Vernon calls for fairness for middle class, equality for women

CEDAR RAPIDS - 'There are a lot of former Republicans here,” Peter Riley said as he surveyed the crowd at a Monica Vernon campaign rally Thursday evening.

They left the GOP when it got 'too nutty,” the Cedar Rapids attorney explained.

The fact that Vernon is one of them didn't seem to concern longtime Democrats who enjoyed light refreshments and a beautiful spring evening in the garden of The Ausadie historic apartment building.

'Not at all,” said Helane Golden of Cedar Rapids, who chose Vernon over four other Democrats seeking the party's nomination in Iowa's 1st District. 'Her value system was a better fit with the Democratic Party.”

Vernon, a self-described 'lifelong progressive,” became a Democrat because she wanted to 'be part of a party that made sense to me.”

What makes sense, she told more than 100 people at her event, is rebuilding the middle class, raising the minimum wage, making sure women get equal pay for equal work and control their own health care decisions, and maintaining the nation's historical commitment to fairness and equality.

Vernon's candidacy provides an opportunity to make history, said Natalie Vernon, the candidate's oldest daughter. If elected, Vernon would be the first woman to represent Iowa in Congress.

Although the candidate doesn't talk much about that aspect of her candidacy, it was on the minds of other women.

'It would be good for Iowa to have a female congressman,” said Kissy Heins of Marion, who has known Vernon since junior high school.

Golden agrees that Vernon, one of three women seeking the 1st District nomination, would be a strong voice for women's rights 'and women making their own choices.”

The key to rebuilding the middle class, the Cedar Rapids City Councilwoman said, is strategic investment in education, including preschool and postsecondary programs, and innovation. Vernon, who last fall sold Vernon Research, a company she started at her kitchen table 26 years ago, to The Gazette Company, called for investing in infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and the electrical grid.

Based on her experience in post-flood Cedar Rapids, Vernon said, public investment will leverage private dollars.

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