DES MOINES- Auditor of State Rob Sand, Thursday, released a report on a special investigation of the “Step Up, Stop the Spread” public service announcement campaign that occurred in November 2020, the height of the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), or COVID-19, Pandemic in Iowa (https://www.auditor.iowa.gov/reports – click on the “Special Interest Reports” option) . The campaign was designed to raise public awareness in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. In his report, the Auditor claims the Governor mishandled CARES Act dollars by using those funds for video advertisements containing the likeness, voice, or name of the Governor in violation of Iowa Code section 68A.405A. That statute reads, in part: “Except as provided in sections 29C.3 and 29C.6, a statewide elected official or member of the general assembly shall not permit the expenditure of public moneys under the control of the statewide elected official or member of the general assembly, including but not limited to…”

Governor Kim Reynolds said “I’m proud of the Step Up, Stop the Spread” public service announcement. I felt it was important for me and other leaders to address Iowans during the height of the pandemic. And the law clearly allows it.” She says the auditor’s report ignores the opening clause: “Except as provided in sections 29C.3 and 29C.6.” That is a significant error, as 29C.6 relates to the powers and authority of the Governor during a public health disaster emergency.

The Step Up, Stop the Spread campaign promoted social distancing and mask-wearing in November 2020, which was the peak of positive cases of COVID-19 in Iowa. Hospitals and health care facilities were filling with patients being treated for COVID-19. The Governor’s Public Health Proclamation of Disaster Emergency had mandated (in certain situations) mask-wearing and required social distancing.

Gov. Reynolds says promoting the requirements and recommendations of a disaster proclamation in a public awareness campaign is a clear example of the public-emergency exemption in Iowa’s image-and-likeness statute. And, she said in a press release, “In case of any confusion, Section 29C.6(10)–which, again, is specifically mentioned in section 68A.405A– provides for the use of “all available resources of the state government as reasonably necessary to cope with the disaster emergency and of each political subdivision of the state.”

The Governor’s Chief of Staff Sara Craig said “Auditor Sand didn’t once ask to meet with our team regarding his concern or his investigation. If he had, we would have pointed him to this essential part of the law that he clearly missed. A statement from the Governor’s office says “Any competent reading of the plain language of state code would have acknowledged the role of the Governor in promoting an emergency order. Neither the Governor’s Office nor the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board were consulted prior to the issuance of Auditor Sand’s report. If that had happened, anyone within those offices could have directed the Auditor to the plain language of Iowa’s image-and-likeness statute and pointed out that, during a disaster emergency, the Governor may address Iowans in a public service announcement.”

Sheriff’s officials in Union County are investigating a vehicle hit-and-run incident. Authorities say Kami Raney, of Thayer, was driving a 2012 Chevy Malibu when the vehicle developed a flat tire while traveling north on Willow Avenue. She left the car on the side of the road, about 100-yards south of 223rd Street, and had planned to have her husband come to change the tire. When he arrived at around 5:17-a.m., Wednesday, the man discovered the vehicle was in the east ditch, and appeared to have been side swiped, with damage to the right rear side of the vehicle.

The damage was estimated to be around $5,000.

One person died during a single-vehicle rollover accident, Wednesday, in eastern Iowa’s Dubuque County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 34-year-old Wesley Carl Hames, of Farley, was driving a 1988 Chevy truck westbound on Highway 20 at around 11:30-p.m., when for reasons unknown, the vehicle went onto the shoulder, causing Hames to lose control. The truck entered the median and rolled over before rolling again across the eastbound lanes of traffic and coming to rest in the southbound ditch. Hames died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt.

The accident remains under investigation.