CLINTON — I am writing this letter in support of Rita Hart, candidate for the Iowa Senate.  Rita’s background in education will serve voters well as Governor Branstad proposes educational reforms.  

Already, Governor Branstad has advocated for online elementary schools, which in my opinion doesn’t serve the educational needs of Iowa’s children. 

Kids today spend too much time on computers as it is. They need traditional school experiences which promote social interaction and group problem solving.

As far as corporate property taxes go, Rita Hart would bring negotiation skills to ensure that corporations would pay sufficient tax to support our schools and infrastructure which helps them meet their bottom line.

Governor Branstad has demonstrated poor negotiation skills in a desperate attempt to bring more jobs to Iowa.  Witness the sweetheart tax deal given to an Egyptian fertilizer company owned by the wealthiest family in Egypt.

Governor Branstad is allowing this company to invest only 20 percent of start-up costs in a risky venture which allows this fertilizer plant to be built along the Mississippi River in Lee County. 

This plant will inevitably experience a disastrous flood which will result in the Iowa taxpayers footing the bill for reconstruction. 

U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill to clean up the Mississippi as toxins associated with fertilizer production spill into the river.

 Republican state legislators across the country bring a conservative agenda with them.  The Republican Secretary of State advocated for a voter ID law and made an effort to purge voter rolls. 

Mental health services are being cut across the state and services for domestic violence victims are on the road to being regionalized.  These moves hurt the citizens of Iowa at a time when I believe Governor Branstad said that Iowa’s treasury has a surplus.

 Iowans need a person like Rita Hart in the legislature who will lead thoughtfully on pressing issues and seek to give all Iowans, regardless of socioeconomic status, a voice in the statehouse.

Linda Boardsen,

Clinton

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Stop abortion; choose life

It seems that we can all agree politically on one thing, and that is that some issues are weightier than others.

Jobs, the economy, education, taxes, our national debt, trade, the size/role of government, health care, etc., are all matters of legitimate concern for voters.

But if they all were to be ranked in terms of importance, there is one issue that stands above all others, and that is the issue of abortion.

Consider the following, taken from Dr. Norman Geisler, in his presentation titled “America: Matters of Life and Death:”

Abortion has killed four times more people than Hitler did in the holocaust. (Hitler killed an estimated 12,000,000….Abortion over 50,000,000!)

Abortion kills as many people in one day and a half as we lost in the whole Iraq war. (There are about 3000 abortions performed daily.)

Abortion kills in one year almost as many as in all the wars in the history of our country.

Consider the words of our founding documents:

“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.” (Declaration of Independence)

“No person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” (Fifth Amendment to our US Constitution)

“…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” (Fourteenth Amendment to our US Constitution)

Finally, and most importantly, consider these words of the Bible:

“For You (God) formed my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb…My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret,…Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed….”(Psalm 139:13,15,16).

Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to die. (Proverbs 31:8)

We all are concerned about issues that affect us personally. However, protecting those who cannot protect themselves, who have no voice or choice, must supersede our own interests as we cast our votes this election. To quote another, “In the hierarchy of issues, life is at the top!” (K. Grant).

Vote life!

Jim Fullan,

Clinton