A Republican state senator is raising the alarm about his own party leaders retaliating against him after he joined an effort to force a vote on regulating carbon pipeline projects.
In an email obtained by Iowa Starting Line, Republican state Sen. Mark Lofgren of Muscatine accused state Sen. Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs and Senate leadership of using “bullying tactics and threats” to retaliate against he and other lawmakers who forced a vote on a bill restricting eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines.
Lofgren was among the 12 Republican senators who were holding up all budget bills until the Senate passed House File 639, a bill that limits the ability of private carbon pipeline projects to use eminent domain.
Lofgren sent his email Tuesday morning, writing that Dawson and others were scrapping bills he was working on over the incident.
Shortly after it hit the inboxes of members in both chambers, Dawson shouted at Lofgren from the Senate floor, “What the fuck did you think would happen next?” Dawson then stormed out.
‘A vengeful way of doing business’
Lofgren’s email details two instances of alleged vindictive treatment from Senate leaders after the standoff. Lofgren wrote that he’d been working on a firefighter benefits bill “all session,” and he’d expected to manage the bill on the floor of the Senate.
“However, today, when this bill is brought before the Senate it will be Senator Dickey who serves as the floor manager. Hmmm…,” Lofgren wrote.
State Sen. Adrian Dickey of Packwood is a volunteer firefighter, and he claimed in a January column in the Oskaloosa News to have been working on the bill for the past five years.
