Now, Produce Results
Iowa was one of the few states to get the “red wave” memo in last November’s general election.
There are now no Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation…four House members, two Senators…all Republicans.
The GOP added seats in both the state house and state senate…flipped two state executive offices from blue to red…so that there is now only one statewide elected official—the state auditor—who is a Democrat.
That does not mean Iowa is a red state, far from it…as we’ll discuss Monday.
For now, as lawmakers return to Des Moines, new state officials have been sworn in, and the governor will be inaugurated a week from today…the Republicans have essentially gotten everything they wanted.
So now it’s time to produce real results.
By that I do not mean going to the far extreme with an agenda that is not in Iowa’s best interest. Nor do I mean to run on one set of ideals and then govern by selling out those principles.
I mean to move the state forward in the best fashion possible for all Iowans. And to do so with measurable results and transparency.
Obviously the election results strongly suggest Iowans would prefer more of what they’ve had under GOP leadership in the legislature and the governor’s office. But it’s no time to take voters for granted or to act like you’re not accountable.
By the way, I don’t see evidence that the Republicans are primed to go off the rails…and as we’ve seen in the past few years, just because the Governor and the House and Senate majorities all have “R’s” by their name does not mean they agree on everything when it gets down to specifics, so that in and of itself is a check on power.
But with so few Democrats able to block things, Republicans will have no one to blame if things go wrong…so they’ll have to focus on making sure everything goes right…no pun intended.
