SULLIVAN'S SALVOS

June 25, 2024

Sullivan’s Salvos 6/27/24

In this edition:

*Yard Signs

*The Press Citizen is an Embarrassment!

*An Alternative to the Press Citizen

*The Economy Sucks if You’re Poor

*Fan of the Feds When She Needs Them

*Did You Know?

*Yard Signs

I have had a few folks ask about yard signs. If you have one of mine and are willing to hold on to it, that would be great! Please stick it in the garage – that should lower the odds of losing it to wind or vandalism. Thanks!

*The Press Citizen is an Embarrassment!

Johnson County, Iowa. A county where 27% of the population has an advanced degree. A UNESCO City of Literature. A place known for civic engagement. You would imagine a place like this would have a thriving local newspaper. You would be wrong!

Here is the thing. I am tired of the Press Citizen hurting this community. And yes, I sincerely mean hurting it! They fail to cover important civic meetings. They fail to report information the public needs – not only in order to thrive, but to even remain safe. They display a general lack of interest in Iowa City… and it is time to take dramatic action.

If Johnson County is going to continue to thrive, we have to have a reliable source of local news. I believe it is time to act. What do you think?

*An Alternative to the Press Citizen

Maybe the Press Citizen has nothing of value to sell, even if they were willing. I mean, their reputation has fallen so far as to be laughable.

I recently ran for reelection. I never even *considered* buying an ad in the Press Citizen. As a matter of fact, a friend and I joked about how I would get ten times as many eyeballs stepping outside and doing a Tic Tok video of myself burning the $500 an ad would cost. So the question may be, is there anything worth buying?

So what alternatives are there? The Gazette is actually doing a pretty damned good job in a tough environment. I like and respect the Gazette. But they really don’t have the resources to cover Linn County adequately, let alone Johnson County. The Daily Iowan does some good work; but it can be spotty.

What else can be done? I guess a bunch of us could start an online newspaper. I say online because printing costs and logistics would simply be too expensive. Let’s look at some math:

If you could get 200 local people to each invest $500, that is $100,000. Not a lot of money, mind you, but I believe it would be enough to start something. Are there 200 locals who would each put in $500? I believe there are.

You set up some type of cooperative ownership arrangement, and elect an 11-13 member Board of Directors. The Board hires an Executive Editor. The Editor finds someone to do all the graphics/layout. Lots of local folks do that work. The Editor hires a person to sell ads and subscriptions. Then you find a group of stringers who would be paid by the article to cover a specific beat – North Liberty Council, Iowa City School Board, etc. The Executive Editor writes some editorials, and recruits guest opinions from other folks.

Charge people an amount equivalent to a streaming service – say $15/month. Could we get 750 people to pay $15/month? I think that is very doable, so long as the product is good. (500 people get Salvos every week, for God’s sake! Of course, only just over half of those 500 open it. And it is free. But I digress.) That is $11,000 per month in income. It would be tight, but it just might pay the bills.

This is risky, right? The whole thing has to start rolling really quickly or you burn through your $100,000 and there is no revenue to stay afloat. But what is the alternative? We run the risk of a failed society. An informed public is among our most critical needs. It is worth the investment!

I wrote last week about what makes Johnson County special. This is the type of thing that makes Johnson County special. We could do it. There are several veterans of the news industry who live right here. I think the expertise exists. We just have to have the will.

*The Economy Sucks If You’re Poor

The stock market has recently been at an all time high of over 40,000 – numbers unthinkable just a decade ago. In addition, unemployment is low, wages are increasing, and inflation is pretty close to normal at 3%. All the signs of a good economy, right?

Not according to Republicans! They (rightly) point out that groceries and rents have skyrocketed, that medical costs are outrageous, car and home loans are too expensive, and people have not saved for retirement.

As my late grandfather (a Republican, BTW) would have said, “Well I’ll be go to Hell!” It seems that the GOP has discovered what Democrats have known all along – most of the ways in which we evaluate the economy only work for rich people.

