Editorials: No-shows for dinner

If Gov. Kim Reynolds intended to run for re-election in 2026, it would be inadvisable to skip the Iowa Faith and Freedom revival in Des Moines on Saturday — for a trade junket to India, about as far away from Bob Vander Plaats as one can get. This is the evangelical wing’s chicken dinner of the year. Ninety-nine percent of Iowa politics is about showing up to act like you are praying.

Reynolds is an ardent anti-abortion advocate who humiliates gays. This is her crowd. She knows the fall calendar of a presidential campaign year. Rep. Ashley Hinson was there, who would no doubt like to be a US senator someday soon. Rest assured that Attorney General Brenna Bird was there fostering her ambitions, one of which is to be governor.

Reynolds is up for re-election in 2026. Many rumors around the Rotunda have her not running again. Donald Trump has declared that Bird would be a great governor. Sen. Chuck Grassley is ancient. If he steps aside halfway through his term, the governor will appoint someone to fill in. That someone could be Hinson, a former TV newscaster and rising Republican star. Grassley grandson Pat is Speaker of the House with designs of his own.

Reynolds  normally would not be upstaged in front of the base. It’s curious.

Rep. Randy Feenstra didn’t attend, either, but at least weighed in with a video promising to protect Iowa farmland from the Chinese (after taking money from China). Iowa had a tremendous second-half comeback at Minnesota.

When Randy Feenstra and Kim Reynolds blow off the evangelical ball, there is a Republican enthusiasm gap. Trump is in trouble. The Republicans could lose Senate seats in Florida and Texas. The North Carolina governor candidate is kinky with a Nazi vibe. House Speaker Mike Johnson can’t control his caucus.

Reynolds is not popular. Democrats are close to flipping two Iowa congressional seats. It feels like the right-wing orgy of radical government is running out of steam. The pendulum may be swinging back.

Hillbilly maintenance

We should be grateful that Storm Lake finally put some asphalt on Irving Street. It drove like a border route in Ukraine. When a city man showed up at the door a couple weeks ago to warn us we were somewhat relieved that something would be done. A rebuild was in order, including curb and gutter, but this would have to do for presumably the next several years. Because this is obviously the best we can hope for.

Roll some asphalt down and get on with it. The trucks were lined up but the water service got fouled up. The 100 block of Irving could wait, while the block north was laid. The water line fixed, the trucks returned and did the block in a day, first milling up the old and hot mixing it anew for application. It is much better, but the curbs are shot. It was a half-baked half-fix.

Good enough for a town this size. We have adopted Appalachian standards of road maintenance.

For this our property taxes went up 76% this year on our humble office building along decrepit Geneseo Street, a fine thoroughfare if it were Tobacco Road.

Slapdash maintenance is all we can afford because our money went up in smoke. At least $5 million, the Good Lord apparently only knows because the government doesn’t. The city is suing the county, and we get this: Curbs are for Lake Avenue or Shoreway Road, not Irving Street or Oneida. You get what you get, and be happy with what you get.

You wonder if the taxes go up 76% in Hazzard County, Kentucky. It is warmer down there in the winter, and that would appear to be the main difference. We can barely afford to live in Storm Lake, which can barely afford the street in front of a home that is taxed to the hilt and would be worth something if the street didn’t look like it led to a coal mine instead of our lovely lake. Hazzard becomes us.