Pat Rynard founded Iowa Starting Line in 2015. He still keeps a close eye on Iowa politics, his dog’s name is Frank, and football season is his favorite time of year.
Pat Rynard
Latest from Pat Rynard
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Hinson Does it Again: Praises Biden Funding She Voted Against
Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson praised yesterday a new, $11 million project that will bring drinking water and sewage services to the Field of Dreams site at Dyersville. She just forgot to mention one important thing about the project: Hinson voted against the funding. The grant comes through the state’s Water Infrastructure Fund, established last year…
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Ashley Hinson’s Hypocrisy Blows Up in Her Face
Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson is trending nationally online today, and not in a good way. Reaction to Hinson taking credit for funding for locks and dams coming from President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure plan—which she voted against—was swift, angry and often mocking. Her tweet yesterday about the $829 million from the Infrastructure bill drew national attention.…
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Grassley Addresses his 1983 MLK Jr. Day ‘No’ Vote
Sen. Chuck Grassley holds the distinction as being the only still-serving legislator who cast a vote in the US Senate against making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday back in 1983. The ranks of those members have dwindled in recent years, though Grassley does have a current Republican colleague—Sen. Richard Shelby—who voted against…
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Grassley Dodges on Whether 2020 Election was “Honest” or “Cheated”
The first question Sen. Chuck Grassley faced at his opening public town hall forum of 2022 in Oelwein was whether, in his heart, he felt the 2020 presidential election was “honest” or “cheated.” “Biden was elected president, I said that on December 16th [2020] when the votes were counted and things of that nature, but…
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How We’re Fighting Back Against Far-Right, Online ‘Controversies’
Last fall, people in the Des Moines suburbs started showing up at school board meetings to read, without any context, sexually-explicit passages from books they thought should be banned from school libraries. Not coincidentally, this was happening all across America, and with the same handful of books—all of which focused on LGBTQ people’s or people…
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Business Reynolds Highlighted Closed for COVID
Gov. Kim Reynolds began her Condition of the State tonight with an inspiring story of a California couple who relocated to Iowa, bought a restaurant and built a new life here. Their resilience through the pandemic was used by Reynolds as an example of how Iowa kept its economy open while other states enacted safety…
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Chapman Makes Clear: Teachers his Target in new Legislative Session
Senate President Jake Chapman kicked off the new 2022 legislative session with a series of attacks and accusations against teachers and the media, accusing them of a “sinister agenda” that they’re pushing upon Iowa school children. “The time has come to take a stand,” Chapman began his opening speech this morning. “It has become increasingly…
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Top Republican Party Committee Comes Out Against UAW Strikers, Attacks Workers
In a surprising development today, the Republican Party has come out against the UAW strike and has begun to attack striking workers. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which fully backs and works closely with Sen. Chuck Grassley’s reelection campaign, put out a statement today accusing UAW workers of “jeopardizing entire crops and the livelihood of…
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Thaker’s Social Media History Raises Questions About Waukee Ticket
Elections for local office often come down to who voters feel have the best judgment to lead, especially when the candidates are relative newcomers and don’t have a voting record from past service. Good judgment on important school decisions is what the four members of the Warriors and Wolves United ticket have stressed in their…
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Grassley Revealed Why He’s Really Accepting Trump’s Endorsement
Sen. Chuck Grassley gave a stirring, 25-second explanation of why he was accepting former President Donald Trump’s endorsement last night: solely because it would help him politically. The 88-year-old senator briefly took the stage with Trump before a crowd of thousands of energized Trump fans in Des Moines on Saturday evening. “I was born at…
