Today, the Iowa Democratic Party filed a FOIA to hold Governor Kim Reynolds accountable for her broken promise on health care and shed light on the health care negotiations between Reynolds and President Donald Trump.

Despite Governor Reynolds’ public promise to advocate for Iowa’s stopgap insurance plan directly to the President, Reynolds admitted on Tuesday that she had not discussed the issue with him directly.

The Iowa Democratic Party is calling on the Reynolds Administration to release all records of communication between the Office of the Governor, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, or Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen and President Donald Trump, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, CMS Administrator Seema Verma, or any employee of HHS or CMS from May 1, 2017 through today.

This FOIA will help get to the bottom of whether and how the Reynolds Administration has been working with the Trump Administration on this critical issue by furnishing records of all communication between the two.

“Governor Reynolds admitted she failed to advocate for our state when she met with the President, and now, healthcare for tens of thousands of Iowans is at risk,” said Iowa Democratic Party Executive Director Kevin Geiken. “With so much dysfunction both here in Des Moines and in D.C., Iowans deserve complete transparency from our current Governor and the White House. Neither has owned up to that responsibility, so the Iowa Democratic Party is trying to get to the bottom of this mess with this FOIA request.”

The text of the FOIA is below:

Kevin J. Geiken
Executive Director
Democratic Party of Iowa
KGeiken@iowademocrats.org

October 11, 2017

Colin Smith
Deputy Legal Council
Office of the Governor of Iowa
Colin.Smith@iowa.gov

Dear Mr. Smith:

Under the Iowa Open Records Law § 22.1 et seq., I hereby request the Office of Governor Kim Reynolds produce the following public records within ten (10) business days, pursuant to Section 22.8(4)(d) of the Iowa Code:

Any and all records and correspondence from May 1, 2017 through the date this request is received, including by not limited to emails, faxes, records of phone calls, invoices, or text messages, between the Office of the Governor, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, or Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen and President Donald Trump, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, CMS Administrator Seema Verma, or any employee of HHS or CMS.

As records kept by the Office of the Governor, the requested records qualify as “public records” under the Iowa Open Records Law and should accordingly be turned over within ten (10) business days. If access to the public records I am requesting will take longer, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.
If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $50. This information is not being sought for commercial purposes.

If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the records and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

Thank you for considering my request and I look forward to hearing back from you within ten (10) business days.

Sincerely,
Kevin J. Geiken