Rush on Business : Iowa Corporate Lawyer & Attorney : Rush Nigut of Brick Gentry Law Firm : Serving Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, & Sioux City

Most people are familiar with Shakespeare's famous words spoken by Dick the Butcher in Henry VI (Part II) , "The first thing we must do is kill all the lawyers."  The majority of people perceive this as a lawyer joke, however, in reality Shakespeare realized that the surest way to chaos and tyranny even then was to remove the guardians of independent thinking.

But sadly, Shakespeare's character has now taken the form of out-state-interests who seek to take over our Iowa judiciary after an Indiana lawyer filed a federal lawsuit this week claiming that lawyers have too much say in the judicial selection process in Iowa. The goal is to deny the current Iowa State Bar Association members on the Judicial Nominating Commission the opportunity to vote on the short list of judicial candidates to be given to the governor.  According to James Bopp, Jr., Iowa lawyers have a "stranglehold" on our Iowa judiciary. Similar lawsuits like the one filed by Bopp in Iowa have been dismissed in other states.

In my previous post regarding the Iowa judiciary I warned this would happen.  Those that complained about judicial activism in our last retention election resulting in the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices are now seeking judicial activism themselves. Iowans need to stand up and support an independent judiciary free from the whims of out-of-state political interest groups. Iowans should not be misled. Those that seek to oust our judges and change our judicial selection process don't care a wit about how our judicial system works.  The only goal is to push their political agenda. Nothing more. Nothing less.

*The views expressed in this blog post are my own and are not intended to speak for or represent the views of the other lawyers in Brick Gentry, P.C.

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In a historic vote last night, three Iowa Supreme Court justices were ousted as a result of a controversial decision made by the court last year in Varnum v. Brien.  The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld that the statute defining marriage only as a union between a man and a woman violated the equal protection clause in the Iowa constitution.  Three of the Supreme Court justices were up for retention last night and all three lost.

So where does that leave our judiciary? As I said in my last post, I think this could have a substantial negative impact on our judiciary because of the influence of special interests (i.e. big money) on the independence of our judiciary.   More than ever, we will need courageous judges who are willing to make decisions that are not always going to be popular.  History is replete with occasions where the majority rule was not always right.  Judges should not be forced to take opinion polls before deciding a case.

As I have indicated before, our Iowa judiciary has a reputation for fairness.  I don't expect that to change overnight.  I just hope Iowa voters haven't cut off their nose to spite their face.

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Many Iowa business owners think the new Iowa SmokeFree Air Act only applies to bars and restaurants.  Not so!

Check out my post today on the Des Moines Business Record's IowaBiz site for more details.

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The Iowa Caucus is approaching quickly.  If you attend campaign rallies for the candidates or listen to TV ads you will almost never hear anything about small business. 

But in reality, America's small businesses are the driver of our economy.  Consider these facts from the Small Business Administration (SBA) as outlined in February 2006:

10. Small businesses make up 99.7 percent of all United States employers.

9. Small businesses create more than 50 percent of the American nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).

8. Small patenting firms produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.

7. The more than 24 million small businesses in the United States are located in every community and neighborhood.

6. Small businesses employ 50.1 percent of the United States’s non-farm private sector workers.

5. Home-based businesses account for 53 percent of all small businesses.

4. Small businesses are 97 percent of America’s exporters and produce 26 percent of all export value.

3. United States saw an estimated 580,865 new small firms with employees start-up in the last year measured.

2. There are approximately 4,115,900 minority-owned businesses and 6,492,795 women-owned businesses in the United States, and almost all of them are small businesses.

1. The latest figures show that small business creates 65 percent or more of America’s net new jobs.

I encourage you to find out where the candidates stand on America's small business issues.  It's an issue vital to our economy.  You are unlikely to find an express position regarding small business on any of the major candidates' Web sites, so you will need to ask them.  Seriously, can anyone tell me where their candidates stands on SPECIFIC small business issues? 

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A Des Moines Register article discusses how many bosses are unwilling to allow night shift workers to caucus.  Understandably this makes politically active employees a little upset.  The article quotes a Medicom employee who said,

"It made me so furious. I raised such a fit I'm surprised they didn't send me home."

It's true that Iowa law does not require employers to give employees time off so they can caucus.  But as I have pointed out before it is my view that treating employees with respect is one of the best ways to avoid employee lawsuits.  An employer should ask themselves whether a few hours away from work every four years would really hurt production?  But think of the goodwill that could occur by respecting the employees' desire to participate in the political process.  Do you think you might have more committed and loyal employees?

At least the Des Moines Police Department gets it because police officers working on the night shift will have the opportunity to caucus provided they have made the request in advance and calls for service allow them to do it.

Update:  The Des Moines Register reported in its Sunday edition that the Medicom worker described above will now be allowed to participate in the caucus. 

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