DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds’ refusal to specify why she forced the head of the Iowa Department of Human Services to resign has prompted accusations that she’s violating a 2017 law requiring the state to disclose why it has fired employees or officials.

Reynolds was lieutenant governor and stood by then Gov. Terry Branstad when he signed the disclosure bill into law. Branstad had pushed for the bill, which Republicans included in a larger collective bargaining bill that reduced union rights for 180,000 public workers.

But after asking DHS Director Jerry Foxhoven to resign June 17, Reynolds has declined to specify the reason other than saying “there are several factors that went into this decision and I made the decision to go in a different direction.” On Thursday, Foxhoven said he would file a whistleblower claim with the State Appeal Board, the first step toward pursuing a lawsuit against Reynolds and the state.

Foxhoven alleges wrongful termination and retaliation for being ousted after objecting to a request to have his department continue funding the salary of Paige Thorson, deputy chief of staff for Reynolds. Foxhoven, a former law professor, said he was pushed out after saying he wanted to get a legal opinion to be sure the arrangement was proper.

Reynolds has repeatedly said Foxhoven never raised concerns about the matter and isn’t being truthful. Foxhoven responds that it’s the governor’s staff that isn’t being honest. Regardless of who is telling the truth, Reynolds may be violating the 2017 law that requires disclosures of the factors behind a state employee’s firing.

The law states that when “officials, officers and employees of government bodies” are fired or asked to resign as the result of a disciplinary action, the documented reasons and rationale must be publicly released. The 2017 law does not offer an exemption for the governor. A spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said the office has not issued a legal interpretation of how the law applies to the governor’s appointees.

When asked Tuesday why she feels she doesn’t have to comply with the law, Reynolds answered: “We have complied with the law.” She didn’t elaborate further on how she believes she’s complied. Democrats have said Reynolds isn’t complying with the law and sought Government Oversight Committee hearings about Foxhoven’s ouster.

“Right now she is not following the law,” Senate Democratic leader Janet Petersen said. “Iowans shouldn’t have to play a guessing game about one of the top state officials running programs Iowans depend on. She should not be above the law.”
Republican legislative leaders rejected Democrats’ call for oversight meetings.

Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver said he considers the Foxhoven matter closed. He said Reynolds should be free to select department directors to best implement her priorities. He didn’t directly respond to a question about whether the governor should comply with the disclosure law.

However, he debated a similar proposal on April 25, 2014, as Republicans were pushing to include the provision in an amendment to a Democratic Senate bill establishing new hiring procedures and expanding whistleblower protection for workers.

“This amendment would add that the public should know if someone has resigned in lieu of termination or if they were demoted in lieu of termination so it gives the public the entire story on what is happening with the terminations and settlement agreements,” he said. “Iowans have the right to know about the misconduct of state workers when it’s serious enough that they’re fired.”

The Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonprofit consortium of newspapers, radio and television stations, educators and others interested in openness in government and First Amendment rights, contends the governor cannot ignore the law. “She was part of the team when this change in personnel records law was made two years ago,” said Randy Evans, the council’s executive director. “If she disagrees with the premise, which was Gov. Branstad’s position on this change was based, she ought to share that with the public and be asking the Legislature to change the law rather than choosing to ignore the law.”

Here’s a reminder from the Station where your friends are: The Cass County Democratic Party is holding its 8th Annual School Supply Drive for students attending Cass County schools. The event takes place through August 15th. County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle says of the strictly non-partisan event, “It is important for a child to have new school supplies when school starts so that their self worth is not damaged by a lack of new supplies. Not every family can afford to buy all the supplies on the schools’ recommended list. That is where this drive comes in.”

She says “We are asking the community to donate school supplies, including non-traditional items such as facial tissues, disinfecting wipes, pint and quart sized plastic bags, and copy paper to name a few.” School supplies will be distributed to the three school districts in Cass County before school starts.

Drop-off sites are available across the county:

• Anita: City Clerk’s Office; Library; Main Street Market; Rusty Razor; Rolling Hills Bank
• Atlantic: Fareway; private home at 10 E. 13th St.; YMCA; Rolling Hills Bank
• Cumberland: Telephone Company; Library; City Hall; Houghton State Bank
• Griswold: Rolling Hills Bank; Library; City Hall; Telephone Company, Houghton State Bank
• Lewis: Library
• Massena: Library; FNBank; Economy Food Mart

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state board has approved a measure expanding the number of medical conditions that can legally be treated by medical marijuana in Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports the Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board voted Friday to allow those with chronic pain to have legal access to medical marijuana. The board denied allowing generalized anxiety disorder and opioid dependency as qualifying conditions.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former eastern Nebraska postmaster has been sentenced to probation for embezzling from the Fort Calhoun Post Office. Federal prosecutors say 54-year-old Steven Whitesel, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was sentenced Friday in Omaha’s federal court to four years’ probation, 160 hours of community service and ordered to pay nearly $70,000 in restitution. Prosecutors say Whitesel submitted false mileage reimbursement requests to illegally collect nearly $70,000.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Swarms of mayflies have emerged from under water along the Missouri River and are caking drivers’ windshields. The Omaha World-Herald reports mayflies spend 99% of their lives in water, but they rise above when they become winged adults to take part in a mating swarm. They quickly die after that. Dominator Fuel in Rock Port, Missouri, sold out of windshield wiper fluid in light of the mayflies’ arrival. Urban entomologist Jody Green says mayfly hatches are a yearly event.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Hopes by small aviation museum in southwestern Iowa that a stamp in its possession was rare enough to parlay a potential fortune crashed Friday when experts told them it wasn’t real, and likely not even worth the paper it was glued upon. The Iowa Aviation Museum in Greenfield, Iowa, had what it thought was an “Inverted Jenny” stamp on display for some 20 years. After bringing it to Omaha, they learned it wasn’t authentic.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state board has approved a measure that expands the number of medical conditions that can legally be treated by medical marijuana in Iowa, but rejected several other conditions.

The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board voted Friday to allow those with chronic pain to have legal access to medical marijuana. The condition joins others already allowed, including seizures, Crohn’s disease, AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

But the board denied allowing generalized anxiety disorder and opioid dependency as qualifying conditions. The board also voted to delay a decision on allowing post-traumatic stress disorder to be a qualifying condition until its November meeting.

Friday’s meeting was the first since Gov. Kim Reynolds vetoed an expansion of Iowa’s medical marijuana program in May.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A board has ordered the reinstatement of an Iowa employee who was fired in 2017 after sending sexual text messages, including a photo of a penis, to a saleswoman for a state vendor.

The decision puts taxpayers on the hook for nearly two years of back pay and benefits for Nicholas Carnes, a power plant engineer at the Glenwood Resource Center, an institution for the disabled in southwest Iowa.

The cost hasn’t been calculated but could top $100,000, given that Carnes earned $60,000 in his final year of state employment.

In its July 19 decision, the Public Employment Relations Board agreed with an administrative law judge that Carnes’ misconduct did not warrant termination but a 10-day suspension instead.

The decision said Carnes had been an otherwise excellent employee for 13 years and that his inappropriate texts began one minute after his shift ended, not during the work day as investigators had alleged.