Expect Iowa City bars to belly up to 21-vote

The second time's the charm for opponents of Iowa City's 21-ordianance. Iowa City Clerk Marian Karr announced that they've finally submitted enough valid signatures to force the council's hand on the issue.

The student-led Yes to Entertaining Students Safely handed in about 200 pages full of signatures last month, but only about 1,500 of those signatures were valid. Embarrassing, maybe, but not terminal: they pulled it off in the end with the help of local businessman Mike Porter.

The last time the bar-entry age came up for a vote, two of Porter's bars kicked in $10,000 to help defeat a proposal to boost the entry age to 21 – that's in addition to the staff time and other resources Porter helped funnel to the cause. Clearly, the issue is important to him.

No campaign finance disclosure reports yet from YESS, but there's no reason to think it will be different this time – a movement of one-time, single-issue voters bankrolled by a couple business owners with a strong financial interest in the status quo.

I don't blame the voters for turning out, even if I'd be happier if they were a little more consistent in exercising that particular constitutional right, and I'm too old to be shocked by the influence of money and personal interest in politics. I guess it's the simplicity of the transaction here that leaves me a little queasy.