March 29, 2024

Challengers take a few jabs during forum

Capacity crowd fills council chambers for election event

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On the many issues brought up by voters during the Iowa House portion of Thursday’s political candidate forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Newton Daily News, candidates politely disagreed, divided largely along party lines.

However, on a few issues, Republican candidate Patrick Payton took jabs at the fundraising and lack of business experience of his Democratic challenger for the Iowa House District 29 seat, Wes Breckenridge. Democratic challenger Marty Duffy took a few more low-key swings at Republican incumbent House District 28 Rep. Greg Heartsill.

“I’m sure Mr. Breckenridge is a very good police officer, and that’s where he ought to stay,” Payton said in his closing statement. “He’s always been in government work, and would still be doing so in the legislature. He’s never had to hire or fire anyone, or sign a paycheck. I’ve done those things. If you want someone who’s bought and paid for by the PACs and the lobbyists, then he’s who you should elect. But if you want someone who doesn’t owe a dime of loyalty to any PAC to lobbyists, and knows how to make tough decisions, then I’m your candidate.”

Breckenridge and Payton sparred over a few issues — most notably water quality and public education funding — as the two Newton residents vied to show the capacity crowd in the Newton City Council Chambers who should be elected to represent Iowa House District 29. Duffy, the Democratic from Knoxville trying to unseat Heartsill in House District 28, went more after the business-as-usual nature of state government rather than Heartsill’s personal track record.

Incumbent Dan Kelley, who lost the Democratic primary to Breckenridge in June before filing to run as a third party candidate, was invited to Thursday’s forum, but didn’t attend.

Heartsill said he was “not a fan of the speed” with which Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration ushered in the transition to three private managed-care Medicaid organizations. He also answered a question about where budget cuts could take place by saying he wasn’t sure.

“We’re giving about 55 percent of the state budget to K-12 education — including hundreds of millions of dollars in increases over the past several years — and another 24 percent to health and human services,” Heartsill said. “And some folks want those percentages to be higher. We’re already at less than a fifth of the budget for everything else.”

Breckenridge countered one of Payton’s contention that Iowa water is safe to drink.

“I think Mr. Payton’s statistics are a little bit off,” Breckenridge said. “Statistics I have show roughly half of Iowa’s rivers, lakes and streams fail to meet quality standards.”

Duffy said it’s a matter of allowing for new taxes on businesses like internet transactions to create the revenue that would help pay for cover crops and other water-quality programs; Payton said large Iowa cities can already get clean water, but the question is whether the cost of removing nitrates from farm runoff should be a statewide, shared taxpayer expense.

Several other topics were addressed by the audience on the written questions submitted to League of Women Voters volunteers who screened them. Those included dog breeder regulations, fair treatment of transgender students and other public education concerns and restoring voting rights for felons.

After the Iowa House candidates left the podium, the three Jasper County Board of Supervisors candidates, vying for the seat to be vacated by the departing supervisor Denny Stevenson, took audience questions in front of a smaller crowd. Democrat Sandy Shaver, Republican Doug Cupples and Libertarian Keith Laube, all of Newton, were far less contentious in their responses than their legislative counterparts.

The county supervisors’ forum was much more lighthearted and had almost none of the partisan or personal disparagement of the Iowa House candidate group. Cupples, Laube and Shaver complimented and quoted each other frequently, agreeing on the answers to many audience questions.

Laube touted his experience in handling government budgets and overseeing the City of Newton’s 35-employee Public Works Department, which performs the kind of work county roads department employees typically face, and said he’s lived along some of the county’s 900 miles of gravel roads for half of his life. Cupples and Shaver acknowledged areas such as road conditions and bridge work are not their specialties, but promised to listen to experts in the field for input, if elected.

All three seemed to be against the general idea of the county paying to construct all-new buildings.

The Jasper County Supervisors are full-time, with salaried positions. Cupples, a salesman at Lauterbach Buick GMC, and Laube both said they will work out their schedules, if elected, to make enough time to be an effective supervisor. Shaver is retired.

Laube said being a Libertarian means there would be one Democrat, one Republican and one Libertarian on the board, if he were elected. Shaver replied there have been only Democrats or Republicans on the board for years without partisan problems.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com