Randy Evans's blog

Days removed from the winter solstice, when Iowa’s nights are the longest, we have another example of the absence of sunshine in Iowa government. And this example shows why the Legislature has much to do about openness and accountability when it convenes on January 12.

A court decision last week with ties to the collapse in May 2023 of an apartment building in Davenport highlights the urgent need for legislative action. The case involves more than the public’s right to know, considering that three people died in the collapse and rescue workers needed to amputate a survivor’s leg to free her from the rubble.

Before the collapse, tenants and community activists raised concerns to Davenport officials about the structural integrity of the six-story building located across the street from City Hall. But city leaders moved slowly, even a few hours before the tragedy when a passing masonry worker noticed a bulging rear wall and called the fire department.

The officials’ lack of urgency to those complaints became a political issue in that year’s city election. Davenport’s mayor and City Council openly defended the city staff. But in late summer, the city attorney negotiated lucrative separation payments to the city administrator and two of her administrative assistants in exchange for their resignations.

All the while, these officials kept Davenport residents in the dark — and accountability suffered.

The public did not learn the details of the settlements with City Administrator Corrin Spiegel and assistants Tiffany Thorndike and Samantha Torres — $1.6 million for Spiegel, $157,000 for Thorndike, $140,500 for Torres — until after the city election.

There seems to be a lack of consistency — if not outright contradictions — in the president’s messaging on drug trafficking into the United States.

Recent news headlines bear out the disconnect between what the president says and what he does.

One thing is certain: Donald Trump’s mixed messaging is leading many Americans to conclude that our nation continues to lack a coherent federal strategy for dealing with the scourge of illicit drugs.

See what you think about these questions of death and liberty.

WWBRD? What would Bob Ray do?

Events last week in Chicago and Washington and at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport provide stark reminders that our nation’s leaders have seemingly forgotten a biblical command around for the ages.

It is one Robert Ray followed during his tenure as Iowa governor, which ended some 42 years ago.

Ray was front of mind as I digested the news last week. His service contrasted with the haunting picture the three easily missed events presented of who we are as Americans and who we are becoming.

As Iowans headed to the polls this week to elect local school board members, they faced an issue beyond the usual ones of taxes, student achievement, teacher pay, curriculum and enrollment.

This year, school board and administrators’ performance and trustworthiness were front and center in some school districts. And on that, for voters, it is what they do not know that might hurt them.

Case in point: The state’s largest district, the Des Moines Public Schools, was thrust into the national spotlight two months ago when federal agents arrested Superintendent Ian Roberts for being in the United States without legal permission.

Only then, and only by the belated work of journalists, did the public learn that he had fictitious entries on his resume and that the district had withheld facts and information about him.



Not surprisingly these days, free speech on college campuses is back in the headlines.

That makes it worthwhile to highlight the seven-page policy the Iowa Board of Regents wrote to proclaim how it values and protects freedom of expression at the three state universities.

Before getting to that, it is important to note the regents did not start with blank slate when they crafted their policy.

First, they and their policy must comply with the First Amendment, which became part of the Constitution when the lands of Iowa still belonged to France. Second, any sidestepping of the First Amendment could prove expensive for government administrators who discriminate among speakers based on the content of their speech.



The nation’s founders got right to the point when they laid out how to treat the First Amendment freedoms of religion, speech, the press and the rights of people to assemble and to petition the government. They used only 45 words, without asterisks.

Their simple words should lead to simple conclusions. Yet, recent Iowa cases illustrate why people in general, and educators specifically, are perplexed about what is protected and what is not.

I spoke to two groups in recent weeks, and people at both gatherings wanted to know about the work of the organization I lead, the Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

If I had known then what I know now, I could have been more effective. I could have advised them to wait a week or two and watch the news surrounding the arrest of Ian Roberts, superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools since 2023, for an illustration of how secrecy breeds distrust.

Last Friday, federal immigration officers took the 54-year-old administrator into custody, ostensibly to enforce a final removal order a federal immigration judge issued in May 2024. Roberts’ biographical information on his employer’s website says he grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of immigrants from the South American nation of Guyana. As of Monday, authorities were holding Roberts in a Sioux City jail pending deportation.

During decades as a journalist, I had countless conversations with interesting people — future presidents, wannabe leaders, governors, business executives, religious thinkers, crooks, and ordinary folks who made a difference in their own corner of the world.

With soldiers headed to our cities and chaos in our nation, now is a good time to remember one difference-maker. My memories of Wade Meloan remain sharp almost 50 years after I met the retired druggist in the Mississippi River town of Oquawka, Ill., just upriver from Burlington.

On my first trip to Oquawka, I quickly learned it was no secret Wade had a much younger girlfriend. She was 30. Wade was 65. Her name was Norma Jean.

Government regulates business to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. That is the theory behind enacting and enforcing regulations, and it is a commendable mission.

But, too often the regulators seemingly do not want the people they are supposed to protect to know which businesses fall short of the minimum expectations spelled out by these regulations. The regulators seemingly do not want people to know when and how businesses fail to meet the baseline standards.

Each time that happens, the mission of government regulations fails the public.

Iowa Capital Dispatch and its investigative reporter Clark Kauffman recently shined their spotlight on what appears as another lapse by regulators to remember they work on behalf of the people of Iowa and that disclosures of their findings serve the public interest.