Dear Friends,
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE PROGRAM:
(01:21) A conversation with Iowa State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott – LISTEN TO THIS SEGMENT
(22:23) Why presidential republics fail, with Jeffrey Weiss – LISTEN TO THIS SEGMENT
(40:53) How many presidential missteps will Americans put up with? – LISTEN TO THIS SEGMENT
(54:31) Can artificial dyes be eliminated?, with Kathy Byrnes – LISTEN TO THIS SEGMENT
During each year’s legislative session, I invite all Iowa lawmakers to come on my program. Few seem inclined. I guess I’m scary, or maybe most don’t appreciate hard-hitting questions. Maybe I smell bad. Who knows.
Iowa State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott (D-Dallas County)
This week, Iowa State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott joined me in the studio. Sarah doesn’t mind tough questions, and her answers were always clear and straightforward.
In addition to being a mom, a wife, and a Lutheran minister, Sarah represents Dallas County — the fastest growing county in the state. She’s won three close races in a district previously represented by Jake Chapman, the former Republican President of the Senate, who Sarah beat in 2022.
We discuss Sarah’s priorities. She’s concerned about Republican attacks on education, including a disturbing double standard: increased oversight of public schools and very little oversight of private schools funded with public money.
We discuss eminent domain legislation, which for three years has passed the House but stalled in the Senate. With public pressure mounting, the Senate Commerce Committee agreed to take up the House’s strong eminent domain bill last month. But under the leadership of the Committee’s chair, Republican Senator Mike Bousselot, many of the bill’s protections for landowners were removed.
That’s not surprising. given that Bousselot formerly worked for Summit Agricultural Group — the corporation that wants to bury a CO2 pipeline through nearly 700 miles of Iowa farms, fields, and forests.
Sarah: “Landowners who’ve been showing up at the Capitol advocating for their land rights are really concerned that this amended bill is not going to meet their needs.”
We also talk about food security. Sarah says, “What would help small-town and rural grocery stores the most would be not putting roadblocks in the way of people getting SNAP benefits — the food assistance program from the federal government. That’s about $50 million a month coming into Iowa, money that’s spent equally in urban and rural communities.”
Shifting from policy to politics, I ask Sarah about the Iowa Democratic Party.
Sarah: “[Laughs] Oh boy. I’m kind of an outsider. I wasn’t really engaged with the Party before I ran. My district is pretty purple. Will Rogers said, ‘I’m not part of an organized political party, I’m a Democrat,’ and I really find that to be true in Iowa.”
Me: “What should the state Party be doing differently?”
Sarah: “Talking to people who win tough districts would be a good place to start.”
Me: “So talking to you?”
Sarah: “I would love that.”
Me: “And they haven’t?”
Sarah: “I’ve had some conversations, but it’s kind of amazing to me all the think-pieces that would come out, people pronouncing what the Democrats should do, and none of those people helped me with my campaign or talked to me about how I won.”
Sarah’s final word: “People want someone who’s gonna show up for them and be different. There’s a lot of frustration with Democrats and Republicans. We need people to seek a different way to be in leadership so that they can authentically serve the people who elected them.”
— Ed Fallon
*******
In addition to our PODCAST, listen to the Fallon Forum on these affiliates:
– KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames, Iowa)
– KICI.LP 105.3 FM (Iowa City, Iowa)
– WHIV 102.3 FM (New Orleans, Louisiana)
– KPIP-LP, 94.7 FM (Fayette, Missouri)
– KCEI 90.1 FM (Taos, New Mexico)
– KRFP 90.3 FM (Moscow, Idaho)
– WGRN 94.1 FM (Columbus, Ohio)