🧐 False equivalence in IA-02
No. Comparable outcomes do not translate to comparable means.
January 5, 2020 | Letter No. 19
Our first big national headline of the year had the President of the United States pushing the Georgia Secretary of State to “find” the votes that would overturn Donald Trump’s loss in that state. He further threatened Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff by claiming that not finding those votes is a “criminal offense.”
This is textbook abuse of power. It is illegal for someone — even POTUS — to demand that an election official find a specific number of votes under threat of “big risk.” Just as a state-to-state comparison, under Iowa law, the president’s solicitation would have been for conspiracy in election misconduct a class D felony, which Raffensperger rebuked.
Tuesday, I woke up to some Iowa Republicans comparing Trump’s pressuring an election official in Georgia to Democrat Rita Hart’s petition in the U.S. Congress to investigate the election. So I guess we need to spend some time talking about false equivalency.
False equivalence occurs when a statement positions two unlike things as the same.
The phrase “it’s apples and oranges” works because you and I know apples are a delicious snack and oranges have no use beyond serving as projectiles.
False equivalence is a logical fallacy. It preys on our willingness to draw connections between unlike things without poking around at the relationships actually being compared.
So let’s analyze this statement: “what’s the difference between Trump asking GA SoS to find votes to overturn a certified election and @RitaHartIA asking Pelosi and House Dems to find votes to overturn a certified election?”
The framing focuses on outcomes: both Trump and Hart seek to overturn the results of a certified election; therefore, the means they’ve taken to reach that outcome must be the same.
This is political spin, not reality.
[Above: During the recount, the Secretary of State (in the black mask) met with a crowd of volunteers assembled to recount ballots in Jasper County.]
First, let’s look at the evidence. In his phone call, Trump cited the unsupported conspiracy theories of voter fraud that continue to circulate on unreality-based websites. All the while, Raffensperger, Georgia’s chief elections official maintained that the election was fair and accurate.
In her petition to Congress, Hart cites 22 ballots that were not included in either her or certified-winner Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ totals. You can read my rundown of these ballots and read the full petition here. With a margin of just six votes, Hart argues that ballots like these must be accounted for. The petition process gives Miller-Meeks a chance to respond to Hart’s petition.
Based on the petition and the response, the House Committee on Administration will decide whether to investigate or recount the election, a rare action that will be watched from every angle by media and political observers. With the result of that investigation in hand, the House will then decide who had the most votes in 2020 and who should hold the seat.
Based on Miller-Meeks’ response, Hart’s petition might get thrown out. The committee could decide that the two absentee ballot voters who dropped their ballots at the wrong county’s auditor’s office shouldn’t be counted. Further, the proposed recount could put Miller-Meeks further ahead.
What I want to emphasize here that there is a process to what’s happening in Congress. The processes exist not for when elections overwhelmingly show one party to be the winner, but for when the margin between two opposing candidates in an ambivalent district amounts to two nuclear families.
It may take a while. It will demand close public attention. But it’s the process that exists.
When the President of the United States responds to his defeat with the line, “There’s no way I lost Georgia, there’s no way;” when members of his party plan to vote against certifying the Electoral College votes based on conspiracy theories — well, that’s an attack on the process.
This is not to say that Hart has been a good-faith adherent to the process. She opted against exhausting her options in a state contest court, a move that surprised folks across the state.
But it’s not like the petition to Congress appeared as if by some occult hand. Both candidates anticipated a squeaker and had a petition to Congress on their road map. Miller-Meeks said so in an interview with the Press-Citizen.
To say that Trump’s call and Hart’s petition amount to the same thing draws a false equivalence between the two.
Exhausted and yours,
Zachary Oren Smith
Iowa City Capital Improvement Projects
Tuesday night, Iowa City Council met two hours earlier than normal to wade through a meaty Capital Improvement Plan.
The plan schedules out the big infrastructure projects from FY 2021 to FY 2025. These are the non-recurring projects that are greater than $25,000 with a useful life of at least three years.
In total, the plan accounts for $183,158,930 in funding and $184,333,930 in expenditures. That leaves $1.1 million in projects that result from previous plan funding sources being utilized to cover the current plan’s expenditures, for example, engineering and design services that have already been carried out.
Here are those expenditures split over the next five years:
2021 – $30,224,050
2022 – $24,803,470
2023 – $55,686,970
2024 – $39,856,470
2025 – $33,762,970
Total – $184,33,930
The Street Opperations division accounts for the largest share of the plan be far at 45% of the five-year-plans total expenditures.
Here is how much money the plan will put to each department over the five years:
Airport – $2,949,150
Cemetery – $50,000
Development Services – $250,000
Equipment – $750,000
Fire – $4,555,000
Landfill – $8,402,000
Library – $500,000
Parking Operations – $3,852,500
Parks Administration – $1,360,000
Parks Maintenance – $14,225,000
Police – $233,500
Public Works Administration – $410,000
Recreation – $8,050,000
Refuse Operations – $550,000
Senior Center – $1,925,000
Stormwater – $4,131,000
Street Operations – $82,674,350
Transit Operations – $20,450,000
Wastewater Treatment – $23,740,930
Water Operations – $5,275,500
There are 21 sources to fund these projects that range from the University of Iowa to enterprise funds like the parking fund. (Note: An enterprise fund doesn’t receive money from taxes. Instead of in collects funds as part of its operations. Think water bills, parking tickets, etc.)
The largest source of funding for this plan will be through general obligation bonds at $66 million. Federal grants account for $28 million.
Other notes from the council
Policing Plan Postponed – Iowa City Council kicked the bucket on discussing the city’s plan to “restructure” the police. They cited a need for more time to sit with the plan and more time to solicit feedback.
Carson Farms Derailed – Council also deferred the potential annex of a 196-acre property west of Highway 218 and south of Rohret Road. The long-term aim of the project team is to develop a subdivision. But some councilors argued more “missing middle” housing density and more affordable rates could be locked in at the annex stage if the city reconsidered its annexation policy. A work session has been called to determine how to move forward.
Take Five
🦠 Stay Home – For the fourth straight day, Johnson County’s 15-day COVID-19 positivity rate was above 10%.
🚒 Explosion in Washington – Two people with non-life-threatening injuries were taken to the Washington County Hospital Monday after an explosion totaled their house.
🏗️ Developments to Watch – As a first of the year package, I had a roundup of some developments to keep an eye on this year. These range from the Tailwind project in the ped mall to the long-awaited GuideLink Center.
🎨 Arts Aid – After a hard 2020, the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is giving $400,000 of its $7 million arts recovery funding to Johnson County-based artists and groups.
🎱 Iowa Senator 2nd in line for Electoral College Count – While Roll Call jumped the gun, it is true that U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley would preside over a congressional Electoral College vote if Vice President Mike Pence can’t attend—something we already knew. That said, as Pence decides whether to break the law, an interesting permission structure might emerge, causing him to miss the vote.
What did I miss?
Surely I’m missing something.
Subscribers make this possible
Sign up for this e-newsletter.
Zachary Oren Smith writes about government, growth and development for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach him at zsmith@press-citizen.com, at 319 -339-7354 or on Twitter via @Zacharyos.