Politics as usual

The April 10 Gazette printed a letter (“Nominee Cramer should be shown the door”) from Robin Kash in regard to the governor's picks for positions on the state Board of Regents. The letter stated that Robert Cramer “has demonstrated that he is unsuited to public service.”

After reading the article and seeing no facts stated, I thought I would do my own fact check. What I found was a young Iowa State University graduate, a registered professional engineer, administrative president of one of Iowa's and the upper Midwest's most respected highway and heavy construction companies. He has served on his local school board, served on many state and national committees of the construction industry, and he has children attending both high school and college.

Robin, I don't know what facts you might have that make Robert “unsuited to public service.” If you do have information that Robert has in the past shown disregard for the Iowa Constitution, then it may have been well that you spelled out these facts rather than just following the majority party's position on the matter. We do have a term that describes your letter. It is called politics as usual.

Keith Penning

Cedar Rapids