March 28, 2024

9/11 group declines gift from Iowa governor’s campaign

IOWA CITY — A charity honoring a firefighter who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is declining to accept a $100 donation from Gov. Kim Reynolds’ campaign.

The campaign had planned to donate $100 received from Iowa executive branch officials Kim and Connie Schmett to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Reynolds said the Schmetts were also removed as county co-chairs because their side work as agents of Saudi Arabia “wasn’t acceptable” and is facing an ethics review.

Foundation officer John Hodge called the campaign’s gesture well-intentioned but not thought out. He says his group is “probably the last foundation on the face of this earth that would take money from a foreign agent for Saudi Arabia.”

The Schmetts’ consulting firm collected $101,500 during a campaign against a new law allowing victims of the attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for allegedly sponsoring terrorism.