Hogg calls Grassley part of ‘dysfunctional’ Senate

WASHINGTON, Iowa - People ask state Sen. Rob Hogg why he's running for the U.S. Senate.

'They say ‘They don't do anything,'” Hogg said while campaigning in Washington, Iowa, on Friday morning.

He understands and says the challenge of helping make Congress 'work again for our people, our country and our future” is what motivates him.

Hogg, 49, is one of four Democrats seeking the party's nomination to face six-term Sen. Chuck Grassley, who he called part of the dysfunctional Senate.

'I can't think of a single positive thing Sen. Grassley has gotten accomplished in the last five or six years,” he said during an hourlong meeting with about a dozen people at the Mills Seed Company Building.

Terry Philips, who hosted the gathering, agreed, calling Grassley 'an embarrassment to Iowans. He's working against our interests.”

Although he's from the second-largest city in the state, Hogg said he was in Washington on Friday because 'in my judgment, small towns are important, rural Iowa is important and family is important.”

'By the way,” he said, 'I think it is important to campaign in Washington, Iowa. Maybe some other candidates might like to campaign elsewhere - other cities by the name of Washington.”

That was a reference to former Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, who met with Washington, D.C., Democrats before ramping up her Iowa campaign. Judge jumped into the race as the debate over the replacement of conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was heating up.

'But Congress was dysfunctional before Scalia died,” Hogg said. 'This current situation with the Supreme Court justice and the U.S. Senate refusing to do its job, that's just the latest and, perhaps, most recent manifestation of the dysfunction of Congress.”

If Congress worked, he said, the nation would have a 'vibrant, full-employment economy that worked for all Americans.” That would include universal national service options for young Americans because if they aren't in school or training and not working 'nothing good happens,” Hogg said.

He called for more investment in infrastructure - roads, schools, clean water - not just because it's the right thing to do, he said, but America works better when the nation invests in itself.

And, perhaps, most importantly, if Congress worked, it would be addressing what Hogg called the 'defining challenge of our century” - climate change, including clean energy, clean water, protecting natural resources and environmental sustainability.

After listening to Hogg, Carol Ray of Washington was impressed, but not ready to commit until she has the opportunity to hear the others.

'I'm looking of someone who can tap into what Chuck Grassley stands for and show people there are other ways,” Ray said.

Philips thinks that's Hogg.

'He's our best chance. He's levelheaded and articulate,” he said.