Sen. Matt McCoy Spoke at Prairie Meadows near Des Moines

Caption: Sen. Matt McCoy (D-21st District, South and Southwest Des Moines) at A.J.'s Steakhouse, Prairie Meadows, Altoona, Iowa.

I came in late to hear Sen. Matt McCoy speak. With GPS, I had no trouble at all finding Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa. It was finding A.J.’s Steakhouse/the Triple Crown Buffet inside the Casino that was the problem. No staff at Prairie Meadows had any idea that Sen. McCoy or that Progressive Minds of Iowa (PMI) was anywhere in the building. In fact all of the Prairie Meadows staff I talked to denied that either Matt McCoy or Progressive Minds of Iowa were in the building or scheduled to be in the building any time that day, Saturday, Feb. 18th. I asked about eight different Prairie Meadows staff or more.

Finally, after wandering around the building for about 15-20 minutes, the original security guard I met in the women’s bathroom told me she’d found out where Sen. Matt McCoy was speaking and took me there herself. I recognized the area and when she heard Sen. McCoy speaking, she whispered to go on in. I crept in quietly and the only seating left was up front next to Sen. McCoy.

The only part I heard about collective bargaining, which I assume he’d been talking about, was Matt saying, “Republicans used to have a moral compass.”

And in fact, a few still do. Former Republican David Johnson, now an Independent, voted against the radical collective bargaining bill favored by Gov. Terry Branstad (R), a co-founder of ALEC, a corporate-sponsored group that lavishes campaign funds on Republican legislators willing to pass legislation written by corporations in their self-interest.

Sen. Clel Baudler (R), a former Iowa state trooper, also voted against the bill, along with a few other Republicans.

However, when I came in, Sen. McCoy had finished with collective bargaining, and who could blame him? The evil deed is done. All we can do about it now is vote out the corporate-funded Republicans who voted for it and vote for labor-supporting Democrats. A Democratic governor would be nice, too, but Sen. McCoy said he’s not running for governor. One of us asked him. Hopefully, a qualified and charismatic Democratic candidate like Sen. Matt McCoy will run for governor.

He then talked about student loan debt, and he’s very concerned about it. He said Iowa students have some of the highest student loan debt in the country. He employs a 24-year-old aide who is paid $41,000 a year with benefits. However, the aide has trouble keeping up with his expenses. Why? He owes $80,000 in student loan debt at nine percent interest.

Sen. McCoy wants to lower the interest rate on student loan debt, just like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) does.

McCoy also supports LGBTQ rights and wants to outlaw conversion therapy, which he considers to be a form of child abuse. The Iowa Senate passed a bill outlawing conversion therapy but the House wouldn’t take it up, unfortunately.

He worked on a bill to add transgendered persons to the hate crime bill. A 16-year-old transgendered adolescent was killed on the way home from a friend’s house. To McCoy, it was clearly a hate crime, but law enforcement did not categorize it as such.

Then he got to the part that I really wanted to hear. He talked about 14-year-old Natalie Finn, who was adopted by a family, “that moved into adoption for financial gain. They were paid $100,000 a year to adopt Natalie and her siblings, a sister and a brother. They starved Natalie, her sister, and her brother to death, in Natalie’s case, and almost to death, in the case of her younger siblings. Natalie died of a heart attack from starvation. The children were found lying on a hardwood floor with no bed, no bedding, and no carpet. The children were covered in bed sores from head to toe.

At death, Natalie weighed 66 pounds and was wearing a diaper.

Natalie’s school called the Department of Human Services in the spring of 2016. The principal reported that when the school had a can drive for needy families, Natalie drank a can of cold soup because she was so hungry. Mandatory reporters at the school called DHS and DHS did not act appropriately. “We don’t know why,” Matt said.

Malayia Knapp, 18 years old, shared her horror story with Matt. Her adoptive parents were paid $70,000 a year as a subsidy for adopting special needs children. The children, including Malayia and her siblings, were tortured and beaten. They had bruises, cuts, and open wounds. Malayia’s adoptive parents would tie her hands to the banister with duct tape to the banister and beat her with a belt for 15 minutes.

The court put the children back in the Knapp home after the “mother,” Melinda (“Mindy”) Knapp, was charged with harming the children. The decision made no sense.

“DHS needs immediate crisis intervention. I’ll hold hearings,” Sen. McCoy declared.

“The Finn brother ran away and went to school. He was returned to the Finn home and told not to return to public school. Why did we do that?

“The Finn parents claimed to be home-schooling their children. Home schoolers get money.

“I’ve had the most grammatically incorrect emails from some home-schooling parents. I worry about their children. Another group of home schoolers is well spoken. I don’t worry about their children.

“Malayia Knapp said there was never any home schooling ever. She was given a Bible. That’s it.

“Charles Palmer [the longtime head of statewide DHS]: The situation at Glenwood [is revelatory]. It’s time for him to go. He’s overseeing the privatization of Medicaid. He falls asleep during meetings. He’s not up to the job. He serves Branstad.”

“Collective bargaining law changes will make it harder to recruit teachers. Some 70 counties are losing population, and consolidation of schools occurs because counties are losing population. The biggest challenge is transportation.

“What do Republicans want?

• Limited government, except for women
• Lower taxes
• More engagement with private enterprise”