Who’s going to keep those money grubbers in front of you?

Rob Sand has $18 million cash on hand in his run for Iowa governor, but here is the crazy part: He’s a Democrat, and it is only May.

Think what the Republicans can do with real money by November.

They spent $33 million to cancel Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican, from a House district in Kentucky because he keeps pressing to release the Epstein files. It was just a primary.

Josh Turek is showered in millions of dollars of PAC money in his race against millionaire Zach Wahls for the Democratic nomination for US Senate from Iowa. Ashley Hinson, the likely Republican nominee and friend of Trump, will have tons more money to run attack ads for the general election.

Think what $33 million could do for coal miners in Kentucky.

Or, what $34 million could do for single mothers whose children are hungry in Iowa. That is how much money was spent on Iowa candidates in 2024, according to Open Secrets. Fifty-five percent of the money went to Republicans.

With open senate and governor’s races, we will blow out that $34 million number this year.

All for a job that pays $130,000 — less than the Storm Lake city manager. Power is the drug you’ve been dreaming of, not love.

The Boy Scout-honest lot of them will tell you the contributions are coming from small donors. Much of the money is. More yet comes from agribusiness, the chemical cabal and the livestock complex owned by foreigners. When the Des Moines Water Works sued, the ag establishment put a bucket in the bottomless well to fend off the challenge to their right to pollute the Raccoon River. It worked. The Raccoon remains polluted.

Chris Jones has raised $120,000 in his quixotic Democratic campaign for secretary of agriculture. Relatively impressive, considering it is the Tall Corn State and Jones is the chief critic of ethanol. It is chump change compared to what will be spent to keep him in the bleachers. Incumbent Secretary Mike Naig worked for Monsanto.

Those with the most money generally win. That’s why cash is thrown at them, to the winner goes the spoils. As a result, if you climb to the top of the Iowa State Capitol with an assault rifle flying a Confederate flag and shout “death to all Samaritans” you might be eligible for a tidy reward by calling a toll-free number on the TV screen. Trump gets a cut.

If you want to dump manure into the river you can get a pass.

It is not democracy. It is pay to play.

As for us toiling to report on it, we blindly wander with a tin cup hoping someone drops a penny in the bye-and-bye before the next payroll is due. I used to be embarrassed begging for money but the excess of politics has washed my pride away. We writers, artists and musicians beg for just a fraction, a pittance, a shred of what is put up in smoke on an also-ran making an argument for corporate carte blanche.

We sit through the city council business on Monday, the county board on Tuesday, the school board on Wednesday and report to you on Friday the hows and whys of property tax inflation. It’s not sexy clickbait. It costs money, and we can barely keep the lights on. Mid-American Newspapers of Hampton hung it up on 19 local news operations across the state. New owners took over at the Eagle Grove Eagle, found out it was even worse than expected, and made an emergency GoFundMe appeal just after getting the keys.

Reporters tell you who is picking your pocket. That is worth at least as much as a campaign disguising its money-grubbing roots. Most of the money goes out of state to Facebook, Google (YouTube), Sinclair Broadcasting, Hearst and Clear Channel. Very little goes to the Storm Lake Times Pilot or the Sac Sun while the corporate overlords suck rural Iowa dry.

You can buy their hokum and ignore the facts: Insurrectionists motivated by propaganda are promised a bounty from the Trump Justice Department, and masked goons can shoot you dead for doing your patriotic duty; or, rural Iowa is drying up no matter who is in charge because we sold our soul to the consolidator.

Chalk one up for Citizens United, where money is speech and democracy dies with the rule of law. Money buys immunity.

We hope choice crumbs fall off the table with which we can feed you something other than corporate spin. Thanks to your support, we will abide through the general elections as the stream of propaganda tries to confound you. The political money is being used to torch independent journalism and to squelch free speech. We live on paid subscriptions. We wear out shoe leather. Contributions to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation are appreciated. If Iowa can waste $50 million on a governor’s race, we do not ask for that much.

Art Cullen is the editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Northwest Iowa, where this column appeared. His latest book, Dear Marty, We Crapped In Our Nest: Notes from the Edge of the World, is available from Ice Cube Press. For more columns and editorials, please consider a subscription to the Times Pilot. Or, if you wish, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation to support independent community journalism in rural Iowa. Thanks.

Have you explored the variety of writers, plus Letters from Iowans, in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative? They are from around the state and contribute commentary and feature stories of interest to those who care about Iowa. Please consider a paid subscription. It helps keep them going, and it keeps you in the know.