ENCORE: Senate Candidate Says West Des Moines, Waukee Voters Want Specifics on Economy, Not Attacks

As Sen. Pat Ward fights for her political life in a contentious District 22 Republican primary, she keeps trying to bring the issues back around to those her polling tells her matter to the voters: the economy and jobs, smaller government and education.

The problem?

Ward, who won a special Senate District 21 election in 2004, said her opponent’s harsh tenor has forced her to play defense to clear her record. Ward faces a challenge against Waukee Pastor Jeff Mullen, who she says seems intent on “slinging mud” and misrepresenting her voting record rather than talking about his own priorities.

“It’s pretty tough when mud is being slung at you on a daily basis that doesn’t have any factual basis,” said Ward, who describes herself as a “commonsense conservative.”

Mullen did not comment for this story.

“You look at the things he’s accusing me of doing, every vote that I’ve taken is very strongly supported by Republicans, as well,” she said. “I’ve never taken a vote where I stand out alone and support .”

Ward said the abortion vote Mullen has mischaracterized in radio ads was on a human services budget bill that, if defeated, would have denied thousands of poor Iowans access to other health in human services bill and likely would have resulted in a lawsuit against the state.

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The bill did include less than $80,000 in Iowa tax money to pay for abortions for Medicaid recipients at the University of Iowa. That amounts to fewer than 10 such procedures a year.

“I am a pro-life Republican, as are most of the Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate,” Ward said. “I have been a pro-life Republican from Day 1, and my track record speaks for itself.”

Commendation From Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Another Mullen ad accused Ward – one of four Iowa legislators to receive commendations from the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Abuse – of voting to from domestic violence victims.

“He’s totally misinformed and he’s twisted it to be exactly the opposite of what I did,” Ward said. “I voted to help domestic abuse victims, and voted to take guns away from wife beaters. I’ve helped to defend victims of domestic violence against perpetrators.”

The senator said voters – half of whom she has represented for eight years in the old District 21 – care about issues such as abortion and protecting domestic abuse victims, but they aren’t the ones they’re talking about.

“When I’m out knocking on doors talking to real people, what they care about is putting the economy on the right track and getting Iowa positioned so we can compete,” Ward said. “I do not believe he (Mullen) and I share the same priorities at all.”

The Economy, Restrictive Regulations and Education

Ward said her top three priorities are:

• Create a pro-growth business climate. That includes reducing the size of government; removing unnecessary regulations that she says can place unnecessary burdens on entrepreneurs, small business owners and other job creators; and passing meaningful property tax reform.

Ward said she supported Gov. Terry Branstad’s commercial property tax reform proposal, but charged Democrats backed away from a compromise and “really left the governor high and dry.”

“One change we can make, and what’s entirely possible, is moving Iowa Senate Republicans into the majority,” Ward said. “If that happens, we will pass meaninfgul property tax reform and we will send a bill to the governor that reduces commercial proeprty tax so we can compete with surrounding states and compete nationally for jobs.”

West Des Moines officials lobbied strongly on the legislation as initially proposed because it potentially would cost the city . Because the city showed growth in its commercial property tax base, it wouldn’t have qualified for “backfill” money that would have eliminated the need to pass costs on to residential taxpayers.

“We were definitely working to fix that backfill so growing communities wouldn’t have had unintended consequences and wouldn’t have been hurt,” Ward said. “The last thing in the world that we want to do is hurt our growing, thriving communities, like West Des Moines and, hopefully, like Waukee soon will be.

“That’s a fix that was doable and I’m well aware of it,” she said. “The final details were never worked out because no one would budge.”

• Balancing the budget, with government taking in less than it spends. Just as a family wouldn’t count on a one-time bonus to pay the mortgage, one-time tax money shouldn’t be used to fund ongoing expenses, Ward said.

“Families live within their means by setting priorities and making sacrifices, and government should do the same,” she said. “Sound budgeting practices are essential to grow our state’s economy.”

• Education reform. Another priority of the governor’s, education reform gained little traction this year. Ward said she’s eager for another term to finish the job. “There’s much more to be done,” she said.

“As I visit with people around the district, they say ‘Stick to your guns, Pat. We need change in education,’” Ward said. “They see kids slipping, and to compete internationally – we’re competing in a global marketplace – we just have to change, and we can.”

Previously in this race, Patch reported: