Iowa Senate Candidates Square Off in Debate for Critical District 18 Seat

By Hannah Hess
IowaPolitics.com

MARION — Republican candidate Cindy Golding found herself fending off questions Wednesday night about party-line voting and her relationship to Gov. Terry Branstad during the first debate of the high-profile race for Iowa's Senate District 18 special election.

Golding, a rural Cedar Rapids businesswoman, loudly declared to Democratic challenger and former TV anchor Liz Mathis: "I will not be a rubber stamp for Governor Branstad."

Voters will choose between the two candidates on Nov. 8, in a special election that could alter control of the Iowa Senate. If Mathis wins, Democrats would retain a slim majority. If Golding wins, control of the Iowa Senate would be split 25-25, making debate of GOP priorities like property tax reform and a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage more likely.

Both candidates promised Wednesday night to vote independent of their political party. They made their comments to 150 or so people who had gathered at the Linn-Mar High School Auditorium to listen to the debate sponsored by the Cedar Rapids Gazette and KCRG-TV9.

Such political independence has been key to the lawmaker representing that politically competitive district, which had 16,008 registered Republican voters and 15,745 registered Democratic voters as of Oct. 3, with independents topping both parties with 19,960 voters, according to the Iowa secretary of state's office.

The two candidates raised their voices throughout Wednesday night's hour-long debate, in heated exchanges about Branstad's proposed education reforms for Iowa's school system, "universal" preschool and property tax reform — and gridlock between the parties. Exacerbating the situation were some technical difficulties that prevented the microphones from working.

Golding emphasized twice during the debate that if elected, her first vote would be choosing a new Iowa Senate leader who would could push aside Democratic leadership that has "stood in the way of every positive economic bill.

Mathis, the chief information officer for Four Oaks, a Cedar Rapids-based child welfare, justice and behavioral health agency, vowed to reach across the aisle and work with both parties. She grilled Golding on whether she would act in the interests of Senate District 18 constituents, or the party.

"Are you with Governor Branstad or are you not?" she asked.

Golding defended her independence from Branstad's agenda, saying she did not support his proposed 40-percent rollback on commercial property taxes over the next five years, which would cost the state $500 million. If elected, she said she would instead support Iowa House proposals for property tax reform, as a way to provide relief for property owners while maintaining vital education funding.

She accused Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, of stalling "every one of those bills that would promote economic growth."

Mathis criticized commercial tax cut proposals of only benefiting large corporations, and shifting the burden to taxpayers in small towns, such as Hiawatha, which is part of Iowa Senate District 18. Republican proposals would "reduce funding for schools, quite certainly, and cities and counties," Mathis said.

Golding, who was not Branstad's first choice to be the Republican nominee for Senate District 18, also said she would oppose Branstad's 10-year plan to transform the state's education system because "it doesn't matter how much money you put into a sinking ship — if you don't plug the holes, it still sinks."

She said she was "appalled" that the government would continue to ask for more money from taxpayers without considering cost-free alternatives. Golding instead proposed letting teachers put students into groups based on their ability, so students could learn at their own pace.

Mathis said "parents feel left out" of the education reform plan. She also called for more of an emphasis on public-private partnerships in education. And she objected to the idea of ending the promotion of third graders who read poorly, a component of Branstad's plan, and called for education reformers to start focusing on reading at the preschool level.

The candidates also divided over whether the state should maintain its "universal" state-funded preschool program for 4-year-olds, founded in 2007. Republicans tried to eliminate the program earlier this year, and replace it with a needs-based scholarship program.

Golding said asking taxpayers to "dig deeper into their pockets" to fund preschool is wrong, because parents can teach their children to read at home. Mathis said that while she would not advocate spending more on the program, it's important to make preschool and literacy in early years a priority.

The winner of the election will serve the remainder of term for the seat vacated by Swati Dandekar, a Marion Democrat, who resigned Sept. 16 to take a $137,000-a-year job with the Iowa Utilities Board, which regulates Iowa's utilities. The seat will be up for election again in 2012, but it will be a different district because of the redrawing of political boundaries to reflect population shifts in the 2010 census.

Mathis had a fundraising advantage over Golding in the first weeks of the race, according to financial disclosure reports filed with Iowa's Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board for the period ending Oct. 14. She beat Golding's fundraising total by nearly $20,000 and reported having four times more cash on hand.

Mathis ended the fundraising period with $40,843 in her warchest, compared with Golding's $9,259.

The candidates will participate in another forum on Thursday night, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Cedar Rapids/Marion. It begins at 7 p.m. at Kirkwood Training and Outreach Center in Marion.