O’Brien leads an excellent candidate pool

Democratic voters in the 1st District are treated with an abundance of excellent candidates on Tuesday. I congratulate all five candidates on being leaders in their communities and pledge my support to whomever that person may be.

I am hoping that person will be Dave O'Brien of Cedar Rapids. He has the drive, energy and the passion necessary to push forward his aggressive agenda of protecting worker wages and benefits, of promoting a system of collective bargaining for all rank-and-file workers, of strengthening the middle class through enhanced educational opportunities and training, and of attaining the goal of a national minimum wage of $10.10 per hour.

O'Brien is an attorney whose experiences in the private sector as well as his service at the Department of Labor have molded him into a capable, conscientious leader. But he also knows that no economic blue print, no jobs bill, no efforts to advance education will do any good if we are without a natural environment that will sustain our lives. He aims to reduce fossil-fuel consumption through a measure called Carbon Fee and Dividend, a sound starting point for a complex problem.

Mike Robinson

Central City