Write for What's Right!

Before I begin to describe the very productive and successful day Jay Villwock and I enjoyed at the Iowa State House today, I want to first thank those of you who took the time to write to Iowa legislators. I have received reports from several people who say they did indeed write and that they even received responses from some of them. Remember, it's true that the "squeaky wheel gets the grease". The more emails and letters and phone calls and face-to-face visits a legislator gets the better the chances of the Iowa Film Office being sufficiently funded with the $400,000 Iowa Governor Terry Branstad recommended in his budget report.

Shortly after arriving at the Iowa Capitol Building, we met Rep. Dan Kelley. I showed him the list of members on the Economic Development Appropriations sub committee and he made a note of several of his colleagues to share his positive feelings for getting film making back in this state. We also briefly spoke with Senator Joe Seng, one of our strongest allies. Coralville Representative David Jacoby passed nearby and we spoke very briefly with him, too. He seemed very much in support of the governor's Iowa Film Office recommendation. He has always been very friendly with Jay and myself.

I was about to drop a note in the office of the governor's Director of Budget and Management, David Roederer, when he spotted us in the lobby of his office and waved us in. We talked about the missing locations files from the IFO and he said he'd try to track down information as to the whereabouts of that information. Jay and I updated him regarding who we felt were supportive within the Iowa legislature.

As we were leaving the Capitol and were descending the stairs from the east side of the building, we ran into Schleswig, Iowa Republican Jason Schultz, who is the chairman of the committee mentioned above. When Jay and I urged him to support the governor's budget allocation recommendation of $400,000, he said many groups are asking for money and implied that he was inclined to approve of far less than what the IFO truly needs. In fact, he said he was the one who set "the floor" for the IFO budget amount, which means his suggested sum of $150,000 to the Iowa House would be the lowest possible amount the IFO would receive. Furthermore, I received a note from someone who wrote to Rep. Jacoby regarding the film office situation and he told the writer, "the republicans are dead set against" the film industry in Iowa. Considering that the governor is a republican I have trouble with this claim.

Thank you, everyone, for your help. I feel, for the moment anyway, that there is an increasing surge of support to fund the Iowa Film Office sufficiently, so please keep those emails and calls going to those Iowa legislators!

gene l. hamilton