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SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
December 30, 2020
Sullivan’s Salvos 1/5/21 In this edition: *Happy New Year! *My Term as Chair *New Committee Assignments *Why Democrats Lose *Did You Know? *Welcome to 2021! Happy New Year! Here’s to a better and brighter year ahead! I have never been big on New Year’s resolutions – you can see that by my weight! But I certainly welcome the “fresh start” feel of the New Year. Especially after 2020! I hope 2021 is good to you and yours! *My Term as Chair As you may know, I had the pleasure of serving as the Chair of the Board in 2020. Before you offer any congratulations, understand that the role of Chair is simply rotated amongst the members of the Board. Yes, there is technically an election, but tradition here has been that the position of Chair rotates. There are exceptions where certain Supervisors are passed over, but that has happened under pretty extreme circumstances. Each county does this somewhat differently. In some counties, a single individual has served as Chair for over 25 years. There are counties that have spirited, contested elections for Chair. In other counties, the role of Chair rotates, but only between members of the majority party. Many counties operate as we do. It is all over the board. (Pun intended!) Serving as the Chair is interesting. While the Supervisors are definitely all equals, there really is more work involved for the Chair. As always, the amount of work any given Supervisor puts in can and does vary greatly. There is also at least one additional meeting per week to set the weekly agendas. Plus, the Chair has to sign everything. That might not sound like much, but it would surprise you! I counted, and a couple weeks ago I had over 175 documents requiring my signature! The biggest difference between serving as Chair and simply serving as a Board member is running the meetings. Running meetings well requires more than just reading the agenda. To do it well, one needs to watch the clock, keep everyone involved, read the room, and clearly summarize things. It is tougher than it looks! I served as Chair in 2008. Blizzards, floods, evacuations, curfews… I didn’t think it could get wilder. Then we had 2020. Pandemic, unemployment, mask ordinances, BLM protests, a contentious election… never say never! Some may go so far as to say I am a jinx! In all seriousness, I have been faced with some significant challenges while serving as Chair. I hope you feel I have handled these challenges well. All I can tell you is I did my best. Good luck to Supervisor Heiden who will serve as Chair and Supervisor Porter who will serve as Vice Chair. I am sure they will do a great job in 2021! *New Committee Assignments The Board of Supervisors tries to rotate the committees upon which its’ members serve. We typically serve on any given committee for 2-3 years, then move on. This ensures that all members get a certain amount of exposure to everything we do. It also ensures that a fresh set of eyes gets involved every so often. Sometimes it is more complicated than this, but that is generally how things work. This rotation takes place in January every year, so we are all taking on some new and different challenges. I will be serving in the following roles for 2020: I will be returning to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) of Johnson County Board, the East Central Iowa Council of Governments (ECICOG) Board, and the Local Foods Policy Council. I am looking forward to working with all of those groups. I will also remain the Liaison to Public Health, which as you can imagine, has been a busy assignment. There are many, many other boards, committees, and commissions of which I am a part. But this gives you a sense of a few of my assignments. *Why Democrats Lose There has been a great deal of discussion about the poor showing of Democrats across the country, particularly at lower levels of government. Yes, there are many reasons why. I tend to believe the prevalence of right-wing messages on talk radio, Facebook, and Fox News is the most important obstacle. And that is a tough thing for Democrats to counter. We need smart people who know that territory to really work on it. There are other reasons, however, that Democrats lose. These are self-inflicted. And unfortunately, those tend to be favoring the rich over the poor. An illustration: earlier in the negotiations over the COVID Relief Bill, Pelosi and Schumer had included language to make high state-level taxes deductible from your federal taxes. On a certain level, I can see why they wanted this in. Both California and New York have high state taxes. Both are home to many wealthy people who are affected by this. The bigger problem? Those wealthy people are the donors that have their ears. This was a terrible miscalculation on many levels: 1. COVID relief is an emergency. Bills like these are not the place to tack on pet projects. Focus on COVID relief only! Adding a bunch of extraneous crap merely demonstrates that you are out of touch.
