Gov. Kim Reynolds’ attempt to get a lawsuit over her administration’s failure to comply with Iowa’s Open Records Act dismissed failed on Friday. Polk County District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin rejected the argument by the governor’s attorney that the case is now moot because the state had finally turned over all the records covered by […]
Rob Sand
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Auditor concludes Gov. Reynolds has failed to justify almost $450,000 in pandemic relief spent on staff pay
Just hours before Gov. Kim Reynolds boasted about her handling of the pandemic (“we honored your freedoms”) in the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Tuesday, Iowa Auditor Rob Sand published a report that reiterated his finding from last October that the governor had misappropriated almost $450,000 in federal pandemic relief […]
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Rob Sand is running for a second term as state auditor, squashing speculation he’d seek higher office
Almost as soon as Rob Sand was elected Iowa State Auditor in 2018, political writers and the Iowa Republican Party began publicly speculating on what office he would run for in 2022. Would Sand, the only Democrat elected to statewide office that year who wasn’t already a longtime incumbent (Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald has been in […]
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Audit: Gov. Reynolds misused almost $450,000 of COVID aid to pay her office staff
Gov. Kim Reynolds misappropriated almost $450,000 in federal pandemic relief funds to cover the salaries and benefits of 21 employees in her office, according to a report published by the Iowa State Auditor’s Office on Monday. This is not the first time Auditor Rob Sand has issued a report alleging Reynolds misused CARES dollars meant […]
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Gov. Reynolds says no to vaccine incentives, yes to running for reelection; State Auditor says she misused pandemic aid again
“I am really happy with where we’re at,” Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters on Thursday, explaining that Iowa doesn’t need to follow the example of other states and create lotteries or other incentives to persuade people to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In April, the governor announced a goal of having 65 percent of eligible Iowans […]
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Gov. Reynolds boasts about returning $95 million in federal COVID-19 aid, rejecting migrant children during Fox News forum
Gov. Kim Reynolds boasted to an audience of Fox News fans in Orlando, Florida on Thursday night that she had rejected $95 million in pandemic relief funds from the CDC. The Iowa Department of Public Health informed the CDC of that decision on April 23, but the governor had not previously disclosed that she approved […]
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Iowa is spending $10m in federal pandemic aid on state police salaries
After insisting for two months that spending $21 million in federal pandemic aid on a new computer system unrelated to COVID-19 was a legitimate use of that money, Gov. Kim Reynolds reversed her position on Monday and ordered those funds returned to the state’s Coronavirus Relief Fund. Iowa Auditor Rob Sand first informed the Reynolds […]
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Gov. Reynolds returns $21 million in misspent federal aid to state’s Coronavirus Relief Fund
On Monday afternoon, Gov. Kim Reynolds gave up trying to claim she could use $21 million in federal pandemic relief funds to pay for a computer system upgrade that wasn’t related to COVID-19. In a written statement, the governor’s office shared that “Governor Reynolds has directed the Iowa Department of Management to return $21 million […]
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Reynolds’ use of CARES Act funds to pay for software contract came after the Iowa House rejected her request for the money
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision to use $21 million of federal COVID-19 relief funds on a new computer system she awarded a no-bid contract last year came after the Iowa House of Representatives rejected her request to use $21 million in state gambling revenue to pay for the system, Iowa Capital Dispatch reported on Thursday. The […]
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COVID-19: Iowa sets new records for hospitalizations, deaths; Reynolds defends spending $21 million in federal pandemic aid on pre-pandemic projects
The surge in the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients continued on Wednesday, with the Iowa Department of Public Health reporting 534 patients. This is an increase of 33 patients over the total on Tuesday, which was the first day Iowa ever reported more than 500 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. One hundred and thirty-four of those patients […]
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Auditor: Reynolds administration has misused at least $21 million in federal funds meant for COVID-19 programs
The Reynolds administration has misused at least $21 million in federal funds meant to help pay for expenses related to COVID-19, according to Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand. In a letter to Dave Roederer, director of the Iowa Department of Management, dated Oct. 16, Sand said the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. […]
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Report: Some Test Iowa kits were damaged and cannot be processed
An unknown number of Test Iowa test kits cannot be processed because they were damaged, Barbara Rodriguez of the Des Moines Register reported on Thursday. According to a spokesperson for Gov. Kim Reynolds, only a “very small percentage” of test kits were affected. “A very small percentage of individuals are going to receive a direct […]