Average folks don’t give a damn about the stock market. It makes no meaningful difference in their lives. So let’s look at how each party has tried to address these concerns:

Groceries: Democrats have been noting that large food companies have profiteered since COVID. Tyson, Cargill, ConAgra, General Mills, Wal-Mart, and almost every other company in the food business has had record profits now 3-4 years running. They are price-gouging the American people.

Democrats have introduced all manner of bills to break up these conglomerates and to require greater accountability from them. Hell, just let Dems tax the profits! But no. Republicans fight to keep the price gouging alive.

Rents: Democrats are always talking about affordable housing. The Harvard Kennedy School found cities led by Democrats did much more investing in affordable housing than did GOP led cities.

In DC, Republicans made cuts to HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs a key point in negotiations over the debt ceiling. In Iowa, Kim Reynolds sent much of the federal rent relief money back to DC.

Medical costs: President Biden lowered the cost of insulin, implemented out-of-pocket maximums, and has Medicare and Medicaid negotiating drug prices, all over GOP objections.

Home loans: Biden has suggested ending the mortgage interest deduction on second and third homes. Republicans refuse to move on this. And see the earlier comments regarding the HUD budget.

Oh, and while we are talking about loans – how about student loans? Dems have tried to help, while the GOP remains staunchly opposed.

Retirement: Biden will protect Social Security by forcing millionaires and billionaires to pay taxes on everything they earn. (Right now they only pay on $168,600!) Republicans would change Social Security so that middle class people had to work until 70, then got less benefits.

Biden has also cracked down on unscrupulous “retirement planners,” while the GOP has defended them at every turn.

Bottom line? The economy sucks when you are poor. It always has. Democrats are trying to make things better for the middle class and poor. Republicans are trying to make it better for the wealthy. Those are the facts.

*Fan of the Feds When She Needs Them

My friend Jim Walters recently wrote a letter to the editor that perfectly summed up something I had planned on writing. But Jim did it first and did it better. So here is Jim’s letter:

To the Editor:

Governor Kim Reynolds is sitting on a $2 billion budget surplus, yet anytime something goes wrong - from the recent flooding and tornadoes, to the C6 Zero explosion in Marengo, to the building collapse in Davenport - she goes running to Washington, begging for a handout (not including the millions and millions of federal dollars that pour into Iowa to subsidize our industrialized (fake family) agriculture. Strange, isn't it, considering she's always bad-mouthing Washington and has little or nothing to say about the matter of climate change, which is creating a host of these problems.

Jim Walters
Iowa City, IA 52240-5248

*DID YOU KNOW? The newsletter usually accorded primacy as a definite newspaper is the Relation of Strasbourg, first printed in 1609 by Johan Carolus. A close rival is the Avisa Relation oder Zeitung (Zeitung is the German word for “newspaper”), founded in the same year by Heinrich Julius, duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. (Source: Wikipedia.)

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 rodsullivan29@gmail.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

June 18, 2024

A friend mentioned to me recently that she liked the obituaries that appear in Salvos. I thanked her for that, and it got me thinking:

I love it here. I know many of you do as well. Why do you love it here? Maybe there are physical characteristics, such as you love the Iowa River. Maybe you love a place with four distinct seasons. But you can get that all over Iowa.

Maybe you love the built environment – Old Capitol, Goosetown, Hancher, trails, etc. That is certainly an attractive part of where we live.

But the reason you love this place is probably the people. Wonderful, brilliant, passionate, caring, quirky people. That is what does it for me. And when one of those folks leaves us, we lose a little of what I love.

So I like to call it out. In a place full of special people, we should note when one leaves us.

There is a lot about which we should be outraged. Inattention to poverty, inattention to climate change, Gaza, anything Trump does, etc. It is all worthy of outrage. In my very next article, I mention something about which we should all be outraged. So I get it.

But I swear to God, this community has an insatiable appetite for outrage! And there is a tendency to focus that outrage in all the smallest places and for all the smallest things. It all gets very tiresome.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

First I came for the School Board, because they did not agree with everything I said. So I got them defeated.

Then I came for the City Council, because one of them said something I found objectionable. So I got them defeated.

