This just keeps getting uglier for Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds
The other day I mentioned how Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (aka CovidKim) had decided to life almost all the COVID-19 restrictions that had been in place. These included eliminating the mask requirement, removing restrictions on the size of public gatherings, and removing all capacity limits for businesses. Fast forward to today, where we learned that CovidKim hadn’t even discussed lifting restrictions with her own health department before doing so. Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) director Kelly Garcia confirmed CovidKim did not ask the agency for an opinion before making her decision.
So much for listening to experts and science. Meanwhile Iowa has slipped to being the 50th best state in distributing the vaccine. Fortunately, some local governments have pushed back on CovidKim by keeping their restrictions in place. Some local businesses are also stepping up and stating that they’ll keep the restrictions in place voluntarily.
We also learned that in 2019 CovidKim auctioned off an afternoon of access to her for a charity run by Iowa pork barons, who are her strongest supporters. Republican and CovidKim donor Gary Lynch won that access for about $4,250. If that doesn’t sound corrupt, I don’t know what does. I’m convinced she only listens to her donors now and is being brazenly corrupt, much like her hero the private citizen from Florida has been.
Iowa is in a bad spot. There is no chance that the Iowa legislature will hold her accountable as it’s dominated by the GOP. I hope that people will put forth strong candidates and vote in 2022 to take power away from CovidKim and the GOP. In the meantime, people need to keep pushing President Biden and Congress to step up to the plate when states with Trumpian governments like Iowa refuse to do so.
