***At the end of every year we revisit some of our most popular stories from the calendar year. This story detailed how Iowa House Republican leadership failed to provide much support to Rep. Eddie Andrews for his re-election and assigned Rep. Mark Cisneros to just one committee. Andrews and Cisneros are both well-respected among the conservative base in Iowa and have been allies for Iowans inside and outside of their legislative districts.***
Conservative State Representatives Eddie Andrews and Mark Cisneros are known as champions to grassroots Iowa Republicans. Andrews works as hard as anybody when it comes to taking an interest in his constituents and Cisneros is as principled as it gets when it comes to policy.
But it certainly seems both are being blacklisted by Speaker Pat Grassley.
Take Andrews, for instance. He was the top target for Democrats in the Iowa House of Representatives. Andrews won the seat in 2020 by a mere 415 votes against then-Democrat Rep. Karin Derry.
This time around, Democrats dumped loads of dollars behind their candidate — Suresh Reddy. Campaign finance reports aren’t final through the cycle yet, but we know Reddy at least received these donations…
Reddy received $52,083.86 from the Democrat Party from Oct. 17-Nov. 1. He received an additional $8,256.73 from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa PAC in that same time period.
From Oct. 2-Oct. 14 the Democrat Party gave Reddy $18,587.85. A group called Progressive Turnout Project gave Reddy $2,500.
When the final numbers come out, I’m guessing Reddy will have received more money than that.
But the House Majority Fund left Andrews high and dry. The House Majority Fund, which is essentially controlled by Speaker Pat Grassley, chipped in with $0.00 to the Andrews campaign.
We’ve written about Chuck Grassley’s Hawkeye PAC before.
Here is the list of ALL Iowa House Republicans Grassley’s Hawkeye PAC gave donations to in 2020:
Holly Brink, $3,000
Phil Thompson, $3,000
Brian Best, $5,000
Ann Meyer, $3,000
Steve Holt, $5,000
Bobby Kaufmann $10,000
Ray Sorensen, $5,000
Joel Fry, $5,000
Dave Maxwell, $3,000
David Kerr, $5,000
Dustin Hite, $3,000
Jane Bloomingdale, $5,000
Shannon Lundgren, $5,000
Brian Lohse, $3,000
Joe Mitchell, $3,000
Megan Jones, $5,000
John Landon, $5,000
Gary Mohr, $10,000
Jacob Bossman, $5,000
Lee Hein, $10,000
Jarad Klein, $5,000
Ross Paustian, $5,000
Norlin Mommsen, $5,000
John Wills, $10,000
Henry Stone, $1,000
Charlie McClintock, $1,000
Garrett Gobble $1,000
Chad Ingels, $1,000
Steve Bradley, $1,000
Jon Dunwell, $1,000
Brooke Boden, $1,000
Carter Nordman, $1,000
Brent Siegrist, $1,000
If you’re playing at home, that’s a list of more than 30 candidates. And maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “well, perhaps he was just helping incumbents and that’s why Andrews and Cisneros are absent from the list.”
The problem with that is… Siegrist, Nordman, Boden, Dunwell, Bradley, Ingels, Gobble, McClintock and Stone weren’t incumbents either.
So that explanation doesn’t hold water.
Cisneros and Andrews just didn’t meet the criteria, it would seem, to receive money from Grassley’s Hawkeye PAC.
Now it certainly seems neither Andrews nor Cisneros are in Pat Grassley’s favor. In addition to the House Majority Fund not helping Andrews, Cisneros received a major snub in his committee assignments.
There are 63 Iowa House Republicans as of right now. (Since this story was originally published Luana Stoltenberg was declared the winner in Iowa House District 81. We are unaware of updated committee assignments.)
Here are their assignments:
Andrews – Health and Human Services, International Relations, Veterans Affairs
Bergan – Appropriations, Health and Human Services, Labor and Workforce, State Government
Best – Commerce, Health and Human Services, Labor and Workforce, Transportation, Ways & Means
Bloomingdale – Commerce, Local Government, State Government, Ways & Means
Boden – Education, Government Oversight, Health and Human Services, Ways & Means
Bossman – Appropriations, Labor and Workforce, Local Government, State Government
Bradley – Education, Health and Human Services, Labor and Workforce,
Carlson – Agriculture, Economic Growth and Technology, Natural Resources, Veterans Affairs
Collins – Appropriations, Education, Judiciary, State Government
Determan – Economic Growth and Technology, Local Government, Transportation (10)
Deyoe – Commerce, Environmental Protection, Labor and Workforce, Local Government, Ways & Means
Dieken – Public Safety, Environmental Protection, Agriculture
Dunwell – Environmental Protection, International Relations, Judiciary, Local Government, State Government, Transportation
Fisher – Agriculture, Environmental Protection, Natural Resources, Public Safety
Fry – Appropriations, Education, Health and Human Services, Public Safety
Gehlbach – Education, Local Government, Natural Resources,
Gerhold – Agriculture, Economic Growth and Technology, International Relations, Natural Resources, Transportation
Golding – Labor and Workforce, Local Government, State Government, Veterans Affairs
Graber – Appropriations, Commerce, Economic Growth and Technology, Veterans Affairs
Grassley – Education Reform
Gustafson – Ethics, Judiciary, Local Government, Veterans Affairs (20)
Gustoff – Education, Judiciary, Public Safety,
Harris – Agriculture, Labor and Workforce, State Government, Ways & Means
Hayes – Environmental Protection, International Relations, Natural Resources
Henderson – Local Government, Public Safety, Transportation,
Holt – Appropriations, Education, Government Oversight, Judiciary, Public Safety
Hora – Agriculture, Education, Natural Resources, Veterans Affairs
Ingels – Agriculture, Economic Growth and Technology, Education, Veterans Affairs
Jeneary – Health and Human Services, Natural Resources, Veterans Affairs
Johnson – Education, Labor and Workforce, State Government, Ways & Means