Then I came for the Board of Supervisors, because they did not share my outrage. So I got them defeated.

Then I came for their replacements, who were Republicans, and they told me to shut up and go away.

Most people who see themselves as progressive activists know nothing of our history. They don’t understand that conservatives ran everything 15 years ago. Everything! Progressives have only controlled things for the past 8-10 years or so. The hold can be quite tenuous. So progressives are ripe to suffer some backlash. I don’t want to see it. I’ve worked too hard to get us where we are.

Instead of always increasing our capacity for outrage, what if we tried a little grace? Outrage has a place, of course. But we get virtually nothing else. It is the outrage version of the little boy who cried wolf. And it is exhausting.

You may get tired of me mentioning another crisis, but I wanted to update everyone on yet another huge problem in Iowa – low Medicaid rates. I used to work with the Iowa Medicaid program when I worked for DHS. I learned a lot about who gets Medicaid and why. More importantly, I learned how many things could be improved.

Some background: Medicaid is a program of the Great Society efforts the Johnson Administration passed in the 1960s. This was absolutely groundbreaking legislation! Prior to FDR in the 1930s, the US had a system of County poor farms. That was it. Many Americans starved to death, and few lived to old age. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes had a famous quote that fit the situation perfectly. He argued in his book Leviathan that, without government, life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Hobbes was right. And FDR did a lot to help improve that situation. FDR addressed this primarily through the creation of Social Security.

FDR had proposed a system of national healthcare several times, but it never had the votes. Meanwhile, the poor in America, while certainly much better off than before, were dying from easily treatable medical conditions. Finally, in 1965, Medicaid and Medicare passed the US Congress. But it was never easy. Conservatives opposed their creation, and have fought to weaken, undermine, and diminish these programs since the day they passed.

Medicaid provides health insurance coverage to poor people across the US. These poor people include many disparate groups. Most are senior citizens living in care facilities. Medicaid is the top payor of this service. Others covered include poor children, foster children, people with disabilities, and in many states, the working poor. Medicaid eligibility is always income dependent, so recipients must meet income and resource guidelines.

Medicaid is primarily a federal program, but with a smaller state match. Over the years, states have been given greater and greater flexibility in terms of designing and administering Medicaid. This has led to several good innovations, but has more often led to conservative states diminishing this benefit for their poorest residents.

In Iowa today over 1 in 4 residents receives Medicaid. One in four! But Iowa has a created a HUGE problem with its Medicaid program – unsustainably low rates.

What does that mean? Medicaid has set rates for every available service. If you need an appendectomy, there is a set rate. If you need nursing home care, there is a set rate. If you need a ride in an ambulance, there is a set rate. These rates rarely cover the cost of the service provided; that is a problem nationwide. But in Iowa, the problem is at a crisis level, and getting worse. Rates in Iowa are SO low that services are at risk.

For example, Iowa underfunds fund group home settings for folks with intellectual disabilities. (Locally you may be familiar with Systems Unlimited or Reach for Your Potential; there are others.) These organizations do incredible work caring for our most vulnerable residents. And Iowa is making it impossible. Medicaid rates are so low that these agencies cannot even figure out how to pay minimum wage. It is a crisis.

Another example: Iowa is almost devoid of substance misuse providers. (Locally you may remember MECCA, later known as Prelude, then acquired by CFR.) There are only a few counties in Iowa where you can get treatment for substance misuse. Agencies have simply closed, and more are closing. Medicaid rates are so low that these agencies cannot keep the doors open. It is a crisis.

One more example: I recently sat in on a meeting of folks trying to get dental appointments for poor kids. Almost ZERO dentists in Iowa accept Medicaid. Literally almost ZERO! It is a money loser, and dentists are not required to take it. So they don’t. Meanwhile, thousands of children from all 99 of Iowa’s counties flock to the UI to be treated at the College of Dentistry. Waiting lists are so long that the associated health problems become serious. The kids are seen in emergency rooms. They suffer lifelong serious consequences because they couldn’t see a dentist as a kid. Meanwhile, the dentists you know make a lot of money. It is a crisis.

