House Journal: Page 45: Tuesday, January 11, 2000
those annoying push poll calls. We should require a disclaimer at the end of each call,
identifying who is paying for the call.
At some point, the money madness in politics must stop. Campaigns for governor
should not be about money raised, but issues answered. There is a better way. Iowa
should make available public funds, not from tax revenues, but from earned interest, to
candidates for governor who voluntarily agree to limit their spending and who have
broad based support. Our agenda is about government of, by, and for the people - not
government of, by, and for thousands, tens of thousands or millions of dollars in
contributions. Better disclosure, public financing, limited spending of governors races
and term limits for governors puts the people back in charge.
Will quality of life delivered through a more accountable government lead to more
Iowans, younger Iowans and better paid Iowans?
Let me tell you the story of Bruce Banister of Jefferson, who sells classical guitars
through the internet. He’s open 24 hours a day, and epitomizes the new way to be
responsive to customers. Bruce grew up in Jefferson, and spent years in Spain studying
classical guitar. He later went to Germany, where he taught and performed. He began
buying and selling finely-made classical guitars to an esoteric group of buyers
worldwide. He met and married photographer Carola Wicenti there, and she agreed to
move back to Iowa in the summer of 1998. Bruce realized that his website-based
business could be headquartered anywhere. If you want to find him, just type in
classical guitarnet.com. He says he moved back for Iowa’s open spaces, slower-paced
life, and to be close to family. Quality government is Iowa’s promise to Bruce and
Carola. Welcome back to Iowa.
The last part of the quality of life agenda I’ll mention today is perhaps the most
basic. It doesn’t do any good to improve education, clean up the environment, prevent
disease, and create a larger and smarter workforce if our communities aren’t safe. Safe
communities are one of Iowa’s basic strengths. To ensure our safe communities, we
must reduce the supply and demand for illegal drugs. I remain committed to a plan we
worked on last year to fight the methamphetamine epidemic by adding six new
narcotics agents to the Department of Public Safety this year. These agents will make
inroads in our war against methamphetamine and other drugs.
We also propose increasing the staff for our state criminal laboratory to aid our
prosecutors in investigations leading to convictions. Another tool in our effort should
be the expansion of drug courts. Drug courts aimed at lower-risk substance abusers
have shown to be successful in lowering the rate of recidivism among its graduates. We
must increase our commitment to community-based corrections as an alternative to
prison for low-risk drug addicts, holding them accountable for their offense and
providing necessary treatment, we need to keep prison beds for more dangerous
criminals.
We need to avoid losing Iowans, particularly young Iowans, to untimely deaths. It is
tragic that children are being killed in firearm accidents. New educational programs
for gun owners will prevent children’s access to firearms. Our sheriffs and the
Department of Public Safety will be working together on this effort. We also need to
ensure that if handguns do get into the hands of children they not lead to accidental
deaths. Handguns sold by dealers in Iowa, in the future, should be required to have
© 2000 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
Comments about this site or page?
hjourn@legis.iowa.gov.
Please remember that the person listed above does not vote on bills. Direct all comments concerning legislation to State Legislators.
Last update: Tue Jan 18 08:25:00 CST 2000
URL: /DOCS/GA/78GA/Session.2/HJournal/00000/00045.html
jhf