Citizen’s lack faith in state’s leaders

OTTUMWA (MCT) — The anti-incumbent mood displayed in recent elections on the East Coast appears to be very much in place in southeast Iowa.

Area residents are very skeptical of their legislative leaders as well as Gov. Chet Culver, according to an online poll conducted by the Ottumwa Courier. More than 75 percent of respondents said they have no confidence or only weak confidence in the state’s legislative leadership.

“The legislative body no longer represents the people who elect them, they are self-serving runts that are only interested in preserving the job they now hold,” said one Wapello County man.

Many of the criticisms focused on whether legislators are “sold out” to special interests and the Legislature’s partisanship. Others complained that the Legislature too frequently gets “bogged down in stuff like the pros and cons of dove hunting,” without making progress on major issues.

Spending by the Iowa Legislature was another primary target. Several respondents said the Legislature overextended the state in past sessions despite warnings.

Overall, only 23.5 percent said they are very or somewhat confident in the legislature’s leadership.

The news is even worse for Culver. Nearly half of the respondents, 48.1 percent, said they have no confidence in Culver’s leadership. Another 33.8 percent said they have weak confidence in the governor.

The kindest comment left by a survey respondent was that Culver “seems to be in a bit over his head.” Others were more pointed.

“Chester Culver is a likeable, but not very bright man who wants to please his voting base without regard to what his favored spending does to the state as a whole. He should labor in a real job,” wrote one man.

A majority of 59 percent supports across-the-board spending cuts for Iowa’s government. That was Culver’s solution when money ran short in 2009. But that does not appear to translate to support for Culver; 76 percent said the Legislature should be the body to make cuts.

The survey also offered two open-ended questions: one on where respondents thought state spending should be cut and another on where they thought spending should be increased.