Retire Grassley, Iowa needs new blood

Charles E. “Chuck” Grassley, a senator for 30 years, has become a poster child for term limits. With age, he's changed from avuncular protector of whistle blowers and fraud detector to being an arch-conservative who no longer fits Iowa's centrist majority.

He's more interested in attracting millions of campaign dollars from the insurance, health, finance and agribusiness industries than in serving average Iowans. He doesn't believe the federal government should have a role in improving the lives of ordinary people.

His record on health care is illustrative. In 2003, he co-authored the Prescription Drug Act (with help from the drug lobby). This was Medicare Part D and should have been good for Iowans, but wait. To protect high drug and insurance profits, he inserted language that prevented the government from negotiating bulk prices for Medicare recipients. As a result we pay at least 50 percent more for drugs than any other country.

In 2009, Grassley, on the Senate Finance Committee, pretended for months to craft a non-partisan health reform bill but kept upping the ante every time compromise was reached. He of course finally voted against it. Earlier, he favored every American being insured (like for autos, homes), but now he's against that. He voted no on expanding insurance for kids, no on stem cell research, and no on coverage for end-of-life counseling (he was for it earlier).

Let's retire the senator. We need someone more in touch with the majority of ordinary Iowans. Give Roxanne Conlin a trial.

Eugene Spaziani

Iowa City