1st District Meeting in Dubuque

Two weeks ago, we had a meeting with 1st Congressional District Central Committee members in Dubuque. This meeting served many purposes. First of all, it gave us all a chance to gather and meet new people and see familiar faces once again. Second, it gave everyone a chance to let off steam, of which there was a lot. Third, it gave us a chance to share ideas on what we can do to improve our efforts from now until the next election cycle.

A few random thoughts about the event:

-Ted Sporer, a State Central Committee member from the 3rd District, was an excellent speaker. I had not gotten a chance to meet him before, I thought he came across as being very sharp.

-We need to find a way to work cooperatively at EVERY level -- local, state, and national.

-There are a lot of angry, yet motivated Republicans in eastern Iowa with some really good ideas. Hopefully they start to speak louder to answer our never shy opposition.

-It was great to hear Mike Whalen and Leon Mosley speak again. Hearing either of these guys speak is worth the time to attend an event they are appearing at, being able to see both of them at one event was an added bonus!

-Everyone seemed to hate the negative political ads, myself included. I do not consider holding someone to their record to be negative, but personal attacks are, and there were plenty of them made during this past election.

-All the other speakers did a great job as well. I think we have some highly motivated Conservatives amongst us, we just need to work on spreading the word on our great Conservative ideals. We must remind our candidates that we expect them to act like Republicans, which is why we elected them in the first place!

-Adam Reuter

First Lady Visits Q-C

First Lady Laura Bush made a campaign stop at the Davenport River Center this past Thursday to support 1st Congressional District Republican Candidate Mike Whalen. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the event, along with my wife and Mike and Karen Hansen. Her visit was brief, as she had other campaign stops to make that day. Still, it will be a moment I will always remember. I thank Mike Whalen for giving me the opportunity to attend such an event.

-Adam Reuter

Franzen for Supervisor

It's now official - Darwin ("Dar") Franzen is now our Republican Candidate for 3rd District Supervisor in Jackson County. I have known Dar for a lot of years, and I think he has the right mix of intelligence, experience, and personality to make an excellent and very formidable candidate.

Please join me in supporting Dar and welcoming him to our team!

-Adam Reuter

Jackson County Fair

The 2006 Jackson County Fair has come and gone. We all had a lot of fun, it was really nice to see an even bigger turnout than our parade a few weeks ago for Miles' Thresher Days. We had all of our local candidates there - Dave Kendell, Jack Willey, LaMetta Wynn, and even Mike Whalen was able to show up. Our candidates showed up at the booth throughout the Fair as well, taking time to field questions and greet everyone. The Candidates and Central Committee members alike should be proud of all their time and hard work put into this event

Threshers Day Parade

On behalf of the Jackson County Central Committee, I would like to thank all who showed up for tonight's Thresher's Day Parade in Miles. We had a great turnout, and I hope we get an even bigger one for the Jackson County Fair Parade on Wednesday, July 26!

NAIS: Can small farmers afford it?

At our last Central Committee meeting, committee member Ronald Elmegreen gave me some information on the NAIS release by the Liberty Ark Coalition, which has many who run small farms concerned. Before receiving this information, I knew virtually nothing about NAIS, which is short for the National Animal Identification System.

NAIS is a plan that has been proposed by the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA), and developed by the USDA to be implemented by state agencies with the help of grants from the USDA. Under this plan, everyone who owns or manages a location where any amount of livestock (or any horse, cow, chicken, pig, goat or sheep) is handled will be required to register in either a government database or a private database that the government can have access to. In turn, those registered will be assigned a unique code that will contain global positioning system (GPS) coordinates. All animals will be assigned a 15-digit number when moved away from their original herd, or when they are exposed to other animals from outside their herd. All animals will be tagged in some manner for tracking purposes.

The purpose of this plan is to attempt to prevent widespread animal disease. However, tracking in itself will not necessarily prevent this. In addition, if the NAIS is implemented it will create another huge level of bureaucracy, which this country does not really need. The Liberty Ark Coalition has provided an alternative plan to prevent the spread of disease, one that would carry a significantly lower price tag and one that would not require this intrusive tracking system. To prevent the spread of disease, Liberty Ark has proposed that farmers stop feeding animal parts to their livestock and test animals for disease before they are slaughtered or enter the food chain. The Liberty Ark Coalition also proposes that proper inspections of slaughterhouses can help in preventing the spread of e.coli and salmonella.

This type of system to me seems to be both intrusive and expensive. If you would like to read more on the subject, you can visit the website for the Liberty Ark Coalition at http://libertyark.net .

-Adam Reuter

LaMetta Wynn fundraiser a success

On May 25, a fundraiser for Iowa State Senate candidate LaMetta Wynn was held at the Comfort Inn in Maquoketa Iowa. We were fortunate to get the opportunity to see not only LaMetta and several other Republican candidates, but also to meet New York Governor George Pataki. Pataki was a very eloquent speaker who spoke of the similarities between Lametta's and his own own political careers. Like LaMetta, Pataki started his political career as the mayor of Peekskill, NY, a city about the same size as Clinton.

Besides rallying behind LaMetta and her campaign, it was a great chance to meet like-minded conservatives. The event provided a chance to speak face to face with the candidates, and I personally hope we can duplicate that enthusiasm for our other candidates at future fundraisers as well.

-Adam Reuter