It should surprise nobody that we urge you to vote for Democratic candidates in the November elections. Republicans have done much damage to Iowa with one-party rule over the last decade. Support among loyalists for President Trump is wreaking havoc on the state and national economies, and causes people here to live in fear. We need a change in direction. A Democratic Congress would put an important check on Trump. A Democratic governor of Iowa can try to hold back the rightward surge of the legislature and judiciary. This is a time for checks and balances.
Josh Turek of Council Bluffs is the son of a Vietnam vet exposed to Agent Orange, and as such was born with spina bifida. Turek is running in a wheelchair in an uphill struggle against Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion. Hinson has supported Trump’s war on Iran every step of the way. She supports the trade wars, too. Hinson is trying to run away from Trump but cannot.
Turek says he is bipartisan and will work with Trump on difficult issues like immigration. He favors a public option for health care, criticizes Hinson for cozying up to polluters, and pledges to fight against corruption. The main rap on Turek was that he missed votes in a legislature so dominated by Republicans that a Democrat’s vote did not matter. Hinson missed a lot of votes, too, but not the latest endorsing the Trump war on Iran that is driving fuel and fertilizer prices out of sight. For that alone, she should be held back in Iowa where she does less damage.
Turek is determined and persistent. Iowa would do well to have him in the Senate. Iowa is a key swing state for party control of the upper chamber. Democratic control of the Senate is essential to preserving democracy. We must have a check on Trump.
Cherokee County native Dave Dawson of Lawton is a former Woodbury County prosecutor running as a Democrat against Republican Chris McGowan, who works for the Sioux City Chamber of Commerce. They compete for an open seat that has been given up by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull.
McGowan is a stout supporter of Trump, which is reason enough to vote for Dawson. McGowan is a military man who should know you don’t fly blind into the Middle East. McGowan should be more like Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a military vet who tells the truth.
McGowan is the overwhelming favorite to win. Upsets can happen if you vote for Dawson. McGowan is supporting an administration that would just as soon empty out Storm Lake of immigrants if they could. It’s past time to call off the dogs. Vote for a change, and for someone who will stand up for rural Northwest Iowa. Vote for Dawson.
Iowa has marched backwards the past decade under Gov. Kim Reynolds. Our economic performance is pitiful. Our schools are backsliding. Gov. Reynolds appointed an advisory committee for the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa — half the members resigned this week as a vote of no-confidence in the Board of Regents. It is one thing after another. She is the worst governor in Iowa history.
State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, offers a welcome respite from the steady march back to 1955. Originally from Decorah, he takes Iowa corny to new levels at his town hall meetings where supporters lap it up and belt out “America the Beautiful.” He castigates both political parties. He wishes he could run as an independent. He acts like he listens to all perspectives. People ache for that.
Sand’s opponent, Zach Lahn, worked for the Koch Brothers’ political operation. He has interesting ideas about sustainable agriculture and frightening ideas about education.
Sand gets a lot of his formidable war chest from his wife’s good fortune running the family agribusiness. He has been careful not to offend corporate ag interests. Lately, he wove more environmental protection themes into his campaign as voters demanded it. He was listening, a good sign. He wants to find out what is going on with cancer in Iowa. He wants to audit the voucher fund for education. These are all moderate positions that appeal to a broad cross-section of Iowa voters. Lahn, meanwhile, wants to ferret out Marxists in the middle school. More of the same kooky education agenda that censors books and buries history.
Sand is sensible and moderate. He likes to hunt and fish. His mother is a climate activist. He was a prosecutor in the Iowa Attorney General’s office before his election as state auditor. As auditor, he exposed how Medicaid privatization was denying care and eroding service in rural Iowa. That is one reason legislators emasculated the investigative authority of his office. He was too nosy.
Sand will be contained by a likely Republican legislature. The governor controls the administrative apparatus and could deliver an immediate halt to the erosion of government service. He would have to work with his adversaries, and says he relishes the opportunity. Iowa needs that. We do not need another 10 years of rightward lurch that scares young people out of the state. We need to get back on an even keel. That is what Sand represents.
Democrat Chris Jones is challenging incumbent Republican Mike Naig, a former lobbyist for Monsanto. Jones is running as a clean water advocate. The contrast is stark. Jones was a water researcher at the University of Iowa until he got elbowed out by the agribusiness cabal. Jones kept complaining about water quality, and the Farm Bureau got tired of hearing about it. Naig calls for a wetland here and a bioreactor there, as if that will stop the poisoning of our surface water by fertilizer and chemicals. Jones calls for system change, including a phase-out of corn-based ethanol. He posits that we are killing ourselves with cancer and destroying rural communities through unfettered consolidation of agriculture. He deserves to be agriculture secretary. We cannot continue to ignore that the Raccoon and Mississippi rivers are among the most endangered in America. We cannot look away from Iowa’s cancer crisis. Jones will force us to confront it. He already has. Chris Jones deserves your vote for clean air and water.
Democrat Mike Frantz of Storm Lake is challenging Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia. This is a heavily Republican district, and Frantz understood that going in. He worked it hard anyhow. He ran because no other Democrat did. He knew he probably will lose. But he did it anyway. That spirit deserves support. We like Lynn Evans. He listens. He is respectful. We just don’t agree with him, especially with the wrong direction Republicans have taken on education.
Democrat Tom Grau is our longtime friend. He worked at the USDA in Washington. He understands farming and rural development, and he wants to defeat Supervisor Paul Merten, who recently became a Republican. Merten spends money like a socialist on big-city lawyers fighting pointless litigation with the City of Storm Lake. Grau would try to put a halt to it and get the county to pay the city what it is due in tax payments that were misallocated by the county. Merten should go. We can’t afford his tastes. Elect Tom Grau.
Voters will be asked whether the Iowa Constitution should be amended to require a two-thirds vote of the legislature to increase corporate or individual income tax rates. That is not a prudent approach with the state facing billion-dollar deficits (illegal under the constitution). This will force higher sales taxes and probably higher property taxes. Income tax cuts are a big part of the reason for the deficits. Corporations that are getting a free ride want to lock it in permanently and shift the tax burden to working stiffs through the sales tax. Vote NO on the constitutional amendment.
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