[Tall-Corn] Fwd: Bleeding Heartland article

[Scott Van Gorp]

Thank you Cindy! I had heard of the below article but had not been able to find it, so thanks to Shawn Mayo for distributing it! While this does provide some additional context, it does not change the position of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa. We do plan to have legislators at our state convention this year and this would be a great time to get our name in front of them!

 

Scott Van Gorp, President
National Federation of the Blind of Iowa
Phone: 515-720-5282
 <mailto:svangorp at nfbi.org> Email

 <http://www.nfbi.org/> Website 
 <https://www.facebook.com/National-Federation-Of-the-Blind-Of-Iowa-372681823082570/posts> Facebook 
 <https://twitter.com/nfb_iowa> Twitter 
Live the life you want.

The National Federation of the Blind of Iowa is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.

 

From: Tall-Corn <tall-corn-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Cindy Ray via Tall-Corn
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2023 9:12 PM
To: tall-corn at nfbnet.org; dsm-iowa at nfbnet.org
Cc: Cindy Ray <cindyray at gmail.com>
Subject: [Tall-Corn] Fwd: Bleeding Heartland article

 

It is late but important.

 

Cindy Lou Ray

Sent from my iPhone


Begin forwarded message:

From: Cindy Ray <cindyray at gmail.com <mailto:cindyray at gmail.com> >
Date: July 25, 2023 at 2:04:37 PM CDT
To: Cindy Ray <cindyray at gmail.com <mailto:cindyray at gmail.com> >
Subject: Fwd: Bleeding Heartland article



Cindy Lou Ray

Sent from my iPhone


Begin forwarded message:

From: shawnmmayo at gmail.com <mailto:shawnmmayo at gmail.com> 
Date: July 7, 2023 at 2:48:17 PM CDT
To: Cindy Ray <cindyray at gmail.com <mailto:cindyray at gmail.com> >, Dolinsek.Bettina at gmail.com <mailto:Dolinsek.Bettina at gmail.com> 
Subject: Bleeding Heartland article

 

Iowa governor names Emily Wharton to lead Department for Blind

list of 4 items



Thursday, Jul 6 2023|

Laura Belin|

0 Comments 

list end

Governor Kim Reynolds

has appointed

Emily Wharton to remain in charge at the Iowa Department for the Blind, effective July 1. Wharton has worked for the agency since 2013 and has served

as its director 

since 2016.

NEW POWER FOR THE GOVERNOR

For generations, the Iowa Commission for the Blind (a three-member body appointed by the governor) had the authority to hire and fire the agency director.

But Reynolds' plan to restructure state government, which Republican lawmakers approved in March, 

gave that power to the governor.

The change was consistent with language giving Reynolds direct control over several other agency leaders not already serving "at the pleasure of the governor."

But that idea didn't come from the outside consultant's

report on realigning Iowa government,

commissioned by the Reynolds administration 

at a cost of $994,000.

Blind Iowans turned out in large numbeers for state House and Senate subcommittee hearings on the bill and 

uniformly spoke against the proposal.

Staff for the governor acknowledged no one from Iowa's blind community was consulted about the planned reorganization. Pressed by state lawmakers, Reynolds'

legislative liaison Molly Severn 

offered the following explanation:

"If Iowans currently perceive a government official to be accountable to the governor, that official should be." The governor's staff did not respond to

Bleeding Heartland's inquiries about evidence suggesting Iowans had any such belief about the Department for the Blind director.

DEMOCRATS OBJECTED TO CHANGE

During legislative debates on 

Senate File 514,

Democratic State Senator Tony Bisignano and State Representative Amy Nielsen offered amendments to remove 

the section covering the Department for the Blind.

Bisignano and more than a half-dozen House Democrats spoke passionately in favor of letting blind Iowans serving on the state commission continue to select

the head of the agency. (Debate over the relevant amendments begins 

at 5:51:30 of the Iowa Senate video

from March 7, and 

at 1:30:20 of the Iowa House video

from March 15.) 

