Oops--Iowa’s Sex Crackdown Perils Governor

Maybe it would come down to a veto. A bill before Iowa lawmakers would have the unintended effect of enforced chastity at the governor’s mansion.

“I think that might be a problem,” said Eric Woolson, a spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad, who has a wife and three children.

It started innocently when some legislators worried about prostitution rings at interstate rest stops introduced a bill intended to block sex acts in certain public places. The House Judiciary Committee, always ready to appear tough on crime, took up the issue earlier this month.

But when it was noted that sex acts meant “any sexual contact by two or more persons,” someone said that could include hotels located at the student unions of state universities.

Someone else noted that it could include married student housing. And then Rep. Betty Grundberg pointed out that it could include the governor’s mansion.

“It certainly has some unintended consequences,” conceded Rep. Dwight Dinkla, who sought to delay debate at that point.

Under the bill, for example, Branstad could face up to a year in jail for having sex with his wife at the family’s living quarters in the mansion.

“This bill has some good intentions, but it certainly needs some more work,” Dinkla said. “This bill probably won’t see daylight for a few weeks yet, if at all.”