Hart talks issues at Charles City campaign stop

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Before she was ever a candidate for Iowa lieutenant governor, Rita Hart was warning the Trump Administration — and her colleagues in the Iowa Senate — about the harm that tariffs could do to the state economy.

“It’s truly disappointing to me that Gov. Reynolds and her Republican colleagues didn’t jump on board when I wrote a letter to the Trump Administration back in March that said ‘Hey, be careful,’” Hart, a Charles City native, said Thursday.

Hart, 62, is currently a Democratic state senator, representing all of Clinton County and part of Scott County.

She wrote a letter last spring that urged the president “to reconsider the economic costs and benefits of your plan to impose new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.”

“It’s clear to most observers that the inevitable retaliation to proposed tariffs will have a negative impact on Iowa’s agricultural economy by causing other countries to levy burdensome tariffs against Iowa farm products,” she said in the letter that she invited all her Senate colleagues to sign.

The letter was signed by every Democratic member of the Senate — and by Independent Sen. David Johnson — but not one Republican.

“I was accused of criticizing the president, and that was not the point at all. I was very careful not to,” Hart said Thursday. “I understand that Republican legislators want to support their Republican president, but we’re talking about supporting the economy of Iowa.

“I thought it was perfectly reasonable to send a letter saying, ‘let’s be careful with what we’re doing here,’” she said.

Since then, the Trump Administration installed a series of tariffs with China, among other places, which instigated what many are calling a trade war. Soybean prices have been hit especially hard, as China purchased almost a third of the entire U.S. soybean crop, and buyers there are now searching for other foreign producer countries to avoid the added cost.

“When I got up and suggested we all get on board with this letter, I was very careful in crafting it to make sure it wasn’t a partisan letter, that it simply was sticking up for Iowa farmers,” Hart said. “This is truly important to Iowa’s economy and to all of the Midwest.”

Hart, the Democratic hopeful for Iowa lieutenant governor, was in Charles City Thursday for a local Democratic Party fundraiser and stopped by the Press to chat about the campaign. It was her third official visit to Charles City as a candidate since June, when Democratic gubernatorial nominee Fred Hubbell announced her as his choice for running mate.

Republican incumbents Kim Reynolds and Adam Gregg are the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor running against Hubbell and Hart. Reynolds was formerly lieutenant governor, and became governor in May 2017, when Gov. Terry Branstad resigned to become U.S. ambassador to China.

“We know how important the ag economy is to the overall economy,” Hart said. “We know it’s already cost Iowa farmers maybe over a billion dollars. When we talk to people in rural Iowa, they’re concerned about that.”

Hart and her husband, Paul, have raised five children and have been operating his family’s century farm near Wheatland, about 25 miles northeast of Davenport, since 1986.

“Paul and I have been farming for over 30 years, and I grew up on a dairy farm just outside of town here,” she said. “Farmers want fair trade. They want to be able to produce their crop and get a fair price for it, they don’t want these handouts. They don’t want to be in that kind of a position.”

Hart said that agriculture and trade were two of the many issues she’s heard about from Iowans as she’s campaigned.

“We have been going all across the state, and we’ve been getting a really great response, a lot of people at these events and a lot of great conversations,” she said. “We’ve gotten a really good read on the issues that are important to people, and it always comes back to the same ones.”

Hart mentioned women’s health care, mental health care, privatization of Medicaid and education funding.

“People are really upset about how so many have fallen through the cracks when it comes to the privatization of Medicaid,” she said. “The providers are struggling to get their bills paid, so there’s concern there. Fred and I are committed to turning that around. On day one, we’re going to get that back under state control.”

She said that Medicaid and mental health care issues go hand-in-hand.

“Everybody has a mental health care story to tell us,” Hart said. “Wherever we go, somebody didn’t get the mental health care service they desperately need. People are having to travel too far to get to a mental health bed. That’s a huge concern for people.”

Another concern Hart’s been hearing about from Iowans is the underfunding of education.

“People want their schools funded,” she said. “They want to see that their communities are going to thrive because we have a strong education system.”

Hart was a teacher for more than 20 years in the Calamus-Wheatland and Bennett Community school districts. She attended Immaculate Conception school in Charles City through eighth grade, then graduated from Charles City High School in 1974.

“We are going to correct the fact that schools have been underfunded and that collective bargaining rights have been lost,” Hart said. She added that those issues have affected all of Iowa, but she thinks they’ve particularly impacted rural Iowa.

“When people don’t have the health services they need, and transportation becomes a huge issue to get to those health care services, that hurts rural Iowa more,” she said. “It’s the same thing with education — when small schools struggle and have to cut back on staff, and aren’t able to have the programs that they would like to field, then that affects the economy of these small towns.”

Hart grew up with eight brothers and sisters, and several of them still live in the Charles City area with their families.

“I work hard every day to do the best job I can to make a difference in this state,” she said. “I attribute my belief in how important it is to give back, and how important community is, to the place where I grew up.”