State Representative Rod Roberts (R-Carroll), who is one of the Republicans running in the 2010 Iowa Gubernatorial Race issued a statement to Caffeinated Thoughts regarding the Iowa Court of Appeals decision to dismiss the state’s request to review a 2008 district court decision by Fremont County Judge Timothy O’Grady. O’Grady’s decided that since prosecutors failed to prove that the strip club wasn’t a theater it was ok for a 17-year-old girl to have stripped there since it is to be considered “art.”
Roberts responded:
The Iowa Court of Appeals was wrong when it ruled on Wednesday to affirm the decision of an Iowa District Court to acquit the owner of a strip club who allowed a 17-year-old to perform a nude dance in the owner’s establishment. Allowing such nude public exposures by minors is a clear violation of Iowa Code § 728.5. There was no doubt that this establishment was a strip club, but these Iowa courts held that since the strip club could also have been a theatre, the owner’s conduct may have fallen within an exception to § 728.5. This holding was clearly wrong: strip clubs are strip clubs, not theatres. There was no doubt that the owner’s establishment was a strip club, and there was no doubt that the nude dancer in question was a minor. This is exactly the type of harm that the Legislature had hoped to avoid by adopting § 728.5, and it is a shame that these Iowa courts have chosen to disregard the Legislature’s clear intent. The Legislature will certainly be revisiting § 728.5 to make clear to Iowa courts that strip clubs are not theatres.
Please help Representative Roberts address this issue by contacting your legislator to encourage them to close the loophole.