Branstad displays too much authority

To the editor:

Recent statements by Gov. Terry Branstad have led me to believe he is an autocrat and may even have a Napoleonic complex. This is based on his stated views regarding his authority to close the mental health institutes, his refusal to consider any school funding that is more than his proposed 1.25 percent increase and his single-minded attitude regarding the rights of local school districts to choose their school start dates.

This is over and above his disregard for the state legislator activities which are an attempt, albeit futile, to exercise a democratic form of government. Consider the two quotes: democracy is 'a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity ... are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly”; autocracy is 'government in which one person possesses unlimited power.”

Our legislature seems to lack any sense of priority other than complying with Branstad's agenda. How is it that the governor is able to dictate the funding required for our PK-12 education system which is in direct conflict with the requirements that our educators, who are embedded within the system, claim as a requirement? This is typical of Branstad's highhanded (autocratic) approach and is not unlike his disregard for his own task force recommendations regarding the Iowa Juvenile Home in Toledo.

Gordon Taylor

Anamosa