By Anne Marie Kraus, Iowa City
The very fact that Christina Bohannan is running against incumbent Vicki Lensing for Iowa House of Representatives District 85 proves that there are two fundamental things Bohannan does not understand about how it works in the State House: 1) In today’s political climate, the only way to achieve effective change is to be in the majority, and 2) You don’t cannibalize one of your own by running against a person of integrity and experience in your same Democratic Party.
Does Bohannan really think that it serves the state to pluck off and discard someone who understands and has experienced 19 years of intense committee work and debate? Does Bohannan think that her goals will magically be successful because she is there instead of Lensing? Does Bohannan think that Lensing has not worked in-depth on all the goals of the Iowa Democrats? I would ask Bohannan, how many Legislative Forums has she attended over the years? If she had attended and listened, she would have heard Lensing report extensively on the issues, the underlying complexities, and her personal efforts to achieve improvement for the people of Iowa. The only reason that Lensing’s legislative efforts may have fallen short is because the Republican majority defeated them, not because of any shortcomings in Lensing’s work.
Therefore, I call upon Christina Bohannan, if she really has a commitment to achieving Democratic goals, to get her own district: Move to a district held by a Republican, and flip it. That’s how to get things done. The last time that legislative district boundaries were re-drawn, some legislators found themselves involuntarily in the same district. Rather than run against one of their own party, one of them would agree to move to a different geographical area. That’s what a dedicated public servant, who understands how it works, would do. Bohannan obviously does not demonstrate an understanding of this basic fact. It’s about the welfare of Iowans, not about her.
