Rick Smith

As Iowa Democrats strategize on ways to rebuild the state party, they can begin by focusing on strengthening their county party foundation. The Democratic county parties – especially in rural areas – are the building blocks that the state party is built upon. It’s the county parties that recruit the local volunteers, fundraise, execute “Get…

The Iowa immigrant community is under great stress from the Trump Administration’s conflicting and contradictory statements on deportation. It’s not at all clear who is subject to deportation and how deep Homeland Security will reach into the community. Will they just deport those that have committed serious crimes or simply those that are undocumented? The…

Time is running out in order to slow and reverse the warming of the earth. The catastrophic consequences associated with climate change are rapidly becoming more evident. It’s not too late but the world must act soon in order to prevent the worst of these environmental disasters. Scientists predict the globe will reach a tipping…

Iowa Teamsters Local 238 has created an exciting new organizing group and are quickly reaching out statewide to partner with other progressive groups. In March they launched a Teamsters Community Action Network (TeamCAN), a 501(c)3 nonprofit which is separate from their traditional Teamsters labor union. The first TeamCAN organizational meeting in Cedar Rapids in March…

The Iowa Democratic Party has been conducting a 2016 post-election postmortem on why they lost rural Iowa so badly.  One recommendation resurfaces in every one of these autopsies conducted over these losses.  The suggestion is that urban Democrats must listen to the needs of rural Iowans if they ever expect to gain their votes. However,…

Science and fact-based scientific research is under attack by Republicans at all levels of government. The national scientific community is asking the public for support. There will be national Science Marches in cities all across the country tomorrow. Here’s the stated mission of the Science March: “The March for Science champions publicly funded and publicly…

Yesterday’s shocking news on the deportation of Californian Juan Manuel Montes has increased the anxiety in the immigrant community. Montes, 23, came to the United States at age 9 and believed he was protected from deportation under President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA). This is the first reported deportation of a DREAMer…

National tax day protests this past weekend focused on President Trump’s stubborn refusal to reveal his tax returns. His unsupported claim that he can’t reveal his returns because he’s under audit has been thoroughly debunked. The IRS is on the record confirming that Trump can make his returns public while under audit. Trump’s spokesman Sean…

If you love and value facts, you should be excited about this announcement. Vote Smart, one of the nation’s premier non-partisan political research organizations, opened their new headquarters at Drake University on Monday. Vote Smart President Richard Kimball said they had looked at 17 schools before selecting Drake University as their new national headquarters. This…

Iowa’s Congressional delegation are on their Easter recess until April 21. This is an opportunity for you to demand answers on the Trump agenda.  We know the activists that attended the first set of Town Halls were very effective. These activists changed public opinion on Obamacare and stopped Republicans from passing their Trumpcare alternative. However,…