Editorial by Matt Marquardt –
Someone in Des Moines is reading NorthIowaToday.com.
Without divulging too many details – because there aren’t that many yet – I did take a call today from an investigative reporter with the Des Moines Register, Iowa’s most-trusted and well-known newspaper.
The reason for the call: Background on the North Iowa Corridor, for use in a broader investigation they are pursuing. We had a very nice chat, and I pointed my new friend in the right direction in digging up the true dirt on the Corridor and its shenanigans.
Seems that the newsroom in Des Moines has taken a gander at some of the deeds of the Corridor – chronicled on NIT – and wants to look deeper into the organization and others like it. One topic in particular our conversation centered on was an expensive speech given by Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads at the Music Man Square last year. I reported that just prior to his speech, Rhoads’ booking agent told me in a phone call that $20,000 was a good starting point for negotiations to bring him to a speaking engagement. Corridor board members – some of them elected officials – refused to disclose the cost; we still don’t know what Rhoads was paid. The Corridor is supported by hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer dollars, each year, most of which is given by these very same elected officials sitting on the Corridor board.
I welcome the Register’s investigation into the North Iowa Corridor. Sunshine is a great sanitizer.
