I wish I could be in Des Moines tomorrow evening, where there will be a public forum on Iowa's Right to Work law. Legislative Democrats plan to pass a law that would force workers to pay fees or union dues if they work in a business represented by a union. Presently, Iowans have a choice whether to join a union or not.

Forcing non-union workers to pay fees or union dues takes away their choice to join or not join a union. Would they want to be paying dues that could be used to support strikes? Probably not.

Is this bill in the best interests of our state? We need to make changes that are more supportive of business, not less supportive. According to business relocation experts, at least half of businesses looking to relocate or expand will not consider non-Right to Work states.

Iowa is one of 22 Right to Work states. You can read all sorts of statistics that show workers are better off in those states. Those are good statistics to support the case to retain Iowa's Right to Work status. For me, the real issue is personal choice. Less and less choices are available to us, and the Democrats are trying to take away one more individual choice.

Jean, the Political Junkie

This Week With The Plain Blunt Guy

Didn't have much to say last week so I took it off. This deal with the city budget gets more bizarre every week. First they spend all that money on the indoor cement pond, and now they are talking about laying off a police officer, and look at the problem with financing the Fire Station. Why didn't these things get paid for first instead of committing so much money to the arc? There was a letter to editor this week in the paper that says it best, if they had allowed a vote on it would the arc have passed? At least mayor Messerly is innocent on this, he warned them not to jump into the arc project to begin with, and its coming home to roost now. Last time I knew it was the job of the city to provide police, and fire protection. Failing to prioritize this is very irresponsible, and shows no understanding of government to begin with.

The right to work issue in the state legislature is an interesting issue. I understand where the people against repealing the right to work are law coming from, they bring up good reasons not to. You should not have to join a union to work somewhere , but the people who want to repeal it are right too; it is not fair to receive the benefits that the union gets for you, and not pay your fair share of the dues. I think I need to study this further.

One thing is sure -- the minimum wage law is going to be a disaster, most businesses in Iowa start people off around $8.00 hr, at least that seems to be the market wage give or take a dollar. Are you telling me that these people who pay bills are only worth 75 cents more than a high school kid who has no bills? One thing is for sure, the resulting increase in the cost of goods and services will make the ability for families to buy homes even more difficult, and without the resulting property taxes does that bode well for the city budget problems?

Finally this week, I am curious: does Ted Kennedy collect Social Security and Medicare benefits even though he receives salary and benefits for being a senator, does anybody know? My understanding of it would be yes, lets see $200, 000 plus a year for salary, and health insurance that most people only wish they had and retirement benefits to boot. Awesome nice system, and the minute we talk about cutting taxes, he yells tax cuts for the rich, lets talk about subsidizing the rich, Ted.

-Timothy L Grover, the plain blunt guy

Jean, the Political Junkie

After the November election everyone anticipated that the minimum wage would increase. What we didn't anticipate is that the Iowa Legislature would create a more aggressive schedule of minimum wage increases than the Federal government is proposing.

Is the small businessman concerned? Two business people that I know have said they will no longer hire high school students--they want more mature workers if they have to pay $7.25 per hour in less than a year. Those same small businessmen are also concerned about their property taxes. How much relief will they really get from the blue-ribbon panel assembled by Governor Culver?

I was concerned that our Iowa Democratic legislators refused to consider any help for the small businesses that will bear the brunt of the minimum wage increase. We now have to rely on the U. S. Senate and the House of Representatives to negotiate a reasonable compromise.

Looking for a good read? Mary Lundby's STATEHOUSE STRAIGHT TALK is a great way to keep up with issues at the Statehouse.

-Jean Davidsaver