Essential Estrogen

Love her or hate her, few will argue with Lt. Gov. Patty Judge's tenacity. Someone, however, should have warned Iowa's new Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey that Judge doesn't limit herself by title.

On Saturday, Iowa was hit by a major winter event which caused widespread power outages throughout many counties. Governor Chet Culver, on the Hill at the time, contacted state officials immediately and began lobbying for states of emergency in various counties to protect the people of Iowa. It seems Patty, knowing Iowans themselves were in good hands, reached back to her own agricultural roots to contact livestock groups including the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

According to officials at the IPPA, Judge contacted their offices early Sunday and offered the state's help to their livestock producers and wanted their help in identifying losses and damage. At that point, the group estimated nearly 110,000 rural electric cooperative customers remained without power and anticipated the agricultural losses to be high.

Such 'taking the bull by the horns' initiative appears to have rubbed Northey the wrong way. Upon learning of Judge's early contacts to the livestock producers, a person in the freshman official's office said Northey contacted key reporters to ensure he would be associated with the assistance coming to the rural families and farmers.

Northey spent most of Monday at the state's emergency operations center, where he could keep a close eye on the power outages and be available to reporters. As a side note, producers in need of generators can call (515) 281-5798; those who are suffering massive livestock casualties should phone their local Emergency Management Agency, county sheriff's department or the ag desk at the State Emergency Operations Center, (515) 323-4267.

As of this morning, Iowa's Rural Electric Co-ops estimated 40,000 customers remain without power. In total the storm left more than 4,000 electrical poles and unknown numbers of power lines in its wake. While the group is working to restore power as quickly as possible, some rural customers will not see relief for 10-12 days. Unfortunately for everyone another winter storm is expected to sweep through the state on Wednesday evening.