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.
You know there is a term for this, gee what is it?
Oh yeah, "crony capitalism."
And you do remember whose favorite phrase that is, don't you?
 |
| Uh oh! |
Could we be so lucky? Keep us posted Gryphen!
ReplyDeletePalin curse strikes again! When will they learn?
DeleteOh Dear! Another one of $arah's little flock of acolytes has skeletons in her closet?
ReplyDeleteCould that be worse than appointing your high school buddies to high paying jobs in Alaska, cuz they liked cows $arah?
Hmmm??
Excellent !!!!!!!!! see ya Joni ... back to castrating pigs....HaHaHa
ReplyDeleteDid the contractor install a "free" roof on Joni's house?
ReplyDeleteSarah told Joni how to get a "free" house when you issue a big city construction contract.
+1000
DeleteBUT BENGHAZI!! And IOKIYAR, never forget. Only Dems have cronies, evidently. The GOP just rewards their strong families with taxpayer dollars, and it's only against the law when they are caught. Gotcha, Joni! And Sarah, how many of your special candidates are now under legal scrutiny? 4, 5? You sure know how to pick 'em.
ReplyDeleteWait...What?? I thought she grew up on a farm with pigs??? I grew up in Iowa and working a farm is a damn full time job! Which is it?? Did they ditch the farm and become city folk??
ReplyDeleteI hope this embarrassment to Iowa goes down in flames and takes Steve King with her....
She's a gentleman/woman farmer....someone else does the work. Daddy bought the farm. Kids grew up, moved on and gave the farm to the kids and she repays him by awarding his company jobs. No one will notice, just helping daddy out.
DeleteDoes that farm receive gubmint subsidies?
DeleteI guess the "pigs" were her and her corrupt family members.
DeleteSo who is going to go over to $carah's facebook page and pose this question:
ReplyDeleteSo how do you feel about Ms. Ernst's crony capitalism (awarding county contracts to her father's company while she was county auditor?) Will you be withdrawing your support since you are such a fierce critic of just such crony capitalism?
Her FB blocks such questions. They block ANYTHING to do with truth and post nothing but lies.
DeleteThe latest "video" on Sarah's "tv channel" is one of those "I'll answer your questions from Facebook." Wait, I thought that the idea was that the subscribers asked Sarah questions at the by-subscription-only blog.
DeleteGo ahead and give it a try. Suggestions:
1. What kind of therapy is Trig getting? (Answer, any and all of them).
2. What kind of school is Trig attending? (Troll answer: a very good school. The very best0.
3. What DO Track, Willow and Bristol do? (Any and all of them. They are very hard working and living life vibrantly).
4. What DOES Todd do? (He flies up to his fishing lodges and he needs a guide to go fishing and he.....)
5. Why did your PAC pay Sally Heath $3,000. for postage? (Uhhh...)
The only question I would have for Sarah is "Why do the size and shape of your breasts keep changing?"
DeleteScarah is well versed at crony capitalism. Remember when she laundered $4,000,000 to 4 dairy farmer friends?
DeleteNever forget Mat-Maid!
DeleteLOL! Darn straight it's awkward.
ReplyDeleteLooks as though investigative journalism is doing it's job. Why didn't it do it's job with Palin?
I think those boy pigs in Iowa would prefer Ernst go to D.C. They may be the only ones that want her to win.
I think this is the evidence of the 'reaping' or the 'karma' we see here. Seems many Republicans, the ones who cry out the loudest charging others with poor judgment, ethics, are being exposed for who THEY really are.
ReplyDeleteAre there no true ethical candidates anymore? The whole party system should be rebrandished. Candidates should have new qualification codes and should be screened. The fools who think they get away with this are just forcing the populous to demand reform. It should no longer be so easy for anyone to run for Office; they expect the little guy to pay their dues, well, it's time they show they are honest and trustworthy.
"Lipstick on a pig?"
ReplyDelete"I castrate pigs!"
Takes a pig to know a pig at the trough.
Sarah and Joni got piggish in office and gee, look what happened.
Awarded contracts to cronies.
Awkward.
Growing up in the Midwest, I know one thing. Pigs stink.
Birds of a feather flock together. No wonder Sarah endorses Ernst. " If she is anything at all, Joni Ernst is a lying Koch-funded teabagger, and an anti-woman’s rights evangelical."
ReplyDeleteIowa Senate Candidate Joni Ernst Can’t Escape The Republican Anti-Woman Crusade
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/10/01/ernst-cant-escape-republicans-anti-woman-personhood-crusade.html
Has Ernst blamed the clerk yet? It's always someone else to blame. Or was she mistaken? Not aware of the law? Ignorant of the job requirements?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the excuses will soon start flowing.
