Muscatine Journal - Miller-Meeks: It's Time To Clean Up The Mess In D.C.

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By Rusty Schrader

Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks intends to be the first Iowa woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the Nov. 4 general election.

What's more, she told the audience of around four dozen people at Wine-Nutz in downtown Muscatine Thursday evening during a campaign stop, that she expects the first woman U.S. Senator to be elected Nov. 4 -- and after that, she expects Iowa to elect its first woman governor in the next gubernatorial race in four years.

Miller-Meeks, who has lost twice to current Second District Congressman Dave Loebsack, told the audience that she stepped down as the Director of the Iowa Department of Public Health last January to concentrate on a third run for the Congressional seat.

"The government at the federal level was an incompetent mess," she said. "I was called to step up and fix the dysfunctional mess in Washington, DC. Most of all, people were asking, "Who's standing up for the little guy?'" With a tongue-in-cheek reference to her own height, she answered the question: "I am the little guy."

Miller-Meeks said leadership is lacking in federal government. "People are apathetic and have lost hope," she said. "We expect our leaders to be our champions. In our state, that's Gov. Terry Branstad. We need that same kind of champion at the federal level.

"We are the party of the middle class," said Miller-Meeks, an army veteran who holds education and nursing degrees as well as her MD. "We are the party of the successful and those who want to be successful."

Jeff Kaufmann of rural Wilton, a former state legislator and current Chair of the Republican Party of Iowa, joined Miller-Meeks during her stop in Muscatine. He said Republicans are ahead of Democrats in absentee voting. He encouraged every audience member to recruit five more voters.

Other prominent Republicans on hand included Iowa House candidate Gary Carlson of Muscatine, Iowa House member Tom Sands of Wapello, Muscatine County Treasurer candidate Amy Zybarth of Muscatine, and retired Iowa senator Jim Hahn of Muscatine.

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