Controversy in Nebraska AND Iowa

Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Yeah, you bet, thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Okay, So first things first, wanted to chat about something
I saw posted on your website at Iowa Attorney General
dot gov this week, election integrity. I think this is
something that many people in the state of Iowa and
all over the United States are very concerned with. Talk
about your efforts and the victory that you scored earlier this.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Week, well a huge victory thanks to the Trump administration.
Election integrity is so important because we want to make
sure that every legal vote counts and nobody votes illegally,
so that we can have confidence in the outcome of
our election that it's the right outcome, that you know,
no cheating happened. Quite frankly, that's important, and we want

(00:45):
to make sure that we don't have the problems they
have and unfortunately in some other states. So what we
did and the Secretary of State did this, Paul Pate,
is he went through the voter rules before the twenty
twenty four election just to double check to see if
there were any non citizens who were registered to vote,
because in Iowa you must be a citizen to vote

(01:07):
in federal elections also under federal law, same thing, and
so he was checking on that and found that there
were some concerns a certain number of people out of
a list of two thousand, of a smaller group there
were non citizens were registered to vote, but the federal government,
the Biden administration, would not tell him which ones they were.
So we had to go to court and sue the

(01:29):
Biden administration. They're being very difficult when we're trying to
uphold the law, and so we went through all of that.
Fast forward to this week. We have a great settlement
with the Trump administration, one that will last twenty years
and will let our election officials here in Iowa check
regularly to see to make sure that our voter list

(01:50):
is updated and also that we don't have any non
citizens who are registered to vote. It's a felony for
a non citizen to vote in Iowa.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, and just this has been a struggle for me mentally,
and maybe you can help explain why wouldn't this just
be the way that it is. Why would it be
so difficult to, you know, try to allow the transparency
for us to know that only people who are eligible
and legally capable of voting. Well, why would this be

(02:20):
such a big problem and why would we have to
go to this measure anyway, just to be able to
secure our elections.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well, I think it's the same dynamic we've seen. You know,
Iowa requires a voter ID, an ID like a driver's
license to vote, so that we know the person showing
up and saying who they are really is that person
and live there it is entitled to vote. Our office
has been sued over that as well, and we've defended
that election integrity law. There really is no good reason

(02:51):
for someone not to show an ID to vote. There
is no good reason that the federal government wouldn't tell
us who is registered to vote, who is not a
citizen where if they voted, that is a felony. And
also once that vote is mixed in with all the
other votes, it's not possible to pull it back out,
so it cancels out a legal vote here in our state.

(03:13):
So there's really no good reason for it. In my opinion,
it was trying to be done in a very good
and common sense way. And I think sometimes there are
policy goals that other people have that I think hurt
election integrity, and this Biden administration was an example of it.
You know, also, Emery, I think it goes without Sam
but I'm going to say it. You know, when we

(03:34):
have voting an election integrity, we don't know whether that
person was going to vote independent, Republican, Democrat. We have
no idea. We're upholding the law for absolutely everybody without
regard to how somebody is going to vote or how
an election will turn out. That's what election integrity is
all about.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Attorney General Brenda Bird State of Iowa joining us here,
It just it makes common sense to me, and I
think everyone who is listening to this feels probably I
would hope the exact same way. So this makes complete sense,
and it's good to hear that we have that opportunity. Now.
I did also see when I was coming through your
website that you the wording here is that you seek

(04:17):
a thorough review of the railroad merger between Union Pacific
Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railroad. This is a big merger
in the railroad world, and this could have an effect
on Iowa. You have kind of thrown Iowa into a
group of other states who I don't know if concerns
the right word, but are just making sure that this
is done with the best interest of the farmers that

(04:39):
do rely on the railroads as well for you know,
transportation of their goods. So can you kind of explain
what you're looking at with this and why this is
something Iowa should care about.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, well, it is really important that we have a
thorough review of that merger. This is one of the
things that I look out for on behalf of Iowans,
and I know how important rail transportation is to our agriculture.
I was born and raised on a farm that I
still live there in our town wouldn't be there if
we didn't have a railroad going by, and that is

(05:13):
how a lot of grain goes to market. It's important
to the whole state, especially our rural communities. And so
here's what I'm looking for with the proposed merger, is
that in the best interests of Iowans and farmers and
the businesses that rely on rail transportation. Will it increase
the cost, Will it be hard for them to get cars,

(05:34):
Will it hurt their service? Will they have fewer options
for less competition? All of those types of things. There
are questions that we're asking and it's a thorough review
because it can affect the entire state and of course
not just Iowa. But we're looking at that very carefully
and digging into what are the practical effects of what
will happen.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, so this I mean, as you mentioned there, I
think the practicality of this, what would be the concern.
You know, obviously the monopolization lack of competition very well
could end up affecting kind of how this mode of
transportation operates. But what would be a couple of things
that you guys these states would be looking to try

