Random Views From A Community Activist

by John Drury

Crunching the numbers on the death penalty
Senate Democratic leader and gubernatorial hopeful Mike Gronstal was interviewed last week on IPTV’s Iowa Press. Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen pressed Senator Gronstal on the issue of bringing the death penalty back to Iowa. As you probably know, there were more than a handful of legislators wanting to debate this contentious issue and Gronstal effectively blocked senate debate on it in this last session.

Yepsen asked Senator Gronstal why he was so against the death penalty, given the recent Jetseta Gage case, a case that did prompt the legislature to toughen their sex offender laws. In almost the same breath, he said that his first instinct in the Gage case was that the state should kill the sex offender, but that he is morally opposed to the death penalty and that he didn’t think that an evenly split senate should waste time debating the issue.

Yepsen countered with the thought that if Iowans want a death penalty in this state, then they need to rid the legislature of Democrats so the debate can take place. Gronstal then retrenched and said that bringing back the death penalty is not a fiscally responsible thing to do. It costs more to kill the offender than it does to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives.

I don’t know about you, but I’m confused as to why Gronstal is opposed to the death penalty. Is it because it’s immoral to kill, or is it because we just can’t seem to crunch the numbers?

At least he didn’t scream it
DNC Chairman Howard Dean has been criticizing Republicans calling the Republican party “pretty much a white, Christian party.” He also said that Republicans “never made an honest living in their lives.” This has caused some Democrats to run for cover saying that Dean is going overboard and that he doesn’t represent their views. Howard Dean has a pretty good handle on the issues facing this country; I have to wonder why he chose to resort to name calling when he could be pointing out where the Republicans have been dead wrong on so many issues.

Democrats increase their numbers
Governor Vilsack has announced he will sign an executive order returning the right to vote to convicted felons that have served their time. He notes that when you return these rights, “crime rates and recidivism are lower.” Republican leadership is crying foul. House Speaker Christopher Rants said, “I think society’s entitled to say, you know what, we welcome you back, but you don't get to help make laws once you've crossed a certain line.” At the same time he is taking moral high ground, Speaker Rants’ office circulated a 2003 study by sociologists from the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University arguing that Democrats would benefit most from permitting felons to vote.

Supervisors give in to Farm Bureau
At their regular meeting this morning, the Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors lifted their moratorium on construction of hog confinement facilities in the county. A few years ago, they went against state law and enacted a moratorium on any new confinements or expansion in the county. State law prohibits local governments from regulating this industry but the supervisors were under an extraordinary amount of pressure from the public and enacted the moratorium, reasoning that we need a timeout while the state legislature figures this issue out.

Well, years later the state has yet to enact meaningful legislation that would strike a balance between the industry and the people and the environment. By ignoring this issue, the legislature has only added fuel to the growing civil war in rural Iowa.

The supervisors did mention that they were working on something called a "good neighbor policy." Is it just me or does anyone else find it incredibly sad that the Iowa legislature has allowed rural Iowa to get to the point of needing a policy to hopefully ensure good neighbors?

This issue pits neighbor against neighbor. This issue must be solved, it must be solved at the state level, and it must be solved in the next legislative session. Stay tuned.