2. Pelosi’s District (CA-12) has a poverty rate of 10%. That means about 75,000 people in her District are really freaking poor. Why not focus on helping them rather than the millionaires? Especially in a crisis! (Iowa’s Second District has about 13% poverty, by comparison – meaning about 100,000 people here are in poverty.)
3. The Federal government has some really important things to accomplish – namely getting COVID treatments and vaccines to the American people. Someone is going to have to pay for that. I nominate the people for whom Pelosi and Schumer were trying to secure the tax cuts.
4. The actions of Schumer and Pelosi actually allowed Mitch McConnell – Mitch McConnell! – to criticize the Democrats for worrying about millionaires at the expense of regular people. And he was right! When I saw his words on the news, I literally cried. I cried because my Party is so corrupted by money that they allowed this truly evil man to be on the right side of an economic issue. Sure, McConnell is only pretending to care. But they allowed him that opening. It is shameful. Look, it is easy to criticize Democrats at the Federal level for putting the needs of the wealthy ahead of the needs of the poor. But please realize that EXACTLY the same thing is happening in Iowa City. There the City Council is talking about passing a sales tax. The biggest beneficiaries of the sales tax will be the world’s richest corporations (Amazon, Wal-Mart, etc.) whose property taxes will be slashed. The people who will be hurt the most are our poorest residents. Des Moines is even worse. The supposedly progressive city passed a sales tax, and their policing issues are horrifying. They can claim to be progressive all they want, but actions speak louder than words. Democrats at EVERY level of government need to wake up. We lose elections because we are not true to the New Deal. And we are going to keep losing elections until we recognize that it is not just people in DC who need to change. We need to change as well. *DID YOU KNOW? Johnson County is bordered by seven other counties – more than any other county in Iowa. Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website- www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov. "Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents. These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned. If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line. If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you! ---Rod
December 23, 2020
Sullivan’s Salvos 12/29/20 In this edition: *Happy New Year! *Salvos Salutes! *Did You Know? *Happy New Year! Happy New Year to all Salvos readers! I hope you and your loved ones enjoy a wonderful 2021! *Salvos Salutes! 2020 is coming to a close, and it is time for honoring a few select Johnson County residents with that most treasured of honors, the Salvos Salute. A few observations: * This is the fifteenth annual set of awards, and there are always more people who deserve awards than there are awards to give. We live in a great County! * The focus is on Johnson County. It is certainly worth noting the daily heroism of someone like our firefighters, police, and paramedics. There are also examples that garner international attention. But we have everyday heroes right here in Johnson County that deserve a shout out. * There are some people out there that could win every year. I am trying to honor different folks, but repeat winners are not out of the question. * Salvos Salutes do not have specific criteria, but you can bet that in general, most of the winners are courageous, advocate for peace and justice, have good ideas, speak truth to power, avoid hypocrisy, and look out for the less fortunate. Without further adieu, your 2020 Salvos Salutes go to: Gary Kramer: A loyal, faithful public servant, Gary is retiring after 36 years of service to the Sheriff’s Office. You simply won’t find a better law enforcement officer or a better guy. Congratulations, Gary! Steve Dolezal: The Sheriff’s Office is a big operation, and Major Dolezal is the guy who makes everything work. Steve was also the first law enforcement leader in Johnson County to recognize that we needed to add Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). Steve has become a good friend over the years, and I’ll miss him. He is also retiring at the end of 2020. Congratulations, Steve! Lonny Pulkrabek: After 16 years as Sheriff, and 36 years of total service, Lonny Pulkrabek is retiring. The Salvos list may look pretty Sheriff-heavy so far, and it is! First of all, they do tremendous work. Secondly, a bunch of them are leaving at once. But please understand – we are very lucky to have had Lonny as Sheriff. He is a good officer, a good man, and a good friend. Congratulations, Lonny! Gary Pidgeon: Better known as “George,” Johnson County’s longest-serving employee retired after 50 years with the Conservation Department! 