Iowa governor candidate DeJear visits Charles City

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Democratic candidate for governor Deidre DeJear stopped by Charles City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, to meet with voters as Election Day approaches.

With two weeks before the election, DeJear visited with area Democrats at their downtown campaign office to rally support in the final days of campaigning.

One of the major focuses of DeJear’s speech centered on Iowa’s education system. DeJear criticized her opponent, Gov. Kim Reynolds, for the state’s handling of the public school system and efforts to redirect public school funds into privately owned alternatives.

“She suggests that we take $55 million of taxpayer money to fund the private tuition of 2% of our students,” said DeJear. “From my vantage point, that is a fundamental failure because our state has been good at providing a quality education system under both Republican and Democratic leadership.”

DeJear lamented the drop in Iowa’s traditionally high standings for education compared to other states in the nation, attributing it to insufficient funding and an inability to retain teachers.

“We had schools that opened in August that didn’t have math teachers, that didn’t have Spanish teachers. We had schools that opened where we had one teacher to 45 students. We know that’s not setting our students up for success, but we’re going to do something about it,” said DeJear. “I am going to fully fund our system and ensure that we get about a four to five percent increase on an annual basis.”

DeJear says that greater funding for the schools, particularly in teacher salaries, is crucial to competing with neighboring states like Minnesota and Illinois.

DeJear also expressed her concern about the lack of access for mental health services in the state, even for those who should have the health coverage to receive it.

“Right now we have challenges with insured people being turned away,” said DeJear, noting that Iowa ranks 45th in mental health care availability. “If insured people are being turned away, we can only imagine what the most vulnerable amongst us are experiencing.”

Children’s mental health was of particular concern to DeJear, who recounted a story of a father who was presented with wait times of two to six months to receive help for his son, due to having less than 750 mental health care beds in the state.

“We have less than 30 child psychologists in this state,” said DeJear. “We have half-a-million kids.”

Criticizing Reynolds for seeking to privatize social systems such as mental health, Medicaid and schools, DeJear said she wants to be a leader who brings Democrats and Republicans together to resolve problems and make use of Iowa’s surplus budget.

“Her surplus is doing nothing to add value to our education system,” said DeJear. “She can boast about a surplus. Meanwhile, Iowans are getting the short end of the stick.”

DeJear spent some time in Charles City after the meeting doing some one-on-one canvassing before moving on to her next event in Waverly. She encouraged her audience to reach out to voters, particularly younger demographics, and get them engaged in the election.

DeJear’s visit was encouraging to Dené Lundberg, who is running for the Iowa House of Representatives seat in District 58.

“She’s an amazing woman,” said Lundberg. “She’s hearing us and she knows what we need.”

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Democratic candidate for Governor Deidre DeJear visited Charles City on Tuesday, Oct. 25 to meet with area Democrats before Election Day.

Deidre DeJear and Dené Lundberg hope to work together in Des Moines as Governor and Iowa Representative after the upcoming election.