Today, Ed and Lynn Fallon plan to deliver to Secretary of the Senate Mike Marshall at 11:15 this morning their formal ethics complaint against Senator Merlin Bartz for encouraging county recorders to break the law by refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
On a Senate Republican website, Senator Bartz posts a link to a petition that appeals to county recorders to “refuse to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples on April 27th, 2009, and every day after, until such conflict between the Supreme Court’s opinion and the law is addressed by a VOTE OF THE PEOPLE OF IOWA.” Senator Bartz has also spoken publicly in support of county recorders taking this action.
In their ethic complaint, Ed and Lynn assert, “Senator Bartz’s actions appear to violate Article III, Section 32 of the State of Iowa Constitution and Chapter 63.10 of the Code of Iowa, which states that duly elected officials solemnly swear to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa.”
The complaint further states: “We have not been able to ascertain whether taxpayers money was used in the development and maintenance of the website that Senator Bartz uses to promote the petition (see http://www.iowasenaterepublicans.org/Bartz/Bartz.htm), but if that is the case, then it would appear to be a misuse of taxpayer money by an elected official to promote breaking the law. We call attention to the fact that the website in question also lists Republican Caucus Staff members, who are entirely funded at taxpayer expense.”
“I want to be clear that there is nothing personal behind this complaint,” said Ed Fallon. “When we served together in the Legislature, I worked with Senator Bartz on several issues. I find him to be very intelligent and a man of integrity. This complaint is in no way intended to cast dispersions on his character, or to imply that he is unethical, merely that in this instance, his actions constitute a breach of the ethical standards established by state government.”
Since last fall, Ed and Lynn have worked in coalition with a broad range of Iowa and national groups to secure and protect the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry in Iowa. Ed first got involved in this issue in 1996, when he led the charge against the anti-marriage law that eventually passed in 1998 and that the Iowa Supreme Court recently found to be unconstitutional.
Clarence Page To Speak About His Support For Same Sex Marriage
Iowa Historical Building • June 11 • 7:00 p.m
Clarence Page, the 1989 Pulitzer Prize winner for Commentary, has been a columnist and a member of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board since July 1984. His column is syndicated nationally by Tribune Media Services in close to 200 papers. He has been based in Washington, D.C. since May 1991.
Page is also a regular contributor of essays to “The News Hour With Jim Lehrer” and “News and Notes with Ed Gordon” on National Public Radio. He has hosted documentaries on the Public Broadcasting System and served as a regular panelist on national programs including ABC’s This Week and BET’s weekly “Lead Story” news panel program.
Page was a reporter and assistant city editor for the Chicago Tribune from 1969 to 1980. He joined WBBM-TV in August 1980 as Director of the Community Affairs Department and worked as a reporter and planning editor at the station from August 1982 to July 1984.
Page’s awards include a 1980 Illinois UPI awards for community service for an investigative series titled “The Black Tax” and the Edward Scott Beck Award for overseas reporting of a 1976 series on the changing politics of Southern Africa.
