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Health & Fitness

On the Iowa Supreme Court Retention Vote

Relatively few Iowans know there are four Iowa Supreme Court Justices up for a retention vote on the Nov. 6 ballot.This is the Iowa we are becoming, but it doesn't have to be that way.

At a neighborhood gathering this weekend, talk turned to politics and which Iowa Supreme Court Justices will be on the Nov. 6 ballot. There are four of them, Edward Mansfield, Thomas Waterman, David Wiggins and Bruce Zager. Most of the people in the conversation had no clue any of them was up for a retention vote, and that is typical of how my family, friends and neighbors have been. We believed the judiciary retention votes were a non-issue.

Of the four justices, Wiggins was appointed by Governor Tom Vilsack and the others were appointed by Governor Terry Branstad. For my part, the only one of them I have heard of was Waterman, and that was because his firm took the side of corporate interests when my mother filed suit in the wake of my father's death in an industrial accident. I bear him no personal grudge, I'm just sayin' I don't really know any of them.

Talk at the gathering turned to Wiggins and the attempt by some to oust him for upholding the Iowa Constitution in Varnum v. Brien. There was confusion about what that case meant. Some felt the justices were legislating from the bench, and the only way to make a decision on the subject of a definition of marriage was to vote on it. I tried to explain that the decision was already made when the constitution was ratified.

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One gent suggested that we oust the three Branstad appointees in a tit for tat scheme for getting even. The question was more what we should do about the politicization of the judicial retention election by people like Bob Vander Plaats and Iowa Republican Party chair A.J. Spiker, rather than considered thought about any of the justices. It was a gut reaction to the unfairness of the question posed by Republicans.

I am willing to bet that relatively few Iowans know there are four Iowa Supreme Court Justices up for a retention vote on the Nov. 6 ballot and that even fewer will study the matter or read the detailed information about them, like at this link.

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This is the Iowa we are becoming, but it doesn't have to be that way. Rather than seeking political revenge, take a look and make an informed decision. It may be the only way out of this sorry hole of partisanship that no one likes and is wanting resolution.

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