District 4 Candidate Meets with Community Members at Library

Dave Dawson, who's running for Iowa's fourth Congressional district, stopped by the Hampton Public Library on Wednesday evening, March 11, to visit with community members and answer their questions and concerns.

Born in Cherokee and raised in Washta, Iowa, Dawson is a former state legislator. While in the Iowa House of Representatives, he served on committees for public safety, commerce and human resources. After graduating from Iowa State University and law school, he worked in Chicago's legal sector for several years, before working as a prosecutor in the Woodbury County Attorney's Office, prosecuting drug dealers, sex offenders and child abusers.

While at the Hampton Public Library, community members asked the Democrat for his thoughts on everything from the SAVE Act to health care.

"If we're passing that, we need to make sure that whenever identification is required that it is free, because it will infringe on peoples' rights to vote," he said about the SAVE Act. "There are a lot of low-income people in the state of Iowa ... There is a lot of instability and they often times don't have access to their legal documentation. So putting up barriers and roadblocks is not what we should be doing when we're talking about a constitutional right to vote."

Dawson asked those in attendance if they had ever received a response from Senator Joni Ernst.

"Because I have not," he said. "I always get a response from Senator Grassley, but I never got one from Ernst. I think your Congress people should be responsive when the public reaches out to them. They need to show up at town halls, answer questions and receive feedback."

One community member shared concerns about environmental hazards, asking him what could be done at the federal level.

"One of my priorities is research," Dawson told her. "So, at the federal level, we should be funding scientific research to address prevention of cancer and treatment of cancer, providing the National Institutes of Health with appropriate grant funding ... There have been cuts over the last year in differences between races and genders about why there are different cancer rates for different people. That funding should continue. We should also, in the state of Iowa, have better funded research in regards to the cost of cancer. Is it farm pollution? Is it the nitrates?"

Dawson said it's a very personal issue for him, as his mother is currently going through cancer treatment.

"My father ran a fertilizer business for thirty years," he said. "Was there a connection? I don't know. I would hope that that's not the reason, but there are other issues in Iowa where nitrates and other chemicals are going into the water. We need to study the radon level and we have not done enough to address issues to mitigate those concerns."

Community member Joslyn Stock asked Dawson about public education, saying "if you are elected, what would you do to repair the damage done to the effective dismantling of the Department of Education?"

"The federal level of the Department of Education primarily serves higher education funding," said Dawson. "They do have some funding for schools, like Title 1 education programs and ensuring that people with disabilities and mental health issues have access to services to programs, whether it's remedial reading or special education programs, and all of those types of programs should continue to stay in place, because we want kids -- regardless of their ability -- to have access to the best education, so there needs to be some level of enforcement and oversight to make sure schools can provide those services. We shouldn't be dismantling the department."

After the event, Stock told the Chronicle that she appreciated Dawson's comments on mental health care for young people.

"Dave Dawson sees the importance of mental health care for children, especially the immediate need for specialized help for children and teens in crisis," she said. "He recognizes the need to have more sites that can provide mental health care for children, for both crisis care and longer term mental health maintenance. As a mom of three tweens/teens living in a community that has seen two tragedies in a short time, I appreciate that."

She added that she had hoped he would speak more about education.

"As an educator, I was hoping to hear more about how he will work at the federal level to improve the education system, such as returning disbanded or reassigned agencies back to the Department of Education," she said.

Dawson had reached out to the Franklin County Democrats Central Committee before stopping by, and he won't be the last, said Franklin County Democratic Chair Catherine Crooks, who is expecting more candidates to stop by.

"I think it's good for people to know that they have options and whenever a candidate is coming through the area, it's always good to hear what they have to say," she said. "You don't know what might resonate with you until you come listen. So get out, whatever you might think your party preference might be, it's always good to be educated on who is running and what their views are on."

When asked about her thoughts on Dawson, she called him a qualified candidate who could step in on Day 1 and do the job.

"There are three Democrats running for this seat, so it's very important that people get out and vote because if none of them get the 45 percent on the ballot in June, then the seat will be decided at the state convention by the delegates," she said.

Crooks thanked everyone who stopped by that evening, saying they had great questions, which made for a great discussion.

The Franklin County Republicans have also been busy and are looking forward to their "Liberty & Lyrics" party on Thursday, April 9, at the Franklin County Convention Center. For more information about that, contact Janice Sailer at 641-373-6222.