Times endorsement: Elesha Gayman for Iowa House District 84

By The Quad-City Times | Saturday, November 04, 2006

For Iowa House District 84: Elesha Gayman

Key trait: Young, smart, with deep political experience.

The district: Far west Davenport, Buffalo, Blue Grass, Eldridge, New Liberty as well as Lincoln, Sheridan and Hickory Grove townships. Map.

Change need not come slowly. Elesha Gayman shows up on the Iowa ballot with an opportunity to put a vote where the state’s future needs to be: Attracting and retaining young people. At 28, Gayman has neither the experience, nor perhaps wisdom of incumbent Republican Rep. Jim Van Fossen. She does have the smarts and appears to have done more homework than most of the legislative candidates we’ve spoken with, including her incumbent opponent. As a legislative clerk, Gayman saw first-hand how the legislature worked. As a graduate student in public administration, she has fresh insight into theories on running government agencies.

She’s running on issues that engage her peers: Create jobs by removing onerous medical costs off the backs of employers with pooled health insurance coverage. Limit tuition increases and create more scholarship opportunities for Iowa students. Here’s a crazy idea: Guaranteed tuition for high school honor roll students who stay on the honor roll in college.

Naive? We don’t think so. Gayman demonstrates a deeper understanding of the issues than the two-term incumbent.

The General Assembly will have enough gray-haired wisdom. Gayman offers a perspective Iowa urgently needs.