Republicans bemoan direction of Iowa Legislature
By Bret Hayworth Journal staff writer | Posted: Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Four Republican state senators from Northwest Iowa Tuesday bemoaned the direction and lack of accomplishments in the legislative session completed Saturday.
State Sens. Ron Wieck of Sioux City, Dave Mulder of Sioux Center, James Seymour of Woodbine and David Johnson of Ocheyedan contended the Democratic Party-controlled legislature over the last four months enacted legislation that will harm the business climate in Iowa and bloat the state budget.
Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, praised the session for accomplishments in raising the minimum wage, raising teacher pay to the national average via a shot of $5,000 per teacher, creation of a $100 million Iowa Power Fund, lifting the ban on stem cell research and expanding civil rights protection to gays and lesbians.
Wieck said he'd line up with the view of respondents to the Journal's Web poll on assigning a letter grade to the 2007 Legislature. Only 20 percent of the poll respondents gave the legislature an "A" or "B" grade, the other 80 percent gave lower marks, down to "F."
Said Mulder, "(Democrats) have gone on a spending binge, and they've got to find every tax they can to balance it."
Said Seymour, "There were no reasons to raise taxes. We've got the money. The money is there, we just have to prioritize."
Wieck said when Republicans were in control, "what we've seen the last five, six, seven years in the state of Iowa has been good for creating jobs in Iowa." But what occurred in 2007, he said, was "payback" of Democratic Party legislators spooning out programs to their key constituencies.
Among those groups are public employees, Johnson said. He said a record wage and benefits increase of $1.8 million to state employees was too much, while Seymour criticized that 625 new state jobs will be created in the year beginning July 1. Worse, Johnson said, most of those jobs won't be for positions in Northwest Iowa.
The senators slammed the growth in the state budget of 10 percent in one year, rising to more than $5.8 billion. Further, there are built-in spending increases of $557 million for next year and $656 million for 2009, they noted, saying that kind of growth is not sustainable.
For much of the 1990s and into this decade, Republicans controlled the Senate. Democrats tied them with a 25-25 split in 2005 and 2006, then took control 30-20 after the November election. Wieck described frustration at being in the minority, saying Senate Republicans got fewer than 10 amendments passed in the entire year.
Eventually, Wieck said, Republicans began to do what minority parties often do, "trying to put up amendments that are bad votes for them (Democrats)."
"Our job is to be the loyal opposition," Johnson added.
Mulder said there were "a lot of 30-20 votes" strictly following party lines. "They talked about nonpartisanship, but never did it," Mulder added.
Johnson said, "I'm not frustrated, but my constituents are, because they don't have a place at the table."
Of the Iowa Power Fund that will be used to aid firms in alternative energy pursuits, Wieck called it a "100 million dollar play toy" that likely won't meet Culver's plans.
Mulder dissented from the other three Republicans in his support for raising the minimum wage and increasing the cigarette tax by $1 per pack, which will provide an estimated $127 million next year. But Mulder had a gripe with enactment, saying the immediate increase in the tobacco tax made it hard on retailers to comply and label products with the higher tax.
Wieck said Democrats "balanced the budget" with the cigarette tax increase, and said he doubted it would go to health care costs as Democrats claimed.
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
State Sens. Ron Wieck of Sioux City, Dave Mulder of Sioux Center, James Seymour of Woodbine and David Johnson of Ocheyedan contended the Democratic Party-controlled legislature over the last four months enacted legislation that will harm the business climate in Iowa and bloat the state budget.
Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, praised the session for accomplishments in raising the minimum wage, raising teacher pay to the national average via a shot of $5,000 per teacher, creation of a $100 million Iowa Power Fund, lifting the ban on stem cell research and expanding civil rights protection to gays and lesbians.
Wieck said he'd line up with the view of respondents to the Journal's Web poll on assigning a letter grade to the 2007 Legislature. Only 20 percent of the poll respondents gave the legislature an "A" or "B" grade, the other 80 percent gave lower marks, down to "F."
Said Mulder, "(Democrats) have gone on a spending binge, and they've got to find every tax they can to balance it."
Said Seymour, "There were no reasons to raise taxes. We've got the money. The money is there, we just have to prioritize."
Wieck said when Republicans were in control, "what we've seen the last five, six, seven years in the state of Iowa has been good for creating jobs in Iowa." But what occurred in 2007, he said, was "payback" of Democratic Party legislators spooning out programs to their key constituencies.
Among those groups are public employees, Johnson said. He said a record wage and benefits increase of $1.8 million to state employees was too much, while Seymour criticized that 625 new state jobs will be created in the year beginning July 1. Worse, Johnson said, most of those jobs won't be for positions in Northwest Iowa.
The senators slammed the growth in the state budget of 10 percent in one year, rising to more than $5.8 billion. Further, there are built-in spending increases of $557 million for next year and $656 million for 2009, they noted, saying that kind of growth is not sustainable.
For much of the 1990s and into this decade, Republicans controlled the Senate. Democrats tied them with a 25-25 split in 2005 and 2006, then took control 30-20 after the November election. Wieck described frustration at being in the minority, saying Senate Republicans got fewer than 10 amendments passed in the entire year.
Eventually, Wieck said, Republicans began to do what minority parties often do, "trying to put up amendments that are bad votes for them (Democrats)."
"Our job is to be the loyal opposition," Johnson added.
Mulder said there were "a lot of 30-20 votes" strictly following party lines. "They talked about nonpartisanship, but never did it," Mulder added.
Johnson said, "I'm not frustrated, but my constituents are, because they don't have a place at the table."
Of the Iowa Power Fund that will be used to aid firms in alternative energy pursuits, Wieck called it a "100 million dollar play toy" that likely won't meet Culver's plans.
Mulder dissented from the other three Republicans in his support for raising the minimum wage and increasing the cigarette tax by $1 per pack, which will provide an estimated $127 million next year. But Mulder had a gripe with enactment, saying the immediate increase in the tobacco tax made it hard on retailers to comply and label products with the higher tax.
Wieck said Democrats "balanced the budget" with the cigarette tax increase, and said he doubted it would go to health care costs as Democrats claimed.
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
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James wrote on May 2, 2007 8:55 AM:
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Resident wrote on May 2, 2007 7:18 AM: