Jay suggested we make a spur of the moment trip to the Iowa Capitol Building this morning, and so we did. Inside the beautiful building we found that it was nearly deserted but we poked our old heads inside the office of the Director of the Department of Management and asked to see Director David Roederer, who very kindly gave us a short meeting during which we discussed the Iowa Film Office situation.
Mr. Roederer said he thought the reopening of the Iowa Film Office would come on July 1st or even sooner. He and Governor Branstad both fully favor the Iowa film industry and do want to get things back on track. We all agreed that there's still some ugly baggage remaining from when things went terribly wrong with the abuse of the Iowa film tax credits.
Jay and I also popped in on the governor's office manager, Leo Hough, who briefly spoke with us about the film office. Both Leo and David have always freely given their time to us.
We looked in both the senate and house chambers to find that absolutely nobody was there yet, although on Monday both houses will be full when the next legislative session begins once again.
While on the rotunda level we looked over the photos of the members of the Iowa legislature and remembered who some of our key supporters are. In the senate: Bill Dotzler, Dennis Black, Jack Hatch, Joe Seng, Brad Zaun, and Wally Horn. In the house: Peter Cownie, whose wife Mary is head of the office of Iowa Cultural Affairs, where the Iowa Film Office is possibly going to relocate, and these other representatives: Erik Helland, Dan Kelley, Craig Paulsen, and Ruth Ann Gaines.
We will return to speak with these and other legislators next week and during the entire session to continue to do what we can to let these people know how vitally important it is to get film production going again in Iowa. I think it's a bit of a tough row to hoe, but I truly believe it will happen.
Gino, You always look so serious. Smile once in a while...It will make people wonder what you are up to
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