Brave Liberal goes to hear Vander Plaats speak

[pstans]

A couple groups here in Marshalltown invited all the candidates for governor to come to town and speak this spring. Yesterday Bob Vander Plaats came. Remember that I am a Fallon supporter, so I am not really close to Vander Plaats on the political spectrum. Here is my review of the speech.

I went to see Bob Vander Plaats speak, not really knowing what to think. I have heard accounts of how out of whack of reality that he is, so part of me was expecting something between Sam Brownback's alter boy to Pat Robertson charming snacks.

After hearing Mr. Vander Plaats, I have to say that he is a very good speaker. He has a vision and wants to change how government is run. He is not a politician and wants to run the government like a CEO. No more politics as usual. He actually had me for a few moments then he opened it up for questions and a few red flags appeared.

1. He said he wanted to cut the number of state legislators from 150 down to 75. Nebraska and South Dakota only have 50 state legislators, why does Iowa need 150? His thinking was that it would save money. First off, this would never happen. The current state legislators would have to vote to essentially fire half of each other. Finally, if you only goal is to save money, then why not just get rid of all of the legislators and name the Governor the King of Iowa. You have to think of why the state legislators are there in the first place...to provide the average citizen a voice in the government.

2. A person asks his opinion on a national sales tax and getting rid of property and income tax. Vander Plaats says that is a national issue and he will touch on it later (he never does), and essentially dodges the question.

He continues to talk about the tax system and how complicated it is. He then called for a fair tax system, where you would pay 5% of your income, no matter how much you make. He didn't call it a flat tax, but that is basically what it is.

Vander Plaats has worked in Health and Human Services and gave an examples of one of his clients who was disabled. This client didn't make much money, but was more than happy to pay his share of taxes. Quoting Vander Plaats, "paying taxes gives poor people dignity."

I want to know where the dignity is for the wealthy helping poor people out of poverty? Just because you make 10 time as much money, doesn't mean you eat 10 times as much food or visit the doctor 10 times as much. The less fortunate need help meeting their most basic necessities of food, health care, education, and housing.

3. Someone asks about the prison situation and the two people who escaped from Ft. Madison. Vander Plaats says that it is ridiculous to want to just go out and build a new prison because 2 people escaped. The reason they escaped was due to humar error, not the prison.

Well, the fact that the Ft. Madison prison is over capacity probably didn't help the guards secure the prison. Or the fact that the prison is ancient. I have a feeling that the prison population won't be going down if Vander Plaats is elected either, so maybe a new prison might be a good idea.

4. There is a large Hispanic population in Marshalltown, so there were a couple questions about illegal immigrants and drug control. The theme I got from hearing Vander Plaats speak is that illegal immigrants cause drug addiction. The 2 issues were linked according to Vander Plaats. He wants to publish the companies that are employing illegal immigrants. This is not that bad of idea. He never discusses how to make it easier to for immigrants to gain citizenship, just to secure the borders, get rid of the ones here, and have more restrictions on immigrants coming. All his comments on the issue of illegal immigrant is against immigrants, no of them are for, or to help them.

5. He also talked about children born to 2 illegal immigrants being US citizens. He said that he is not sure that they should be. To give Vander Plaats credit, he didn't flat out say this. He says he would need more time to think about it.

6. There were papers passed out telling his stance on issues. Under the heading "Marriage and Civils Rights" it says he is for defining marriage between one man and one woman and against restoring voting rights to felons without proper process. So basically he is against civil rights for gay people and felons.

7. I was surprised that he referenced Wells Blue Bunny/Wells Dairy twice considering they are financing so much of his campaign.

That is a long list of the red flags and concerns I have with him. To be honest they weren't as many as I had thought there would be. As a teacher, I totally agree with his stance on education (it isn't really a republican stance). He is against No Child Left Behind and is against Corporate Welfare. Both of those are very important issues for me.

I spoke with him afterwards and expressed some of my concerns on the "fair tax system", the wealthy getting off easy, and cutting the programs that help people get out of poverty. Vander Plaats said that corporations need to be responsible citizens. He even said that Wal Mart is not a responsible citizen for not paying for health care. He says he never shops at Wal Mart. If Vander Plaats truly wants to have programs to help poor people, then he should be calling Nussle out for cutting pell grants, medicaid, food stamps, etc in the latest House budget.

Vander Plaats is waaaay better candidate that Nussle. When I think of Nussle, the word slimeball comes to mind. I did not get that feeling from listening to Vander Plaats. He has strong beliefs, and I don't agree with some of them (maybe a lot of them), but I agree with his vision for Iowa. We just disagree on which road to take to get there.

There are similarites between Vander Plaats' campaign and Fallon's. They both are not your status quo politicans and don't want the same old hijanks going on.

[ISUGRADIA]

1. "Nebraska and South Dakota only have 50 state legislators

why does Iowa need 150"

God, VP is an idiot! $3 million or so out of a $4 billion budget and some senate districts covering 10 counties. I'm sure less representation for the people is worth that.

[pstans]

2. It was at this point where he started to lose me.

I kept thinking of the quote by Grover Norquist that "Republicans want to make government small enough you can drown it in a bathtub."

Cutting taxes and programs is all good, but what you lose is services that help people.

[progressoid]

6. That was my thought also. It appeals to the smaller govt crowd.

The concept wouldn't make it off the ground but it may get him some additional votes.

[rurallib]

3. Thanks for the report, Pstans. I am sure it took all the stamina

you had to make it through. Plus restraint.
I have heard that VP is actually issue oriented. This would explain why Nussle is avoiding any joint appearance. Nussle seems to be running a Bush style hand-picked audience campaign. Actually having to discuss an issue at length would expose his shallowness. Which means of course that Nussle will probably win. I would bet he has well enlisted the non-thinking robot arm of the Iowa fascists,

[pstans]

4. I went to make my mother-in-law happy

She is county chair for his campaign. Her and I have some interesting discussions, but we keep it civil.

[Hardrada]

5. I am actually going to temporarily change registration

and vote for VP since Nussle is just plain scary and vile. Even though he is a fellow Luther alumni!!

[Debi]

7. Government should never be run like a business

Government should never be in the situation to make money and that's how businesses are supposed to run. NEVER should we see the State making a profit while people are hungry/homeless/out of work/without health care. I understand putting money away and rainy day funds,etc. But laying off people (or getting rid of legislators) to make the state money is just plain wrong. Of course he wants less legislators, then it would cost more to run for office and only the wealthy would be able to serve...great idea...just like the flat tax, only on earned income right??? So all the people living off investments and savings and pensions would be tax free and the kid working at Burger King would be paying for them. :eyes:

He's certainly better than Nussle and with his clear cut ideas would be easier to defeat in the general election (Nussle's smarminess and "I'm a moderate" bullshit is what gets idiots to vote for him each election).

You are a brave soul! Thanks for checking the competition out.

There is still a big difference between Fallon and V-Plaats. Fallon wouldn't leave a single person out in the cold, Vander Plaats would either charge admission to step in front of the fire, or rent for remaining there. d.