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Letter: Bargaining law, Kaufmann vote smelling fishy
Op-Ed · April 13, 2017
Representative Kaufmann recently voted to pass HF 291 — a bill which takes away the collective bargaining rights of thousands of public workers in Iowa.
This bill smells fishy to me. I don’t remember hearing about this bill when Representative Kaufmann and his Republican colleagues were campaigning this fall. I don’t recall any teachers, nurses or other public workers complaining about a system that didn’t work. I wonder why this bill excludes unions representing fire and police — if it’s so wonderful, why exclude them? Could it be because they vote in large numbers? I don’t understand why it was rushed: it was introduced on February 9th, 2017, and signed by the 17th.
Why was this bill given limited debate despite the fact that only 33 Iowans were given a chance to speak against this bill? Records show that 1,100 requested to speak against it and a mere two dozen for.
On top of this, the capitol grounds were overwhelmed with people protesting the bill — enough to warrant the use of extra security. And there were thousands of calls opposing the bill.
So, I’m left wondering: who were the representatives representing when voting for this bill? It seems fishy that despite all this dissent from constituents, Representative Kaufmann and other Republicans voted almost unanimously for it.
The governor was quick to sign this bill in a private session not open to the public or the press but very open to Drew Klein, a representative of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) – a big-money interest who backed the bill, and Wisconsin’s very similar Act 10. Mr. Klein was present, but we the people were not. He was there because the AFP and their partners at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) were the originators of the bill, not the legislators elected by, of and for the people of Iowa.
In recent correspondence, Representative Kaufmann countered my concerns by stating that “the notion that ALEC wrote this bill is a fantasy.” But this bill and many of the other bills currently being similarly rushed through the 87th legislature are the exact same ones easily found on the ALEC Model Legislation website through a simple Google search.
I encourage citizens to do this search but caution that they may want to hold their nose as they do: it smells fishy.
Jennie S. Schmidt
West Branch
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