March 2018 » Lynda Waddington

14Mar 2018 by Lynda Waddington

Bill Dix should have been long gone

Gazette Column

What does it say about our state when an illicit kiss is considered more professionally disgraceful than failed leadership? Please, don’t get me wrong. I’m not sad about the decision by Senate Majority Bill Dix, a Shell Rock Republican, to resign from his leadership post and the Iowa General Assembly. I’m just wondering why his ouster took this long, and why his other expensive failures weren’t considered horrendous enough to force his resignation. Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, (left) and Senate President Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, (right) confer on the Senate floor during the 2017 legislative session. (Rod Boshart/The Gazette) Last fall the state settled a wrongful termination lawsuit with former Senate Republican staff member Kirsten Anderson to the tune of $1.75 million. That settlement came out of the…

12Mar 2018 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa Republicans prefer to lie in private

Gazette Column

Iowa House Republicans are behaving like children who have something to hide. Because they do. Last week, the Iowa House Public Safety Committee took up House File 481, the misnamed “sanctuary city” bill. Not only did members choose one of the smallest rooms in the Statehouse for the meeting, but Chairman Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, reserved nearly all the seats for GOP clerks. As Gazette political reporter James Q. Lynch noted in his article, such staffers do not typically attend committee meetings. Baudler said it was an attempt to maintain order as lawmakers again discussed the possibility of withholding untold swathes of state funding from local governments that do not go above and beyond what federal immigration law requires. Although GOP lawmakers want to frame this bill as a law-and-order measure…

10Mar 2018 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa House bars school lunch shaming

Gazette Column

Feeding kids linked to academic achievement, economic productivity Members of the Iowa House unanimously voted this week to protect Iowa school children from shaming — and give communities an economic edge. House File 2467 directs school districts to feed children, even those with meal accounts in the red, while continuing to pursue parents for payment. Alternate meals remain permissible, if the alternate is available to all students and not only those with negative meal account balances. It’s an effort to end what’s known as “shaming” of children whose parents and guardians don’t or can’t pay. Across the nation, and here in Iowa, students have had lunch trays taken from their hands and dumped into trash cans while other students watched. For some students in the Cedar Rapids area, this happened…

04Mar 2018 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa Legislature is ignoring red flags

Gazette Column

Debate on bill, amendments aimed at preventing gun violence denied Wary lawmakers in Iowa and around the nation insist ongoing debate about gun violence should center on mental illness, and not guns. So why is legislation aimed at temporarily removing guns from people in crisis being ignored? Iowa Rep. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids, made headlines this week for killing his own amendment, a red flag law he’d attached to a bill concerning mental health. The bill, which came out of the House Human Resources Committee, added provisions for involuntary commitments and hospitalizations and provided rules about how behavioral health information is disclosed to law enforcement agencies. Staed’s amendment would have allowed concerned family members and close friends to petition the court for a temporary weapons injunction against a person who…

03Mar 2018 by Lynda Waddington

March 8 is for women worldwide

Gazette Column

People around the globe will gather on March 8 to celebrate and advocate on behalf of women and girls. One such International Women’s Day gathering is a collaborative luncheon in Marion. The Women’s Equality Coalition of Linn County and the local branch of the American Association of University Women are partnering to host a catered box lunch event at Hills Bank, 3204 7th Ave., beginning at noon. Space is limited; advance tickets are $15 with all proceeds benefiting the Nancylee Ziese Scholarship Fund. “I think it’s important that women locally hear about and understand that many of the problems we face are faced by women and girls around the world. We are not alone; we are sisters,” said former Iowa lawmaker Bev Hannon, who serves as secretary for the Women’s…