What would be your top issue should you be elected?
I believe the Future of Iowa and its Failing Democracy is the state’s most critical issue. This position can be summed up by looking at Iowa’s once top in the nation education system, and its fall to the lower third in the country. It can be also summed up by considering the current Republican-controlled legislature and Governor stripping away women’s rights to reproductive health care. Consider that our youthful generation now and in the near future graduating from high school or college in Iowa are leaving the state because they do not see a future in this state. Consider how little care or attention the state has taken to make sure elderly Iowans in care centers are not subject to inadequate and substandard care and conditions. Finally, consider how low income families are struggling to make ends meet and feed their children while the Governor turns away federal funds to feed them and turns away federal funds to assist these families with child care expenses. Iowa’s democracy is failing and it has a human rights issue of major proportion!
What policies would you support to improve Iowa’s education system?
- A Community Approach to School Safety
- A Robust Teacher Training supported with Professional Development
- The Library Freedom Act – policies/legislation that serves diversity of thought and views and reinstates literary works that have been caught in the culture wars of today’s times and that have been banned as offensive, without true regard for literacy significance and their dynamicn teachings in history.
- Repeal the private voucher program. Public funds should not be used to fund private schools.
What do you think Iowa’s tax policy should be? Do you believe the state’s priority should be on lowering rates or spending on services for Iowans?
Considering what Iowa’s tax policy should be must begin with asking the following question? Who in Iowa is in need of funding assistance the most? Unquestionably, it should lead a policy-maker to recognize that in today’s times it is those Iowans who have fallen behind and have been forgotten. Let’s consider tax credits and relief for the elderly – a growing segment in Iowa’s population who have contributed so much to Iowa in terms of time, service, money, and stand today to get less relief than the top end of Iowa’s socioeconomic scale. Iowa should maintain fiscal responsibility and stability all while adhering to a spending plan that brings monetary relief to everyday expenses of Iowans who are in most need of assistance.
What policies would you support to improve school safety in Iowa?
- A “community problem-solving approach” that brings together an “army” of local retired law enforcement/military citizens to raise interest and awareness to observe/watch, listen and appropriately act to assist local police and sheriff’s departments provide security and safety enhancements to the school campus and the surrounding perimeters of the same.
- Utilize the same cadre of retired law enforcement and military professionals, including social workers and psychologists to provide education programming on life skills that address the most prominent risk factors that have driven young people’s thoughts and behaviors, and which have led to violence within our school communities. Include the teachers and administrators in a similar, but parallel educational program so that they develop the awareness teachings delivered to their students.
- Fully fund these programs and apply for federal grant funds to support and maintain these programs, with federal assistance and oversight.
- Repeal the recently enacted legislation that allows teachers to carry a firearm in the classroom.
What next steps do you believe the Iowa legislature should take when it comes to abortion?
There is no intermediate step other than to ultimately repeal all legislation that has so negatively affected abortion services and womens’ reproductive health care in Iowa – Abortion has no place in Iowa’s politics! Abortion must be left to be a decision solely resting with a woman and her right to make decisions about her own body, without any government interference or mandates.
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