50 years of pulling weeds, repairing things, cleaning things, mowing, etc. But it was not the quantity of the years – it was the quality. George was a very hard worker who took great pride in his work. Congratulations, George! Maryann Dennis: When she started with the Housing Fellowship 27 years ago, it was a brand-new organization. Fast forward to today, and the Greater IC Housing Fellowship is providing about 800 people places to live in about 200 properties. All of this was accomplished through Maryann’s leadership, vision, and perseverance. When she started, affordable housing was a dirty word. Now candidates for City Council MUST at least give lip service to affordable housing, or they cannot get elected. What a legacy! Congratulations, Maryann! Ron Berg: People struggling with addictions often face more discrimination than any other group. It is easy to blame them for their own “lack of control.” Ron Berg has spent a lifetime fighting these stereotypes and advocating for those he serves. Ron Berg retired recently after more than 30 years with Prelude. He began his involvement as a graduate student intern, and was named CEO in 2010. Ron has been instrumental in developing multiple programs to benefit those seeking help with addiction and mental health issues, including Synchrony’s Employee Assistance Program and the GuideLink Access Center, which will open in January 2021. Congratulations, Ron! “Essential workers”: This was the year of the essential worker. Doctors, nurses, EMTs, cops, and others stepped up to fight the virus, just like we knew they would. But there were others – teachers, grocery store workers, group home staff, etc. that also reminded us just how important they are. Thanks to all you essential workers! SEATS Drivers: When COVID hit, County employees responded. No one was more flexible than our SEATS drivers, who all fell into a variety of roles. Because our need for bus rides dropped 50%, we had an available workforce. Some helped at Conservation. Some provided additional cleaning at County buildings. And many served as “greeters”, managing the flow of people into and out of County buildings. SEATS workers have done whatever they were asked, and done it with well. I am proud to work with these fantastic folks! Tom Trump (again): We had another emergency. So Tom Trump gets another shout out. This Solon man is an amazing, dedicated public servant who has learned how to operate in a disaster. We never have to worry about logistics with Tom at the table. Lucky for us, Johnson County is the place he calls home. Jean Jordison (again): There are people who could win this award every year. Jean is one of them. She is so kind and thoughtful, always giving to someone in need. Her generosity is legendary. Proof you don’t need a fancy title to make a big difference. Jean is also a wise woman with good advice to share. Dave Koch: When COVID-19 hit, all eyes turned to Johnson County Public Health. Despite uncaring and incompetent State and Federal governments, Johnson County Public Health rose to the occasion. Dave was attacked by anti-maskers, who hung on his every word, waiting for the tiniest slip. Through it all, Dave Koch remained positive and professional, offering Johnson County residents the information they needed. Crisis unveils a person’s character. Dave Koch passed that test with flying colors! Sam Jarvis: The Community Health Manager at Johnson County Public Health, pandemic response fell under Sam’s jurisdiction. Sam worked 70+ hours per week for months, all the while maintaining staff morale. When required to step in for his boss, Sam did so without missing a beat. COVID-19 has been horrible. But it would have been worse without the great work of Sam Jarvis! Bruce Teague: Mayor is a tough job anyway. Serving as Mayor during COVID, BLM protests, and a derecho goes well beyond what anyone could have imagined. But Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague rose to the occasion. Bruce listened, empathized, and made the decisions that needed to be made. He was kind, caring, and compassionate, but also tough and decisive. The people of Iowa City may not recognize it, but they were just blessed by a year of tremendous leadership. Thank you, Mayor Teague! Lance Clemsen: As we anticipate the 2021 opening of the GuideLink Center, it is important to recognize the contributions of Lance Clemsen from UIHC. Lance has chaired the steering committee for this project for several years, and deserves as much credit as anyone for getting it to this point. Lance has been willing to do whatever it takes to make certain every detail is accounted for, and his hard work has set the tone for everyone else. Zachary Oren Smith: No less a mind than Thomas Jefferson believed civil society could not exist without an informed public. Unfortunately, local media has been drying up for decades. Luckily, we have a shining light in Zachary Oren Smith at the Press Citizen. Zach is a great reporter and a great guy, who does really good work in a very tough environment. We need Gannett to do much better, and pay this guy better than the just-above poverty wages he receives! Ed Cranston: It is always a challenge to serve as Chair of the Johnson County Democratic Party. It was an even bigger challenge with COVID. Thankfully, local Democrats had Ed Cranston at the helm. Ed has provided a steady hand through tumultuous times. His cheerful demeanor and can-do attitude are exactly what the doctor ordered! Thanks for your leadership, Ed! Christina