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DES MOINES -- UPDATE AFSCME Local 61 President Dan Homan issued the following statement in response to a letter released by Ottumwa Senator Mark Chelgren last night.

Statement by Dan Homan

 “AFSCME Iowa Council 61 stands by our letter to Senator Chelgren and the account that was given of the incident by our staff and others.  Senator Chelgren can try and change the subject or revise what he actually said, but we still believe he should make an apology to Iowa public service workers for his words and behavior.

I have yet to receive any letter or communication from Senator Chelgren.  It is strange that Senator Chelgren accuses AFSCME of trying to “politicize” this incident, when he is the one went to the media with a letter before it was received by me.  So far the debate over collective bargaining in Iowa has been fairly civil unlike in other places, and we are disappointed that Senator Chelgren wants to take his rhetoric to the public, and to this level.”

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Below is a letter sent by Ottumwa State Senator Mark Chelgren to AFSCME Local 61 leader Dan Homan. Chelgren is responding to a letter that he says Homan sent him that was critical of how he spoke of state workers in a conversation with a union lobbyist.

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Dear Mr. Homan:

Earlier today, you sent me a letter condemning me for comments made during a conversation I had with one of your organization’s many lobbyists.

Your letter makes allegations about me and the conversation I had with your organization’s lobbyists that are completely and utterly untrue.

Normally, I would respond to a private letter privately, but because the public unions’ fight against the taxpayers is being played out on a national, public stage, I believe that an open letter (and its corresponding transparency) is the proper response to your egregious accusations.

In your letter, you note that I used the word ―slimy.‖

You are correct that I used the word ―slimy,‖ but at no point did I use the word to denigrate government workers as you accuse me of doing.

When I used the word, I used it to describe the cloistered and lopsided deal the former Governor made in the waning days of his administration. This deal was ―negotiated‖ with your organization behind closed doors after Governor Culver had already lost the election—an election, incidentally, in which your AFSCME Council alone donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the former Governor and the Iowa Democratic Party.  I stand by my description of that deal as slimy, and I believe the taxpayers are behind me

Furthermore, your politicization of the Keokuk Deputy Sheriff’s death is deplorable and shows a disrespect for his sacrifice that far outstrips the insult you wrongly accuse me of making. Common decency demands that you and your organization issue a full retraction and apology for usurping the Deputy’s tragic, heroic, and non-political death for political gain.

I look forward to your retraction and apology regarding this matter in order to clear my good name