Todd Blodgett Opinion: Supermarket killer Payton Gendron plays out a dead Nazi’s dream

Todd Blodgett of Clear Lake Iowa is an accomplished writer and political strategist. He has been the most-popular writer in the history of the Globe Gazette, been published in numerous news publications, and has written a book, “Republican Crackhead.” The racist, anti-Semitic mass murderer Payton Gendron’s claim that most of his virulently bigoted beliefs came “mostly from the internet” isn’t shocking. But his crime and those of other haters comport fully with what the world’s…

Continue ReadingTodd Blodgett Opinion: Supermarket killer Payton Gendron plays out a dead Nazi’s dream

Todd Blodgett:  I had an insider view to the Willie Horton story. The real issue wasn’t race.

Former Bush campaign staffer writes that the campaign was 'disingenuous' about its role in the infamous ad campaign against Michael Dukakis. Todd Blodgett Guest columnist In discussing the life and career of President George H.W. Bush, several pundits mentioned Willie Horton, whose violent criminality, they claimed, helped Bush get elected president. I knew and worked for President Bush and his campaign manager, Lee Atwater, and served on the staff of Bush’s 1988 campaign committee. I…

Continue ReadingTodd Blodgett:  I had an insider view to the Willie Horton story. The real issue wasn’t race.

Todd Blodgett: Anti-jobs legislators are toxic to Iowa’s economy

Note to readers: This guest column has been edited since its original version, which mischaracterized the ownership of Chuck Celsi's The Tavern. The restaurant is owned by Chuck Celsi's six children -- Tony, Randy, Brenda, Robert, Krista and Ron. Claire Celsi is not affiliated with Chuck Celsi's The Tavern. State Sen. Claire Celsi, a West Des Moines Democrat, recently urged Iowans to beware of Blue Ribbon ice cream that’s manufactured in LeMars. Her reason? In past elections, the…

Continue ReadingTodd Blodgett: Anti-jobs legislators are toxic to Iowa’s economy

Todd Blodgett: Stop-and-frisk works. Democrats condemn legal practices that reduce crime at their peril.

Those who benefit most from stop-and-frisk are law-abiding minorities. And anyone who is stopped and frisked who hasn’t committed a crime has nothing to fear. The anti-crime policy "stop, question, and frisk" (popularly known as stop-and-frisk) saves innocent lives and removes guns from the rough streets of America’s cities. Recently, audio from 2015 featuring former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg surfaced in which he enthusiastically endorsed stop-and-frisk. Angering leftists, the ex-Republican said, “95% of murderers and murder…

Continue ReadingTodd Blodgett: Stop-and-frisk works. Democrats condemn legal practices that reduce crime at their peril.

An Open Letter To White Supremacists From Former Owner Of Biggest Racist Record Label

Todd Blodgett, who went from racist influencer to FBI informant, advises white supremacists to free themselves from "this putrid, so-called movement." By Paul Blumenthal WASHINGTON ― Todd Blodgett worked as an FBI informant inside the white supremacist movement.His political career began in the Reagan administration as a junior staffer. He helped the 1988 Bush-Quayle presidential campaign. But in the 1990s, Blodgett drifted into circles that included infamous American Nazis like Willis Carto, and “The Turner Diaries” author William…

Continue ReadingAn Open Letter To White Supremacists From Former Owner Of Biggest Racist Record Label

Todd Blodgett: Democrats: Don’t Dump Student Loan Debt on Taxpayers

Forgiving student loan obligations won’t make them vanish; it merely exacerbates the debt, and would unfairly punish responsible taxpayers — like the frugal Iowan who admonished the senator in Grimes. Todd Blodgett Iowa View contributor Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign recently was rocked by an Iowan who exposed the innate unfairness of her proposal to forgive student loan debt. The political fallout, in my view, likely means she won’t win Iowa’s presidential caucuses. But if properly utilized by Republicans,…

Continue ReadingTodd Blodgett: Democrats: Don’t Dump Student Loan Debt on Taxpayers

Todd Blodgett: That Time when Justice John Paul Stevens offered to watch my Car

“I’ll watch your car for you,” the distinguished, older gentleman said, as he realized I had to return inside the old, red brick building nine blocks from the White House. “It’s OK young man; I’ll be right here.”  This was in 1995 at the University Club of Washington, D.C. Having gone straight upstairs to the men’s grille following a squash match, in my haste I’d left my phone and briefcase in my locker in the…

Continue ReadingTodd Blodgett: That Time when Justice John Paul Stevens offered to watch my Car

Todd Blodgett: Reforms needed to end Justice System Injustice to the Poor, and Minorities

Proposed legislation would overhaul 'three strikes' laws that created life sentences for petty crimes. Tim Jackson is currently serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole because in 1996, he stole a jacket worth $159.  As a teenager, Jackson, who is black, was convicted of an unarmed robbery and  auto theft.  Those convictions triggered the law that sent him to prison for life.  Another black man, Fate Vince Winslow, is serving life without parole…

Continue ReadingTodd Blodgett: Reforms needed to end Justice System Injustice to the Poor, and Minorities

Todd Blodgett: Societal Breakdown Causes Mass Shootings, not Guns

At Iowa’s Mason City high school in the 1970s, students sometimes hunted before classes began. We routinely left rifles, shotguns and ammo in our vehicles, in full view.  Custodians mopped up blood on hallway floors from pheasants, ducks, quail and other fowl, which were stored in our lockers during the school day. In the parking lot, a classmate showed me his double-barrel, over-and-under, .12-gauge Browning Citori, as teachers, students, and other passersby thought nothing of it.  But…

Continue ReadingTodd Blodgett: Societal Breakdown Causes Mass Shootings, not Guns

Todd Blodgett: I monitored HATE Groups for the FBI

In early October, some vile, anti-Semitic posters were plastered onto the doors of the headquarters of the Interfaith of Iowa association, just blocks from Drake University.In March 2018, pro-Nazi graffiti defaced a unity mural near the University of Iowa.In 2017, a swastika was carved into a wall of an elevator at Drake. That same year, a swastika was scrawled on a dormitory door at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake. Also that year, an anti-Semitic slur was carved…

Continue ReadingTodd Blodgett: I monitored HATE Groups for the FBI