IOWA VOTER

League of Women Voters^® of Iowa

 Volume 56        Issue 1        Fall 2005

League Works to Impact Iowa Legislation

President’s Message

Sentencing/Corrections -Study Update

LL Observer Corps

Felon Voting Rights

Community Voices Event

Voter Service Honored

LL Orientation Offer

Opportunity to Help

Good Things To Do

 

 

League Works to Impact Iowa Legislation

 

      The League of Women Voters of Iowa has been working for several years to increase its impact on the development and passage of legislation on LWVIA Priority Issues.  Two years ago the state League set up an Advocacy Committee to develop ideas and plans to encourage more local Leagues and members to become involved in the legislative process and to provide support to lobbyist Judie Hoffman.

      For a number of years LWVIA has held a Legislative Issues Briefing each October to provide background on the legislative priorities set by the state board for the next legislative session, and to provide guidance on lobbying.  Local Leagues have held Legislative Lobbying Events to lobby their own legislators prior to each session to determine support for the League’s program.  Two years ago we re-instituted a Lobby Day and asked members to travel to Des Moines to lobby.  The 2006 Lobby Day is scheduled for Tuesday, February 21 (put it on your calendar!).

      The Advocacy Committee has developed a new way for individual members to help achieve our legislative goals – a Lobby Corps.

 

LWVIA Lobby Corps

 

      The Iowa Lobby Corps (ILC) is a new LWVIA project, and will begin with the 2006 session of the Iowa Legislature.  The goal of the ILC is to advocate in an organized, vigorous manner on LWVIA legislative priorities to achieve the desired action on each priority.

 

      The Iowa League is looking for members who are willing to go to Des Moines periodically, February – April 2006, to do this advocacy work.  Each Corps volunteer will ‘adopt’ one of the priorities and focus on it during the session.  The member will become familiar with the issue, follow its progress in the Legislature, attend relevant committee meetings if possible, and lobby the legislators involved at the key times.

 

      Lobby Corps members will receive some initial training and then will coordinate their advocacy work with lobbyist Judie Hoffman.  The activities of Lobby Corps members will support Judie’s efforts, increase recognition of the LWV and its nonpartisan issue-oriented approach, and hopefully lead to success on the legislative priorities.

 

      The LWVIA 2006 Legislative Priorities are:

ü     Support of an increase in the tobacco tax;

ü     Support of mandatory electronic filing of campaign finances;

ü     Support of a voting system that is secure, accurate, re-countable and accessible;

ü     Opposition to a constitutional amendment on taxes;

ü     Opposition to the death penalty;

ü     Support of repeal or reduction of mandatory minimum sentences, expansion of community

based corrections, and legislation that considers offenders with special needs.

 

      If you are interested in becoming an LWVIA Lobby Corps member for the 2006 session of the Iowa Legislature, please contact Pat Johnson, Advocacy Committee Chairperson pat@oneotaslopes.org

 

Legislative Issues Briefing 2005

 

     About 40 League members attended the 2005 Legislative Issues Briefing on October 15 at the West Des Moines Public Library to prepare for lobbying their own legislators on League priorities for the 2006 session.

 

      Gary Dickey, General Counsel to the Governor, updated participants on Executive Order 42, Restoration of Voting Rights to Iowa Felons.  It is estimated that about 40,000 felons could benefit from the order to restore their voting rights.  They need only to register to qualify to vote.  A new governor could change the process but all felons granted amnesty under Governor Vilsack would retain their right to vote. 

 

     Cathy Callaway, Field Representative of the American Cancer Society, spoke on why Iowa needs to raise the tobacco tax – to improve the health of Iowans and to decrease the numbers of smokers, not to raise funds.  She noted that if the tax is raised to $1, there would be a 19% decrease in young people starting to smoke.  Iowa’s tax is the eighth lowest in the nation; 41 states have increased the tax since 2001.

 

      Michelle Bauer of the Secretary of State’s Office, provided an update on implementation of HAVA (Help America Vote Act).  The statewide voter registration list will be complete by December 31, 2005; each precinct will have at least one machine accessible for the handicapped.  Some counties will buy touch-screen electronic voting machines (DREs) that lack a paper trail.  The Iowa League supports voting system security, including a voter verified paper audit trail.

 

      Dr. Roxann Ryan, former Iowa Assistant Attorney General, speaking on why Iowa doesn’t need a death penalty, noted that in Iowa the sentence for first degree murder is life without parole, and in Iowa life means life.  Reinstating the death penalty would be costly -- capital cases require two trials, one for conviction, and another for the sentencing phase.  Appeals are numerous and time-consuming.  The state justice system, the counties, and the taxpayers would be burdened with the extra costs, and there would be fewer monies for other crime-fighting endeavors.

