Scott and Clinton County voters have new candidates on the ballot to fill the Senate District 49 seat given up by incumbent Rita Hart, a Democrat running for lieutenant governor.
Republican Chris Cournoyer is Pleasant Valley School Board chairman, a sheriff's reserve deputy and very active in science and technology educuation.
Democrat Patti Robinson managed the state of Iowa's Medicaid office in Clinton until Gov. Branstad turned over management to private operators. She now works for Salvation Army in Clinton.
Robinson's answers are from The NSP's Sept. 26 candidate forum at the Scott County Library in Eldridge. Cournoyer was unable to participate, but sat down with NSP assistant editor Mark Ridolfi to discuss the same questions.
Q: Why run now?
Robinson: I’m running for senate because my background is Medicaid. I was case manager and eventually became their administrator of the program in Clinton County. I saw the years of Medicaid when it was good. It was a great program. I’m not saying it was perfect. There definitely were issues we were able to deal with. We could get on the phone and talk to someone at DHS… and we could problem-solve the issues.
In 2015, that went down the drain.
I watched individuals I had worked with 25 years ask, “who is going to take care of me? You’ve known me for 25 years. Who is going to know my history?”
What frustrates me about privatization is they’re making profit off of people who are elderly and disabled.
When I came into Medicaid we were tasked with training to be the watchdog of Medicaid dollars. You still could offer a person services and meet their needs and still be mindful of the budget.
That is not happening right now and that’s why I’m running for the Senate.
Cournoyer: “I’ve been on the Pleasant Valley school board for six years. And I have been the board’s legislative delegate the last five years. As I advocated for public school priorities, I’ve gone to Des Moines and talked to the governor. I’ve seen how the process worked and started paying attention to other issues that are important to me. This seems like a real opportunity to take my skills and leadership to Des Moines for this district. Eastern Iowa needs a voice in Des Moines.
Q: What pertinent leadership experiences have prepared you for legislative service?
Robinson: I started out as case manager in Medicaid and eventually moved up to be administrator of that program.
I had to work with the county board of supervisors, both the Democrats and Republicans. There were many times I would have to come to the table and work out problems. That is something I feel I’ve worked very hard at, not being one extreme or the other, but bringing it together.
… We prided ourselves as case managers dealing with families who were desperate for services for individuals in their homes. They would come in with ideas. They might be very lofty ideas of what we could do. But we had to be mindful of Medicaid dollars. We were able to meet their needs, but with compromise.
I’ve also been on the YWCA board in Clinton for nine years. We pride ourselves that we work with individuals in domestic situations as well as trafficking and poverty. We deal with that on a daily basis in our community.
Cournoyer: I’m president of the school board and just led the district through the hiring of our next superintendent. We held 14 public listening sessions and I presided over all 14. One of our most important jobs is picking the superintendent for the district. Everybody felt like they were heard and it created a clear path for this decision.
I thought it was a good exercise for the public to see the process school board went through. It was all in open session. That’s the kind of collaboration and team building we can bring to the state level.
I’m outgoing president of the Quad-City Engineering and Science Council. I’m on the Southeast Iowa STEM Board. …
Q: In the last session, the legislature made it a priority to cut income taxes across the board. What have you observed and what would you do as a legislator going forward?
Robinson: Last year, we as a state refunded $66 million back to corporations. Not that it’s a bad thing we have business here in Iowa, but I fell those tax credits might have gone to help our local businesses grow.
Some of it could have gone to education… so students could one day maybe build businesses in our community and stay in Iowa.
I’m not saying tax credits are a bad thing. We just need to look at the whole playing field and make sure it’s fair, and we’re using it to the benefit of Iowans.
Cournoyer: Anytime we can put money back in the pockets of our taxpayers, it’s a good thing. We’ve seen it in our checks. Let people decide what they’re going to do with the money they earn.
Follow up for Robinson: Are there tax credits that might go in a different direction?
Robinson: Maybe that’s something to come to the table with. But there’s so much out there already. And the budget is a mess. Medicaid is a mess. Education needs funding. So really the first thing that needs to be done if I get in, is let’s lay this budget out.
We were taught you don’t have to offer the Cadillac service. You can still get good service with Chevy.
Follow up for Cournoyer: Will you support more tax cuts?
Cournoyer: If it makes sense. I think they were smart by putting triggers in if the economy stalls. … In April, we lowered our Pleasant Valley school levy by 15 cents. We’re not a bank and we had an opportunity to give money back to the taxpayers.
When I ask people what there issues are, they say they think things are going pretty well. People seem optimistic and positive about the direction of the state right now.
Q: Some say education funding increases have been on a regular basis and the level of funding is sufficient. Others have concerns. Where do you stand on the level of education funding for Iowa’s K-12 education?
Robinson: I feel it is underfunded. … I did go back and get my substitute teaching certificate and have been in the classroom, and, God bless them, they’re not being just teachers. They’re being social workers. They’re therapists. They’re being parents. …We’re in a new world now and we need to bring our schools up to what is going on in our world. That may mean putting more money into mental health into the classroom; making those classrooms smaller so the teachers have more opportunity to work one-on-one.
