Iowa Lawmaker Says Legislators Knew of Film Issues Early Summer

As we continue to follow "who knew what, when" in the movie mess, film industry scandal, whatever the headline of the day is...I offer this, for what it's worth. On Tuesday, Governor Chet Culver in Cedar Rapids said at least three times he learned of the tax credit fiasco either "last Tuesday" or "last week". When I asked him to clarify later on during his news conference, he said he had heard about possible problems before then and that's why he said he directed his legal counsel to push for the audit/review/investigation (whatever the proper term would be here) that now-former Iowa Dept of Economic Director Mike Tramontina discussed in a memo last Wednesday.

I talked with State Senator Rich Olive, a Democrat from Story City, Wednesday. He chairs the government oversight committee, which declined to look into the movie mess as its already-scheduled meeting Thursday morning. He said lawmakers had heard of possible issues "last June or July" and pushed D.E.D. to make sure everything was running properly.