Iowans will have a decision on November 8th, stick with 10-term-serving Democrat Tom Miller as Attorney General or give Kim Reynolds her own AG by electing Republican Brenna Bird. Tom Miller has been a thorn in the side of Iowa governors, Branstad and Reynolds, by not supporting their politically-motivated initiatives. However, he has been effective in serving Iowans by accomplishing the following:
Miller led the roughly three-year-long multi-state negotiations in the effort to settle with several U.S. banks over alleged abuses and faulty documentation used in the seizure of homes since the crisis began in 2008. The deal was expected to give up to $40 billion to struggling homeowners, and an estimated "1 million U.S. homeowners who were "underwater" on their mortgages.
His office has helped hundreds of thousands of Iowans with complaints about wide-ranging topics, including "improper debt collection practices, telemarketing fraud and abuse, charity fraud, predatory lending, mortgage, and vehicle complaints. His office's undercover telephone lines have helped reduce telemarketing crimes that cheat older Iowans and people all over the nation."
He has also successfully taken on the tobacco industry and through the courts has caused them to pay billions in settlements across multiple states. He continues to work to reduce youth tobacco addiction.
Miller has also established "the nation’s first-ever farm division in an attorney general’s office". Since then, the division has had success in cases against agricultural chemical companies and has "consistently defended farmers against big agricultural companies," according to the Iowa Attorney General's website.
Miller also has "taken a lead in holding accountable the drug companies and others who contributed to the opioid crisis... will work to challenge corporate mergers that would potentially harm Iowa consumers and farmers and... looking into concentration in the fertilizer industry, which has led to high prices for farmers."
Further, Miller issued a report citing "overwhelming" incidents of abuse and "extensive" cover-up that spanned decades in detailing 50 complaints his office received about allegations of sexual impropriety by Catholic clergy, non-clergy or spiritual leaders — including 17 victims who had not previously come forward to report abuse to authorities.
Finally, Miller is a pro-choice and called the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade "a terrible mistake." He said, "I believe that women should essentially make this choice," he said. "That they should have the freedom from government intervention to make this decision with their family, if necessary, and, of course, with a doctor." Miller declined to defend the "fetal heartbeat" law, calling it "far, far too restrictive on women."
In the wake of a measure passed in 2019 by the Republican-led Iowa Legislature that would have limited the attorney general’s powers to go after Trump administration policies, Miller and GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds agreed he would seek her permission before joining any multistate lawsuits. Under that agreement, she vetoed the bill. The Associated Press reported last year that Reynolds had subsequently denied two-thirds of Miller’s requests.
Miller said the current system works for choosing judges, but he opposes the Republican-backed law that gave the governor more power in choosing people to serve on the state judicial nominating commission.
Contrasting Miller with Brenna Bird, who is the current Guthrie County Attorney, Guthrie county has a population of 10,623 as of the 2020 census) was elected in 2018 and is president-elect of the Iowa County Attorneys Association. She previously worked for former Gov. Terry Branstad and former Congressman Steve King. She has been on record that she "would back our law enforcement, hold the Biden administration accountable and seek justice for victims of crimes."
She is on record for supporting the 6-week abortion ban saying she would have defended a 2018 Iowa law that would ban most abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy. “I’m 100 percent pro-life, and it will be my job as attorney general to defend the law that the legislature would pass,” Bird said. She has declined to say what kinds of abortion restrictions she might recommend to lawmakers.
Bird also has said she would like to "Give Biden the Bird" and sue the president over COVID requirements, water quality regulations and U.S.-Mexico border policies, key issues for Governor Reynolds who has potential aspirations for higher office and has been speculated as a potential GOP Vice-President nominee.
Bird's willingness to walk lock-step with the Governor has won her a ringing endorsement by Reynolds, but also of Donald Trump, though she accepts the results of the 2020 election, she said, “I do believe that Joe Biden is our president, I have a lot of concerns, though, about election integrity” while simultaneously praising Iowa's election laws.
Latest polling data shows Miller with a 16% lead over Bird, but polling for down ticket races is notoriously limited. If you are an Iowan who really believes our state motto, "Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain," it is clear that there are important differences between these to candidates and keeping Tom Miller as AG should be at the top of your ticket.
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