State Senator and Republican Lt. Governor nominee Kim Reynolds held a Clay County Town Hall meeting at the Spencer Public Library Tuesday night. Senator Dave Johnson and Representative Jeff Smith were also in attendance.
Reynolds spoke for roughly 40 minutes and answered several questions from the audience. She was articulate and seemed quite at ease speaking to the folks gathered there. It appeared to be a politically friendly group, and they listened carefully to her remarks while sipping coffee and nibbling on cookies.
She spoke a bit about her family: Married 28 years, mother of 3, also a grandmother with more grandchildren on the way. She also spoke of her appreciation for Senator Johnson who was her mentor while she served in the Senate. Johnson, who introduced Reynolds at the meeting, said that he would miss her in the Senate but with a smile said he “understood” why she had to leave.
Reynolds said that with 14 days left that they were taking nothing for granted, and were going to continue to campaign vigorously. She had adopted Gov. Terry Branstad’s goal of visiting all 99 counties in the state, and tonight’s visit to Clay County was number 91 for her. She said it had been “great meeting, talking, and listening” to Iowans.
She said the State of Iowa “can’t take much more of Chet Culver’s progress”, and that the problems we face are the result of “mismanagement and overspending”. She said that “we can do a better job”, and spoke of Branstad’s goal of creating 200,000 jobs and mentioned the necessity of reducing the size and cost of government. She cited a business woman in Algona who was “hunkered down” because of the climate of uncertainty that currently exists, and said she was excited at the prospect of working with entrepreneurs and businesses in the state to help create jobs and help businesses grow.
She was asked questions ranging from what her duties were going to be to what should be done about the educational funding situation. She appeared to have a good grasp of the issues, and had a clear passion for promoting economic growth. She said she hopes to play a role in the restructuring of government services to develop the most efficient way to provide them. On the educational funding issue she said they had “tough choices” ahead, and that Gov. Culver’s 4% growth plan simply wasn’t going to happen.
When asked about the retention of State Supreme Court Judges, Reynolds said that she encourages people to research the matter and vote their consciences. Surprisingly, there were no follow up questions on this issue.
She was also asked if “we are going to be a 10th amendment state?” to which she responded “I hope so”, and said “enough is enough” when speaking of some of the legislation coming out of Washington.
“Help is on the way”, she said to laughter and applause.