Iowa GOP experiences password problems after awkward transition

Apparently one of the Republican party leaders who lost his job changed the passwords to the Iowa GOP's Twitter account, Facebook page and website on his way out the door, leaving the new leaders a bit hamstrung.

The last post on the party's Facebook page is dated June 13. The last tweet from @IowaGOP account was on June 4, but it has since been deleted, leaving older tweets in place. And www.IowaGOP.org still says the chairman replaced last weekend is in charge.

In the last few months, GOP activists aligned with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad banded together to clean house at the Republican Party of Iowa headquarters, and recently ushered out the last of the party leaders installed in 2012 by Ron Paul liberty-movement backers. The new central committee members made no secret of the fact that they were likely to hire new staff members and a new chairman who could rebuild confidence in the party.

Amid reports that he'd soon be replaced, Executive Director Steve Bierfeldt announced in late May that he'd step down June 14, the day the new state central committees assumed power. On Saturday last weekend, the new board members voted unanimously to replace Chairman Danny Carroll, a Christian conservative, with Jeff Kaufmann, an establishment Republican who has been taking pains to embrace all the factions in the Republican party.

Carroll left behind a spreadsheet of usernames and passwords, he told The Des Moines Register. Carroll left the social media and technology work to others, but someone with savvy in those areas apparently changed critical passwords.

The new executive director, Chad Olsen, has been trying since Monday to get into the locked accounts.

"The spreadsheet Danny gave me seems to have quite a few bad passwords," Olsen said in an email to Bierfeldt Monday morning. The Register obtained a copy of the email chain. "If you have a more current list, that would be helpful."

Bierfeldt couldn't be reached by phone or email for two business days, but responded at 10:20 p.m. Tuesday night that he'd need permission from Carroll, the chair, before he could help. Olsen explained that the committee had appointed him to Bierfeldt's old job, and that Kaufmann was elected as the new chairman.

"So no worries on sending me access to everything," Olsen told Bierfeldt Tuesday night. "The spreadsheet Danny gave me seems to have quite a few bad passwords. If you have a more current list, that would be helpful."

Bierfeldt didn't respond until 10:32 p.m. on Wednesday night: "I see. So they went ahead with impeachment." He said he'd been told to delete all of the Iowa GOP files on his computer, so he no longer had the spreadsheet with all the passwords.

When the Register reached Steve Scheffler, a longtime Christian conservative leader who remains on the central committee, he said he's not sure what happened with the passwords, but he wonders if they were deliberately changed as an act of vindictiveness.

"It's kind of a sad chapter," Scheffler said.

Bierfeldt didn't answer the Register's request for comment. Olsen and Kaufmann couldn't be reached, either.