(Radio Iowa) – Senate Republicans are proposing a four MILLION dollar budget boost for the Iowa Department of Corrections, to hire more correctional officers. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny says Republican senators had settled on that increase before yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) attack by an inmate that killed a nurse and a prison guard.

“The incident in Anamosa is an unspeakable tragedy for Iowans and the two Iowa public servants that lost their life,” Whitver says. “Our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to them and their families.” Whitver says he and his fellow Republicans in the Senate will work with the agency’s director to see if there are additional steps that should be taken, beyond more money to hire prison staff.

Whitver today (Wednesday) unveiled the overall spending plan Senate Republicans have drafted. It would be a nearly eight billion dollar state budget for the next fiscal year and includes about 100 MILLION dollars in new tax cuts. Whitver says it’s a starting point for negotiations with the governor and House Republicans.  “The sprint to the finish will start today with these budget targets coming out,” Whitver said.

There’s no agreement among legislators yet on one of Governor Kim Reynolds’ priorities — spending 150 million dollars in each of the next three years to expand broadband in Iowa. Whitver says the Senate G-O-P’s proposed budget is focused on ongoing state operations rather than one-time initiatives.

“We just wanted to keep broadband as a separate conversation that we’ll continue to work with the House and work with the governor to make a significant investment in broadband,” Whitver says, “and so this budget target should in no way reflect that we’re not going to make a significant investment into broadband.” Whitver indicated lawmakers could wrap up all their internal negotiations and conclude the 2021 legislative session in the next few weeks.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments today (Wednesday) in the appeal of the discrimination lawsuit verdict against former Governor Terry Branstad. The jury found Branstad pushed out Workers Compensation Commissioner Christopher Godfrey in violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act because Godfrey was gay. The attorney for the state, Debra Hulett, says Branstad reduced Godfrey’s salary because of performance in the job and was in his right to do so.

“The Legislature didn’t prohibit a governor from reducing a political appointee’s salary within an authorized the governor’s salary establishing decision,” Hulett says. Hulett says there was no evidence that Branstad was not allowed to make the salary decision. “The plaintiff’s case at trial was focused on proving the governor’s rational wrong — as if there is a right or wrong answer to the governor’s salary establishing decisions,” Hulett says. Justice Appel asked, “Didn’t they attempt to show that it was based on sexual orientation. Hulett responded, “If you want to get to sexual orientation, there is no evidence in the record that the governor knew the plaintiff’s sexual orientation.”

Godfrey’s attorney, Roxanne Conlin, says the defense reading of the statute is too broad. “The governor of the state of Iowa could announce that all public officials — everybody that I appoint — is going to be a white male. There would be no legal remedy. That cannot be the law of the state of Iowa,” Conlin says. Conlin says Godfrey was in his position when Branstad was re-elected. “The governor did not lower his salary because of performance. The governor didn’t know a thing about his performance. All he knew is what some of his big contributors said about decisions that they lost,” according to Conlin “The governor lowered Chris Godfrey’s salary by one third in order to force him to bludgeon him, to make him leave.”

Justice Edward Mansfield asked Conlin — even if the governor was wrong about performance — isn’t it still his right to make the salary decision. “But counsel, doesn’t the salary act sort of set a collar on what the governor is permitted to do here? and didn’t he operate within that collar?” Mansfield says. “Yes he operated within that collar, but he operated for illegal reasons. He operated in violation of due process of law and in violation of the Civil Rights Act,” Conlin responded. Conlin also argued that Godfrey was operating in a quasi-judicial role that the governor should not be allowed to interfere with.

Hulett in her rebuttal, says the action was allowed by the law. “To establish retaliation under the Iowa Civil Rights Act, the plaintiff must establish that the decision-maker was motivated by the plaintiff’s protected activity under the Iowa Civil Rights Act,” Hulett says. “And here, the protected activity, in this case, occurred after the salary establishing decision was communicated to Commissioner Godfrey. That is when the plaintiff and his supporters objected to the decision and published his sexual orientation.”

She also disputed the quasi-judicial argument — saying Godfrey’s position was not different than many others who face salary decisions. “That is a policy-making role. That is not the role of a deputy commissioner or an administrative law judge presiding over a hearing, taking in facts, and considering the facts, and applying the law in a written decision. Final agency decisions are different,” Hulett says. Hulett says the decision on whether Branstad made the right decision on the salary is up to the voters and this case was an election issue and Branstad was elected again.

The jury awarded Godfrey one-point-five million dollars in the 2019 ruling.

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Attorneys gave opening statements Wednesday in the attempted murder trial of two men accused of a violent home-invasion robbery that led to the fatal shooting of a third suspect by police. The Ottumwa Courier reports that Wapello County prosecutors told the jury they will hear evidence showing 35-year-old Michael Bibby and 26-year-old Dalton Cook were among three men who broke into an Ottumwa home on Aug. 3, 2018, shot and injured a man in front of the home and later engaged police in a shootout that killed alleged accomplice David Roy White of Fairfield. But defense attorneys for the men said the state’s case lacks crucial evidence to prove all the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

(Radio Iowa) – The amount of COVID-19 vaccine the state of Iowa is being sent is expected to rise next week by perhaps 25-thousand doses compared to the past two weeks, according to Governor Kim Reynolds. The allotment coming next week should hit 128-thousand doses, including 18-thousand doses of the one-shot Johnson-and-Johnson version. Reynolds says even more of the J-and-J vaccine should arrive in early April.

“With this news, I am pleased to say that we remain on target to open vaccination to all Iowans beginning Monday, April 5th,” she says. It will mean a much higher demand than supply and the governor is encouraging Iowans to be patient, adding, “soon there will be enough vaccine for everyone.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police in Cedar Rapids are investigating the spray painting of a racial slur on the front of a vacant rental house as a hate crime. Police received a call about the vandalism Tuesday morning, eliciting an angry reaction from Police Chief Wayne Jerman, who told The Gazette he was “disgusted and furious that someone would do this.” Local police are working with the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office to see whether federal hate crime laws apply to the case.

The house has been a source of neighborhood complaints over the last year, with reports of everything from disturbances and car thefts to drive-by shootings at the home. Last year, the city declared the home a nuisance property.