Can't say that I'm surprised:
http://www.salon.com/...
A construction company owned by GOP Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst’s father received more than $200,000 in county contracts while she served as auditor of Montgomery County, Iowa, despite a strict conflict of interest code governing the provision of contracts to family members of county officials.
A new review of records — as well as an analysis of the Code of Iowa — by Salon reveals that the nature of the contracts and how they were promulgated, may have violated relevant county standards.
Ernst was elected Montgomery County auditor in 2004, serving in that role until her 2011 election to the state Senate seat she currently holds. Among the duties a county auditor “may perform,” according to the Iowa State Association of County Auditors, are issuing contract bid notices and soliciting and receiving contract proposals. Minutes from an April 2007 Montgomery County Supervisors meeting – printed in the Red Oak Express – note Ernst’s involvement in county contracts, stating that Ernst would “work [the] issue” of advertising bids for a roofing project in the county.
The Iowa Code lays out stringent conflict of interest standards for county contracts. Chapter 331 of the code stipulates that “[a]n officer or employee of a county shall not have an interest, direct, or indirect, in a contract with that county.” The provision applies if 5 percent of a company’s outstanding stock is owned by either a county employee or an immediate family member – including a parent – of an employee.
Still, a search by Salon of Montgomery County records reveals that Culver Construction – a construction company owned by Ernst’s father, Richard Culver – received $215,665 in county contracts during Ernst’s tenure as auditor. The six contracts, all awarded between 2009 and 2010, included five totaling $204,794 from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for such projects as road and flood damage repairs.
County supervisors approved FEMA contracts for Culver ranging in size from an $8,960 grant in December 2010 for the repair of three flood-damaged sites to a $63,501 contract for secondary road construction in August 2009. Supervisors also approved FEMA contracts for Culver of $32,425, $40,428, and $59,480.
According to Montgomery County Supervisors minutes printed in the Red Oak Express, the supervisors unanimously approved Ernst’s appointment as the county’s chief financial officer for federal and state assistance following flooding in Iowa on June 7, 2007. Ernst held the role concurrently with her position as county auditor.
Supervisors also awarded Culver a $10,871 contract for a Department of Homeland Security project in April 2010.
As county auditor, Ernst did not have a vote in approving contracts for Culver Construction or any other contractors. Still, the state code’s conflict of interest provision calls for contracts to be voided if any county “officer or employee” has an interest in the contractor. - Salon, 10/7/14
So much for that whole "political outsider" image. But it's really not that surprising judging by the company Ernst keeps:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
"Shut down the federal EPA." If you are an Iowan who likes dirty air, dirty water and unlimited quantities of harmful pollution, you are in luck. There is a Senate candidate in your home state who you are going to love: Joni Ernst.
Besides proposing to shut down the EPA, Ernst is Dirty Denier$ who has claimed that "global temperature shifts are a result of long-term cyclical patterns rather than the result of man-made activities." She believes the Clean Water Act is a "business-damaging" law, though Iowans know it is essential for protecting rivers and streams -- you know the exact waterbodies that water Iowa's crops and feed many in our nation. If Ernst had her way, factory farms would be able to release unlimited quantities of nitrates, which can cause cancer and miscarriages, into Iowa's water supply.
It's no surprise who the oil billionaire Koch Brothers are supporting in this contest. Americans for Prosperity, which receives substantial funding from the Kochs, spent $688,805 on pro-Ernst television ads between June and mid-September. Ernst credits the Koch brothers, not Iowans with her career in politics. - Huffington Post, 10/6/14
So why is Ernst still holding on in the polls? The Daily Beast may have the answer:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
Perhaps the closest Senate race in the United States is the one pitting Bruce Braley against Joni Ernst in Iowa. There, as the campaigns war over stray chickens and impeachment, the race has focused on the ground game as each party tries to turn out its most partisan supporters.
And one of the main ways that the Iowa GOP is trying to mobilize its base is by running Sam Clovis, one of four candidates who lost to Ernst in this summer’s Senate primary, for state treasurer.
Clovis is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative from northwest Iowa, the state’s Republican heartland where the GOP regularly gets between 80 and 90 percent of the vote. A college professor and sometime radio-host, Clovis was drafted to run against a 32-year-incumbent Democrat after losing his Senate bid as a way to energize conservatives on his home turf and pump up turnout for both Ernst and incumbent GOP governor Terry Branstad, who has long been viewed skeptically by right wingers in his own party.
But while Clovis is an electoral asset, energizing social conservatives and tea partiers, his career as a radio host was notable for his controversial remarks about Obama and impeachment. In 2013, for example, Clovis said that it would be difficult to impeach the President “because he claims to be black.” He has also said on several occasions, including in an interview with an Iowa newspaper, that the only thing preventing Obama’s impeachment is his race. These comments on Obama’s ethnic background echo those of Rush Limbaugh, who has labeled Obama a “halfrican American” in the past. - The Daily Beast, 10/6/14
We can beat this corrupt extremist, we just have to get our base out to the polls for Rep. Bruce Braley (D. IA). Click here to donate and get involved with Braley's campaign:
http://www.brucebraley.com/