 

     Mary Richards, former Story County Attorney and Ames LWV member, spoke on "Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Where do we go from here?"  She explained how mandatory minimums and enhanced sentences for drug crimes have led to decreased judicial discretion and to our prisons being 20% over-capacity.  A fully funded community based correction system and increased intervention options could decrease prison populations yet protect the public safety.

 

     Judy Hoffman, League lobbyist, reminded briefing participants that the League provides a real service to legislators with our candidate forums and legislative coffees.  When we lobby legislators, we need to present the League’s priorities and reasoning on the issues, and ask if they can support our position. One of their jobs is to listen to their constituents.

 

President’s Message

 

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, political organization.  This means that members are encouraged to be politically active in the party of their choice but that the League goes out of its way to make sure that its activities are nonpartisan.  The credibility of the League depends on this.

 

While League members are free, even encouraged to engage in political activities, those in leadership positions at all levels of the League are bound by nonpartisan political policies.  These leaders, particularly presidents and voter service chairs, are in visible positions.  Mixing visible partisan political roles with the nonpartisan role of the League is both confusing to the public as well as undermining the reputation of the League. 

 

Each League of Women Voters Board of Directors must adopt nonpartisan political policies to establish boundaries for its members.  The current LWVIA Board has adopted the following policies:

 

The LWVIA President:

1.      May not run for any elective office, partisan or nonpartisan, nor accept an elected or appointed position in a political party.

2.      May be a member but may not hold volunteer or paid office in an organization endorsing candidates for political office.

3.      Is subject to all other restrictions and allowances, not restricted by #1, applicable to other board members.

 

LWVIA Board members:

1.      May not serve or run for partisan political office.

2.      May not serve in political party leadership positions at any level (e.g., county or precinct chair, campaign committee chair, treasurer) except for activities listed in item #3.

3.      May participate in party precinct caucuses, may introduce resolutions and may attend county and state party conventions as precinct or county delegates.

4.      May run for nonpartisan elective office (city council, school board) as an individual, not as a LWVIA Director.

5.      May campaign for candidates for nonpartisan elective office, as an individual, not as an LWV Director.

6.      May work in a non-public way for political candidates (stuffing envelopes, filing, entering data, etc.).

7.      May not campaign for state-wide and/or federal partisan political candidates (e.g., hold coffees, carry nomination petitions, sign campaign advertisements, post yard signs or display bumper stickers).

8.      May sign nominating petitions for any candidate, attend informational coffees or fund-raising events and make non-conspicuous campaign contributions.  (Note:  The norm for “non-conspicuous” contributions may change with time and location.  The point is to avoid having the contribution stand out when published.)

9.      May not publicly identify oneself as a LWV Director if supporting a ballot issue or partisan position opposed to League position.

10.  May participate in any voter service activities not associated with a political party or partisan position.

11.  May encourage non-board members to participate fully in both partisan and nonpartisan activities.

12.  Public notices released by the LWVIA announcing the resignation of a board member should be carefully worded to avoid the appearance of endorsing the resigning board member’s candidacy.

13.  The political activities of a spouse or relative of a board member should be considered as separate and distinct from the activities of the board member. This provision allows the spouse or relative to be active in political campaigns, wear campaign buttons, post yard signs and to display bumper stickers on shared vehicles.

14.  Appointed positions at any level must be considered on a case-by-case basis, guided by the nonpartisan standards of the LWVUS and LWVIA.

15.  If any questions should arise about any activity related to these policies, the question should be presented to the Board for final interpretation.  If necessary, in matters of some urgency, the Executive Committee of the Board may act on behalf of the Board.

 

It is to the credit of Board members and a benefit to the League that they are willing to make this commitment.

 

 

Marla Sheffler, LWVIA President

 

LWVIA Sentencing and Corrections Study Update

 

            The LWVIA Sentencing and Corrections Study Committee has organized into three sub-committees to continue its work.  They provide the following update on their research:

 

Special Needs Inmates

 

In September, the Special Needs Sub-Committee met with Jeanette Bucklew, Deputy Director of Offender Programs from the Iowa Department of Corrections. We learned:

·        There are 1,400 mentally ill inmates; of these 1,179 are seriously mentally ill. They are housed throughout the prison system.

·        Eighty percent of the offenders need substance abuse treatment. Some inmates are mentally ill and have substance abuse issues, too.

DOC is requesting from the legislature, in the next legislative session, funding to add mental health transition coordinators in the community based corrections system to work with mentally ill offenders when they return to the community from prison. The transition coordinators would assist offenders with obtaining treatment, medications, housing, and general re-entry issues. In addition, they are requesting three social workers to be added to the prison staff for discharge planning.

