Judge touts administration's civil rights record

DES MOINES – Democrats' Culver-Judge political team has emerged as the champions of civil rights for Iowans in the 2010 gubernatorial race, Lt. Gov. Patty Judge said Monday.

Speaking to a business symposium sponsored by One Iowa, the state's largest gay-lesbian advocacy group, Judge touted the current administration's role of getting signed into law anti-bullying protections at schools and an expansion of Iowa's civil rights statute that outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations.

She also pledged that she and Gov. Chet Culver would resist efforts to amend the state constitution to undo a 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision that legalized civil marriage between partners of the same gender in Iowa. Seven justices unanimously ruled last year that a 1998 state law defining marriage as only between one man and one woman was unconstitutional.

“We're not going to go backwards,” said Judge, who hailed the landmark Supreme Court decision as a strong national signal that “we take civil rights very, very seriously” and that Iowa a welcoming place for individuals and businesses.

“The governor's office has worked very hard and the Legislature has worked very hard to keep discrimination out of the constitution. We just cannot and will not allow the rights of Iowans to be taken away – not now, not ever,” she said. “We will fight long and hard every day to make certain that there is not an opportunity for a constitutional change.”

Judge said the focus of the 2010 campaign should be on improving the economy, education and health care. But, for some she said, it has become clear that this year's election is about changing marriage rights in Iowa, noting that “at least part of the Republicans, if not all, that are seeking the governor's office (have) said that they will take measures of one type or another in order to try to overturn that Supreme Court decision. I think that's the wrong approach.”

The lieutenant governor said GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats' idea to set aside the Supreme Court ruling by executive order would not survive a court test and opponents who say the issue is about letting people vote are trying to shield the goal of restricting who can legally marry in Iowa.

Judge's comments came on the same day that Culver-Judge campaign officials unveiled plans for a five-day, 41-county tour beginning next Monday to formally launch the effort to re-elect the governor and lieutenant governor for a second, four-year term.

The “Choosing a Better Iowa” tour will begin at Hoover High School in Des Moines, where Culver was a former teacher and coach. Judge and first lady Mari Culver will attend that 10 a.m. kickoff and then the trio will spend the rest of the week crisscrossing Iowa before wrapping up the announcement tour at an event in Ankeny.

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