Iowa's Failure to Fund Education May Be Due to GOP Corruption

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Marcy Mattison of Cedar Rapids posted a comment to the National Grassroots Yahoo Group regarding the financial collusion going on in the Iowa Statehouse that is keeping GOP senators & reps. from passing funding for education. I quote the following:

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"Even though our state has a reputation for a terrific education system, it is being crippled by the double whammy of No Child and conservative stonewalling.

Then this:

I recently spoke with a friend about her recent trip to Des Moines with the Cedar Rapids Jefferson students who had prepared a video in support of continued funding for education. They visited several representatives to lobby for the Dem's education tax bill. The Republicans listened politely and for the most part, blew them off. A conversation with a Dem revealed one of the reasons: apparently every Republican who toes the line by opposing ANY new taxes - no matter how vital to the state - will be rewarded from the GOP's deep pockets; break rank, and the funds go away. They are selling our state's future for their own gain. One or two have decided to take a stand against the pressure: Mary Lundby (R - Marion) is one that I know of.

If you have any more information on this sell-out in the State house, please share it - more people have to hear about this.  Talk about corrupted!! This is one more place where grassroots efforts can highlight and possibly correct a problem. I hope we can come up with some strategic responses beginning with getting the word out!
Thanks -
Marcy"

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We need a place on this Blog where these kinds of issues can be posted easily and action taken accordingly. To my thinking at least, what will make us effective as a group, is not only to activate the grassroots on national issues, but also issues that impact us here in Iowa directly. This is one such issue, and EVERY GOP legislator in the Iowa Statehouse should be pressed on this issue.  Are they refusing to act to help our schools in exchange for campaign financial assistance from the state or national GOP?  I am writing my own Senator, David Miller, on this issue right now. If he or any other GOP waffles in the slightest degree, we should be finding and supporting Dems. who will toss them out at the earliest opportunity.

To find your Iowa legislators, go here.

by Phil on 2004.04.13 11:10AM CDT  

Thanks for passing this along, Phil.  To get an issue or action item posted on the main blog, please contact Linda.

Who is Leonard Boswell?

Leonard Boswell is not Ron Dellums. He can't be
counted on to represent the views of most progressives in Iowa who staunchly favor a woman's right to choose, oppose an amendment banning flag burning, oppose unbridled NAFTA-like South American free trade and, probably, favor gay marriages.

In fact, according to On The Issues, Boswell is a

dead-solid "centrist."   Most progressives would

scoff at some of his more controversial votes:

no to so-called "partial-birth abortions," yes to

allowing prayer in public schools, yes to a

constitutional amendment banning flag burning, yes

to free trade with Chile, yes to the war in Iraq.

But Boswell is far from a right winger. He also voted
against making it a federal crime to harm a fetus
during commission of a another crime, for the Equal
Rights Amendment, against prohibiting D.C. from
banning medical marijuana, against oil drilling in the
Alaska wilderness, against capping medical malpractice
damages and others.

Best of all, Boswell is no Stan Thompson. The Des
Moines attorney, who again is opposing Boswell in Iowa
Congressional District 3 after losing to him two years
ago, seems to have no other agenda than doing whatever the Republican National Committee says he should.

On his website, Thompson is paper-thin when it comes

to education (he's for it, folks); parrots the GOP line
on abolishing the inheritance tax that affects far
less than 5 percent of estates each year; would allow
the president, not Congress, to negotiate foreign
agriculture agreements; advocates biotechnology, but
mentions nothing about regulating its safety; and
approves of the recent Medicare giveaway to the
pharmaceutical and insurance industries.  The
Associated Builders and Contractors of Iowa, the people who believe that union construction workers are vermin, supported him with issue ads in 2002.

Progressives would much rather have someone younger, hipper and more representative of their interests. But remember what happened when Democrats were sanguine about Neal Smith? The only reason a Democrat ever regained that seat -- Boswell in 2002 -- was because Greg Ganske, who snatched the seat from Smith in the 1994 elections, quit the House to run against Sen. Tom Harkin, and lost.

So hold your nose if you must. But let's fall in line
here, too.

P.S. If you live in Des Moines, you can cast a
progressive vote today for Ruth Anne Gaines for City Council!

Contact Ira Lacher here.

Lawmakers reconfirm Iowa education chief

Omaha World-Herald, April 13, 2004

DES MOINES (AP) - The Senate on Monday confirmed Gov. Tom Vilsack's reappointment of Iowa Department of Education Director Ted Stilwill. . . .

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Stewart Iverson, R-Dows, asked to postpone a vote on the nomination of Jonathan Wilson, a gay rights activist, to the state school board.

The move came after a heated floor debate on whether Wilson's approval was being held up over concerns that he would promote a gay agenda while on the board.

Wilson, a Des Moines attorney, served on the Des Moines school district's board for 12 years.

Vilsack has called the holdup on his nomination discriminatory.

(more)

Vilsack Says Budget Fails To Fund Iowa's Schools

TheIowaChannel.com, April 13, 2004

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The House passed a $4.46 billion budget late Monday night that Gov. Tom Vilsack said fails to fund Iowans' priorities.

The bill passed 54-45 after nine hours of debate.

The budget represents a decrease of $56.3 million from the current year and relies heavily on one-time funding sources by spending $573 million from reserves and the Senior Living Trust Fund.

Vilsack said the budget fails to adequately fund Iowa's school districts, doesn't provide money for the Iowa Values Fund economic development program created last year and provides no money to continue development of cultural and recreational projects.

(more)

Gov. Howard Dean wrote an op-ed piece for the April 12, 2004, New York Times.  Here's what he had to say about voting for Ralph Nader.

"I don't believe that the best way to do justice to Ralph Nader's legacy is to vote for him for president. Re-electing George Bush would undo everything Ralph Nader has worked for through his entire career and, in fact, could lead to the dismantling of many of his accomplishments."

Go here to read the entire article.