Duffy hates women?

Why does Brian Duffy hate women (Duffy’s View, May 29)? Joni Ernst is an honorable woman. Is this why Iowa has not had a female congressional member yet because of your anti-female sentiments at The Des Moines Register? Feel free to air my comments in your bias newspaper.

Driving out snakes

Regarding Bill Knapp’s anemic attempt — although dead-on in its conflation of money and Republicanism — at a riposte to his friend’s suggestion that now that he was rich he was no longer a Democrat (Civic Skinny, May 29), “Yeah, I’ve finally made enough money so that I can become a Republican,” I would like to propose that a far more clever and truer comment on Republican conversion is that of the Irish-American author, Frank McCourt, who is said to have replied (perhaps apocryphally) to the question, “As an Irishman, how much do you know about St. Patrick?”: “Not much, except that he drove all the snakes out of Ireland and then they all came to America and became Republicans.”

I need a woman

I appreciate the idea of choosing a female running-mate for lieutenant governor as a means of sending a positive message to women. In our particularly male-dominated government, sometimes it is daunting to believe that a woman might find her place and make a difference.

However, I find myself questioning Hatch’s true motives behind seeking a woman to run with him. I worry that Hatch is choosing a woman for the sake of gaining political edge by mimicking and subsequently surpassing his opposition. He comes off as trying to make a statement: “If Branstad can do it with Reynolds, then so can I.” This article (Political Mercury, May 29) even quotes him as saying “’It’s about me and Branstad.’” Not “this is what I believe this woman and I can do together,” but instead, “This election is about the two of us men, and these women will play background roles while we fight for dominance.”

Modern day David?

“Jack who” (Civic Skinny, May 29) paints a seemingly hopeless challenge by Senator Jack Hatch to the Governor for life, Terry (master ribbon cutter) Branstad.

Conceding Hatch’s defeat so prematurely simply because Branstad has a money advantage ignores the radioactivity of the Branstad scandals contaminating him.

The Hatch vs. Branstad faceoff has the look of a David vs. Goliath duel and just as Goliath was considered invincible, Hatch is armed with a deadly slingshot full of the mismanagement, incompetence and ugly political manipulations practiced by the Branstad regime. Branstad will attempt to use his fat war chest to concoct a fairy tale story of success while continuing to whine and make excuses for all the poisonous scandals infecting his regime. Hatch can win if he targets each of the multiple Branstad scandals, points out the damage each has caused Iowa’s history of good government and provides solutions.

Branstad’s elitist rule represents the old and obnoxious “Good Old Boy” network of the past while Hatch’s history of problem solving offers Iowans a forward looking path to the future. Iowans demand honesty and integrity on the part of their political leaders, and Branstad’s ugly and poisonous scandals make him vulnerable to a David armed with the truth.

Priorities

It was of great interest that I read in the May 31 Des Moines Register about the siltation in the north end of Salorville Lake (an impoundment on the Des Moines River) interfering with recreational and flood control, and then a couple of pages later, reading a story about our “Governor for Life” line item vetoing $9 million from the REAP program and $11.2 million from the agriculture bill for water quality improvement. Just goes to show where his priorities lie. Of course, REAP had never been fully funded since its inception and is not being used for the purpose for which it was written, safeguarding native prairie and water.

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