The candidates for House District 83 participated in a candidate forum held by the Mount Vernon-Lisbon unit of the League of Women Voters Thursday, Sept. 19, at Mount Vernon Performing Arts Center lobby. More than 100 constituents were present at the event.

In opening statements, Kent McNally, the Democrat candidate, thanked the league for hosting and commended his opponent for keeping things civil in the race.

“I really appreciated the conversation we had early in the race about where we stood on issues and our difference,” McNally said.

Golding outlined reasons she was in the race, including her family – six children, 21 grandchildren, and nine foreign exchange students.

“I was an analytic chemist before having children,” Golding said. “I also served as a youth mentor for several years, and worked with children with disabilities. Our home became a place of a break for them.

Top three priorities

Golding said her main three issues were defending small towns and rural areas and their Constitutional rights, defending against the use of eminent domain and McNally said women’ s choice for bodily autonomy, helping Area Education Agencies again, and working on collective bargaining once more. He also said he was supportive of small towns.

How would you support working families? Raise the minimum wage, extend unemployment benefits, increase child care?

McNally said that something has to be done on minimum wage, that it’s impossible to raise families on $7.25 per hour. He also would extend unemployment benefits. Golding said the minimum wage was never supposed to be a living wage, it was a wage for high school students to work at to gain experience and move up in the field. She said the issue of inflation has made things harder. She would be in favor of a study on the issue. She also said that a bill to help childcare was passed in the House, but never made it through the Senate in last legislative cycle.

Thoughts on the use of eminent domain to install a pipeline through private land.

Golding said she’s made a name for herself fighting carbon sequestration pipelines, having joined with 30 other Republicans to oppose the Summit pipeline decision by the Iowa Utilities Commission at the state and federal levels. “If this passes, no one would be safe,” Golding said. “The pipeline has a number of issues, and I’m working on this issue because of the safety to the community.”

McNally said he was against the use of eminent domain. He said pipelines are okay if they’re done correctly and properly installed and have inspections. On solar energy, McNally said it was important for the state to have a portfolio of different energy options.

Urban/rural divide

McNally said he has loved living in a rural community of Central City and would love to protect that way of life.

“I work in Cedar Rapids, but at the end of the day come home to live in Central City,” McNally said. “My biggest win was when my neighbors started inviting me to coffee at the local gas station with them, after being in this community for a few years.

Golding said this is an issue she has worked on for decades as well, remembering the 28E agreements between different agencies that were passed. In Palo, those agreements weren’t honored, as it wasn’t law, and it made the larger communities bullies. She wants to make sure small communities are represented well.

School vouchers and accountability

Golding reminded attendees that what was passed wasn’t a voucher, it was an ESA. The purpose of the funding was to make sure education of students was important and it gave families the right to choose the proper accredited schools to send their students. She said it allows families to pick the best school for their needs and get the education that fits their students.

McNally said for him the issue is that private schools have the ability to cherry pick students, and not all are allowed.

“They want the best and the rest get to go somewhere else,” McNally said. As a tradesperson, he has worked with all different forms of education. He said he didn’t want to see public schools defunded.

What is the proper role of government and schools on gender discussions?

McNally said the matter of gender identity is a family issue, and that government and schools should not be involved. As a person who works in the trades, if someone is willing to do the work, he was willing to work alongside them no matter who they are.

Golding said she had no concern for adults who made the decision to transition. Her issue was for anyone under the age of 18 making a choice that would allow permanent mutilation to their body should not be allowed.

Women’s health care and restrictions from heartbeat bill

Golding said she had a long conversation with her OB/ GYN about the issue and that a heartbeat was a viable life of a child. Golding said that the heartbeat bill is not a damaging bill. It allows for the growth of the second person, and people have the ability to abort before a heartbeat is detected. The development of heartbeats in infants varies, it can happen sooner.

McNally said he was pro-choice, but not pro-abortion. He doesn’t believe the statements of babies being killed after birth that are around. He said his ex-wife had an ectopic pregnancy and had to have an abortion at three months to protect her own health.

“A lot of women don’t know they’re pregnant within the first three months,” McNally said.

Public water contamination – What can Iowa do to protect water quality?

McNally said that water quality is a huge issue in this state, and if Iowans don’t step up to protect their water with more ways to filtrate out nitrogen and other issues, things are going to get worse.

Golding said this was one of the bills she worked on at the legislature because she saw how it would impact small communities in her district by requiring cities to do more to retain more water instead of builders working to stop water because it was costly.

Nursing homes and elder care

Golding said that one of her close friends has a loved one in a nursing home, and the horror stories she has heard during session about nursing homes scares her. She said the House tried to increase funding and have increased inspections and expects that the issue will be tackled in the coming session.

McNally said that compared to the nursing homes and centers in other areas of the country like Philadelphia, Iowa’s nursing homes are better quality. He did note that high turnover and employee burnout contribute to the staffing issues of care centers.

Censorship and where you stand on banning books from public school libraries

McNally said he believes in parental rights on controlling what a child encounters in a library, and thinks books should adhere to a rating system of age appropriateness like movie ratings where certain books in libraries are kept out of the wrong grade level. He doesn’t agree with removing books, period.

Golding corrected the language on the question, noting legislature did not pass a book ban, they passed a bill that made sure age appropriate books were housed in school libraries. She explained that the Iowa Code defines what a sex act is in plain English and the bill passed was to make sure certain verbiage and pictures are not in books housed at schools. They can be maintained at public libraries and still purchased by parents if they so choose.

Iowa’s property taxes higher than other states

Golding said she is 100 percent opposed to the real estate law as it is, as the every two years of property reassessment balloons the value of properties. She wants to freeze assessments for a few years as the legislature works on property tax reform again and require taxing entities to come to their constituents for any tax increases.

McNally agreed with Golding on the issue, siting his assessment has been changed numerous times by an assessor. He did note taxes in the rural areas are nowhere near as high as Linn-Mar or Cedar Rapids school districts.

Iowa’s surplus and where you stand

McNally said that surplus is because the state is cutting funding for items that should still be funded, like mental health and SNAP benefits.

“Let’s not cut funding for things Iowans need,” McNally said.

Golding said she is proud of how the governor has managed the surplus. She said the House did request a 3 percent state supplemental aid last year, but that was negotiated to a 2.5 percent SSA. She reminded everyone the surplus is being kept in case of a recession like the one that hit in 2008-09 when Gov. Chet Culver was in charge and there wasn’t a surplus and all agencies took a 10 percent cut.

“All indications point to us facing a recession soon, and we’ll need the rainy-day funds,” Golding said.

AEA services and how to solve the issue

Golding said that the AEA bill is one she continually hears thank you from special education teachers, administrators and others for the way it helped get what students needed or freed them from the AEA systems that weren’t working for them.

“In the past year, I’ve had 10 special education teachers say ‘thank you’ for the action taken,” Golding said.

McNally said that the legislature needs to look at the fallout of the actions on the AEA bills, that it is placing paraeducators in dangerous situations with training they do not have. More districts are also relying on more volunteer help and he wants to get back support to the AEAs.