At the risk of blurring the increasingly fuzzy line between church and state, here is a Gospel reading for public employees and elected officials, according to Matthew:
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear."
Unfortunately, it does not take much looking these days to see government leaders bedeviled by lousy optics and burdened by tone deafness. Perhaps it is a lack vision or just a refusal to listen.
Either way, these officials are doing and saying things that leave the taxpayers who pay their salaries perplexed.
These episodes extend beyond mere public-relations blunders as government leaders exhibit astonishing miscalculations.
One what-in-the-world-were-they-thinking example involves the 515 Run Club, a loosely organized Des Moines group that gathers to jog, socialize and enjoy the outdoors.
Its organizers told The Des Moines Register that city officials demanded they pay $4,300 in permit fees to use the Gray’s Lake and adjoining recreational trails. Not content with their demand that the 515 runners pay a use tax, city officials warned that police could get involved if the club refuses to pay.
Unlike the Des Moines Farmers Market, the Iowa State Fair parade or RAGBRAI, events that close streets and require police at key intersections, the 515 runners do not disrupt drivers or impede emergency vehicles.
And the club is not some commercial endeavor. Anyone can join. There are no dues, no sponsors, no application process or membership roster. The group’s two founders simply post social-media notices announcing when and where they plan to run next. Anyone interested can show up and participate.
But Ian Knutson, recreation supervisor for the city parks department, said officials classify the club as an organized event that affects normal park use. Therefore, runners must prepay the city’s “Trail Event Use Fee.”
Pay no attention that Des Moines has invested millions building recreational trails that divert cyclists, skaters, runners and walkers to safe places away from traffic, or that the city invests millions more in loans and grants to developers building hotels, businesses, housing and athletic facilities as part of a broader strategy to make Des Moines more appealing.
The parks and trails are open to anyone, free of charge. That is where the bad optics come into view.
If several dozen of your friends and neighbors gather at Gray’s Lake after spreading the word through text messages or social media, they are doing exactly what the trails and parks were designed for.
But if several dozen 515 faithful show up at a preannounced time, they risk running afoul of the parks department, and possibly the police. (Forgive the cheap play on words.)
No matter how city leaders may wish to frame it, the city’s view looks neither welcoming nor wise.
Here is another example of political tone deafness.
Last week, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that the chief executive of the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System, the massive pension fund known as IPERS, resigned one month after he was placed on paid administrative leave.
Reynolds also disclosed that the chief benefits officer for IPERS had been fired following a month-long investigation.
Keep in mind that it was Reynolds who hired CEO Gregory Samorajski in 2020. Then benefits officer Steven Herbert joined the agency in March 2025, having been hired by Samorajski.
The governor offered no explanation of the investigation’s findings or why Samorajski quit and Herbert was fired.
Days earlier, however, The Des Moines Register reported the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority had fired Herbert from his job as its chief investments officer in 2022. According to the news report, Herbert faced allegations he was difficult to work with, failed to follow instructions and repeatedly clashed with the pension authority’s attorney.
Herbert later sued Kentucky, claiming he was fired for trying to expose financial improprieties. A judge dismissed that lawsuit four months before Herbert was hired by IPERS.
Here again, the optics are hard for most of us to miss.
Gov. Reynolds and other Republican leaders rightly criticized the Des Moines school board last year for inadequately investigating Ian Roberts before hiring him as superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools.
After Roberts was arrested on federal immigration charges and questions surfaced about his falsified academic credentials, Reynolds said the school board’s lack of due diligence amounted to negligence and showed why stronger background checks are needed.
This spring, those concerns prompted the Iowa Legislature to change government hiring laws. New public employees must be screened through the federal E-Verify system to confirm prospective workers’ immigration status.
That history matters because of the workplace concerns surrounding Herbert’s employment by Kentucky state government and his relationship as a former colleague of Samorajski’s.
IPERS officials did not need E-Verify to uncover those concerns. A simple Google search would have raised red flags about Herbert — red flags Iowa officials apparently failed to see.
Maybe the two episodes discussed here really are nothing more than bureaucratic blind spots and clumsy judgment calls. One hopes so.
If public officials can plainly see warning signs, hear legitimate concerns and still press ahead as though neither exists, the problem becomes something more troubling — a government culture that mistakes accountability for inconvenience and public skepticism for nuisance.
In moments like these, taxpayers may recall Matthew’s words from long ago and may cling to a remarkably simple expectation: that the people entrusted with public authority will keep their eyes open, their ears attentive and their judgment grounded in common sense.
* * *
Randy Evans can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com