Though the chambers rejected the amendments, Republican State Senators 

Tom Shipley and Brad Zaun joined Democratic colleagues

to support the effort, as did three GOP members of the House: 

Eddie Andrews, Mark Cisneros, and David Young.

State Representative Jane Bloomingdale, who floor-managed the reorganization plan in the House, 

addressed the controversy during her closing remarks.

She said she had just received a message from the governor's staff, assuring her nothing would change with the Department for the Blind. "The governor's

staff has committed to me that she will rehire or hire Director Wharton as soon as this bill becomes effective. So there will be no change," Bloomingdale

promised.

REYNOLDS LEFT WHARTON'S SALARY UNCHANGED

Wharton had gone off script 

during an Iowa Senate subcommittee

meeting in February, predicting she would "most likely" not remain as director if the bill passed. She added, "I cannot say that this is good for blind

Iowans. I cannot support that. I know that I'm not supposed to say that." Wharton was more circumspect when a House subcommittee heard public comments

on the same section.

Reynolds signed Senate File 514 in early April. The 

division relating to the Department for the Blind

took effect upon enactment, and required the governor to appoint a director "on or before July 1, 2023." 

The governor's office provided Bleeding Heartland 

with a letter dated June 22,

confirming Wharton's appointment. It's not clear whether Reynolds (who 

left Iowa for a two-week international trade mission

on June 20) signed the letter before her departure, or whether staff used an auto-pen to affix her signature.

The letter sets Wharton's annual salary at $97,460, which is the top of 

the allowable range

for 

her position.

Wharton has been at that level 

for the past four years.

The realignment bill gave Reynolds the 

power to set unlimited salaries

for the leaders of 

sixteen cabinet-level agencies.

But it did not change the statutory salary range for other appointed positions, including leaders of departments that are no longer cabinet-level. (Those

salary ranges have not increased for more than a decade.) 

Wharton will manage a slightly larger agency; the fiscal year 2024 budget 

allocated an additional $150,000

and one more full-time equivalent position to the Department for the Blind. However, Republican appropriators did not approve the agency's request for

$500,000 to create an Instructional Materials Center and fund monthly purchases of braille and large-print materials. As 

Bleeding Heartland discussed here,

that budgetary decision may leave blind or visually impaired students without access to high-quality materials in many K-12 school districts.

COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND STILL DOWN ONE MEMBER

After being without a quorum for several months, the Iowa Commission for the Blind can conduct official business, but lacks a full contingent. 

One board member retired in August 2022, and 

another passed away in November,

leaving only one of three positions filled. Reynolds finally 

appointed Amy Salger in time for the board's scheduled quarterly meeting in March.

She later appointed Michael Hoenig to serve, effective May 1. At this writing, 

one commissioner position remains unfilled.

Salger and Hoenig are both registered Republicans, 

according to the state's official website

on boards and commissions. 

Reynolds has pursued a similar strategy in other areas of state government, leaving vacancies on various boards where she would need to name non-Republicans

to comply with Iowa's 

law on political affiliations for appointed bodies.

For example, the three-member Public Employment Relations Board 

operated with two Republicans and one vacancy

for more than a year and a half. According to the 

state's website,

the 

ten-member Iowa Board of Medicine

currently has five Republicans, three no-party voters, and two vacancies. The 

five-member Health Facilities Council

has one Republican, two no-party voters, and two vacancies.

Top photo by Laura Belin: Iowa Department for the Blind Director Emily Wharton listens at a February 2023 Iowa Senate subcommittee on the state government

reorganization plan.

Tags: 

Amy Nielsen,

Amy Salger,

analysis,

Brad Zaun,

David Young,

Disabilities,

Eddie Andrews,

Emily Wharton,

exclusive,

Jane Bloomingdale,

Kim Reynolds,

Mark Cisneros,

Michael Hoenig,

news,

State Government,

Tom Shipley,

Tony Bisignano

article end

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