Capitol Ideas: Suggestion box or soap box, Iowans vent

DES MOINES - While lawmakers have been wasting their time debating tuition freezes, funding for health and human services, and legalizing fireworks and whether to permit the use of medical marijuana, they're ignoring the issues Iowans really care about - Gov. Terry Branstad's mustache and a state amphibian.

Oh, some people who contribute to the Iowa Legislature's online 'suggestion box” mention those dull but important issues such as raising the minimum wage and increasing funding for schools because they are the 'only chance we have for a future for Iowa.”

There was less consensus on the Legislature's decision to raise the motor fuel tax by a dime. There was a suggestion that 'Republicans here are doing what the Democrats in (Washington) did with Obamacare. This government is supposed be for the people, not for the special interest and lining your pockets.”

Another called the increase fair because 'A few cents on each gallon will not cause a hardship to most people,” but still another called the tax hike 'simply more welfare for corporate farmers.”

James Paul, who said he'd closed a business that he ran for nine and a half years, called for the creation of a Department of Common Sense to help small businesses deal with 'all the UNNECESSARY ...

RULES, LAWS, AND REGULATIONS.”

Paul, who said he often worked 12 to 18 hours a day seven days a week, is willing to pitch in.

'Naturally I would be happy to head up this new department,” he said. 'Feel free to call me.”

If lawmakers aren't interested in common sense, they could take up a suggestion from Caleb Owen, who wonders why Iowa, which has an official flower, bird, tree and rock, doesn't have an official amphibian.

The unofficial one is the North American Bullfrog, but he recommends conferring 'official” status on the Northern Leopard Frog or the American Green Tree Frog because bullfrogs 'are taking over ecosystems and eating basically everything in its path,” including the leopard frog.

'This may not seem like a big issue at this time,” he said, but Iowa is one of the few states without an official amphibian. 'Please consider this request so that the future of our state can finally have this to look upon.”

Eric Larson has a plan to address homelessness in Iowa cities - eliminate the nickel deposit on bottle and cans.

'Nobody wants to see someone digging is trash cans and wheeling shopping carts full of cans and bottles through the city streets,” he wrote. 'Please take whatever steps to eliminate this outdated and disgusting law.”

Empty cans and bottle aren't the only things to bother Iowans. One person ranted that Branstad has the 'most hideous, stomach-turning mustaches in the history of the state.”

More than suggestions, the 'public input” link on the Legislature's home page, https://www.legis.iowa.gov, has become a soap box for people who want to vent about the 'shame and disgrace to America” of a Wiccan priestess offering the morning prayer in the House or Branstad signing a Muslim recognition day proclamation.