Iowa's legislative leaders dodge scrutiny

Denying reporter's credential request is wrong

Photo by Austin Goode on Unsplash

In the movie “Bull Durham,” there’s a scene where the play-by-play announcer for the minor league baseball club the Durham Bulls laments the sad state of the team.

The Bulls were coming off a losing road trip and hardly anybody could seem to hit the ball. Teddy, the team's radio announcer, had had enough. He complained the Bulls team just might be the worst in 50 years, then he asked, “Is the modern-day athlete a pale imitation of the great old warriors?”

It was clear he knew the answer.

This scene often comes to mind for me when I think of the politicians who rule the Iowa Legislature these days.

I’ve never covered the Legislature day-to-day, but I’ve been a close observer for more than three decades. My impression has been that the leaders there have generally had a cordial, if not always friendly, relationship with reporters. They recognized that journalists had a role to play, even if they didn't always portray them in a flattering light.

For the most part, it wasn’t a relationship they seemed to shrink from.

These days, it’s different. Republicans who lead the Legislature are more hostile to reporters than before. In 2022, the state Senate stopped journalists from working on the floor. And last year, Republican leaders—along with Gov. Kim Reynolds—refused to even take part in the annual pre-session legislative forum, breaking a 20-year tradition.

For her part, Reynolds rarely holds news conferences—Terry Branstad used to do so frequently—and she even refused to disclose public records related to the Covid pandemic until media outlets and others sued. The lawsuits ended in settlements that cost the taxpayers $175,000.

You wouldn’t think standing up to the media would be that tough. Politicians of old did it.

Now, they shrink from the task; at least the leaders do. Which most likely explains the Iowa House’s ongoing refusal to grant journalist Laura Belin credentials to cover the lower chamber. Those credentials give a reporter easier access to lawmakers and workspace.

Belin, who has progressive political views, owns and operates the Bleeding Heartland online news website. Bleeding Heartland is a must-read for anybody interested in Iowa politics, and Belin has been recognized by news organizations in the state—and outside it.

She’s covered the Legislature for years, but first applied for House press credentials in 2019. She was rejected.

Those rejections have continued. Her colleagues in the news media have supported her, but the powers that be won’t budge.

Now Belin is going to federal court to fight the refusals. Last Friday, she filed a lawsuit that argues her First Amendment rights to free speech and press and Fourteenth Amendment right to due process are being violated. The Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Free Speech is joining her fight.

The 25-page suit outlines the shifting explanations given to Belin for the denials.

In 2020, for example, the suit alleges, the House clerk rejected her request because she's from a “non-traditional” news outlet. This, even though the House’s credentialing policy never made this distinction, according to the suit, and another reporter that distributed news via email was granted credentials.

Then in 2022, a House policy said credentials would only be given to reporters who disseminate “nonpartisan” news, the lawsuit says.

It shouldn’t make a difference whether a journalist writes for a website, a daily newspaper or a radio or television station. (Belin, by the way, also is a Statehouse reporter for an Ames radio station, KHOI. Yet that still doesn’t suffice.) Nor should lawmakers be able to discriminate against a bona fide reporter because they don’t like what he or she writes. Courts have found the Constitution bans discrimination based on a person’s viewpoint.

The suit asks that Belin be granted credentials for the 2024 legislative session and the House be stopped from engaging in these unconstitutional practices.

I hope the suit is successful. And not just because Belin is a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, as am I. I hope she wins because it is wrong for the custodians of the people’s House to wall off access to journalists for political reasons.

These days, it seems to require a lawsuit to get some politicians to do the right thing.

It would be a whole lot easier if legislative leaders would just stiffen their spine and live with the scrutiny. But to paraphrase Teddy the baseball announcer: The modern-day politician is, indeed, a pale imitation of the warriors of old.

Along the Mississippi is a proud member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Please check out the work of my colleagues and consider subscribing. Also, the collaborative partners with the Iowa Capital Dispatch, which provides hard-hitting news along with selected commentary by members of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Please consider making a donation to support its work, too.