Love that picture of Sarah. Also the one where the other two ladies are in nice business suits and the village idiot is wearing a hooded sweatshirt.
ReplyDeleteI had the same reaction 7:19. Wearing casual clothes when everyone else is dressed in business attire really shows a lack of respect. There is a time and place for jeans and sweatshirts, but this was not one of them.
DeleteSarah is not out campaigning anywhere at the moment and this is just one more reason why she isn't. Who wants someone showing up looking like that to your campaign event.
Sarah's "trademark" is to show up wearing the sweat shirt or t-shirt of a local sports team. It is just one of Sarah's visual gimmicks because she lacks substance. So how does this work? Does she buy a sweatshirt at one of the airport gift shops when she arrives? If she asked the candidate to buy it for her, that would avoid the flubs when Sarah wore the team shirt of a rival team. Does mentioning the local team, or the slogan of the state endear Sarah to the crowd? It's so fake.
DeleteSarah Palin doesn't even have respect for herself much less others (especially her family members)!
DeleteI don't think it's a local sports team, I believe it's always a local college (correct me if I'm wrong). Sarah thinks she's being cool girl who likes college sports. We all knows she has no interest in education or, at this point, sports.
DeleteA lot of Palin's thought processes center on being on a team or being associated with a brand or product. When asked what the VP does by a Colo. 3rd grader: "...they're like the team member, the teammate to the president." And "...so if they want to they can really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of good policy changes..."
DeleteWith Palin it's all about being on the winning team, or being in the popular clique, in her mind - I'm/we're cool and you're not.
Sports analogies are used a lot in politics and business but Palin's infantile interpretation and usage is enough to make one ill. Her world view is stunted and naive to say the least.
The local sweatshirt or tee is a costume. However she does look unfit in her judgments even about what to wear to speak at a fundraiser.
DeleteSince many of her reich-wing pals have decreed hoodies to be thug wear so actually she's right on her fashion point.
DeleteThe fake identities these candidates create for themselves is losing it's lustre. Ernst, with her 'I'm a tough unafraid country farm girl/vet you can all count on' schtick is old hat now, not trendy anymore, girls. Candidates are going to have to just offer those valued attributes, like honesty decency, with integrity and morals, who fight for their constituents, not for their families' bank accounts. I think the good times for these people are over. They may want to find other work, I hear McD's is hiring.
ReplyDeleteWHERE ARE THE BELMONTS?????
ReplyDeleteHa Ha! Just noticed that! Pretty flat in Iowa I hear...
DeleteSheesh
They're in the belly of the plane, ya'll!
DeleteWith the trigsquarepillow pregnancy belly?
Deletedowl
No wonder $carah is now endorsing "conservative" attorney generals--to make sure her cronies get away with breaking laws!
ReplyDeleteBTW, Dumb Joni still claims in an inte4rview that Iraq had WMD and when she was called out on it she claims her husband works for Saudi Arabia so he knows. What a POS
Yes but unfortunately all the stupid hicks in Iowa are going to vote her in anyhow, scary. She is a DUMB as Sarah.
DeleteLaws do not apply to $carah or her crony followers...It's a Rebub & teabagger thing. Just look at her abstinant daughter and lawless KKKLAN.
ReplyDeleteIn that top photo, where Sarah is wearing a red sweat shirt, what happened to her boobs? Did she forget to wear them?
ReplyDeleteJoni Ernst: wig or bad hair? (I know, it's trivial, but so is Joni).
ReplyDeleteLooks like it's just a very horrid haircut, though it looks like she has plenty of hair of her own.
DeleteNot wearing her Belmonts in that top photo - flat chested as can be. She's such a fraud! At least, be consistent, you idiot!
ReplyDeleteWhat a little prick. Did he finally give up his recount effort? Freaking poor sport, just like someone else we know.
ReplyDeleteErnst campaign struggles to explain her support for tax breaks to outsourcing companies
ReplyDelete" A local television station will keep running the ad, which talks about the 20,000 Iowa jobs that have been outsourced, and Ernst's pledge "to keep special tax breaks for corporations shipping jobs overseas."
Here's where it gets fun. Watch the contortions the Ernst campaign goes through to try to say that her pledge to Grover Norquist doesn't mean what it actually means—continued tax breaks for large corporations."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/07/1334902/-Ernst-campaign-struggles-to-explain-her-support-for-tax-breaks-to-outsourcing-nbsp-companies#
Why oh WHY is she ahead?
DeleteGood YT in the comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a30vnKt9Cyk
In case anyone was wondering, this guy, yet another one of the slimy, smarmy, disingenuous, crooked, grandstanding, xenophobic assholes she gets paid to prop up, Teddy Cruz, is married to this woman:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/us/politics/a-wife-committed-to-cruzs-ideals-but-a-study-in-contrasts-to-him.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
eeeeeuwww I think I need a shower after reading that.
