Evening to Celebrate Young Republicans
Friday, June 12, 2009
Gov. Barbour will give keynote at Night of the Rising Stars.
We have a good group of young Republican leaders rising up in the State of Iowa. Whether it is Representative Eric Helland of Grimes or Sen. Shawn Hamerlinck of Dixon or any of the other young conservative leaders at the state level, we seen a uprising of new leadership that is bold and prepared.
The Republican Party of Iowa will host an evening called Night of the Rising Stars on Thursday, June 25th at the Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour will headline the event. Tickets are only $50 for those 35 and under.
This will be a great event. If you are from SE Iowa and would to go, you are welcome to car pool with me. Just go to the contact page to get in touch with me. I hope to see you there.
Cool Link of the Day
View the video invitation here.
Looting, Bailouts, and Pay Czars, Oh My!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Our compensation system is flawed, but our government will make it worse.
It's probably fair to say that executives at major US corporations have received large compensation packages that were not adequately tied to long-term performance measures. I have long been frustrated by that. In fact, as a shareholder, I have even contacted the chairman of the board of a public US company to address the issue. The only flaw in my logic was that the chairman was also the President and CEO of the company. That is probably a structure that invites abuse.
I might even go so far as to suggest that certain executives have looted 'their' companies (remember Dennis Kozlowski?).
The system needs to change. As a shareholder, I don't believe a corporate executive is automatically entitled to x percent of a company's profits. As a shareholder (through direct purchase, mutual funds, etc.) I plan to become more active in monitoring executive pay and sharing my opinion. After all, each dollar that goes to the executive is deducted from the company's bottom line. In addition, I am going to apply pressure to the institutional shareholders (my mutual fund companies) to monitor overall compensation packages. I don't care if an executive earns a lot more than me. They should. I do care if compensation increases while the company's bottom line suffers over several reporting periods.
We should tie executive compensation to long-term shareholder wealth. No- that isn't my idea. It is a basic fundamental of finance theory that college sophomores learn in Finance 101. Somehow, we have lost track of that.
What I absolutely do not want is the government telling companies what they can pay executives, board members, or anyone else. Sure, I get the idea that billion dollar bailouts come with strings attached. Unfortunately, if our government gets in the routine of setting pay, they might just enjoy it. In my opinion, it opens a pandora's box to setting compensation elsewhere.
That would be a scary thing for our country.
Cool Link of the Day
See the government's plan to determine compensation.
Muscatine GOP Has It Going On
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Family BBQ is a great approach.This Sunday, the Muscatine County GOP will be having a BBQ at the Watkins' farm outside of Moscow. This isn't your typical summer fundraiser. In fact, it's not really a fundraiser at all. With ticket prices at a mere $5, anyone can afford to go. In fact, the event will cater to families and kids under 12 are free.
So I can take my family of four and enjoy hayrack rides, have great food, and mingle with dozens of Republicans from across the state for only $10? Wow- that is a deal.
I love this concept. Fundraisers are important, but so are other opportunities to mingle with like-minded individuals. If you are interested in attending, contact me, and I'll put you in touch with the ticket folks.
Cool Link of the Day
Official Website of the Muscatine County Republicans
Supreme Court Not Supreme
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Absolute authority does not rest with the courts.The courts in this country have been making the headlines recently. In Iowa, the Supreme Court determined that a law sanctioning marriage only between one man and one woman was unlawful. In California, the court determined that 18,000 same-sex couples will remain married. In addition, Obama has appointed a new justice to our nation's highest court.
While I'm glad my fellow citizens are finally starting to pay attention to court rulings, let us not forget that the courts are not a substitue for 'power' held by us. Granted, a higher power authorizes our republic form of government. Under that government, however, the legislative branch is still the law-making branch- not the courts.
The courts should not have the final say in this country. The people should. As an example, Roe v. Wade does not have to be 'settled' if we, the people, decide it's time to protect the rights of the unborn. In Iowa, gay marriage does not need to be 'settled' if we, the people, determine otherwise. Call your legislator. Remind them that they make the laws- not the courts.
Cool Link of the Day
Read Congressman King's statement on Judge Sotomayor.
Plan for 2010, But Analyze 2008
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Don't dwell on the past, learn from it.It would be easy to moan and groan about our losses last November. One might think that we would spend an entire year pointing the finger at all the mistakes that were made. However, as I have traveled around Iowa's Second Congressional District, that is not the case. Iowa democrats pushed forward so much bad legislation this spring that it has actually energized our Republicans base. Thank goodness for that!
Although it is just over 17 months away, we do need to start planning for the 2010 election. The budget here in Iowa is going to be in such bad shape that the public will be willing to listen to our ideas once again.
While I don't want to dwell on the 2008 election, I do want us to learn from it. I am most familiar with the house and senate districts in my extreme corner of the state. What I saw was a very targeted campaign by the democrats to capture certain districts. They amassed large sums of money and deployed them at key times. Over the course of the next few weeks (assuming I can keep focused for that long), I will look at each of these districts and provide a summary of what occured.
At any rate, I know myself pretty well. I lack the discipline necessary to run a well-read blog. However, I'm going to try to update this site a little more than once every three months!
Cool Link of the Day
Craig Robinson has a good summary of the opportunity in the State Senate.
Why no updates?
Friday, May 22, 2009
Excuses, excuses.So I could give you seveal reasons why I haven't done much updating. Here are a few:
1. There was just way too much going on during this legislative season to keep up. I couldn't cover it all.
2. I wanted to be positive. There are a TON of negative blogs out there. I wanted to be positive, yet there was so much to complain about.
3. Oh yeah- those things like work and family time that come first.
At any rate, I know myself pretty well. I lack the discipline necessary to run a well-read blog. However, I'm going to try to update this site a little more than once every three months!
Cool Link of the Day
I've been pretty hard on the teacher's union this year. Check out the Professional Educators of Iowa. This is a much better option for teachers.