Bohannan: It took guts to challenge a ten-term incumbent. Especially during a pandemic where you could not knock on doors. But Christina Bohannan does not let anything deter her! I look forward to Christina bringing that energy to the Iowa Legislature. Lulu Merle Johnson: She may have passed away in 1995, but Ms. Johnson had a big year in 2020! After receiving a petition with almost 1500 signatures, the Board voted to change Johnson County’s eponym from former Vice President and notorious slayer of Native Americans Richard Mentor Johnson. The new eponym is Lulu Merle Johnson, a native Iowan, civil rights activist, and the second African American woman in US history to earn a Ph. D. in History. Lulu Merle had a long and distinguished career as an academic and activist after leaving Johnson County, and is a very deserving honoree. Congratulations to all our winners! *DID YOU KNOW? 209 individuals/groups have received a Salvos Salute since they were started in 2006. Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website- www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov. "Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents. These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned. If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line. If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you! ---Rod
December 17, 2020
Sullivan’s Salvos 12/22/20 In this edition: *RIP Bill Laubengayer *RIP Marvin Bell *Merry Christmas! *Salvos Salutes Next Week! *Does Policy Matter? *Endless War *Did You Know? *RIP Bill Laubengayer I was sorry to hear of the passing of Bill Laubengayer of Coralville. Bill was a great community volunteer, serving on all sorts of boards, commissions, and committees. He was a good citizen and a good guy, and he will be missed. *RIP Marvin Bell The great Iowa poet Marvin Bell passed away recently. I have his poem, “Writers in a Café” hung in my office. The last line? “The guns fail when surrounded by writing.” Keep that in mind as you read the last article in this edition of Salvos. RIP, Marvin. *Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! *Salvos Salutes Next Week! We live in a GREAT county! Why? Because of the great people that live here! Unfortunately, we rarely do enough to acknowledge these wonderful people and the wonderful things they do. That is why I really look forward to Salvos Salutes. It provides an opportunity to mention just a few of these cool people and the good things they do. I hope you look forward to it as well! *Does Policy Matter? There have been a number of articles written post-election about the polarization between the two parties. Many of these articles ask, “Does policy matter to Republicans, or is it only about Party?” Others ask, “Does policy matter to Democrats, or is it only about Party?” Both parties are asking the same question. Unfortunately, I think the answer is that policy matters very little. I would say that it matters more for Ds than Rs, but caring about policy has slipped in both camps. I would estimate that on a federal level, policy is 10% of the vote; 90% is tribal. And though many do not realize it, similar things are happening on the local level. The first time I ever saw this was the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) vote in May of 2009. Rural voters defeated the LOST by a 2:1 margin. The thing is, all the LOST was going to do in the rural areas was offset property taxes. It was a gift. Taxes wouldn’t increase; they would simply shift to people with less property. In other words, shifting taxes away from farmers. What’s more, imagine the scenario where everyone else BUT the rural voters passed it. Now rural voters still have to pay the tax, but get none of the tax relief. There was truly almost no way to take a vote that was more in opposition to their own self interests. But rural interests were so certain that this was a plot by “city folks” that they overwhelmingly voted it down. I watched a few area farmers shake their heads as they attempted (unsuccessfully) to explain to other rural residents why this was a good thing. The bottom line was that few people cared about the math. They cared about the tribe. It ended up failing in the metro area, of course, so rural interests did not end up paying more. And I was perfectly fine with the LOST failing, as I believe it is immoral to replace property taxes with sales taxes. But I have always been a minority voice when it comes to that opinion; traditionally most Democrats are willing to dump a little more misery on the poor to buy themselves a shiny new toy. The exception is usually Democrats with backgrounds in organized labor. Anyway, the LOST scenario illustrates how voters decided to vote against their own self interests simply because the alternative would mean agreeing with most of the urban Democrats. Some very similar things happened recently with Johnson County’s update of our Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). There were a few changes that were big concerns for most farmers. But many of the changes were things farmers had been requesting for decades. A few more changes were mutually acceptable, but we had to massage the language. So what happened?
