March 29, 2024

Conflict of interest

At the League of Women Voters forum at Newton City Hall (Oct. 23), local Democrat activist Carol Kramer was one of the LWV members who selected questions for the candidates, submitted by the attendees. Not only is this a conflict of interest, we now find out that she is (Iowa House) District 29 Rep. Wes Breckenridge’s campaign chair. He was part of the forum along with his opponent, Republican Ann Howell.

The LWV pretends to be a nonpartisan organization, but they are no such thing. It’s painfully obvious the Jasper County League of Women Voters is biased toward the local Democratic party, and they cannot be trusted to run an impartial forum. The Newton Daily News was a co-sponsor and should have guaranteed the impartiality of the forum, but they failed to do so. They have culpability in this as well as the LWV.

As chair of the Jasper County Republican Party, I will encourage any future Republican candidates to boycott all LWV sponsored events. Our current candidates and officeholders are unified in this decision.

If the LWV cannot ensure a level playing field for all candidates, Republicans should look elsewhere for opportunities to get their message out. The LWV has poisoned the well of integrity and stacked the deck against Republican candidates and apparently no longer try to hide their bias. The voters of Jasper County deserve to know how crooked this organization really is.

The Newton Daily News should write a story exposing the LWV and apologize to all the candidates and voters for their inability to maintain fairness. We encourage any concerned Jasper County voter to share this information with others and demand the NDN to do what’s right.

Thad Nearmyer

Jasper County

Republican Party chair