Jo Ann Finkenbinder, Kathy Herman

Children of Offenders

 

     The LWV is looking at ways to provide a corrections system that minimizes damage to the children of offenders. Children should not be punished for their parents’ crimes. Prison visitation policies, programming for inmate parents, alternatives to incarceration for primary caregivers, and support systems for children of incarcerated parents are among options being reviewed.

Johnie Hammond

Re-entry Problems

 

       At the Presidents’ Meeting in August, the Re-entry Sub-Committee passed out an interview and asked each attending local League president to assist with gathering local information. Some Leagues reported back by the September deadline, but some others have not.  We would appreciate having the information as soon as possible.

      We are really counting on your help. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Stephanie Fawkes-Lee at sfawkeslee@hotmail.com or call Metro Des Moines League at 515-221-3435. As soon as we have all the information, we will update you with the results. Thank you for your time and support.

                                                                                                            Stephanie Fawkes-Lee

 

 

Join Your Local League Observer Corps

 

Local League Observer Corps provide visibility to the Leagues, give the Leagues a heads up for upcoming issues in the community, and enable them to monitor adherence to open meetings laws.  The Corps are teams of League members who sit in on meetings of local boards, commissions and councils to gather information that may be of interest to their League.

 

The observers identify themselves as League Observers.  They are there to be impartial observers, not to speak out.  They may ask questions for clarification but should only speak on behalf of the League when given permission to do so by the League’s Board of Directors.

 

Observers are responsible for knowing League positions, attending the assigned meetings, taking notes on items of interest to the League, reporting to the Board, and advising the Board on items on which the League may want to take action.

 

If you are interested in participating in a League Observer Corps, contact your local League president.

 

Governor Restores Voting Rights for Felons

 

     Governor Tom Vilsack issued an executive order on July 4, 2005, restoring voting rights to offenders who have completely discharged their sentences, including any term of probation, parole, or supervised release. Under Iowa law, anyone convicted of a felony or aggravated misdemeanor loses the right to vote, to hold public office, and to serve on a jury.

 

     The executive order restoring voting rights (Executive Order 42) was challenged in court. The trial was held on August 31, 2005, in Muscatine County District Court. In late October, the Judge ruled that the Governor did not exceed his authority when he issued the executive order restoring voting rights to felons.

 

     The League of Women Voters of Iowa has been lobbying for several years to have felons’ voting rights restored and applauds the action taken by the Governor and the legislators who pushed for the order.  League efforts now turn to the voter service arena as we publicize the order and encourage these new voters to register.

 

     As League members who are registering voters, we do not need to ask those who want to register if they fit this new extension of the voting rights laws. When they sign the registration form, they swear that they have received a restoration of  rights, i.e. they have completely discharged their sentences.

 

     When League members turn in completed forms to their County Election Office (County Auditor), the County will send all registrations to the Iowa Secretary of State. The Secretary of State’s Office will have a master list of those offenders who are eligible to vote. If someone registers who is not eligible, the Secretary of State will notify the County where the registration was filed. The County will notify this person by mail that she/he is not eligible to vote, and will remove her/his name from the eligible voter list. This makes it easy for all concerned and retains the privacy rights of everyone. 

 

Iowans Add Their Voices to Conversations

On Civil Liberties and Secure Communities

 

“Transparency – dialogue, open communications between the government and its citizens – is essential,” began the article about the League’s nationwide community dialogue project in the October issue of The National Voter.  The quotation came from an Iowan who participated in the “local voices” project of the League of Women Voters of the United States.

 

The LWV of Black Hawk/Bremer Counties was one of the ten Leagues in the nation to host a community conversation on civil liberties and secure communities. The day-long forum in June was attended by over 60 local citizens.  It was a highly structured event conducted by ten trained facilitators and ten note takers most of whom were local League members. Results of the event were sent immediately to the national League for compiling into a report to Congress.

 

The LWVUS released the findings and recommendations for its Local Voices: Citizen Conversations on Civil Liberties and Secure Communities project in September. In a press conference held in Washington, D.C., League President Kay Maxwell, presented to Congress and to other policy makers the findings and recommendations that were the result of the community conversations held around the country in addition to some public opinion polls and focus groups that the League conducted.

 

The League found that citizens believe that a balance between civil liberties and secure communities needs to continue, and that government openness and public involvement are essential. Congress is currently discussing renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act; LWVUS is urging Congress to accept the Senate version of the bill.

