Iowa Republican Party director's statement is appalling

I am appalled by the statement by the Iowa Republican Party director that endorses the ouster of Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins on the basis of disagreement with the outcome of one case before the court. I believe it is totally inappropriate for the Iowa Republican Party, or any political party for that matter, to pursue its own stance on a controversial issue by seeking to thwart the long-standing and carefully crafted balance of powers and system of independent checks and balances in our government between the judicial branch and the other two branches of government.

Iowans can be proud to say that our process of selecting judges is one of the best in the nation. The Iowa judiciary is not a function of a partisan political process. A decision which measures a particular law against the Constitution is not a partisan political decision. The retention vote that we pursue provides an opportunity for public measurement of an individual judge's fitness and competency to fulfill their constitutional obligations as a judge. It is not now and should not become a public measure of the popularity of their particular decisions.

For the head of the Iowa Republican Party to advocate the use of the retention process to voice a disagreement with a particular decision rendered is wrong and is a shameful affront to anyone who has called themselves a Republican. That is not the Republican Party I have belonged to over my lifetime and it is not my opinion.

Nancy

Shimanek Boyd

Urbandale