Evans: Governor is right that we need more transparency

Gov. Kim Reynolds talked last week about the importance of government leaders keeping other government officials looped in as decisions are made and events unfold. The governor was more correct than she probably intended. I will get to that shortly. But first, here is some important background on the governor’s statement — because she and I see eye to eye on this, at least as it relates to the issue that provoked her displeasure with federal officials. Reynolds was talking about the federal government’s secret chartered flight with migrant children from California that landed in Des Moines in the middle of the night on April 22.

Evans: Americans deserve answers, not more politics

Plenty of stray thoughts have been swirling through my noggin lately. Thoughts like: What would Americans and members of Congress think today if the federal government decided against creating the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John Kennedy? What would we think today if the House and Senate two decades ago rejected an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the aborted airliner attack on either the White House or Capitol? What would Americans and members of Congress think if the government refused to convene a special commission after World War II to investigate the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor?

IowaWatch Connection Podcast: Large Money Gap, Few Dark Money Contributions So Far In Grassley-Judge Senate Race

A big money gap marked the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley and his Democrat challenger Patty Judge, according to the latest campaign disclosure reports available earlier this week at the time of production. Grassley’s campaign had $5.2 million on hand back in May, 22 times more than Judge, who had $229,000 as of June 30. Add to that $59,300 in bills that Judge’s campaign owed at that time.