Letters: Chuck Grassley is right for Iowa, somebody we’d all like to know

Worried about Reynolds’ re-election

To Gov. Kim Reynolds: I am deeply saddened that you were elected governor of Iowa for the next four years. More than sad, I am fearful for our state.

I am especially appalled by your unrelenting efforts to strip women of their rights. I am terrified by your fealty to the NRA and your policies endangering Iowans by making it easier to obtain deadly weapons while mouthing empty platitudes about mental health. I am frightened for the members of the LGBTQ community and especially for our transgender children. I am deeply concerned about the future of our public schools under your leadership. I am concerned that your focus is on satisfying corporations and your big donors while ignoring the needs of ordinary Iowans; and, in view of your gross mishandling of the recent pandemic, I am worried that, should there be another such outbreak, even more lives will be lost on your watch.

I am heartened by one thing: 510,288 Iowans voted for Deidre DeJear or Rick Stewart. Obviously I am not the only one who is seriously worried about the future of our state under your leadership. There are 510,287 other Iowans who are worried too.

— M. Jean Lucas, Ankeny

Not wanting to collect taxes owed is a head-scratcher

So, let me get this straight. The IRS may hire new agents to enforce what is owed. Sounds good to me, given the tax gap of $496 billion a year for tax years 2014 through 2016. And then you have the estimated tax gap for 2017 through 2019 is $540 billion, as reported by the Associated Press.

Yet, led by our own Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republicans are aghast at the proposition of hiring more IRS agents to enforce our tax laws and close this tax gap. Those who do not pay shift the tax burden to those of us who do. I thought Republicans were the party of law and order and personal responsibility. Yet, in the instance of paying taxes, not so much.

Maybe it is time Republicans just come out and say they want to eliminate all taxes. They wouldn’t be able to run on cutting taxes anymore, but why not, since collecting what one owes is not a priority.

— Ed Eberlein, Manilla

Six weeks might as well be a complete abortion ban

Rape and incest are are hideous crimes done to women and children. So many times this evil takes place in homes and the criminal is never punished. This can be a death sentence for young girls who become pregnant.

Banning abortion after six weeks is the same as completely banning it. Hardly ever does a female know she is pregnant within six weeks. Menstrual cycles are usually monthly. In order to prevent a pregnancy, females would have to get to a medical center for a D&C (abortion) as soon as she misses her next period.

It’s possible doctors and other medical personnel will abandon this area of medicine if they continue to be threatened with losing their license and sent to prison.

— Norma Lindeen, Swedesburg

Name-calling sets a poor example

It is a crying shame the way our politicians demean one another with degrading name-calling. What a poor example for our children whom we try to teach not to ever make fun of or call their peers hurtful names. Our politicians are setting a very poor example for the children of the United States. They need to stop blasting their opponents and tell the public their plans to make positive changes.

— Donnabelle Richtsmeier, Des Moines

Chuck is somebody we’d all like to know

Chuck Grassley, by his very name, suggests the kind of senator he's been: an elected official you feel comfortable calling by his first name. And of course you do so because the "full Grassley" is a commonplace term, just as it was used in an episode during the last season of the award-winning drama series "The Good Wife."

How many other elected leaders have that achievement, well earned by his accessibility? And how many senators from either party were card-carrying union members, as Chuck was at John Deere? Talk about breaking stereotypes!

Right after the 2020 election, stopping at a courthouse complex in a county of barely 10,000, people, Grassley saw the lot filled with Johnson and Polk county cars. Yet despite seeing familiar friendly faces in the crowd, Chuck called upon the young woman with raised arm who proudly announced she was here illegally. Her questions (he gave her follow-ups), were argumentative; he answered all fully in an Iowa-friendly way.

As for his many years of service, “seniority” is the key to power in the Senate, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. Chuck has that seniority. Even Sen. Joni Ernst, the first woman combat vet in the Senate, during GOP control of same, did not get a chairmanship; Chuck does. That seniority znc experience allow him to cross the aisle and enact bipartisan actions.

In turn, his compromises cost him some GOP support (witness his conservative challenger in this year's primary). Some Iowa Republicans disown him because he soundly condemned the Jan. 6 miscreants and spoke harshly of President Donald Trump's actions, yet he then gets attacked for accepting Trump's endorsement.

I do not recall Rekha Basu criticizing Sen. Tom Harkin for accepting Bill Clinton despite his affair in the White House. In our polarized society, compromise has become a dirty word, but one fact remains - we appreciate honesty.

I trust Chuck as the epitome of a public servant who is the best positioned senator to look out for Iowans!

— Gerald Edgar, Garner

A request of Rekha Basu

Thank you, Rekha Basu, for always being the voice for so many Iowans. Please continue the rallying cry by so many for decency, justice, and hope for a better tomorrow.

— Candice McMains, West Des Moines

Giving up aid money is callous

I can’t believe what I have just read in the Register on Nov. 4: that the state of Iowa is allowing almost $100 million in COVID-relief money to be returned to Washington? And this money was to relieve the housing costs for Iowa citizens who still need help as a result of the pandemic, or because of inflation, or any number of reasons that most state department heads don’t experience? Or understand?

Who conveyed an attitude that “the state has no appetite for requesting these funds or re-allocating them within the state.”

No appetite? How callous an attitude, just days after reading in this very newspaper of the increased number of homeless and others in need of housing in Des Moines because the “camps” will be replaced by what is very affordable housing for some people.

No, I am not glad to live in a state that wastes opportunities like this.

— Sister Mary Rehmann, Davenport

No Iowa Democrats in D.C.

It's all fun and games at Republican headquarters now, but one day Iowa farmers and ag-related businesses will realize they now have no influence on or access to the Democratic caucus in either chamber in Washington and no one to work on their behalf on the agriculture committees. The Democrats will be back in charge one day and may not care much about Iowa's interests.

— Robert Runge, Des Moines

Disowning Biden was the wrong move

Democrats ran from Biden and his accomplishments. Democrats lost. Republicans campaigned using Biden's accomplishments. They won. Perhaps a lesson is learned.

— Anne Michael, Tama

Take housing out of agency's hands

The Iowa Finance Authority’s failure under Debi Durham to successfully distribute federal funds intended to provide rental assistance and address affordable housing shortages is just another example of Gov. Kim Reynolds' failed leadership relative to meeting human needs.

Perhaps the governor should be assigning this responsibility to Kelly Garcia rather than leaving it in Iowa Finance Authority’s hands since it clearly has no interest in getting Iowa children into stable housing. This is a statewide problem that needs to be addressed on a statewide basis. Kelly Garcia seems to be interested (although past due) in creating solutions for child protective services, so perhaps that division should be in charge, Governor!

— Don Burkhead, Grinnell

More: Iowa set to lose millions in rental assistance to other states

Tom Miller's loss is our loss

The biggest disappointment of Iowa's Republican wave was the state's loss of Attorney General Tom Miller. For years, his representing us in his fight for the protection of consumers from greedy corporations has been noted throughout the country.

This coupled with his abled professionalism makes his loss to a rural county attorney with limited experience and with embarrassing TV ads makes me truly ask: What was our electorate thinking? Playing on her childish ad, I guess she ended up giving Iowa the bird.

— Lloyd Kaufman, Des Moines

If you can't say anything nice

Will we now be seeing apologies from candidates for the outrageous, exaggerated, out-of-context, mean-spirited, deceptive and untrue ads that their campaigns used?

— Don Perschau, Waukee

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Letters: Chuck Grassley is right for Iowa, someone we’d like to know