Candidates say it’s all about priorities

MARION - After a sometimes bumpy test drive in their first public forum, Iowa Senate 18  candidates Cindy Golding and Liz Mathis cruised through another round of questioning last night with none of the fender-benders or road rage that marked their earlier encounter.

Once again, neither offered details of what she would do if elected in the Nov. 8 special election to fill the Linn County seat that could change the balance of power in the Iowa Senate, where Democrats hold a 25-24 advantage.

Republican Golding and Democrat Mathis did better at saying what they wouldn't do during a 90-minute forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters Cedar Rapids Marion.

For example, Mathis wouldn't support letting Iowans vote on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Neither would support an increase in the gas tax. Likewise, Jon Tack of Hiawatha, who is running as a Constitution Party candidate, opposed a gas tax increase. Given current economic conditions, said the senior lab tech at Schneider Electric, “adding another tax would do more harm than good.”

Overall, Mathis and Golding said decisions about what government should do and how to pay for it come down to setting priorities. Both place education high on that list.

“If we want excellence in education, that's what we will fund,” said former KCRG-TV9 anchor Mathis, the chief information officer for Four Oaks child welfare and juvenile justice agency. “Education is the great equalizer. When we make it our priority, we're saying something about our children, we're saying something about future, we're saying something about the way we want to spend our tax dollars. Budgets reflect our values.”

However, “there's a limited pot of money,” said Golding, who owns and operates four small businesses, including a farm. She wants to see Iowa “once again become No. 1 in the nation and do that within the constraints of the current budget without asking taxpayers to dig deeper in their pockets, with finding ways to conserve money and put tax dollars to our critical needs.”

She would seek to alleviate the property tax burden by requiring the state to fully fund those services it mandates, such as mental-health programs. Golding said she lobbied to preserve some of those services after former governor Chet Culver's 10 percent across-the-board cut.

“We need to fund critical services, but not on the backs of property taxpayers,” she said.

Mathis called for a $300 million cut in property taxes on small businesses. That, Golding countered, would come at the expense of schools, mental health and other services funded by property taxes.

The candidates also addressed the need for greater cooperation among lawmakers.

“I think everyone is sick of the bickering,” Mathis said. “You want to see progress, not politics.”

Golding, however, doesn't think the political nature of the Senate will change as long as Democrats - and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs - remain in control.

“Hope and good intentions will not change the Senate,” she said.

Tack agreed it would be “a long stretch” to reach across the partisan divide created by Gronstal.

The candidates also met Wednesday in a forum that was sponsored by The Gazette and KCRG-TV9. KCRG plans to re-air the debate on its 9.2 channel at 1 p.m. Monday and 8 p.m. Tuesday.