Critics rejected by local governments

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Indira Sheumaker, shown in a social media post shared on Election Day, won a seat on the Des Moines City Council in the November 2, 2021 election. (photo added)

When the COVID-19 pandemic pushed local government proceedings online, many cities and counties allowed the public to participate remotely for the first time. And when the murder of George Floyd sparked a historic protest, there was suddenly a lot more interest in the institutions that oversee our police departments and our sheriff’s offices.

Some of these protesters did not leave when the mass protests ended. Now local politicians find they don’t like the extra scrutiny.

Last week, the Des Moines City Council voted 6-1 to change its rules and require all motions get a second before being considered by the council. This is the prerogative of the council, but the timing of the vote made it clear that this was an effort to stifle a particular council member’s attendance at meetings.

Indira Sheumaker, an organizer with the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement, recently joined the council after defeating an incumbent in last November’s election. At the previous council meeting, Sheumaker attempted to make a motion for city support for a winter shelter. Amid exchanges between council and members of the public, Mayor Frank Cownie instead moved a motion to adjourn and abruptly ended the meeting.

The editorial board of the Des Moines Register, which backed one of Sheumaker’s opponents in last year’s election, said the new rules make the board “more of a kindergarten and less of a deliberative body of ‘elected adults’.

I guess it was to send a message. Sheumaker may have a seat at the table, but that’s all it is – a chair, a nameplate, and a microphone, the latter of which is strictly not to be used out of turn.

Des Moines has earned a reputation for lashing out at critics, but others in Iowa worry the capital could become a model for cities and counties to follow. Johnson County activists repeatedly come up against what they see as barriers to access.

The situation boiled over at a meeting of Johnson County Joint Entities last week, where representatives from various government entities came together to share reports on cross-jurisdictional issues.

Dozens of members of the Excluded Workers Fund Coalition — which advocates for direct payments to residents who were ineligible for federal stimulus checks — showed up, but most of them were denied the entrance to the meeting room and no one from the group was allowed to speak. Johnson County Board of Supervisors Chairman Royceann Porter briefly suspended the meeting, and sheriff’s deputies removed attorneys from the area, the Daily Iowan reported.

When clashes arise, those in power wrap themselves in fanciful talk of ‘process’ and ‘decorum’. These subtleties are designed to allow politicians to avoid making uncomfortable decisions.

Our representatives give mayors and unelected managers broad authority to dictate the agenda and they are reluctant to broach a topic until they have built some consensus behind the scenes. The real deliberations often do not take place in public view, but rather in private conversations between individual council members and the usual local stakeholder suspects — government staff, property developers, nonprofit leaders.

When these same insiders want to address a council or council in open session, they are usually granted indefinite time. Officials will even talk back and forth with them, which they refuse to do with the public out of artificial concern for the rules of open meetings, even when concerned citizens react to the items on the agenda. They could allow more interaction with the public while respecting the law, but they choose not to.

It’s a bad idea to disrupt meetings, but cities and counties invite just as much when they choose to limit debate and dissent in their deliberations.

The Republican-controlled state government has rightly received widespread criticism for its efforts to unduly embolden police and limit free speech rights. But local governments run mostly by Democrats seem to be doing a great job on their own.

(319) 398-8262; [email protected]

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