Priorities for Iowa – Paid for by Out-of-State Money?

We don't know who is paying for these ads

Jan 21, 2023

The 30-second television ad where Governor Kim Reynolds advocates for her school voucher program is just one part of a multi-prong effort by the governor and Iowa Republicans to try to change the narrative around the effort to give hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to private schools.

I think the Republicans realize how unpopular this program is. It will negatively affect all public schools in Iowa, both urban and rural. But when you control all levers of power in Iowa – the governor’s office, the Iowa House and Senate and the Iowa Supreme Court – you can pretty much do whatever you want, even if most Iowans think it’s a terrible idea.

That’s why they created the TV ads. That’s why they’re racing the bill through the legislature, with a vote expected next week. That’s why they’ve not even bothering to wait for an official fiscal impact statement.

What’s really galling about the TV ads is that the group that produced them and paid for the ad time, Priorities for Iowa, Inc., doesn’t have to disclose its donors. So, where did the money come from? The closest we can come to answering that question is to look at an affiliated PAC, the Priorities for Iowa Political Fund, which does have to report both who it collects donations from and what it’s spent on. That PAC in recent years has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars – primarily from out of state donors – and used most of it to lobby against Democratic Senate candidates Michael Franken and Theresa Greenfield and for Republicans Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley.

But we don’t know who is paying for these TV ads. They’re professionally shot at St. Theresa’s Catholic school on Des Moines’ west side, with Governor Reynolds up front advocating for the bill, along with plenty of shots of cute kids. A hundred questions come to mind. Who is paying for the ads? Why do they care what happens in Iowa schools? Do they stand to benefit financially if hundreds of millions of dollars flood into a private school system?

Checking a box

Another question is why is this so important to Governor Reynolds? The plan unveiled this year is way more expansive than the more limited plans she failed to get through the House the previous two years. This plan removes all income limits for families and would cost the Iowa treasury an estimated $300 million a year in year three and thereafter.

My guess is that this is a box she must check if she wants to pursue higher political office. For several years, pundits have speculated she might be a Republican candidate’s choice for number two on a White House ticket. Now she’s being mentioned for the Oval Office. In a guest opinion essay in the New York Times last week, Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway listed arguments for and against his 2024 run for President. She wrote that if one Republican candidate jumps into the race against Trump, others likely will. And she added this gem: “Possible primary challengers to Mr. Trump include governors with impressive records and huge re-election victories like Ron DeSantis of Florida, Kim Reynolds of Iowa and Greg Abbot of Texas.”

Reporters have many other questions for Governor Reynolds about this plan. How will she pay for it? What is she hearing from Iowa school board members and superintendents? Why did she take a more limited plan and go for broke this year? She hasn’t had a news conference in months – well before the November election. She might do an occasional interview, but she’s not about to go in front of a bunch of reporters and cameras and face hostile questions.

It’s far easier to appear in a scripted TV ad that is smoothly shot and edited.

Don’t call it “school choice”

One other thing that bothers me is when journalists refer to this as the “school choice” plan. That’s spin from the Reynolds administration. Calling it school choice in a news story plays right into that spin. Some stories refer to it as “school vouchers”, which perhaps should also be avoided because although it’s accurate, “vouchers” has a negative connotation. The best description? “The governor’s plan to use public tax dollars to pay private school tuition.”