By Mitch McAndrew
Longtime Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, checked off his 99th county visit on Thursday morning in Anamosa, effectively completing another “full Grassley.”
This marks the 35th-consecutive year the 82-year old senator has visited every Iowa county, a practice often emulated by politicians campaigning across the state.
“This communication back and forth is what helps him be the most transparent and accessible U.S. senator in Iowa’s history,” said Bob Haus, Grassley’s campaign manager.
The senator identified Obamacare, student debt, international trade, guns, immigration, and Environmental Protection Agency regulations as the most discussed topics in this year’s rounds.
“Those five or six things come up pretty regularly — they usually take up the first half of the meeting,” Grassley told The Daily Iowan. “The other half is usually very diverse issues, and they vary quite a bit from one town to another.”
He noted that the Supreme Court nomination has also been a hot-button issue, but that the controversy surrounding the conversation has faded over the summer.
“In March and April, it was very controversial,” he said. “It’s still probably one of the top five or six issues, but it was probably the No. 1 issue then.”
Grassley, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, has refused to hold hearings for President Obama’s Supreme Court justice nominee Judge Merrick Garland.
Haus said the county meetings help cement Grassley as a prime example of representative government.
This cycle, some have called that accessibility into question, alleging that Grassley avoids public meetings in Iowa’s more populous counties.
A July report from Progress Iowa, a political group that advocates progressive stances, found that Grassley did not hold public meetings in eight of the 10 most populated counties in Iowa: Polk, Linn, Johnson, Black Hawk, Woodbury, Dubuque, Story, and Dallas.
With the exception of Dallas and Woodbury, more active registered Democrats than Republicans live in those counties.
Progress Iowa’s definition of a public meeting is an “open-to-the-public town meeting,” a definition lifted from a press release issued by Grassley’s office that explains the various formats of the senator’s county meetings. Private meetings consist of “hourlong Q&A meetings planned at high schools, factories, offices, hospitals, and service clubs, where Grassley is the guest of a local host.”
Matt Sinovic, Progress Iowa’s executive director, said Grassley’s preference for private meetings in larger counties suggest a pattern of avoiding confrontation.
“It’s my opinion that he’s doing this to avoid tough questions and opposition in what would be more Democratic counties,” he said.
Sinovic said researchers combed through years of Grassley’s press releases and online travel schedules to compile their list of meetings, which they cross-referenced with Grassley’s active Twitter account.
The report also found that about two-thirds of Grassley’s county meetings have been private and that most of the public meetings are in rural, Republican-dominated areas.
“He picks Republican strongholds to have his meetings in,” Sinovic said. “He gets to pick and choose his audience.”
Beth Pellet Levine, Grassley’s communications director, said Grassley’s mix of public and private meetings is explained by the invitations he receives and has nothing to do with the senator’s choices.
“If the business wants to open it up to the public, that’s fine with Sen. Grassley, but he’s accepting their invitation,” she said.
She also said the private meetings ensure that Grassley is speaking to all Iowans, not just those able to attend an afternoon meeting.
“He talks about being able to listen to a cross section of Iowans. People in school or at work aren’t able to go to a town hall in the middle of the day,” she said. “That’s why he holds these meetings -— so he can get that cross section of Iowans.”
Haus called any attack on Grassley’s accessibility a waste of time.
“Progress Iowa has got its foot to the floor, and it’s going down a dead-end road on this issue,” he said. “As my father used to say, ‘That dog won’t hunt.’ ”
