House Journal: Page 39: Tuesday, January 15, 2002
preserving nearly all of the front-line workers dealing directly with those Iowans who
need their services and support.
These improvements were begun so that Iowans receive the best service at the best
possible price. Now that our resources are stretched, these changes are even more
essential.
I want to thank the business and community leaders who have worked with us on
the "Improving Government Initiative." With us today are: Dwayne McAninch,
Chairman and CEO of McAninch Corporation, and Joe Pierce, president of Mid-
America Group. They worked with Dave Vellinga, President and CEO of Mercy
Hospital; Dr. Willard Boyd, former President of the University of Iowa; Barbara
Lukavsky, owner of Merle Norman Cosmetics; and Martha Willits, President of United
Way of Central Iowa. They were joined in their efforts by state department directors.
Dwayne and Joe, will you please stand? Please join me in thanking all of these folks
for their efforts to improve state government.
I also want to extend a special thank you to Iowa’s state employees, who serve the
people of our state with dedication and distinction. Not only are they participating and
cooperating in implementing these needed changes in the way state government does
business, but they even voted to postpone a scheduled pay raise to help us through this
challenging time.
That unprecedented show of support and selflessness should earn every Iowan’s
gratitude and respect.
Thanks to the difficult but necessary decisions we made in response to the economic
downturn, Iowa has fared better than many of our neighbors. But the revenue picture
for next year is no brighter, and we will be called upon in the coming months to make
decisions even more challenging than the ones we faced last fall.
Our challenge this year is to do more with less, while protecting the progress we
have made. Even within the constraints of a recession-year budget, I believe we can
and we will meet the challenges.
Before I outline what we must do, let me tell you what we cannot-and what we will
not-do.
We cannot forget our commitment to make education Iowa priority number one-
starting with our effort to reduce class sizes and support our teachers. To do so would
break faith with our children and our future.
We cannot reverse our determination to provide quality health care to the children
of working Iowans who have no health insurance.
We cannot retreat from our pledge to assist senior citizens in the state of Iowa, by
helping them afford the prescription drugs they need and providing alternatives to
nursing homes for those who want to preserve their independence and dignity.
And we cannot back off our efforts to provide better economic opportunity for all
Iowans.
© 2002 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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