Sad About Janice Weiner's Loss; Mixed Feelings Re Carberry's Loss

Captions: 1. Janice Weiner, who despite being the most qualified and experienced candidate, lost the District 37 primary to Zach Wahls. 2. Incumbent Mike Carberry, who lost the Johnson County Supervisors' race after one term in office to incumbent Janelle Rettig, who won the most votes, and to newcomer Pat Heiden, the second highest vote-getter. Mike's candidacy faltered when it was revealed that in 2010 he had sexually harassed a female coworker in a previous job. How much his vote for purchasing the Schwab properties, including substandard buildings violating code, with conservation money was a factor, I don't know.

If I could have voted for Janice Weiner I would have, but I don't live in District 37. In my opinion, she was by far the more experienced, polite, diplomatic, and qualified candidate, but she was at a financial disadvantage. As with Fred Hubbell's out-sized win, the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision made money (money is now considered free speech) the overwhelming factor in the race.

As for Mike Carberry, he's always been a gregarious, happy-go-lucky man, but apparently his words and deeds in 2010 have gotten him into trouble, and his chickens evidently came home to roost. It was revealed during his campaign that when he was executive director of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association or I-Renew he joked with an employee that "your tricking days are over and you cannot work the pole as effectively as you once did."

I still laugh out loud when I read that line, and I don't understand why, because usually comments like that enrage me. I'm guessing it's because it's so outrageous and so funny at the same time? His employee responded to him in kind, so she must not have felt too fearful. I'm perfectly willing to believe Mike is as sexist as this comment implies because he's seldom seen talking to women even briefly. When I see him at events, 99% of the time he's talking to his buddy Kurt Friese, who is still a Johnson County supervisor, as is Rod Sullivan. I'd like to see Rod Sullivan gone. Operating by coup d'etat is undemocratic, and that's how he operates. Trump and Trumpism undermine the rule of law and our democratic values. What Rod Sullivan does by moving quickly in an opportunistic way to fill power vacuums without regard to rules of order and open elections is much the same thing.