(06:16):
to understand sometime in the near future, And what would
be something that you would hopefully try to prevent from
happening potentially down the line in the best interest of
our farmers.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, well, here's what I'll tell you. A railroad already
is just like it's a little bit of a monopoly
as it is because of how that works. It's not
an interstate highway where different trucking companies can go down
that highway and deliver goods. A railroad is very different.
So there's already some of those aspects in the railroad business.
But you know, looking at this, here's here's a concrete
concern I would have. There are some communities, maybe a

(06:52):
grain elevator or a business or manufacturer that might need
a few cars. They might not be as big as
a giant company in Chicago or Kansas City, but they
might need ten cars, twenty cars, five cars, fifty if
they If the railroad would ever change to where it's
just only big cars and people have to wait longer

(07:12):
to get their cars or to get their loads picked up,
that would have a very real impact on our Iowa businesses.
So that kind of thing and also costs. You know,
everything costs more these days, But we would not want
a merger to lead to increase cost for farmers. I
think farmers are already crunched as it is, and transportation

(07:32):
costs or a big part of things. So that's the
kind of thing we're looking for.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Iowa Attorney General Brenda Bird joining us today. I also
saw this that I was talking to Jin in your
office and she said that this was something that you
were also working on. There's an Omaha based stem cell
company that you were you know, trying to there was
something here that was quite interesting and there could potentially

(08:00):
be restitution money to Iowans as part of this. So
can you explain this to me and kind of what
this company was about and what your concerns were and
what eventually ended up happening here.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yes, well, there was a company that was marketing what
they called stem cells to people who had chronic and
difficult conditions. So it could be someone who has MS,
someone who has a chronic back pain, really debilitating. One person,
how you think, had a brainstem stroke, So some very

(08:34):
serious medical conditions. Folks who were looking for answers, looking
for any type of pain relief, for hope or help,
and they were marketing what they called stem cell injections.
But it was found that these injections weren't stem cells,
and in fact, some people got sick from getting these injections.
They were not legitimate medical treatment, and so we went

(08:56):
to court. It was a long lawsuit, a tough load
ho I would say, to fight for these Iowans who
were ripped off. There was no medical backing for this
fake stem cell injection. It was the type of snake oil,
for lack of a better term, and many Iowans spent
five ten thousand dollars, some even twenty five thousand dollars

(09:17):
to pay for this, some even taking out loans. So
when someone does something like this, as attorney general, we investigate.
And this was an investigation that was in the works
for a while, and then we try to get the
company to do the right thing, and if they don't,
we go to court to protect those Iowins who've been
hurt and to try to get them their money back
as well as fines against the company. And we had

(09:38):
a big victory this week over eight hundred thousand dollars
the court authorized to be paid to Iowans as well
as finding this company as well. So it was a
big victory. I'm glad people got justice. They certainly waited
a while as this lawsuit dragged on, but we're glad
that now we have a big win for the people
who've been hurt.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Yeah, just real cool. It is the season for the scams.
This is like the perfect time for people also, I
think to be aware of scams like this and not
unlike some things that they may see on social media.
What would be the Attorney General's advice for people so
they make sure they're not getting scammed this holiday season?

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah, Well, the number one thing for a cure or
a medical type treatment that's being marketed is if you
are a family member or having that happen, go to
your doctor or nurse. Face to face, talk it through
with them. They will talk through the different types of
non traditional treatments and that will be a very big help,

(10:42):
I would say. So go to your doctor talk about it.
Go to a real doctor, your doctor, not the one
that the company provides. But go talk to them face
to face. And then at this time of the year,
just be really careful about the emails you're getting, the
text messages. There's a big scam out there where people
are led to believe UPS has an Amazon package for

(11:02):
you if you just put in some personal information, they
can deliver it. And it's the time of the year.
We're all waiting to get presents and are excited about
what's in the male Christmas cards and pictures and cookies
and all of those things, and so some people don't
think about it and they put that information in. Well,
that could compromise their identity and lead to even more problems.
So beyond guard. If something like that has happened, don't

(11:24):
hesitate to call her office. We have people they can
give you some advice and even show you how to
lock your credit if you want to do that, so
that you can protect yourself if something like this has happened.
So please call her office or reach out to our website.
We have a team of people who this is what
they do, you know, they help people who've either been
ripped off or helped prevent it so it doesn't happen

(11:46):
in the first place.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
Iowa Attorney General Brenda Berg her website Iowa Attorney General
dot gov. And we do appreciate this information, all the transparency.
Always great to talk to you, and thank you so
much for being on our showed to day.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, you bet.