Jason Benell

1 month ago | bleedingheartland.com | Al Charlson |Laura Belin |Jason Benell |Bruce Lear

Al Charlson is a North Central Iowa farm kid, lifelong Iowan, and retired bank trust officer. I’m sure many readers can look back at their careers and think of certain years which stand out in red letters. 2008 is one of those years for me. At that time our bank’s trust department held several commercial buildings in downtown Waverly in a fiduciary relationship. On June 9 I went downtown in my knee-high rubber boots. I was able to get into one of the buildings through the glass side entrance doors.

1 month ago | bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Jason Benell |Bruce Lear |Clark Kauffman

A strong Democratic ground game wasn’t quite enough to overcome the partisan lean and spending disparity in Iowa House district 100. Republican Blaine Watkins will be the next representative for the district covering most of Lee County, after he won the March 11 special election by a surprisingly narrow margin. Unofficial results indicate that Watkins received 2,749 votes to 2,574 for Democrat Nannette Griffin (51.5 percent to 48.2 percent).

1 month ago | bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Jason Benell |Bruce Lear |Clark Kauffman

Where are they now? Brad Zaun edition Monday, Mar 10 2025 0 Comments The only Iowa Republican legislator to lose his 2024 re-election bid has landed a job in the Trump administration—and he won’t need to move to Washington, DC. Former State Senator Brad Zaun will be the administrator of the Small Business Administration’s Region 7, he announced to LinkedIn followers on March 6.

1 month ago | bleedingheartland.com | Jason Benell |Bruce Lear |Clark Kauffman |Laura Belin

Jason Benell lives in Des Moines with his wife and two children. He is a combat veteran, former city council candidate, and president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers. A version of this essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, The Odd Man Out. Recently we have seen an onslaught of awful behavior and policy from the Republican majority, not only at the Iowa statehouse but nationally.

2 months ago | bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Brian Bruening |Clark Kauffman |Jason Benell

Brenna Bird hid the ball on major disability case. Now she's lying about it Sunday, Feb 16 2025 0 Comments Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird enjoyed suing the Biden administration. She filed or joined more than a dozen multi-state lawsuits against the federal government during her first year in office alone. At least a dozen more lawsuits followed in 2024. Bird has often welcomed media coverage of her legal battles against Biden administration policies.