Samantha Fett and Garrett Gobble are opposing candidates in the Republican primary race for Iowa House District 22, a seat currently held by retiring Representative Stan Gustafson.
Garrett Gobble has issued a very misleading postcard attacking Samantha Fett. A scan of the postcard accompanies this article.
The postcard identifies Samantha Fett solely as a “lobbyist” which may give the impression that Ms. Fett is a hired gun offering her lobbying services to the highest bidder. The whole truth is that she is a registered lobbyist for the conservative family values organization Inspired Life as part of her duties as their Regional Senior Ambassador. https://www.legis.iowa.gov/lobbyist/reports/declarations
Inspired Life is “an organization working to help men and women, marriages, parents, children, leaders, educators, givers, and business owners live truly God-inspired lives. Through retreats, speaking engagements, one-on-one appointments, coaching, and resources, we work to inspire and educate individuals on what it takes to live out all God created them for.
We also work to help Iowans navigate educational freedom by improving the quality of our children’s education through new initiatives and schools.” https://www.inspired-life.org/about
The bills Samantha Fett lobbied on are listed at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/lobbyist/reports/declarations The positions she advocates are conservative and pro-life.
Gobble’s postcard falsely states Fett has “No Record” from the NRA. Gobble also cited his NRA rating as his “record”. His statement is false as Samantha Fett has an “AQ” rating from the NRA. This indicates the NRA gives her an “A” rating based on her survey response. https://www.nrapvf.org/grades/iowa/
Gobble also makes the absurd assertion that Samantha Fett has “No Record” on “Life”. When official government records and video demonstrate that Fett testified before the legislature providing an anti-abortion, pro-life position, the assertion she has “no record” on life is patently false.
Samantha Fett is listed as a pro-life speaker at the public hearing on the Heartbeat Bill at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/publicHearings?action=viewMeetingSignups&meetingID=37439 Her testimony is shown at 1:25:22 in the official video. https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/publicHearings?meetingID=37439&action=viewHearingVideo
Other evidence of her pro-life advocacy can be found at https://www.fettforhouse.com/experience.
A defender of Gobble’s postcard emailed me indicating that Fett has no legislative voting record on these issues. Gobble’s postcard never states Samantha Fett has “No Voting Record” meaning votes in the legislature. If he had said that, it would be true for anyone who was not previously a legislator, including a legislator who lost, as Gobble did, his last campaign to a Democrat. The postcard only states “No record”.
Using this illogic, that “no record” means only “no voting record”, any non-legislator who advocated for pro-life and pro-Second Amendment issues, no matter how well known and documented that advocacy was, could be said to have “no record” on those issues. That is absurd.
The postcard indicates Fett is rated “Conservative (Conditional)” by the American Family Association. The QR Code on the postcard links to their ivoterguide.com which indicates the “conditional” rating is based on “a limited amount of public data.” Apparently, the American Family Association was unable to find the substantial amount of public data showing that Samantha Fett’s conservatism is anything but “conditional”. Using their methodology, it appears that almost all of the conservatives reading this article would be rated as “conditional” conservatives.
It remains to be seen whether Garrett Gobble will retract these erroneous statements about Samantha Fett.
Donald W. Bohlken of Indianola is an attorney and a retired administrative law judge with the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. He worked for seven years combined at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and Cedar Rapids Human Rights Commission as an investigator and then for 21 years as an administrative law judge at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and the Department of Inspections and Appeals. He received his J.D. with Honors from Drake University in 1986.
Author: Donald Bohlken
Donald W. Bohlken of Indianola is an attorney and a retired administrative law judge with the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. He worked for seven years combined at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and Cedar Rapids Human Rights Commission as an investigator and then for 21 years as an administrative law judge at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and the Department of Inspections and Appeals. He received his J.D. with Honors from Drake University in 1986.
Great article, Donald. Thank you for clarifying these misstatements for those who believe everything they read!
Gunowners should review the comparison between the records of Garrett Gobble and Samantha Fett by the Iowa Gun Owners. The comparison is very favorable towards Fett. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHtAES7VOdE