Thanks to search engines like google, and yahoo; the public can find out a lot about the voting record of elected officials and candidates running for office. Unless, of course, their record predates google and the internet. In that case it is a lot more difficult to find what you're looking for.
"The Archives", however, has a collection of newspaper articles and editorials that pre-date the google. In fact they go back before Al Gore created the internet.
Double click to download and read for yourself. Check back every week, and we'll have a new blast from the past.
With the legislature reconvening soon, its important to remember - "this has all happened before..." the question is, "will it all happen again?"
This installment reflects back on Terry Branstad's last act as Governor - his very public fight with legislative Republicans who controlled the legislature at the time. Republicans were unwilling to go along with Branstad's desire to spend more money - a fact he forgets when he talks about how much money was left in the reserves when he left office as it was only there because the legislature wouldn't agree to his spending plans. In the end, Branstad gambled that by item vetoing education reforms, like charter schools, he could force his fellow Republicans to agree to his other spending plans. In the end his gamble failed, and real education reforms died as Tom Vilsack took over as Governor.
At the RPI fall dinner former Governor Branstad said that when he left office in 1999, the budget was balanced according to generally accepted accounting principals "the way (State Auditor) Dave Vaudt says it ought to be done." Apparently the former Governor has forgotten that for most of his tenure, he was in fact keeping two sets of books, and did not abide by GAAP as then Auditor Dick Johnson demanded. After reading the above article, for more information see the archive installment below on the right.
The article on the left is about the former Governor's reversal of course
after the 1986 election - much to the chagrin of his fellow
Republicans.
The article in the middle is about how the Cato Institute looks at the issue of too much spending and tax increases.
The article on the right describes how the state auditor takes issue with the Branstad administrations practice of keeping two sets of books and violates generally accepted accounting principals.
This editorial on the left by David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register was written at the start of former Governor Branstad's last year in office. Mr. Yepsen provides a historical perspective on how a "conservative" governor racked up such a liberal record over sixteen years.
The articles in the middle come from the first year of former Governor Branstad's first term in office. Despite campaigning in opposition to raising taxes, his first order of business was to raises the sales tax.
The article on the right is from the former Governor's second term when he proposed the elimination of federal deductibility and a massive 11% increase in spending.