Karyn Finn is running against Walt Rogers for the Iowa House. A couple of months ago
I was asked by Karyn’s campaign manager to have a coffee for her. Even though Karyn is a Democrat, as I am, I don’t simply say, “Yes, by all means, any Democrat is better than a Republican” and so I did some research first.
Granted, I knew she was running against Walt Rogers, the incumbent Republican, with whom I agree on only one thing- that breathing is necessary- but support should not be blind, and it should not only come from opposing someone else. So I asked around, found some materials and went online. Soon, I told her campaign that I would be happy to host a coffee.
There was a nice, casual turn out on a sunny Sunday afternoon that would inspire most people to do anything but come to an afternoon coffee for a candidate, and we made the best out of what we had. Karyn arrived with her husband and, although we had actually met before, we had never talked politics. This was a wonderful opportunity to listen and to ask questions.
She was raring to go and she spelled out her basic platform:
-Ensure quality education for all Iowans from pre-K through higher education.
-Make higher education more affordable.
-Protect UNI from any further cuts.
-Give Iowa businesses priority at state & local contracts.
-Expand job training to put Iowans back to work in high skilled jobs.
Those are broad strokes and not details, but I am particularly drawn to her experience in, and committment to, education. I’m not going to drill down into details about Karyn Finn’s ideas in this blog (that’s her job), instead I suggest that you contact Karyn (Facebook and Twitter) or Google her to learn more. I can tell you first hand that she is smart, experienced, she’s a fighter, she’s passionate and well educated, but what I want to do is distance her from her opponent.
Walt Rogers personifies the new Republican platform (heavily influenced by the Tea Party) that has emerged over the past 8 years. I know for a fact that Walt is a nice man, a great father and husband, and I trust that his beliefs are from a genuine intention to serve faithfully. That being said, I also believe that his sincerity has been seduced by ideological fallacies drawn from a conservative agenda being bankrolled by selfish interests.
I “Walt-zed” over to his website to do my research.
Walt Roger’s theme is “Smaller, Smarter Government.” Great slogan. Who wouldn’t want government that is smarter? On his website, Rogers lists a series of problems with our current government and follows with his solutions. Great copy to make his case, except there is a fundamental flaw…almost none of it is true.
Each premise is built on the false perceptions and made up conflicts drawn from the well of Fox News and conservative pundits, fanned by Tea Party propaganda and covered by….Fox News, conservative pundits and Tea Partiers. Rogers gives solutions to problems that don’t exist, at least not in the way that they’re stated.
Here’s what Roger’s website has to say (with my reply after each):
- A massive federal takeover of health care that is quickly becoming less of a real “law” and more of a lawless hierarchy of privilege where those with connections, money, and power get exemptions and the rest of us get stuck.
MISLEADING. Exemptions were made for businesses to adapt to the change. 1,231 companies applied for and received waivers from the law’s restrictions on annual benefit caps. The law requires plans to gradually raise their benefit limits, and all annual limits will become illegal in 2014.
- Loss of full-time jobs due to ObamaCare’s employer mandate, leading to increasing levels of part-time employment and unemployment.
MISLEADING. While some larger firms who have to provide insurance for employees come 2015 are cutting back employee hours to part-time to avoid paying for their health coverage, others like WalMart, have moved thousands of workers from part-time to full-time to embrace the law. Also, many smaller firms will be able to hire more workers due to their ability to provide them with better benefits at cheaper rates. ObamaCare itself funds the creation of new jobs in healthcare sectors. Some job loss will be seen in the form of full-time workers losing hours- but job growth will result from new healthcare related jobs.
- Futile attempts to “stimulate” the economy by spending massive amounts of money borrowed from our grandchildren.
FALSE. In a survey by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, 80 percent of the economists surveyed agreed with the Congressional Budget Office that the unemployment rate was lower at the end of 2010 than it would have been without the stimulus law. The stimulus plan under the current administration was essentially a continuation of the Bush administration policy and until it became a talking point to oppose Obama, Republicans generally accepted stimulus strategies.
- Complex, unpredictable laws creating an environment hostile to business, leading to even higher unemployment and underemployment rates.
FALSE. Unemployment is down regardless of what Walt Rogers wants to print. The “unpredictable laws” such as Dodd-Frank were designed to prevent predatory lending and unscrupulous tactics that destroyed pensions and savings due to a lack of regulations in the market. This administration’s biggest effort has been lending. Since the beginning of the recession, loans to small businesses dropped because banks have been reluctant and President Obama implemented the Small Business Lending Fund. Many tax breaks have also been given and corporate cash reserves are at all time highs. Hardly a “hostile” environment.
- Trying to regulate our children’s education with top-down, one-size-fits-all approaches like “No Child Left Behind” and “Common Core.”
DISINGENOUS. At least Rogers is taking a non-partisan position here as “No Child Left Behind” was a Bush Administration program (and I personally agree that “Common Core” does not address the real educational issues either). Problems in education, however, will not benefit from Roger’s austerity plans.
- A runaway, out-of-control EPA working to make sure President Obama’s promise of “skyrocketing energy prices” becomes reality.
MISINFORMED. The “skyrocket” quote was taken out of context from an answer to what Cap and Trade can do to electricity prices and as a result, reduce consumption. Obama, when running for President in 2008 outlined his basic energy premise: “I think that we have been slow to move in a better direction when it comes to energy usage…we’ve been consuming energy as if it’s infinite. We now know that our demand is badly outstripping supply…” Oil has fluctuated as it has for 10 years, natural gas prices are down and electricity may see an increase but it hasn’t yet. Even with the sober and sensible warnings that halted the Keystone Pipeline, American oil production is up.
- Overloading people and businesses with taxes that cost Iowans jobs every day.
NOT TRUE. President Obama hasn’t raised taxes as President Reagan, for example, did 11 times (yes he cut them, as well, but raised them on the middle and lower classes to offset debt). And despite Republican assertions, Obama has cut spending and the national debt at its fastest rate since World War II.
Iowa, by the way, has created jobs and has an unemployment rate that is half of the national average.
So, Rogers now offers his “Smaller, Smarter” solutions:
1) Dismantling ObamaCare, 2) Unleashing American energy production, 3) Making sure our laws apply equally to all (but not to Gay people, of course), 4) Making education a state, rather than national concern, 5) Defending 2nd Amendment rights, as well as 6) Right to Life protections.
I’ll translate:
1) Allow our nation’s health to once again become commoditized and putting average Americans at risk of bankruptcy, 2) Unnecessarily escalating toxic environmental disaster in order to increase energy profits, 3) Double standards for justice, 4) Decrease funding to public education further crippling inner city schools, 5) Proliferating guns by making access to lethal weapons even easier, and 6) Using religious doctrine, contrary to the 1st Amendment, to increase the scope of government.
This is “Smarter”? How so?
Is this “Smaller”? Yes, if what he means is a smaller capacity to serve Iowans.
Campaign slogans can be shorthand to understanding a candidate’s essential platform. They can also be shorthand to understanding that the wool has been pulled over their eyes.
I support Karyn Finn for the Iowa House. She’s only about 5′ 2″ and so she really is- “Smaller, Smarter government.”
