Essential Estrogen

Radio Iowa is reporting that 46-year-old Command Sergeant Major Marilyn Gabbard of Polk City died Saturday during a helicopter crash in Iraq.

Gabbard joined the national guard in October 1979 as a private climbed up the ranks from there. She was the first female Command Sergeant Major in the Iowa National Guard and also the first member of the Iowa Guard to die in combat.

She is survived by her husband Edwards - himself a retired guardmember - one daughter, five step-daughters and one step-son. No funeral information has been announced at this time.

Our warm thanks and prayers to the Gabbard family.

Yesterday, members of the House Education Committee continued the life of HSB 87 which provides some definition changes for sex education in Iowa classrooms, both private and public. By a vote of 17 to six, the committee agreed all sex education in Iowa should be both 'age-appropriate' and 'science-based.'

Democrats serving in the statehouse have long targeted this change in sex ed, but had previously not had the political muscle to make the change. Their majority in both houses and the Governor's Office makes this bill viable.

While the bill makes no distinction between Iowa's public schools and the myriad of non-public schools (secular or religion based), Committee Vice Chair Rep. Mary Mascher (D-HD 77) told Radio Iowa this morning that the measure does not dismantle abstinence-only programs.

"Just because they're offering abstinence-only, they cannot offer inaccurate information in that program either," she said.

The bill does target unscientific material which has been used in some Iowa schools during sex education. Information such as the ability of an individual to contract HIV from body sweat and/or tears would no longer be allowed if this bill passes.

In addition, the new section (280.28) would require nonpublic schools who elect not to provide comprehensive sexual health education (as outlined in the bill) to send send a notice to parent(s)/guardian(s) at the beginning of the year that explains such education is required by the state, the criteria outline for such education, and that such education is not being provided to the student.

Quite frankly, we do not believe this bill goes far enough in requiring all Iowa schools to teach students about themselves, their bodies, and the possibility of disease. That being said, then, it is difficult to understand why this bill has already met with opposition from the Iowa Family Policy Center, Iowa Right to Life Committee, and the Iowa Christian Alliance. Those favoring the bill include the Iowa Department of Education, Iowa State Education Association, GLBT Youth in Iowa Schools Task Force, Iowa Medical Society, Iowa Commission on the Status of Women and the League of Women Voters of Iowa (among many others).

Originally, the Iowa Association of Christian Schools were against this bill. As of Feb. 22, however, their opinion (as portrayed by their lobbyist Eric Goranson) has changed to undecided. We've attempted contact with that group to see why their opinion changed and will report back if and when we're granted an interview.

In our opinion, requiring schools to provide "just the facts" when it comes to sexual education is a long overdue mandate. No one, regardless of their particular religious ilk, should be allowed to spread disinformation on such a critical topic. To purposefully do so in other potentially life-threatening situations would be criminal and there should be no distinction made with this circumstance.

Don't like political advertising? Better find and hide under a very big rock. With its first-in-the-nation status, Iowa stands on the front lines in a national debate over campaign finance reform.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in a 5-4 decision that, by passing the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as "McCain-Feingold" for its sponsors), Congress overstepped its authority to regulate political speech. The case, Federal Elections Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, focused on the portion of the law that prohibits organizations such as WRTL from using corporate funds to broadcast advertisements targeted at a specific candidate within 60 days of a general election and within 30 days of a primary or caucus.

Readers should not be distracted by WRTL being a party in the suit. The issue of free speech was being pressed from both sides of the political spectrum. Organizations and agencies supporting WRTL in this effort included the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Rifle Association, the American Federation of Labor and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among others.

The AFL-CIO filed a brief supporting the challenge in this case, according to the organization's President John Sweeney. Five years ago the group was a plaintiff in the "McConnell" litigation, opposing the "electioneering communications' ban.

"[The ban] criminalized an important and effective means of our public communications and silenced the collective voices of working people to a degree almost without historical precedent," he said. "We look forward to the occasion when the last vestige of this unjustified prohibition is invalidated or repealed."

For better or worse, Iowa broadcasters, viewers and advertisers will soon feel the brunt of the landmark decision.

"The influx of political advertising can definitely cause customer service issues for us," said Steve Lake, national sales manager for Iowa-based ABC affiliate KCRG-TV. "While no two stations plan out their advertising schedule in the same way, we all only have a certain amount of time to sell. That is, the amount of advertising I have available on the evening news -- the spot most political advertisers want -- doesn't change."

Despite the court's decision, there are still differences between issue advertisers and political advertisers, says Lake. Political advertisements are created by candidates and have certain protections under the law. Issue advertisements are created by groups and are not afforded such protections.

"Broadcasters don't have a choice when it comes to political ads," Lake said. "We are required by federal law to run them and to offer our lowest possible rate. Issue ads are a different story. We can charge higher rates and we are not legally required to accept them."

