Massive turnout for Washington candidate forum

WASHINGTON — A Chamber of Commerce forum featuring candidates in competitive state legislature races Tuesday night proved more popular than anticipated. Several factors were at play for the high turnout, including a new venue at Lebowski’s in Washington, a “social mixer,” a widespread publicity campaign, and an unanticipated visit from Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Washington Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and Event Moderator Michelle Redlinger said she was happy with the turnout: higher than candidate forums in recent memory, despite the off-year election.

“Honestly, I was anticipating a more intimate crowd like what we’ve had in the past … and it was a packed house, standing room only in the back, and it was exciting to see,” she said. “I’m really proud that the Chamber has a nonpartisan candidate forum that’s for informational purposes for the community.”

Many questions planned for the event were not covered in time. Redlinger said gun rights, child care and mental health support were among those that didn’t come up before time ran out.

Redlinger urged the audience to get those views from runners on the campaign trail in the social mixer after the event.

“Lots of great questions, but unfortunately we just ran out of time,” she said. “I encourage you all to stick around and engage in some meaningful conversations.”

Top priorities vary greatly

Legislators handle a large number of matters every term, but some issues are more personal than others. Asked about their number one priorities if reelected, candidates gave a range of answers.

Sen. Dawn Driscoll’s response was brief.

“It would be a really good idea this year to focus on property tax, some property tax reform in the state,” she said.

Sen. Kevin Kinney said extending help to victims of abuse would be a focal point of his next term, if reelected.

“We’ve extended the statute of limitations criminally for sexual abuse, that has never been expanded on the civil side,” he said. “We need to expand the civil statute of limitations for someone that has been sexually abused to be able to come back and be able to have their accuser held accountable.”

For House District 92 Candidate Eileen Beran, a Democrat, priority number one is “keeping public funds in public schools.”

“Along with that is raising teacher pay to come up with cost of living,” she said. “It hasn’t come up in quite a long time, and teachers are frustrated and some are quitting. It is critical to the quality of our schools that teachers and staff are paid what they’re worth.”

Heather Hora, Beran’s Republican opponent, said she was also focused on education, but from a different perspective, echoing language from the Reynolds administration about private school scholarships.

“As a mother to my three young children who currently go to public school, probably my priority is going to be in education,” she said. “And it is going to be in protecting parents’ rights in their education choices.”

On abortion, Democrats back status quo, Republicans favor heartbeat bills

As in many states, the overturned Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision brought abortion to the spotlight on the campaign trail, as decisions about the policy fall to states.

Democrats said they would fight to protect abortion access. Beran said she wanted to see current laws remain as they are, without new restrictions.

“The majority of U.S. citizens, the majority of Iowans have for many, many years approved and lived with the Roe v. Wade style guidelines … It’s been something we’ve agreed on,” she said. “I think it’s important for health care … I don’t believe that criminalizing abortion will reduce abortion. I feel like it’s a tough, and agonizing decision for women, but I’d like to preserve health.”

Beran said she opposed late-term abortion, but the practice was not happening.

“Late-term abortion is immoral, and it is not being allowed,” she said. “If it were happening, medical wards would speak up, and I don’t hear about that. I’d like it to be said in this forum that I don’t think that’s a blockage to changing Iowa’s abortion laws.”

Kinney had similar views, saying his perspective was shaped by his time in law enforcement.

“When I worked at the sheriff’s office, at that time I did not believe in abortion,” he said. “Sitting on the edge of a hospital bed with a 13-year-old that had been sexually abused … at that time, it had been six or seven weeks. They were pregnant, and I was sitting there with the victim. I was not going to re-victimize a survivor of sexual assault by making a decision, I don’t think that’s my decision to be made.”

Kinney voted across party lines several years ago approve a state abortion ban after 20 weeks, down from the previous 26. He said he felt it was a reasonable compromise.

“When you’re taking all the reasonable exceptions out, and so forth, I do not feel that shortening our 20-week abortion law makes sense here in Iowa,” he said.

Republican candidates called for more restrictive guidelines. Hora said she would back “fetal heartbeat bills,” which prevent abortions after cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks into a pregnancy.

“I believe life starts at conception,” she said. “It also has exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. I believe that is the direction that our state should go.”

Hora said the state should streamline its adoption process in hand with those restrictions.

“There’s a lot of people my age that would love to have children and can’t have children, and there are a lot of barriers to adoption,” she said. “I think that would be something we could focus on as well.”

Driscoll said she was in favor of a heartbeat bill as well, pending legal decisions.