 

The Black Hawk/Bremer League’s application for hosting a forum was accepted by the League of Women Voters Education Fund because it was able to show that the local League could collaborate with other organizations to conduct such a community event. It was granted $6,000 for preparing for and holding the event and hopes to hold a follow-up to this event within a year.  While this League’s membership is not large, it has been a lead organization in conducting candidate forums and legislative forums.

Pat Harper

 See the October issue of The National Voter for full coverage of the project and a picture of the Iowa event.

Materials for holding a Local Voices event in your community are available at www.lwv.org.  The LWVUS report can be read on-line at www.lwv.org; or a hard copy can be obtained by writing to LWVUS at dduffy@lwv.org

League Honored for Years of Voter Service

 

The League of Women Voters of Johnson County recently received an award for its ongoing voter service efforts.  The award was given by the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights and the Iowa Women’s Archives. 

 

The League received the award at the Women at the Grassroots: Getting out the Vote in Eastern Iowa luncheon.  The LWVJC was honored for “its innovative work in voter education and voter mobilization over the years”.  The event was part of a larger celebration of voting in Iowa sponsored by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office and other co-sponsors to commemorate the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote.

 

In addition to the League, three women activists were also honored.  All were cited as representing “the many unsung heroines in eastern Iowa – women who have made a difference in their communities, but whom history has overlooked.”

 

Need League Orientation?

 

The League of Women Voters of Iowa is offering orientation to local Leagues –

both board orientation and a League orientation aimed at new and/or potential members.

 

The Ottumwa League hosted two orientations in October, done by Pat Jensen.

That League reports:

 

 “…we may have netted two and possibly three new members;

so your view of League stimulated them to write in their checkbooks.”

 

If your local League is interested, contact

Pat Jensen at jensen@inav.net   or   Audrey Hauter at ahauter@earthlink.net.

 

Opportunity to Help “Hurricane Displaced” Students

 

            The League of Women Voters of Iowa recently received information from the League of Women Voters of Louisiana describing a fund raising project established in their state League Education Fund to help pay for public school education materials for Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas students who were displaced by the Katrina/Rita hurricane destruction.  The project is called Bucks 4 Books.

            Students from the devastated Gulf Coast areas have been relocated to school districts in all of the 48 contiguous states.  As all of us know, public schools everywhere are funded on some kind of “resident student enrollment” formula.  The school districts that have opened their doors to the ‘Hurricane Displaced’ students need money to provide them with materials (i.e. textbooks, workbooks, technological access, etc.).

            The LWVLA Education Fund is, as are all League Education Funds, an IRS certified 501(c)3 organization – meaning that donations to the fund are tax deductible.  And, the LWVLA Ed Fund has committed to dedicate 100% of the Bucks 4 Books funds raised directly to the school districts in which Hurricane Displaced students are enrolled.     

                       

Contributions to the fund may be sent to:

 

League of Women Voters of Louisiana Educational Fund

Memo: “Bucks for Books” Campaign

P.O. Box 4451, Baton Rouge, LA 70802-4451

 

The Bucks 4 Books campaign will end on June 30, 2006.

 

 

Good Things to do:

 

ü               Seriously think about volunteering to participate actively in the LWVIA Lobby Corps;

ü               Put Lobby Day – Tuesday February 21. 2006 on your calendar and plan to be there;

ü               Review the LWVIA Study and Action for understanding of our state League positions;

ü               Offer to work on your Local League Bylaws Review Committee;

ü               Take a friend (or two) to your next Local League Meeting;

ü               Visit with your state legislators about the 2006 League Priority Issues before the session begins;

ü               Thank your Local League Officers, Directors, and Committees for their time and work;

ü               Share this copy of the LWVIA VOTER with someone you know who isn’t a member;

ü            be sure to notify your local league and the state league if your e-mail or your usps address changes! 

Send all address changes - US Mail and E-mail to

Jan McNelly at

janmcn@cfu.net or

1109 Main Street, Cedar Falls, IA 50613.

 

 

The League of Women Voters^®, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

 

League of Women Voters^® of Iowa Board of Directors

Officers

 

            President:                                    Marla Sheffler         marlasheffler@netzero.com

Vice President:                             Audrey Hauter         alhauter@juno.com

Secretary:                                    Nancy E. Brown      nebrownames@hotmail.com 

Treasurer:                                    Dody De Vries        dodyd@lisco.com

Immediate Past President:             Pat Jensen                jensen@inav.net

 

Directors:

Jean Dell - jeandell@willinet.com

Kathy Herman - kth@iowatelecom.net

Pat Harper - senatorpat@aol.com

Carol Hibbs - rileyhibbs@mchsi.com

Patricia Johnson - johnsonp@luther.edu

Happy 85^th Birthday

 

 

 

 

 

Co-President, Ames LWV

 

 

 

Quotes to Note ~