They’re pulling aides out of the classroom. When I was a teacher’s aide, that was something so beneficial to teachers. If there was a child struggling, I could go work one-on-one while the teacher continued with the class.
Now it’s up to the teacher to try to deal with 20 to 30 kids in a classroom. If you have a couple of kids having issues, you’re not getting your job done in that classroom.
Cournoyer: We’ve been fortunate that K-12 has been held harmless of the budget cuts for the past few years. We’ve had no cuts to K-12 funding since 2009 when they had an across-the-board cut.
Our top priority is supplemental state aid that is adequate and timely. The fact that we’ve gotten that number in the first 30 days of the last two sessions has been extremely helpful. In the past, the supplemental state aide program has been a political football. Sometimes we didn’t get that number until June.
Follow up to Robinson: So the education funding need you see is more aides and support as opposed to teacher salaries?
Robinson: There’s a balance. We’re going to lose teachers if we don’t pay them a wage. And we really do have good teachers. It’s just like social work, you’re not in this job for the money. You’re they’re because you care.
Follow up to Cournoyer: Is one percent funding increase from the legislature enough for education?
Cournoyer: I would back as much as we can get that makes sense. One percent ... makes it really tough to expand programs. …With that said, the legislature also has given us more flexibility.
… We’ve made it work, but it’s tight. One percent means less package increases for our staff and it certainly stifles our ability to attract and retain good teachers when you’re trying to keep up with private industry and other opportunities educators could seek out. We’re advocating for timely and adequate funding. Is one per cent adequate? I would say no to that.
Q: How about education funding beyond K-12. What do you think about funding levels for universities and community colleges?
Robinson: I have a son at the university right now and he truly feels he wants to not be here. I was raised in Iowa and feel it’s a wonderful state to be in. I’m hoping it changes his mind down the road.
I’ve seen a shift. I went to community college and did my two-year stint and got my human services degree, then went and worked for a while with individuals with disabilities in a group home. … Then I went back and got my four-year degree.
What I see now and what I fear for my son is the cuts that have been made to the community colleges and four-year universities, these students are going to have such debt when the come out. Why would a child coming out of high school even attempt to go on if they’re going to step out and immediately be in debt.
Now we have plumbers, welders, and many manufacturing industries that are hurting because the baby boomers are retiring.
I feel we need to bring that money back and fund these educational services so our kids won’t just drop out and decide it’s not worth the debt.
These jobs are out there, and they just need to be pushed to access the tech, as long as the funding is there and they don’t have that date.
Cournoyer: I think the state continues to invest in all education. Over 50 percent of the $7 billion budget is in education, which includes the regent schools. I have two kids in regent schools right now. Both of my children were able to take advantage of scholarship opportunities. My son has worked in the maintenance department to help defray costs.
EICC Chancellor Don Doucette said there are plenty of grants and scholarships available so money is not a deterrent to anyone wanting to seek education in the community colleges. So I think there are opportunities out there. Making people aware of those opportunities continues to be a challenge.
…Education affects workforce. Workforce affects the economy and the economy affects educational funding…. Everybody wants a bigger piece of the pie. So you either have to steal from someone else’s pie, or make a bigger pie. …
Q: Assess changes the legislature made to collective bargaining for some public employees.
Robinson: Working for Clinton County, my staff was union members. Before we closed our doors, they had already learned they had lost their bargaining rights. When they lost their jobs, they had no bumping rights. They just walked out the door.
My most senior person was there 22 years. My junior person had been there 10 years. They lost a lot of opportunity.
I was on the management side sitting at the table with the union and we had great conversations and we worked together to come up with solutions for wages, benefits, safety issues. Those are all very important things for any worker to have the ability to bargain.
Cournoyer: I would say the collective bargaining reform… after 41 years, everything needs to be looked at periodically to make sure it’s still relevant… . The reform that happened two years ago was another thing that helped add flexibility to how school districts control costs.
We settled with our teachers before the governor signed the bill, which gave us a year to figure it out. At end of the day all these municipalities, school districts and counties have to do what they can to retain the best employees, but also have a system sustainable for taxpayers.
Health care is a huge cost for municipalities and school boards. … Until a couple of years ago, a single teacher in Pleasant Valley didn’t have a premium for health insurance. As school board members we have to be responsible to the taxpayer. I think making sure everyone has some skin in the game is a good way to make sure everyone understands the challenges of it.
Q: North Scott experienced a gun threat. As a legislator what state actions would you support to improve school safety?
Robinson: I have yet to talk to a teacher who would want guns in the classroom. I go back to my background working with mental health. I really feel if we can get more training for teachers, all staff in the system, bring more mental health therapists into the school system, you will find you will have preventative measures in place, versus dealing with the after affect and having to council our kids after something tragic has happened.
Mental health has been put on the back burner. It’s an illness folks. It’s not going away. It’s like diabetes, but you can’t see it. So it’s finding the therapists who know how to diagnose and find triggers in school system.
