Amie Rivers over at iowastartingline.com passed on an extremely eye-opening story she wrote last Monday in her weekly news letter last Monday. As the election nears, I wanted to pass it on to our readers. I want to really thank Amie for writing this. She exposes just how anti-worker Republicans in the Iowa legislature have been for a long time.

Ms. Rivers focused on six specific laws passed by the Iowa legislature since Republicans have controlled the legislature along with the governor’s office. She calls these laws egregious. I concur. Iowa has been transformed from a state that had real respect for workers and farmers to a state where the rich are kings.

Her opening paragraphs really pack a punch as she sets up her story:

If you care about workers’ rights, or upholding federal child labor laws, or even being fiscally responsible with your tax dollars, you should know what your elected leaders have been up to in the Iowa Legislature.

Iowa Republicans have held power for years in the state legislature, passing all manner of laws designed to take money from the middle class and give it to corporations and the wealthy. (Iowa Democrats, meanwhile, have a different plan. But that plan is contingent upon voters electing them instead.)

Let’s look at six of the most egregious anti-worker policies of the last few years—and which state legislators on your ballot have voted for them.

Ms. Rivers then goes on to list the egregious laws with a comment about each and a link to the votes in the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate. As you can imagine many are party line votes. That shows the gulf between the Republicans who value wealth and disdain workers and the Democrats who value Iowa’s farmers and workers.

The six laws that are cited by Rivers are:

1. They’re giving wealthy Iowans a huge tax cut and bankrupting the state
2. They allowed younger child care workers to watch more kids at a time
3. They allowed younger workers in more dangerous occupations
4. They took away teachers’ right to bargain for better wages
5. They’re giving your tax dollars to wealthy private school parents
6. They took away protection from discrimination

Rivers then goes into detail on each law. She then links to the legislative votes on each. This allows you to look up to see what your legislative member actually did, and how he or she really stands on these issues.

As Republicans rule the roost in Iowa we are seeing the standard of life sink in Iowa. This election is your only real opportunity to change the direction that Iowa’s leadership is headed. Keeping one party in super majority in a state with that party also controlling the governor’s office and the judiciary is a formula for a bad oligarchy. This is your chance to make a difference. 

By highlighting the Iowa Republican Party’s assault on working Iowans I hope that voters will understand that their vote does make a huge difference. And I hope that what party and what individuals you vote for for representation will make a huge difference in your life and that of all Iowans.

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