DeleteHow many bids did Montgomery County recieve for the roofing job and what were they? These are things to look into. Here is the best and worst part of all this Joni of pig castration fame recirved 10,400 dollars from her DAD"S company for her campaign. Something about this smells like a pig pen.
ReplyDeleteThat is an Iowa State Cyclone sweatshirt she is wearing. Iowa State is in Ames, Iowa. Ames is also home of a huge Vet school.
ReplyDeleteThe University of Iowa is in Iowa City. That would be the Hawkeyes. Iowa City also has a huge state hospital. She has also worn a Hawkeye t-shirt.
Then there is the University of Northern Iowa. They are the Panthers. I haven't seen her in a Panther shirt, yet.
It's more than disgusting to see her wear any of these shirts.
It is also disgusting to see her wearing Nebraska Husker and Oklahoma Sooner shirts, two schools that have like over ten national football championships between them.
Deleteo/t Sarah Palin and the Blood Moon Triad? Rev. John Hagee....
ReplyDelete‘Blood Moon’ Forecast Strong in Alaska Tonight
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2014/10/07/blood-moon-forecast-strong-in-alaska-tonight/
Hitchcock's book counters another recently written published book by world-renown preacher and televangelist, Rev. John Hagee, whose best-seller also discusses the upcoming lunar quartet.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/blood.moon.april.15.2014.lunar.eclipse.christians.divided.end.times.bible.prophecy/36622.htm
Upcoming Lunar eclipse has Christians divided on End Times Bible Prophecy
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/blood.moon.april.15.2014.lunar.eclipse.christians.divided.end.times.bible.prophecy/36622.htm
her boobs have disappeared once again! Fake as she is.
ReplyDeleteIs Sarah Palin endorsing crooked politicians?
ReplyDeleteAlaska is too familiar with Sarah Palin's lack of ethics in Alaska. Sarah's ethics in Alaska has always been highly questionable. For example, Mayor Sarah Palin changed laws in Wasilla not requiring building permits then suddenly Todd builds Sarah's two story red house in Wasilla and that girly voice pimp can't even build a good neighbor fence without it falling over. Another thing Governor Sarah Palin did was higher her unqualified best friends forever from Wasilla High School to do Alaska state jobs which ended up in disaster for our state.
"FUCK YOU VERY MUCH SARAH PALIN"
Sarah needs to stay home and teach that kid she says she birthed how to eat a Cheerio.
DeleteAre you talking about Sarah Palin's red two story mansion in Wasilla that was built around the same time and has similar building materials like the Wasilla hockey rink?
DeleteThat's just a coincidence. Everybody knows Sarah believes in coincidences.
Sarah Palin has fucked up Alaska enough that she will never hold another political office in our state. So now Sarah is trying to fuck up Iowa and the other states in the lower 48 because she has nothing else to do.
ReplyDeleteGET A JOB SARAH PALIN
Does giving Glenn Rice a job in Sarah's sister's college dorm room count?
Delete11:26, what about Brad Hanson and Curt Menard Jr.?
DeletePalin knows all about crony capitalism, don't cha Sarah? Her attitude about what an elected office meant for her goes back back to her "coronation" as mayor.
ReplyDelete"I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't."
Joni cut the pork and brought home the bacon from the Montgomery County Smokehouse (Courthouse). Now if we could just get our Sarah to cut the Crap.
DeleteRJ
Gryphen conveniently forgets all the Chicago and IL scandals by O's friends, among others
ReplyDeleteGASP lol
... more nonsense from the simple and inept troll.
DeleteWouldn't it be nice if this troll was on her last gasp....Going to die laughing at her own cleverness.
DeleteWe'll fly the Brownbackistan flag at half staff. Ding, dong the bitch is gone.
RJ
You @ Anonymous11:51 AM
DeleteSarah conveniently fogets the people she ordered "taken out" by her crosshairs as she targeted Gabby from AZ.
You are SUCH a putz.
DeleteBut, but, but...
DeleteObahhhhhmahhhhh!
(your defense of Sarah Palin has really hit the bottom, hasn't it?)
"Gryphen conveniently forgets all the Chicago and IL scandals by O's friends, among others"
Delete---------------------
Go ahead champ. We are all ears.
A sense of right and wrong never developed in our Sarah. With our Sarah, the development was arrested at "what's in it for me?"
ReplyDeleteAnonymous11:51 AM
ReplyDeleteYo, $CARAH, No one makes money as you do for getting people, like the victims in AZ while you were trying to get Gabby, taken out.
iowan here! thanks for reporting this story gryphen.
ReplyDelete