1. About a quarter of the Ag community read the proposed changes, agreed it was mostly good, but had a few concerns. They asked us to tweak a few things.
2. About a quarter of the Ag community refused to trust us. They heard a bunch of lies, and were not completely sure what to believe. They never came around completely, and only came around on a few issues. And that only happened because the first quartile urged them to get on board.
3. Another quarter of the Ag community heard a bunch of falsehoods, and never let them go. One example – “They want to end animal husbandry.” No matter how many times we said otherwise, this quartile clung to the misinformation.
4. The final quarter wouldn’t even look us in the eye. They simply decided they hated us, and refused to hear a single word we had to say. So yes, even locally, policy doesn’t really matter. On a couple of UDO issues, the Board had 3-2 votes. To the extent that the issues could be broken down this way, Pat Heiden and I agreed with the farm argument; Lisa Green Douglass and Janelle Rettig did not. Royceann Porter was the deciding vote both times. Both times she sided with the farmers. Flash forward to the 2020 elections. I trailed Lisa in just about every rural precinct; Royceann trailed us both by a noticeable margin. It certainly did not seem that rural voters looked at policies when they cast those votes. Otherwise, they would have all voted for Royceann. I think it is sad that politics have gotten this stark. It is sad to see the impact of false information at all levels of government. I promise to do my part to make things better; we’ll see where this goes. *Endless War I am no fan of Donald Trump. As a matter of fact, my guess is that if there is, in fact, a Hell – our 45th President will end up there. I think he is about as evil as they come. So yeah, I do not think highly of him. That is why it is so frustrating to admit that there is at least one issue where he is right, and most Republicans and Democrats are wrong. That issue is endless war. The two longest wars in US history are Afghanistan and Iraq. Can anyone explain to me why the US is still in either country? The BEST answer I can get from anyone is that things will get even worse if we leave. That may be true. But it is not a very compelling reason. It is time to leave the responsibility for Afghanistan and Iraq to the people of those countries. It is time for a complete withdrawal. The same can be said for Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and every other place US troops are fighting. Congress has not declared a war in any of these places. What the hell are we doing? There are 450,000 US troops in 150 countries around the world. The planet has less than 200 countries total! Again, I ask: what the hell are we doing? I do not pretend that his motives are pure. But the bottom line is Donald Trump is correct about putting an end to our wars. I think this illustrates a bit of Trump’s attractiveness to some voters. He is clearly willing to speak a truth that 95% of all Republicans and 95% of all Democrats refuse to acknowledge. In these polarized times it figures that the one place Democrats and Republicans agree, they are both wrong! Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. In this case, politicians need to wake up and recognize that Trump got this one right. Let’s put an end to all our many wars. *DID YOU KNOW? The U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan have cost American taxpayers $6.4 trillion since they began in 2001. That total is $2 trillion more than all federal government spending during the recently completed fiscal year. The report, from Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University, also finds that more than 801,000 people have died as a direct result of fighting. Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website- www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov. "Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents. These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned. If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line. If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you! ---Rod
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