Brent Oleson Archives » Lynda Waddington

26Sep 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Trading expectations for reality in Linn County supervisor race

Gazette Column

Seems like everyone is excited about the number of women up and down the ballot. But there is one hotly contested Linn County office where no female names appear. The Gazette’s Editorial Board has been busy with candidate interviews, which are one part of our endorsement process. To date, we’ve sat down with candidates involved in nearly every contested regional race as well as the statewide races that will appear on local ballots, and have more scheduled in the coming days. These are similar meetings to those we hold throughout the year with elected officials, advocacy groups and others except that they tend to be more diverse in their scope. We aren’t gathered to discuss a single issue or learn about a specific concern. There are some things that the…

Campaign finance: How much would you pay?

Gazette Column

Many Iowans lucky enough to make it through the highly competitive process of becoming a delegate to their political party’s national convention are still hard at work as they solicit money for the trip. You may have seen the pleas in your social media feeds or heard them firsthand at organizational events throughout the state. Being elected a delegate to the Republican or Democratic national convention is an expensive proposition. Not only do many would-be delegates underwrite the cost of their election campaigns, but each is responsible for taking time off work, writing checks for convention fees and paying all their own travel and lodging expenses. How much does it cost? It varies each year, depending on your political persuasion and the convention location, but always runs in the thousands.…

Pat Murphy campaigning like it’s 1999

Gazette Column

Have a look around. This is the year of the political outsider. Too bad 1st Congressional District Democratic hopeful Pat Murphy was robodialing instead of reading the memo. From the GOP’s reluctant embrace of a Donald Trump presidential bid to Hillary Clinton’s leftward drift courtesy of Bernie Sanders, has there been a time in recent history when political party loyalty held less value? In states with the largest primary and caucus turnouts the message is undeniable and the so-called establishment is taking a hit, for good reason. Voters are tired of the same people, running for the same offices, saying the same things on the campaign trail and then doing very different things once elected. Voters are no longer entertained by the once revered practice of partisan grandstanding unless there…