Those are just three examples. There are likely 300. The government of the State of Iowa is quite simply underinvesting in the Medicaid program. Which means we are failing our most vulnerable residents.

What can be done? It’s really quite simple – Iowa could raise the Medicaid rates for these and other services. We have the money – Iowa is sitting on a lot of money! Iowa ended Fiscal Year 2023 with a $1.83 billion surplus in the general fund, in addition to $2.74 billion in the state's Taxpayer Relief Fund and $902 million in reserve funds, according to the March Revenue Estimating Conference. (Note: Iowa received about $6 billion from the federal government as part of various federal relief programs.)

So yes, we have the ability to greatly improve these situations. We can do it, we should do it, and I believe we must do it. But don’t hold your breath! This Governor has sat idly by and watched poor Iowans die on a number of occasions – Medicaid Managed Care, COVID, etc. She will do it again. Our poorest residents are dying. She refuses to help. She’s got to go.

*DID YOU KNOW? State Medicaid matches are based upon each state’s relative wealth. Connecticut (1) has the highest state match, while Mississippi (50) has the lowest. Iowa’s match is 35% - ranking us 31^st. Not at the bottom, but poor. (When I worked there in the 90s, Iowa was 24^th. We have fallen.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-

"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 rodsullivan29@gmail.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!

June 11, 2024

The Pride Parade and Festival are two of my favorite events each year. I hope you can get out and show your support, particularly in light of all the bullshit Kim Reynolds and crew are pulling.

Please allow me to call particular attention to the annual Pride Parade at noon on Saturday, June 15, followed by the annual Pride Festival on the Ped Mall. Happy Pride, all!

Father’s Day is June 16. Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there! I know both Mother’s and Father’s Days can be very difficult for some people, for a variety of reasons. If that is you, you are in my thoughts.

Being a dad is the best thing I have ever done. It is also the most difficult. I imagine that is the case for most fathers. And sometimes, we are not birth fathers; we are just folks trying to help the best we know how.

It has been decades now since I have had the pleasure of enjoying a living father or grandfather. If you are lucky enough to have a father or grandfather around, please take a moment to reach out to him this weekend.

Johnson County is working with a number of community partners to present a whole week’s worth of Juneteenth activities! There are several virtual events, all listed on the webpage.

By the way, in 2021, The Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for union and non-union employees. The decision followed President Joe Biden declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday for the first time two years ago and many other Iowa cities doing the same.

One difference? Most cities and counties took away a different holiday in order to acknowledge Juneteenth. Many, for example, swapped it out for President’s Day. Johnson County simply added a new holiday. I am proud of that.

Turnout was only 8.1%. That is pretty awful, folks! I looked back over several elections, and had to go back to 2008 to find a lower turnout – 16 years ago! In that election, three incumbents (Neuzil, Harney, and myself) were the top three vote getters and challenger Terry Dahms was fourth. Turnout in ’08 was only 6.2%.

There may be some good possibilities hidden away there, however – 2008, despite being a very low turnout primary, was the same year we had our highest turnout general election ever! Let’s hope Democrats can duplicate that feat!

What does that poor turnout mean? I’m not sure. On one hand, voters gave the most votes to the two longest-serving candidates. On the other, they defeated an incumbent for a challenger. My guess is it had more to do with individual candidates than overall Board direction.

I know that conventional wisdom is that incumbents never lose, but that really isn’t true. 2024 marked the third time during my service that an incumbent was defeated. In 2006, challenger Larry Meyers beat incumbent Mike Lehman over the Newport Road issue. In 2018, challenger Pat Heiden defeated incumbent Mike Carberry. Then in 2024, challenger Mandi Remington defeated incumbent Royceann Porter.

Another interesting tidbit from the 2024 primary? There were only 2.0 votes per person cast. That is really low (in the years where 3 Supervisor seats are up.) The average is typically more like 2.6 votes per person. So what happened? There might be a couple of answers to this question:

First, a lot of folks “bullet voted,” meaning they voted for a single candidate only. With an average of 2.0 votes per person, we can assume that for every person who voted for 3 candidates, another person chose only one.

