Session by the letters

Art, arms and abortion -- it's like the first page of some twisted alphabet book.

And after all this talk about back-to-basics governance, these are the issues on which state legislators are spending much precious time.

In the process, many are finding themselves on the wrong side of all that lip service to limited powers. I guess "B" is for big government -- which is OK as long as it's pushing the right agenda.

But we started to see some pushback this week.

First, there's "Mural," the $140 million Jackson Pollock painting owned by the University of Iowa that House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, and friends wanted to cash in for student scholarships.

But "B" for backlash caused them to scrap the idea in what Raecker called a "collective decision" -- which must be a euphemism for another phrase I can't print and which, now that I think of it, also starts with "C."

Then, there's this weapon permit business, which you probably are sick of hearing about. But in case you've been locked in a panic room in recent months, I'll gloss the highlights.

Last session, legislators standardized requirements for permits to carry firearms, fixing the old system of 99 counties and 99 rules. But they also did away with some common, common-sense limits to those permits -- making it possible for people to carry their weapons openly, for example, or while "D" -- drinking in a bar. Giddyap.

"Too far," local governments said over protests of those same gun rights folks. And despite gun advocates' howls that local authorities are trying to pre-empt state law, the Iowa Attorney General's Office has given local governments the OK to ban weapons on their properties.

In Johnson County alone, the public library, Iowa City Council and county supervisors have passed rules limiting or prohibiting firearms in public property and grounds. Now, North Liberty City Council members are considering a ban.

But the pull to the center hasn't stopped some House Republicans from opening up yet another can of extreme.

Now they've got abortion in their sights, filing bills to "D": deny coverage for abortions through the (as yet theoretical) state health-benefit exchange, deny procedures after the 20th week and define life as beginning at conception.

As Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, said in a recent radio interview, it's all "a pretty radical departure" from Iowa's legislative past. He said he thought the issue was being driven by politics.

"D" -- duh.

Comments: jennifer. hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net; (319) 339-3154.