Des Moines, Iowa — The Senate Ethics Committee has tabled a complaint against the state senator who didn’t schedule a hearing for a House bill with new rules for carbon pipelines.
Republican Senator Mike Bousselot of Ankeny used to work for Summit Agricultural Group and one of its subsidiaries to planning to build a pipeline. Bousselot says he has no conflict of interest and the complaint was a waste of the Senate’s time. Senator Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, says Bousselot should not have been leading senate review of the bill.
Jochum and the other five members of the Senate Ethics Committee voted to notify the group that filed the complaint that no further action will be taken, unless further relevant information is produced by the group that filed it.
Six years ago, Bousselot left his job at Bruce Rastetter’s company. Bousselot was also chief of staff for former Governor Terry Branstad, who’s a senior policy advisor on the pipeline project. Bousselot says Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, the group that filed the complaint, is an extremist organization and he says to allege a senator violated ethics rules by not acting on a bill is preposterous. Senator Cindy Winckler, a Democrat from Davenport, supported the decision to table the complaint related to senate inaction on the carbon pipeline bill.
None of the Republicans on the Senate Ethics Committee commented on the complaint before joining Democrats to table it. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement executive director Hugh Espy started asking senators questions after the vote. Senate Ethics Committee chairman Tom Shipley of Nodaway spoke as Espy was escorted out of the room by state troopers.
The Senate Ethics Committee also voted to dismiss a complaint against Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, for Facebook posts that have accused members of “Moms for Liberty” of being terrorists.
Jochum says Senator Donahue, like any citizen, has free speech rights.
Senator Tom Costello, a Republican from Imogene, directed his comments toward Senator Donahue:
On Sunday, Donahue posted a story about Moms for Liberty, a group that has pushed for removal of certain books from school libraries. Donahue, who is a teacher, again called members of the group mean girls and terrorists.
