Timing is everything. From monitoring soil conditions to planting corn and beans to asking the love of your life to marry you, timing is everything.
The Iowa Legislature hasn’t been productive in recent weeks due to an impasse over school choice. There doesn’t seem to be a rush to get back to work as many citizen legislators actively work in production agriculture and the window of opportunity to conduct tillage and planting is wide open and like most producers in Iowa they’re taking advantage of the weather and current soil conditions.
Unfortunately, the impasse and those working to feed the world are creating significant timing issues. For one, the fiscal year ends on June 30 and action will be required before that date to assure a budget is reconciled and passed.
The second and in my opinion the most critical timing issue is the fact that there’s a June 7 primary where Iowa voters will have the opportunity to vote in contested races in Iowa. On the Republican side, there are numerous contested Iowa House Republican primaries. In some situations, there are incumbents that are no votes on school choice being challenged by individuals that support giving parents educational choice.
This is where the major timing issue comes up. If Iowa Republicans living in contested primary districts don’t know where the incumbent or challenger stands on the issue at impasse (educational savings accounts) the likelihood of them having this issue brought before the Iowa House is slim before the June 7 primary. In theory, unless a voter actively engages the incumbent or challenger ahead of the election, a voter that supports educational freedom or medical freedom, the platform of said candidate may not be known until after the election and that may result in an ill or uninformed voter casting a vote for someone they fundamentally disagree with because of timing and lack of critical information.
Inaction and the unwillingness by some Iowa House legislators to publicly acknowledge their position on the issue of impasse and no vote being brought to the floor could render candidates and incumbents that support educational choice and medical freedom at a disadvantage in the June 7 primary. The timing debacle in this situation is most detrimental to Iowa Republican voters that want to know where their representative stands on issues. This issue is a tinderbox, but the ignition of the fuel, in this case, may come too late for voters to determine who to vote for on June 7.
With the primary quickly approaching and the likely bombardment of mailers and door-knocking political hopefuls growing exponentially in the coming days I’d encourage all voters to assert themselves in a professional, polite, but firm means of asking EVERY candidate where they stand on the issues. Whether it’s their stance on UTV operations, trapping laws, vaccine mandates, or educational savings accounts, now is the time to ask the questions. If you wait until June 8, July 1, or when the Iowa House reconvenes to potentially act on these very critical issues the clock will have run out and you will be stuck for the next two years.
Two years is a long time to wait for these critical and sometimes complicated issues to be resolved. Just think of where Iowa could be in the battle to save humans created in God’s own image had a handful of Republican Iowa Legislators acted to preserve life. 63,113,904 seconds, 17,531 hours, or 730 days make for horrible timing so take your time now and ask the questions.
BJ Hoffman
Liscomb, Iowa