“I am a pro-life candidate who will support pro-life policies in the Iowa Senate,” she said. “I look forward to some conclusion from the courts regarding the Iowa heartbeat bill … and I think it’s really important that we remember we need to support the maternal health side as well.”

All promise dedication to schools, not all promise money

Asked about education in the state, candidates said they wanted the best for Iowa schools. How they promised to get there varied by party.

Hora said schools needed to be more efficient, not get more money.

“I don’t understand exactly how schools’ budgets breakdown, I’ve talked to our school board, and I’m not even sure that the school board people know how our budgets breakdown,” she said. “I feel like it’s fully funded, I feel like there’s money there, they’re just locked into spending it on certain things … we need to flip the script on education and figure out different ways of doing more with our dollars.”

Driscoll said education was already flush with cash, and said school choice would be key to quality education.

“Around 52 or 54% of our state’s budget is allocated toward education,” she said. “I am focused on our students and how we can prepare them … we should be considering all options when it comes to education for the students, and giving parents a strong voice in their students’ education.”

Kinney said it was simply a matter of restoring state supplemental aid (SSA) funding, which has trended downward in recent years.

“In rural Iowa, they’re losing students, so they’re getting less and less money every year,” he said. “We’ve got to try and level that out. One of the ways you can do that is having higher SSA spending, it has been at an all-time low, and I think we need to invest in education. Education is the one that I think will get our kids out of poverty, it evens the playing field.”

Beran agreed, in line with her above-mentioned top priority of funding schools.

“With budget surpluses taking place at the state level, it seems that we could invest more in schools,” she said. “Making that a priority when we budget our dollars is critical to Iowa, teacher and staff pay, school funding, any way we can do that to shore up our schools, I’m in favor of.”

All runners praise low state spending, differ on how low it should go

With a budget surplus of $2 billion in the state and a growing number of tax cuts in recent years, candidates said they had plans to prevent a budget shortfall, a constitutional requirement of the state.

Driscoll credited the surplus to fiscal conservative policy, and said keeping that approach would prevent issues.

“The record budget surplus is the result of our sustainable and budgeted spending here,” she said. “I think Washington, D.C. could learn a lot from the fiscal discipline we use here in Iowa. This record surplus means we will continue to look for additional tax relief to Iowa’s families.”

Hora said Iowa could still stand to spend less.

“When I look at making purchases, I’m a want versus need type of person,” she said. “We need to enjoy the good times and plan for the bad … some think it’s an open checkbook, and if there’s money there, they just want to spend, spend, spend, and that’s not fiscally responsible.”

Kinney said he too was proud of the state’s low spending.

“We are continually trying to make smaller government, which is fine, we have to be fiscally responsible,” he said. “That’s one nice thing about Iowa, according to our constitution, you have to come in with a balanced budget. You don’t have a choice.”

Still, the Democratic candidate said Iowa’s spending was getting too low on some counts.

“Mental health funding has been cut, our education has been cut, our law enforcement has been cut,” he said. “I feel we need to be fiscally responsible with our money, but we just need different priorities, also.”

Beran said tax programs should keep a minimal impacts on Iowans’ lives, but stressed that some residents faced disproportionate impacts.

“It should not overly burden low-income, not overly-burden middle class, make it hospitable not just to an older population, but a younger population,” she said. “Those are the ones we want to attract to Iowa … costs and benefits should be looked at. What are the benefits and does (it) make the cost worthwhile?”

Closing remarks, partisan affiliation, touch on compassion — and who has more of it

In the final question of the night, Redlinger asked candidates why they chose their political parties.

Each had a personal back story. Hora said she was inspired by Reagan, Driscoll said she was “born Republican,” and Kinney said Democrats tended to “look out for the small guy,” despite his conservative fiscal habits.

Beran said she spent most of her life as an independent, but registered as a Democrat in 2020.

“I felt that there was a level of caring, a level of integrity and a level of civility that I wanted to align with,” she said.

In a rebuttal statement, Hora pushed back on that reasoning.

“Republicans, we get a bad rap some time about being non-compassionate, and not caring,” she said. “But if you’re Republican, you believe that giving a hand up is better than a handout.”

In her own rebuttal, Beran disagreed.

“I’ve lived a somewhat privileged life … that isn’t true of everyone,” she said. “Health care, when you get older, is a part-time job. And having a good job, being able to be productive in society, a lot depends on health. A lot depends on (the) help people can get, and that’s why I say I care. That’s why I see Democrats helping people as a positive.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com