That last sentence is good news for Iowa viewers and advertisers.

"I doubt we'd bump any local advertisers," Lake said. "But those who buy in at the lowest rate do so with the risk of getting replaced with premium rate advertisers. The worst part is that we rarely know when an order for political or issue advertising is going to come."

Political campaigns and issue groups often make ad buys in advance that vary in duration and size. Key ad placement -- during the coveted evening newscasts, for example -- can be purchased for a price.

"We know who has bought ad time, but we don't know when an ad is going to come in at the last minute and need to be run the next day," he said. "When that happens -- and considering our limited ad time each day -- another advertiser has to be pulled from the schedule."

In general, political advertising isn't the economic boom some viewers may view it to be.

"Are we going to make money?" Lake asked. "Sure. At the end of the day, when you take a political ad at the lowest rate and mix in an issue ad at the higher rate, it's just a wash."

One thing is for sure, with their muscles restored to the strength of years past, organizations are going to be flexing in the weeks prior to the Iowa caucus.

"We welcome the Supreme Court decision upholding the rights of unions and other groups to broadcast messages that influence public debate and legislative decisions, even though these messages might also influence voters' choices in an upcoming election," Sweeney said. "A majority of the court has finally and emphatically embraced the simple truth that the First Amendment abides no law that suppresses independent speech about legislators and candidates, at least absent an explicit call for their election or defeat."

Although 364 Iowa school districts will have school leaders on the ballot this Tuesday, if history is any indicator, only about 6 percent of eligible voters will take time to voice their opinion. A new initiative launched by the Iowa Association of School Boards hopes to change that.

In 2000, an IASB survey indicated average voter turnout for school board elections hovered around 10 percent and was on par with general elections. The same survey this year indicated the number had slipped to about 6 percent.

"When these numbers from the auditors came back showing that -- depending on district -- turnout numbers ranged from about 4 to 6 percent it was disconcerting," said Jennifer Huffman, communications specialist for IASB. "You don't want to just assume the decrease represents a citizen's lack of awareness for the importance of school governance or a lack of interest in public education."

Huffman says the decrease in voter turnout combined with a difficulty some districts were having finding qualified candidates have led to some county auditors and state legislators to call for a change in the school board election process.

"There are some who have expressed a desire to combine the school board elections with November general elections," she said. "For many reasons, IASB wants the school board elections to remain annually in September."

Non-matching school and city boundaries, voters living in unincorporated areas, partisan politics being a part of general elections and potentially high turnover rates for school board members are just a handful of the reasons the IASB lists for keeping the school board election process in September. In order to keep the elections where they are, Huffman says the ISAB began discussing what they could do to increase voter turnout. A key component to that discussion was the fact that many school districts were having trouble convincing qualified candidates to run for the no-pay volunteer post.

"Back in April or May we began brainstorming the types of things we could be doing throughout the year to encourage people to run for school board," she said. "We partnered with the Farm Bureau, parent-teacher organizations and local chambers of commerce and requested they encourage their civic-minded membership to run for school board. The second part of the campaign we decided to invest some money -- something we had never done before -- for a radio campaign."

The 60-second radio spot, developed by Brownfield Communications as a part of IASB's "Care About Children" program, has been running on more than 70 stations throughout 93 counties since Aug. 27. Radio was chosen both because of it being economical and its ability to reach some of the state's rural areas. The ad highlights four of Iowa's school districts in an attempt to bring awareness to the varied and positive roles school boards can play within a district and a community. Those districts are Ogden, Sioux City, Louisa-Muscatine and Mount Vernon.

Listen to the ad:

Huffman says the four districts were chosen based on their individual excellence and innovative initiatives.

"Sioux City earned last year's T.E. Davidson Award, which goes to a school board every year that we recognize for its accomplishments and increasing student achievement," she said. "The Mount Vernon board was this year's recipient of the award for the stellar things they are doing in their district. We highlighted Ogden because they are one of the early pioneers for working within their community and with their community partners to set up a preschool program within their school system. Louisa-Muscatine has just been doing amazing things with technology in their schools."

In addition to the ad buy, Huffman emailed a copy of the audio file to many key members throughout the state and asked them to forward the file to their friends and neighbors. While not everyone who received the ad ended up forwarding it along, she says some good has still come from the grassroots effort.

"We have some school districts who have placed the file on their websites," she said. "These are baby steps. I knew we weren't going to increase voter turnout to 15 or 20 percent in a three- or four-month period of time and with one radio campaign. It's still a new and valuable way to present what school boards are doing for their districts. Hopefully, they'll be fired up and wanting to do more of it."

At the end of the day, Huffman says she is just hoping the work the IASB has done to find qualified candidates and to increase awareness of school and student excellence will translate to more people coming to polls on Tuesday.