It’s funny and ironic that 2-3 years ago, Trump supporters were on social media with videos of “Rolling Coal” with their diesel-powered pickups and now they’re driving as slowly as possible and driving less distances with the same vehicles.

Looks like this

That's a massive difference.

Time to flush this administration on November 3rd.

TL;DR: Iowa Field Report published the "farming isn't that hard" story that became the main attack on Chris Jones. The company behind the site has been paid by the Republican State Leadership Committee, a national group that gave Naig $200,000 in September, the biggest check of his campaign. All of it is in public filings, linked below.

Disclosure up front: I support Chris Jones and have volunteered for his campaign. Nobody pays me to post this. Every number below comes from a public filing you can check yourself.

Where the story came from

On August 11, Iowa Field Report posted a short snippet of a 2021 conference interview where Chris talked about grain farming. Article here.

About 90 minutes later, Mike Naig shared it, minus the word "grain": "If you think farming 'isn't that hard' and farmers only work a few weeks a year, you have no business being Iowa's Secretary of Agriculture."

From there it went to Breitbart, the Western Journal, and the Iowa GOP, and it's been the main attack on Chris ever since.

Who's behind Iowa Field Report

• In his own 2025 state financial disclosure, Luke Martz lists himself as owner of Field Report Media, which he describes as a "blog." Field Report Media is the publisher listed in the site's footer.
• Martz is described on his consulting firm's website as "a veteran political strategist with two decades of experience."
• He also serves on the Iowa Public Information Board, the state board that handles open records and open meetings complaints.
• The Iowa GOP, which also pushed the story, has paid Riverfront Strategy Group, the firm where he works, $65,233 this year, mostly for "digital consulting" (FEC and Iowa Ethics Board filings).
• In 2021, Bleeding Heartland reported that Republicans had been "propping up" the site, and that Gov. Reynolds' campaign and the Iowa GOP had each spent $25,000 advertising there.

The timeline in 2026

• July 27 - RSLC pays Field Report Media $15,000 for a "database subscription"
• Aug. 11 - Iowa Field Report posts the story; Naig posts about it ~90 minutes later
• Sept. 28 - RSLC gives Mike Naig $200,000, the biggest check of his campaign

It's not the first payment, either. On Feb. 1, 2022, the RSLC paid Field Report Media $10,000 for "digital advertising / research" (RSLC Form 8872, Q1 2022, p. 3344).

Who funds the RSLC

Its 2026 filings include $600,000 from a Koch company, $300,000 from Bruce Rastetter of Summit Agricultural Group, and $100,000 from Bayer (which bought Monsanto). There's also money from POET, FMC, ADM, Cargill, Corteva, Iowa Select Farms, and CropLife America, the pesticide trade group where Naig used to work.

To be clear: the RSLC funds races nationwide and its money is pooled, so none of that can be traced to any single check. But it tells you whose committee this is: the companies that do well as Iowa's farms get bigger and fewer. In the last two decades, Iowa lost nearly a quarter of its midsize farms, while farms over 2,000 acres grew 77%.

The transparency part

Iowa Field Report doesn't hide its politics. Its About page says it's "transparently conservative," and that it believes in "the fundamental necessity of transparency" and "tracking donor connections."

But being open about your opinions isn't the same as being open about who pays you. I couldn't find any mention on the site that its publisher has taken money from the same national committee writing checks to Mike Naig.

I don't know what a $15,000 "database subscription" gets you. Maybe there's an ordinary explanation. If there is, I'd genuinely like to hear it.

Sources

• IRS Political Organization Filing and Disclosure: search "Republican State Leadership Committee," EIN 05-0532524
• Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board: search Mike Naig for Iowa Agriculture, committee #5191
• FEC disbursement search: Republican Party of Iowa to "Riverfront Strategy Group"

Out of an Ankeny garage, a mother-son duo builds instruments with accessibility in mind, aiding folks with chronic pain, vision loss, arthritis, and so much more.

Her committee is Jones for Iowa. The filings are public on the IECDB site if anyone wants to check me.

March 28, 2024, during session, her report shows $100 from Dave and Kris Rowley. The Legislature's own lobbyist registry lists Kris Rowley as a registered lobbyist for the County Treasurers Association, and she was actively lobbying that session.

January 15, 2025 her report shows $100 from Educational Opportunities PAC, check 1209. The PAC's own filings date that check November 6, 2024 and show no payment to her committee in 2025 at all. Two sworn records that do not match, about ten weeks apart.

January 14, 2026 her report shows $250 from Iowans For A Skilled Workforce, check 6770. That PAC dates the check January 5.

Iowa Code 68A.504 says lobbyists and PACs (other than party committees) cannot give during session and the candidate cannot accept it. Total is $450. Small money. The law does not have a minimum.

I posted the questions on her campaign Facebook page October 20 and emailed them to her legislative and campaign addresses October 21. Response requested by October 27. Nothing back yet. Full story runs October 30 in The Filing Cabinet, and a complaint to the ethics board is prepared.

This is going to keep happening, by the way. I am working through Iowa politicians' campaign filings one at a time, Republican or Democrat, and publishing what the documents show. Shipley was the first. Jones is the second. If the filings are clean I will say that too.

The filings are all public. Anybody can do this. Almost nobody does.

Cool place and a blast to explore when I was there recently.

https://youtube.com/shorts/3wARZLgPWYU?feature=share

"But we hate socialism and the evil libs." 🙄

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-farmer-harvest-fuel-relief-aid/

What do prices and availability look like to park DT all weekend? Would I be better off paying to park at the airport and having a friend pick me up? (This has occasionally been a cheaper alternative)

A terrible piece of legislation is being steamrolled through Congress that will destroy most of the work to identify and preserve historical sites in Iowa. the "Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (S. 5653)" will remove public participation, and federal agencies will no longer have to notify the public before destroying historic properties. It's not an exaggeration to say a data center can be built on an historic cemetery, with no warning or recourse. Because it is buried in a nicely named bill, almost no one realizes how awful it really is, and there is a good chance it will pass unless enough people speak up. Please contact your legislators while there is time!

There is a position open for a highway technician associate near me. I'm looking to change careers. I have no experience in Highway maintenance, my experience is working in a steel mill which involves swing shift 6 days a week. What makes this job so intriguing is the schedule. It is a Monday through Friday job first shift, and I'm looking for a more stable schedule in my life.

For anyone who knows someone or has worked for the DOT As a highway technician, do you recommend it? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Pros and cons?

Any insight on the position would be very helpful

Stuffed the ballot today. 4 votes from the family for as much blue as was on the ballot.

Edit: I did take them directly to the Auditor's office. Of the 4 ballots mailed to the house 1 of them took extra time to arrive and looked like it'd been thrown on the floor or stuck in a sorting machine a couple of times.

Who has voted early already? How was it?