Democrat Andrea Phillips is not happy that she is being accused of signing a pledge to defund the police as she competes with Republican Mike Bousselot for the vacant Iowa House seat in Ankeny.
Here is what we know:
- Andrea Phillips signed the Pledge to Achieve America’s Goals from Future Now.
So that much is clear.
2. We also know that the pledge included goals on seven different topics.
In dispute — 5.c, which states “freedom from ethnic and racial profiling for everyone.”
3. And we know that website links to their goals individually. So, if one today visits the website, they’ll find this under section 5:
Nothing there about police funding.
But what if someone visited that same webpage on Sept. 15, 2020?
Well, glad you asked.
“Improve public safety by reinvesting policing savings in community-based and prevention programs.”
And on that page we read police funding has been shown to have no connection to crime rates.
The model policy is to establish a commission to examine police funding in Iowa and provide ways to generate savings and increase public safety by reallocating funds toward proven methods to support communities.
The model legislation leads to a reassessment of police funding and a reallocation of funding toward community-based programs.
So, that is pretty much what we know. The steps were not difficult to follow.
Just because defunding the police isn’t popular enough today to be on America’s Goals website, doesn’t mean it wasn’t back in September of 2020.
Oh, and if you’re wondering. Phillips was listed as someone who had signed that pledge as of June 11, 2020.
If Phillips does not support defunding the police, we welcome her to write a piece about the importance of proper police funding and how vital the role is our police officers play in our communities. And if she wishes to say that she unequivocally, 100 percent supports the police, we’d welcome it.
But we also know that Phillips credited Black Lives Matter protests with a drop in “killings of people by the police.”
And we know that she was upset when lawmakers criticized the Ames School District for its Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.
“Well this is absolutely predictably awful,” she said. “Iowa state legislators railing against a curriculum called ‘Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.’ Guess which side is against it?”
Well, guess what one tenant of this BLM at School Week of Action was?
You guessed it – defunding the police.
So if Phillips wants to say she doesn’t support defunding the police, one has to wonder why she keeps aligning herself with groups who want to defund the police.
