willems would not bring such a losing case to persecute a political adversary. Vote for Willems. Enough terrorism against the people.
The state Revenue Estimating Conference confirmed last Friday that Iowa will have a billion-dollar deficit this fiscal year because of income tax cuts. Revenue declined nearly 10% last fiscal year. The three-member council projects that revenues this fiscal year will increase by 2.8%, which means a big deficit. The state will spend down its cash.
Department of Management Director Kraig Paulson insists that everything is fine, which is proof that we need Rob Sand as governor. Deficits are illegal under the state constitution. We might have to increase taxes on corporations, or on the wealthiest individuals in order to solve this deficit. The Republicans are on a collision course.
This is why you should vote NO on the constitutional amendment that would require a two-thirds majority of the legislature to increase income taxes. We should not put ourselves in a fiscal straitjacket. Republicans will control the legislature. If Sand is elected, he has pledged not to increase income taxes. We do not need to amend the constitution. We need to elect legislators who do not create billion-dollar deficits.
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