Letter: Grassley should act as a statesman

I have lived in Iowa City since 1962 and have written Sen. Chuck Grassley numerous letters to express my Democratic opinion on important issues. His written responses have been thoughtful, analytical and command respect. This experience led me to hope that when he considered issues vital to the function of justice, democracy and citizen's faith in their government he would act as a statesman.

Tragically, he has not. He raised my hopes when he initially said that he might conduct hearings of the Judiciary Committee to assess candidates to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by Justice Antonin Scalia's death. I hoped that he would rank the urgent functions of government over the demands of political partisanship. To his shame and our loss, he did not.

He should.

Kenneth A. Hubel

Iowa City