Boisterous crowd greets Iowa House speaker

CLEAR LAKE - Eighty-seven-year-old Leona Straw had no idea her polite question about teacher retention would ignite the crowd at a legislative forum Friday in Clear Lake.

She just wanted an answer.

'What is your plan to keep good teachers in Iowa since you stripped them of their bargaining rights?” Straw, of Clear Lake, asked Rep. Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake. 'I have three grandchildren who teach and six great-grandchildren in Iowa schools. I'm very concerned ... that you now made it less attractive for schools.”

The reaction came when Upmeyer, the speaker of the Iowa House, tried to respond.

'Actually, I think we've made it very attractive for teachers ...,” Upmeyer began, only to be drowned out by howls of disapproval from the crowd.

It let loose with a chorus of no's, with several standing up to protest.

'Attractive? They're going to Minnesota.”

'That's a lie!”

Fifteen seconds passed before the crowd quieted enough for Upmeyer to continue.

The emotion surrounding the Republican-led overhaul of the state's collective bargaining laws, which effectively eliminated most bargaining rights for many state employees including teachers, was clearly still raw.

Proponents say the changes restore local control and level the playing field.

The outburst after Straw's question was the most dramatic reaction on a morning where Upmeyer and Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City, navigated a number of controversial topics.

Residents voiced concerns about existing laws governing concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, as well as questions about water quality and current issues with Medicaid.

Around 100 people attended the forum in Clear Lake in north-central Iowa.

Upmeyer and Ragan attended another forum later Friday in Hampton. The crowd, less boisterous there than in Clear Lake, posed similar questions.

More, however, focused on Upmeyer's role with and the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council on legislation in Iowa. The speaker offered similar answers.

She welcomed the feedback, saying it was the kind of thing she and other legislators discuss weekly.

'Every Monday morning we sort of assemble and have a conversation about what we've heard over the weekend,” Upmeyer said. 'So we talk about what we've heard and how we can integrate that into any legislation we have moving forward.”

Ragan says she's seen a dramatic increase in attendance at her own forums this year.

'People are concerned when it hits them on a personal level,” she said. 'They're very, very concerned, as well they should be.”

Given the current contentious political climate, Upmeyer feels she and other legislators need to focus on their jobs and remember they represent and serve Iowans.

'I tell you what I worry about, if people that want to work on solutions don't have that opportunity to find solutions because there's so much noise, then we're going to end up in a worse place,” she said. 'We have to work together to find solutions.”