Knoxville —
Thursday evening, May 17, Amy Sinclair, Republican candidate for Iowa State Senate for district 14, and Mark Raymie, Republican candidate for Marion County Supervisor, hosted a meet and greet at Raymie’s business in downtown Knoxville, The Coffee Connection. The meet and greet was open house style, with coffee and cheesecake as refreshments. The candidates greeted families and individuals who came to learn more about what issues the candidates believed were the most important to the state and the county.
The issues Sinclair stands for most firmly are local government, education, and agriculture. Sinclair stated that recently, the control of local governments has been gradually reduced, ceding more power to the state and the nation. If elected for the Iowa State Senate, Sinclair hopes to eliminate the “shoving match” that she sees occurring between state and local government. She believes the two will work most effectively when cooperating and working together to make sure local governments have enough control.
In regard to agriculture, Sinclair believes that Iowa’s strong farming tradition is a key reason that the state’s deficit is at what is considered to be a low amount in a healthy economy. Sinclair’s family also comes from a farming background, and farming is something she wants her children to have the opportunity to participate in, if they so choose.
Raymie spoke about the primary responsibilities of a county supervisor and how those responsibilities affect the community. Raymie stated that the biggest responsibilities for a county supervisor are managing the county budget, coordinating between local governments to choose priorities on which to focus, and creating an overall positive cooperation between the towns in the county.
Raymie, like Sinclair, believes that local governments should have more control than they are often given; he says that local governments have often had too much sovereignty taken away and given to state and national governments. The primary positive change Raymie hopes to bring to Marion County if elected as a supervisor would be to “develop a long-term plan” for Marion County government.
Raymie desires to produce a cumulative cooperation plan between the towns in Marion County. He plans to do this by cooperating with each town’s local government to come up with a plan that addresses the combined concerns of all the towns.
As far as locals’ involvement with local government, Raymie states that it is sometimes hard to hold citizens’ interest because the length of the political process causes “political fatigue.” Raymie hopes that interest in local government will spread by way of people who are attending events like his spreading the word to friends and neighbors in the community.
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