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Today is election day. Who could have imagined a few years ago one of the biggest differences in 2020 would be funding law enforcement?

Twenty-five Democrats either in the Iowa legislature or running for the Iowa legislature signed a pledge that states “police funding has been shown to have no connection to crime rates.”

Included in the subsection for “Equal Opportunities For All,” model legislation is included. That model legislation calls for creating a commission to study taking money from police departments and instead give it to other community programs.

Representative Todd Prichard even signed the pledge. Prichard is the Minority Leader in the Iowa House. A full list of Iowa Democrats who have signed this pledge is included at the end of the story.

C.J. Petersen is running for Iowa Senate. On Monday, The Iowa Standard received this screenshot of what appears to be a comment from someone named Clinton Joe Petersen.

“He’s the one candidate in the race who actually cares about me and you. I’ll vote for whoever the Democrats nominate, but he’s the only one worth actually voting for in a primary. Oh, except Kamala Harris. She’s a cop. I hate cops.

The Iowa Standard reached out to Petersen on Monday. When asked if he used to have a Facebook profile under Clinton Joe Petersen, there was about a six-second pause.

“My name has been C.J. Petersen on Facebook for a really, really long time,” he said.

The Iowa Standard explained the comment and noted the Facebook profile from where the comment originated appears gone. We said the comment appears stating that the individual hates cops.

“Uh, no, not something I would’ve written,” he said.

Asked again if he’s ever had a Facebook profile under the name Clinton Joe Petersen, he said “my name on Facebook’s been C.J. Petersen for, forever, but, yeah, I mean, I don’t have any comment on that. I mean, I don’t hate cops. That’s not something I would say.”

The Iowa Standard read the full comment to Petersen and asked if he would’ve written that.

Another long pause ensued.

“I don’t remember writing that,” Petersen said.

Asked once more if he remembered having a Facebook profile named Clinton Joe Petersen, he said:

“Well, I’m sure that my name was Clinton Joe Petersen on Facebook before. But I don’t remember writing that,” he said.

The Iowa Standard emailed a screenshot of the comment to Petersen on Monday night. We’ll update the story if he responds.

Full list of Iowa legislators or candidates who signed pledge to defund the police:

Rep. Marti Anderson House 36

Christian Andrews House 95

Kelcey Brackett House 91

Rep. Wes Breckenridge House 29

Rep. Timi Brown-Powers House 61

Charles Clayton House 9

Rep. Molly Donahue House 68

Rep. Mary Gaskill House 81

Eric Gjerde House 67

Marie Gleason House 94

Rep. Kenan Judge House 44

Rep. Tim Kacena House 14

Jennifer Kakert House 92

Kayla Anne Koether House 55

Rep. Monica Kurth House 89

Rep. Mary Mascher House 86

Rep. Charlie McConkey House 15

Phil Miller House 82

Andrea Phillips House 37

Min. Leader Todd Prichard House 52

Rep. Art Staed House 66

Rep. Cindy Winckler House 90

Sen. Bill Dotzler Senate 31

Sen. Zach Wahls Senate 37

Author: Jacob Hall

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