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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Ted Cruz Gets His Revenge On Iowa
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey already had to wait an awfully long time for his anticipated nomination to an important USDA position. Now his final appointment may have to wait even longer. Politico reported today that Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has placed a hold on Northey’s nomination before the Senate Agriculture Committee, despite…
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Iowa Unions Defy GOP’s Effort To Kill Them – A Look At The Numbers
Iowa public employee unions voted overwhelmingly in favor to maintain their existence this week, despite Iowa Republican politicians’ best efforts to destroy them. Earlier this year, legislative Republicans and then-Governor Terry Branstad passed a wide-ranging collective bargaining bill that limited what Iowa public workers could bargain for. It also instituted re-certification votes with extremely cumbersome rules…
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Anthem Protests And Lessons On Standing Out In A Crowd
Details are tucked away in the distant crevasses of my memory about one of life’s teachable moments. That lesson has stuck with me for nearly 60 years. I wish I had that teachable moment on video so I could replay it for people today. It might help with all of the angst we are going…
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Kim Reynolds’ Failure Will Cost Thousands of Iowans’ Their Health Insurance
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced this afternoon that Iowa had failed to obtain a waiver on Iowa’s stopgap health insurance plan yet from the Trump Administration and was withdrawing their proposal. About 70,000 Iowans are on the state’s individual market healthcare exchange, which will feature only one provider in 2018, and that provider plans on…
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Iowa Senate Democrats Oust Rob Hogg As Leader, Elect Janet Petersen
That didn’t last long. Iowa Senate Democrats met today to take the rare step of electing a new minority leader not even halfway through a campaign cycle. Senator Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids was replaced by Janet Petersen of Des Moines, who will now lead the Senate Democrats in the upcoming legislative session and head…
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State Of The Race In Iowa’s 4th District (October 2017)
Starting Line finishes its analysis of Iowa’s four congressional races today by looking west to Steve King country (you can read our previous district posts here: 1st District, 2nd District, 3rd District). There’s no one Democrats would like to see go away more than King, but his reliably Republican district has always made that a…
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More Political Ads Like This, Please
Iowans won’t be seeing too many TV ads for Novembers’s municipal races, most of which are relatively low-profile affairs where not a whole lot of money spent. But one of the few they will watch is really quite good and a “refreshing” change of pace from the typical campaign ads we’ve come to expect. Josh…
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Iowa’s Sexual Harassment Problem Starts At The Top, Too
Iowa Senate Republicans’ disgusting sexual harassment behavior cost you as an Iowa taxpayer $1.75 million. That was the settlement reached to end a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Kirsten Anderson, the former Communication Director for the Iowa Senate Republicans. That payment ended the lawsuit but it shouldn’t end the investigation of Senator Bill Dix. Dix…
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State Of The Race In Iowa’s 3rd District (October 2017)
Starting Line’s analysis of Iowa’ four congressional races continues today with the most intriguing primary of all: the Des Moines-based 3rd District. Four, possibly five Democrats have a real shot at winning the party’s nomination to take on incumbent Republican Congressman David Young. It’s also more likely than not that the nomination goes to a…
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State Of The Race In Iowa’s 2nd District (October 2017)
With the 3rd quarter financial filings all getting posted on Monday, Starting Line continues its series of reports on where the field stands in each Iowa congressional district. Up today: Iowa’s 2nd District, where incumbent Democrat Dave Loebsack, the last elected Democrat on the federal level in the state, is looking to secure a seventh…