Cournoyer: I’ve advocated for that statewide penny extension because that money can be used for school security. They passed some legislation to make sure everyone has a safety protocol in place. … It was shocking how many schools had not implemented a program. …
Also, make sure we’re addressing our mental health issues. … We just expanded counselors that we have at Pleasant Valley High School. We also have a counselor at all five elementaries now. …
I’d love to see school resource officers at every school. A lot of schools have them in the high school. Some have at the junior high. It always comes down to funding. In Pleasant Valley, we split the cost with the sheriff’s department. So that would be something where adequate funding would help with the cost of resource officers at the school.
We don’t want to turn them into institutions where they look like prisons or high security.
I don’t necessarily support arming staff and teachers. I’m open to the discussion, but having a uniformed, armed resource officer who is a trained deputy, that’s something I’m comfortable with. …I don’t know that teachers are there for that. That’s not their role as teachers.
Q: Last year, the legislature passed an 11-year water quality program that ramps up subsidies for sustainable farming practices. How would you respond as a legislator?
Robinson: It’s definitely a need. We all want clean air and water. We want our ag producers to continue to do their jobs as well. It’s a matter of bringing everyone to the table and having a conversation.
I thought it was interesting that we’re ramping up on that, but the ramping up of Medicaid doesn’t seem to concern anyone. There needs to be a lot of conversation about what’s going to work. Rita Hart had the water quality summit up in DeWitt and brought both Democrat and Republican farmers to the table to have that discussion. We need to build on that.
Cournoyer: I think that bill was a good start. But it’s certainly not the end of the conversation. It needs to continue to be a public-private partnership. … It’s not an us against them thing. … We need to make sure every mandate is funded.
Q: Last session, Iowa’s legislative GOP majority passed a heartbeat bill that effectively banned abortions after six weeks. That bill is being challenged in court. What would be your approach?
Robinson: Government does not belong in my office with my doctor and myself. That’s true for males or females. I don’t think government should be telling us what we do with our bodies.
Cournoyer: … I’m definitely the pro-life candidate in this race.” Cournoyer said she and her husband were surprised by her first pregnancy detected by a heartbeat. “The doctor asked me what I wanted to do. It all came down on me at once about what that means. I said, ‘what do you mean what do I want to do? There’s a heartbeat.’ It was definitely a life-altering experience for me. Curt and I ended up getting married and having three more kids. It was something really impactful on me to have that decision in front of me to stop a heartbeat. That’s a very personal thing for women and I would hate for anyone to think that was their only choice.
Question for Robinson: You’re assuming Sen. Rita Hart’s candidacy. How are you and Rita Hart the same? How are you different?
Robinson: We both have similar backgrounds. We both grew up on Iowa farms. I don’t have as many siblings. I had four. She has eight. But in many ways, we’re very similar. She was as teacher, I started out as a teacher’s aide. She got involved in Medicaid when it comes to working in the legislature. We’ve had that conversation about what’s going on with Medicaid. We’re not going to be perfectly exact, but I think our thoughts are. We’re here to take care of our district. We’re here to take care of Iowans.
In March, the Pleasant Valley High School student newspaper, the Spartan Shield, reported on Cournoyer’s successful pursuit of a $14,000 NRA grant to start the PV trap shooting team in 2015. The student journalists reported that Cournoyer offered this among purposes for the grant: “We also help to advocate for the 2nd amendment through responsible gun ownership by law abiding citizens, thereby increasing the number of supporters for pro-gun legislation.” The newspaper noted school policy forbids politically lobbying students.
Question to Cournoyer: “What did you learn from the Shield reporting on the NRA grant?
Cournoyer: I think the Pleasant Valley trap shooting team has been an excellent addition to our extracurricular activities. We can’t let what’s going on at the national level affect what we’re trying to do for our kids. I wanted to make sure in writing that grant, we were writing that grant to set up extracurricular activity for kids. We have more than 60 kids in that program. A lot of those kids don’t have other extracurricular activities. … It’s a positive thing for kids. I don’t want to lose sight of that in the gun debate.
I understand there are some people out there who believe the NRA is responsible for some of the shooting going on. But they provided our team with some valuable start up funding.In no way in the five years we’ve had the trap shooting team has anyone ever complained there is any kind of agenda being pushed on those kids. There is no way that would happen, or we would allow that to happen.
I know there were implications that people were concerned. But if anyone … asked anyone on the trap shooting team if they were pressured to support the NRA… that team has never been about politics. It’s about creating an extracurricular activity for kids. …
Q: Make your best pitch to voters.
Robinson: When I get out there. I’m going to fix Medicaid. I’m going to fund education. And I want to relook at the tax credits so we’re being fair to everyone. I want to see us grow our local community.
Cournoyer: I have always been very active in my community. It started with things my kids were interested in. As that expanded, so did my involvement with the LeClaire library, LeClaire Chamber of Commerce, The Quad City Science council, the Sheriff’s Reserve, getting on the school board.
… I feel like I have proven results, which shows I can work with people. I can build consensus and I can get things done for our community. I’d like to take that kind of energy, leadership and enthusiasm to Des Moines. I’d like to be a strong voice for education and for eastern Iowa in general. …I want to make sure they understand Eastern Iowa is not Cedar Rapids. I have a lot of energy and passion and I’d like to represent all the people of District 49.