Letter to the Editor: Questions for Rep. Patti Ruff

To the Editor:
During the past several weeks, 56th Iowa House District Representative Ruff has been editorializing in the Waukon Standard about the lack of progress on a bill that is stalled in the State House to fund Iowa schools.
In early January Ruff reported that she had proposed an amendment that would have increased spending for Iowa schools by 6 percent. She also told us it was defeated on a party line vote. That implies that the Republicans are responsible for not passing legislation for school funding. What Ruff did not tell us was how she planned to pay for that 6 percent increase. It was a not too subtle effort at pandering to the education vote, but with the clear understanding that our representative is not really seeking a practical solution since she offered no way to fund her own proposal and has offered no fiscally sound solutions for resolving the issue.
In her latest report she notes that the Democrat Party was willing to split the difference and fund the bill at 2.625 percent. Once again she claimed it was defeated on party lines - darn those Republicans - without a hint as to where the funding would come from. She appears willing to pass along to future generations, or to some other unidentified source, the funding that local school boards won’t call for. We are living in a pay-as-you-go society and there is no pot of money out there just waiting for someone to turn over to big spending politicians for their pet projects.
I am all for increased spending for education if a way can be found to increase that spending without putting it on the backs of property tax payers in Allamakee County. Has Ruff looked to see where spending could be cut on wasteful, unneeded projects? Has she herself proposed spending that would be unwise and unnecessary? If she has she has not reported that. Has she looked at the possibility of raising education funds from the gambling industry in Iowa?
Ruff has also been trying to sell herself as a fiscal conservative in her vote to veto the proposed 10 cents per gallon gas tax. I would like to know if Ruff believes that our roads are so good that we do not need to try to improve them. She fails to report exactly how much money that new tax will bring to Allamakee County and how many new jobs are likely to be created by the infrastructure repair projects. She claims that the tax is too draconian for this depressed area.
What she has not reported is that Minnesota is now proposing the same 10 cent per gallon increase in gas taxes and there is some chatter that Wisconsin might propose the same.
I have also noted that Ruff has not announced any near-future meetings with local voters to explain first hand what is going on in Des Moines.

Lowell Engle
Harpers Ferry