Iowa Senator Merlin Bartz Cleared of Ethics Complaints

Welcome back to the Good Ole Boy's version of IOWA.  Where we can drink beer and shoot at all the queers in line trying to get marriage licenses...and we can flex our political muscle and try to bend people to do our bidding if we are in elected office and not have it be against the law.

Such was the case with Senator Merlin Bartz this spring when Iowa first approved Gay Marriage in the state.  Senator Bartz wrote a letter (memo, post-it, or whatever!) to all of the people who were to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples on the first day of it's legality urging them to follow their feelings and to NOT issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples if it was against their beliefs.  State District Attorney Tom Miller was wise enough to jump in the middle of that before it truly got off the ground though, issue a statement saying that any person who refused to issue the licenses would lose thier jobs.  Thank God for Mr. Miller, as what was a wonderful day in the life of many same-sex couples here in Iowa could have turned out much differently.

When Ed Fallon, former representative in Iowa, got ahold of this information, he recognized it for what it was, a blatant misuse of Senator Bartz's power.  He hence filed a complaint with the Ethics committee.  My sig other, Dana, and myself have been writing complaints up and sending them off to ethics committee members so the outcome of this was a very big disappointment to us.  Mr Bartz was let off the hook without so much as even a slap on the wrist.

Shame on you Ethic's Committee.  As a state, we cannot allow this type of behavior to stand.  People using the pressure and influence of their political office in order to push one's own personal agenda is unacceptable, and I don't know how you folks can live with yourself after such a pathetic display of non-justice.

Since no one ever reads my blog, I'm going to stop here.  

Bah!