KTIV: Dan Moore on Vander Plaats' new fundraising jihad to dump Iowa justices; Nathan W. Tucker: Illinoisians enter Iowa to obtain 'sodomy licenses'

KTIV of Sioux City Iowa recently interviewed the co-chair of Fair Courts for US, Dan Moore, who supported retention of Iowa Supreme Court justices during November's election.

In the interview, Moore discussed Bob Vander Plaats' most recent fundraising initiative as CEO of his new umbrella organization, Iowa's The Family Leader, which founder Chuck Hurley has claimed has no ties to the identically-named Mormon-led organization.

Using the sports analogies of which Vander Plaats is fond, Moore accused Vander Plaats of disagreeing with the ref and then attempting to burn down the stadium.

Apparently, the Iowa GOP will push hard on social issues in 2011.

Rod Boshart of the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that Richard Johnson of the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency and his staff of attorneys are handling about 650 bill requests — roughly half sought confidentially — that already have come in from current and soon-to-be sworn-in new members of the Legislature, noting that it took until Jan. 14 for LSA drafters to hit 650 bill requests two years ago.

Republicans will hold a 60-40 edge in the House, while Democrats will retain at least a 26-vote majority in the Senate where two GOP seats are the subject of special elections in January to replace Lt. Gov-elect Kim Reynolds, R-Osceola, in Senate District 48 and Larry Noble, R-Ankeny, who resigned his Senate District 35 seat to become Governor-elect Terry Branstad’s public safety commissioner when the new administration begins Jan. 14.

Broshart also reports that some Iowa lawmakers will try to establish a residency requirement for couples seeking to be married in Iowa, intended to halt the influx of same-gender couples traveling to Iowa to exchange vows and then return to their home states, as well as to provide a “marriage conscience protection” for people in official positions – such as county recorders responsible for issuing marriage licenses – who object to same-sex marriages.

On the subject of out-of-state gay couples marrying in Iowa, Nathan Tucker, a conservative Davenport attorney, wrote in the Iowa Republican in December:

Despite now being able to enter into a de facto marriage relationship in their home state, many gay Illinoisans still desire the perceived public approval and legitimacy that comes from the actual word “marriage.” For them, the reciprocity provision provides the best of both worlds–obtain an actual marriage certificate in Iowa and have it recognized in Illinois.

This likely means an influx of Illinoisans crossing the border to obtain their sodomy licenses that will, for the first time, be recognized as valid when they return home.

Tucker, second from left, at judicial retention forum in October
hosted by Simpson College and the Iowa Independent

In addition to his extensive contributions to the Iowa Republican website, Nathan W. Tucker, has an "invitation-only" personal blog and is the author of a tract entitled "We the People: The Only Cure To Judicial Activism" available for $12.99 on Amazon.com. No reviews of his publication yet have appeared.