Jones – Administrative Rules Review, Agriculture, Environmental Protection, Judiciary, Ways & Means
Kaufmann – Government Oversight, Judiciary, State Government, Ways & Means (30)
Kniff-McCulla – Commerce, Economic Growth and Technology, Health and Human Services, Ways & Means
Latham – Appropriations, Economic Growth and Technology, Local Government, Natural Resources, Transportation
Lohse – Appropriations, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Judiciary,
Lundgren – Commerce, Environmental Protection, Health and Human Services, State Government, Ways & Means
Meggers – Agriculture, Economic Growth and Technology, Transportation
Meyer – Appropriations, Health and Human Services, Judiciary,
Mohr – Appropriations, Commerce, Public Safety
Mommsen – Agriculture, Appropriations, Natural Resources
Moore – Economic Growth and Technology, Education, Health and Human Services, Labor and Workforce
Nordman – Appropriations, Commerce, Judiciary, Local Government (40)
Osmundson – Economic Growth and Technology, Education, Ethics, Local Government, Ways & Means
Rinker – Local Government, Public Safety, Veterans Affairs,
Sexton – Administrative Rules Review, Agriculture, State Government, Veterans Affairs, Ways & Means
Sherman – Environmental Protection, International Relations, Natural Resources
Shipley – Government Oversight, Public Safety
Sieck – Agriculture, Economic Growth and Technology, Labor and Workforce, Transportation
Siegrist – Natural Resources, State Government, Transportation, Ways & Means
Sorensen – Appropriations, Economic Growth and Technology, Education, Transportation
Stone – Appropriations, Education, Ethics, Judiciary,
M. Thompson – International Relations, Natural Resources, Environmental Protection
P. Thompson – Commerce, Government Oversight, Judiciary, Public Safety
Thomson – Commerce, Judiciary, Transportation (50)
Vondran – Agriculture, Commerce, Public Safety
Wheeler – Education, Judiciary, Public Safety
Wills – Commerce, Education Reform, Labor and Workforce, State Government, Ways & Means
Wilz – Commerce, Health and Human Services, Public Safety,
Windschitl – Education Reform
Wood – Appropriations, Economic Growth and Technology, Health and Human Services, Transportation
Wulf – Agriculture, State Government, Transportation, Ways & Means
Young – Administrative Rules Review, Appropriations, Commerce, State Government
Earlier I said Cisneros received a major snub in his committee assignments. I have a confession. That was an intentional typo. I’m sorry.
Cisneros was actually appointed to just one committee. Here is the committee assignment for Cisneros:
Environmental Protection.
If you’re thinking perhaps he will be in charge of that committee and it’ll keep him super busy, he’s not the chair. He’s not the vice chair.
If you’re thinking perhaps the Environmental Protection Committee is a busy, non-stop committee, it had one meeting in 2022. One. As in “Uno!” Except there were no cards, no draw twos and no wilds.
If you’re thinking it wasn’t busy in 2022 because it got a ton done in 2021, technically you could have a point. After all, the committee met twice as often in 2021 as it did in 2022. But again, it met once in 2022…meaning it met twice in 2021.
If you’re thinking maybe committee members are so overwhelmed and busy with subcommittee meetings they don’t have time for committee meetings, well, there were a total of TWO subcommittee meetings in 2022 under the guise of the committee.
So, between subcommittee and committee meetings, there were five meetings. Total. In two years.
If you’re thinking perhaps he’s on a bunch of appropriation subcommittees and he’ll be tied up dealing with those all session, he’s not on a single one.
Not one.
As I wrote previously, Cisneros is also not a chair or vice-chair of a committee. Meanwhile, 15 first-year House Republicans will serve as at least vice-chair of a committee.
It is disappointing to see two solid conservatives who are favorites among the base in Iowa be treated so poorly by Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley.
Thankfully Andrews proved that through working hard and being a true public servant, a competitive seat can be won without any help from the House Majority Fund. He owes them nothing. That’s a great spot for him to be positioned.
Cisneros has more credibility built with the conservative base of Iowa in his pinky than Speaker Grassley has in total. I’m not sure why Grassley bothered assigning him to a committee at all — why not just completely marginalize him and not give him a single committee assignment?
Unless this was a complete and total oversight on Grassley’s part, which would be hard to believe considering he’s filled committee assignments once or twice before, it’s clear Cisneros has “rocked the boat” with Grassley.
But it isn’t just Cisneros who is being punished — it’s also his constituents. The reality is that with Cisneros on just one committee, they don’t receive the same representation as every other district represented by a House Republican.
Iowa conservatives need more representatives like Eddie Andrews and Mark Cisneros. They are conservatives Iowans can count on. Instead of attempting to minimize them within the caucus, perhaps leadership could learn a thing or two from them instead.
I have seen both individuals take a large amount of time to hear from concerned Iowans at the Capitol who weren’t from their district and could never vote for — or against — them. But they listened because they cared. And they cared because they too are conservatives.
And conservatives stick together with fellow conservatives — they don’t refuse to help them in tight general elections and they don’t cast them to Exile Island like the legislature is now some version of Survivor.
We know Cisneros and Andrews are conservatives. So what must that say about the people treating them this way?
