Ossian, Hayes share views in House District 88 race

FAIRFIELD — Iowa House candidates Lisa Ossian and Helena Hayes participated in a forum Tuesday hosted by the Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center.

The forum gave Ossian, a Democrat, and Hayes, a Republican, a chance to explain their vision for Iowa House District 88. House District 88 covers the northern half of Jefferson County, all of Keokuk County, and the eastern half of Mahaska County including Oskaloosa.

Moderator Ian Bee of the Jefferson County Health Center began the forum by asking the two candidates for their views about whether they supported a plan to eliminate Iowa’s income tax, and if so, how they would pay for infrastructure, education and other state-run programs.

Hayes said she liked the idea of reducing taxes as much as possible.

“The more money you guys can keep in your own pocket, the money you earn yourself, instead of having to give back to the government, is money you spend, which influences more growth,” she said.

Hayes noted that the Republican Party has had a “trifecta” for the past six years, controlling the governor’s office, House and Senate. In that time, the state has built a $1.9 billion surplus.

“I think that’s a really good thing,” she said. “Iowa is in a really good place. When they inherited the trifecta six years ago, there was a deficit.”

Ossian began her answer by saying that when she taught about the American Revolution in school, she talked about how what really mattered to citizens was less the amount of the tax and how they felt about the tax.

“It’s the same now,” she said. “The current administration has been playing a shell game with our taxes, because they know we feel vehement about state taxes. Every paycheck, we see the amount that’s taken out. What we don’t see is our property tax or sales tax. How much sales tax do you pay each year? How many fees are added to different bills, like your water bill in Oskaloosa has many fees added to it. Most people don’t see that.”

Ossian said taxes have to be paid by someone, and she and the members of the Oskaloosa City Council recognized that its sewer system had been ignored because previous councils had not wanted to raise taxes. Now, because the city delayed those repairs, it’s going to cost Oskaloosa three times the amount it would have cost had the city addressed it earlier.

Another question later in the forum dealt with the candidates’ views on abortion. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, which means that abortion is no longer considered a constitutional right, and that allows state governments to restrict it or ban it. Bee read from a question that said that Iowa’s current law allows abortion up to 22 weeks of gestation, and requires a 24-hour waiting period. The question asked the candidates for their general stance on abortion rights, and if they wanted to ban abortion, if they would make exceptions for rape and incest, or if the mother’s life was in danger.

Ossian said legal abortion is needed not just for unplanned pregnancies but also for complicated pregnancies.

“As a historian, abortions have always occurred, going back to the Egyptian era,” she said. “In my second pregnancy about 12 weeks into it, something didn’t feel right, so I went to the doctor. I started to bleed, and the doctor said, ‘You’re having a miscarriage. You can either have a D and C [dilation and curettage to remove tissue from the uterus], or you can go home and bleed it out.’ I decided I want to have that done at the hospital with a doctor. I was scared to death. Because of the care that I was given, I didn’t scar, and I was able to have two children later in life. That’s my personal example of having access to a legal abortion.”

Hayes began her answer by reciting The Declaration of Independence, and specifically the lines, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Hayes told the audience that they are the “governed” and that their rights don’t come from politicians but from God.

“This is a really clear issue,” she said. “Life begins at conception. It should always be protected. If we can’t agree that all life should be fought for, then I don’t know where to begin. I know too many women who have had two or three abortions, and they regret it. They are haunted for the rest of their life until they are able to come to terms with that. It is not an answer to bad timing or the very minor reasons.”

Hayes said that if abortion involved a “medical reason,” then she felt that decision was best left to the woman and her doctor.

“I want you to know that I will always stand for life, and I will fight for the life of the unborn,” she said. “I promise you that our county and state will be better because of that.”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com