Additionally, I heard a lot of (admittedly anecdotal) reports of people voting for two candidates but being undecided on a third, and simply leaving it blank. I think there may have been a bit more of this than normal.

There were a few strange bedfellows in this election – I got asked a lot about Mary Mascher’s endorsement of Bob Conrad. I don’t have any insights there – you’d need to ask her. Some folks have asked me if Conrad’s candidacy cost Royceann the election. I think that is impossible to determine. The bottom line is, the election is over, and we have our Democratic slate moving forward.

I wanted to address some recent criticisms of the groundbreaking law enforcement contract between Tiffin and Johnson County. First, a bit of background: Tiffin is one of the fastest growing cities in Iowa. The 2020 census had it at 4600 residents, and just 4 years later that number is about 6000. Tiffin is also home to several large and growing schools, and a rapidly expanding business community.

When a community grows that quickly, it is difficult for municipal government to keep up. All the new residents want services and amenities, and it is hard to pay for everything. According to Tiffin elected officials, city staff, and Tiffin residents, one of the biggest needs is more law enforcement.

Currently, Tiffin (like most small towns) contracts with Johnson County for law enforcement. But they only pay for a few hours per day, and the Sheriff’s Office uses up all the city’s contracted time on calls for service. So there is little extra time to patrol.

One of the really expensive things growing communities are asked to do is to start a police department. While it might sound great, starting a police department is a huge undertaking. In addition to hiring officers, a city needs to consider facilities, equipment, training, vehicles, operational plans, support functions, communications, records management, investigations, liability, and much more. Then you have to figure out what all that will cost.

Tiffin has chosen to go a different route for the time being. As of July 1, they are contracting with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office for five full-time officers. Tiffin is paying for everything, but the officers will continue to be supervised by Sheriff Kunkel and his management staff. The officers are to be 100% dedicated to Tiffin, but in a big emergency, could certainly respond to a nearby area.

The five officers is an important number. Tiffin is attempting to get pretty close to having 24/7/365 police coverage. There are 168 hours in a week. Four officers could, in theory, handle that, but that does not account for vacation, sick leave, training, differing shifts, etc. So five officers gets you pretty close to 24/7/365 coverage.

Allow me to address a couple of the arguments I have heard against this arrangement:

1. What if Tiffin cannot afford to pay? Answer: Johnson County has the ability to end the contract if we are not paid.

2. What do you do with the 5 officers then? Answer: Johnson County has about 100 sworn officers. A few of these folks retire, quit, or otherwise move on each year. Basically, the Sheriff’s Office is pretty much always hiring. It would be easy to simply shift these folks to other positions in the Sheriff’s Office.

3. Who decides what the officers do? Answer: They continue to be supervised by Sheriff Kunkel and his management team.

4. What if the appropriate response is not a cop but a social worker? Answer: Johnson County has access to such folks, and uses them as appropriate. Tiffin will have the same access as every other resident for whom the Sheriff is the primary law enforcement provider. (This is a benefit they would not have, BTW, if they were starting their own police cdepartment.)

I have heard others claim this contract is “out of proportion.” I don’t really know what is meant by that, but consider this: Experts say you should have between 1.8 and 2.6 full time officers for every 1000 residents. Some “experts” feel this is far too low, and suggest twice that. Some “experts” believe this is far too high, and suggest half that. Either way, Tiffin is nowhere near even the lowest suggested numbers right now. Five full time officers puts Tiffin at about one officer per 1200 residents, or .83 per 1000. But it is a big improvement from where they sit now!

Here is the most important thing: the people of Tiffin want this, and they are willing to pay for it. Why in the world would anyone stand in the way of that? My job as a County Supervisor is to try to help the public. Most of the 6000+ Tiffin residents want more police, and they are willing to pay for it. Why would I deny them that? Tiffin deserves self-governance and local control!

*DID YOU KNOW? I have won 11 elections, including 6 Democratic primaries and 5 General elections.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-

"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 rodsullivan29@gmail.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!

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