Hamerlinck wants Legislature to cut wasteful spending

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By Ed Tibbetts | Wednesday, October 22, 2008 8:34 PM CDT | () comments

Four years ago, Frank Wood of Eldridge, Iowa, was the outsider.

The mayor of Eldridge was running for the state Senate against a rising Republican star.

An educator, Wood won a hard-fought battle for the seat. Since then, he says he’s worked hard to reach across the aisle to become an effective legislator.

No longer the outsider, Wood is an important part of the state Senate, chairing the committee that oversees education spending, the largest part of the state budget.

This year, there is a new outsider in the District 42 race. He’s Davenport Alderman Shawn Hamerlinck, 28.

The Republican who represents the city’s northwest side 2nd Ward is like many of his GOP colleagues, trying to make the Democratic-controlled Legislature’s spending the major issue.

“This is a campaign about

fiscal responsibility,” Hamerlinck said.

Hamerlinck said the Legislature under Democratic control has spent too much money and should now look for cuts in the state payroll and in what he calls wasteful spending.

After being elected to the Davenport City Council in 2006, Hamerlinck said he forged a reputation as an independent-minded person who listens to constituents and studies the issues so he has an understanding of their effect before voting.

He also describes himself as an “ideological” candidate, not tied to party — a candidate who is in tune with voters who don’t want their taxes raised. He said he can’t foresee a time when he would vote to do that.

For his part, Wood said the Democrats’ investments in bio-energy, children’s health care, teacher salaries and colleges put the state in a position to grow.

“We’re investing in the future,” he said.

The tighter budget picture this year may make it tough to fulfill those investments, he conceded. The state’s Revenue Estimating Conference two weeks ago cut revenue forecasts for this year.

However, he said the investments are the right ones. On health care for children, for example, he said, “We know that they learn better if they’re well.”

The two men differ on some of the biggest proposals to come before the Legislature last year.

Wood voted for a change in how school infrastructure funds are distributed. Hamerlinck opposes it.

The tax, which had previously been the subject of county referendums, was made statewide. It now will continue until 2029, when the Legislature can renew it.

Backers, including Wood, say the change equalized funding per pupil across the state, especially for rural areas that complained they were getting unequal treatment. The tax comes from a penny tax on retail sales, which tend to be concentrated in urban areas.

Wood said the money will help a lot of districts do what Davenport did with its local-option sales tax money. “School districts have utilized it well,” he said.

Hamerlinck objects. He said the power to levy that tax was approved by local voters and taken away by the Legislature.

“How do you step on a local referendum?” he asked. “I’m against stepping on the voter.”

He also worries the Legislature will dip into the fund to pay for ongoing operations, something state Auditor Dave Vaudt has said it’s doing with other funds already.

Hamerlinck said he would propose a constitutional amendment prohibiting dipping into the fund.

Wood said he, too, is against dipping into the fund.

“I’d argue until I’m blue in the face not to do it,” he says.

The two also take different approaches on the measure vetoed by Gov. Culver this year to expand the areas subject to negotiation between governments and their employee unions.

Hamerlinck opposes it. He said the legislation could hamstring school districts by forcing them to hire new teachers if class sizes are prevented from growing as a result of collective bargaining agreement.

“You want the school board to make those decisions,” he said.

Class size is one of the elements that would be put on the bargaining table as a result of the bill.

Backers of the law say it would give public employee unions the same leverage that private bargaining units already get.

Critics say it will increase the costs to government and encroach on their ability to manage.

Wood split with his party and voted against the measure, but he is amenable to changing his mind.

“There’s no doubt I could be moved one way or the other,” he said.

He said it would depend on the bill’s language.

Wood said he voted against the previous measure mainly because it included language changing how school districts could evaluate and dismiss new teachers.

The two also differ on the state’s new ban on smoking in most public places. Wood voted for it. Hamerlinck said he would have voted against it.

With only a couple weeks left before Election Day, Wood is outdistancing Hamerlinck in fundraising.

The incumbent raised $65,860 between July 15 and Oct. 14, according to finance reports filed this week.

Of that, $59,250 came from political action committees, about half of that from labor unions.

Wood had spent $46,379 and got $57,987 in in-kind contributions from his party’s Senate caucus. He had $31,849 in the bank going into the last three weeks of the race.

Hamerlinck, meanwhile, raised $12,397 in the same time period. Of that, $7,950 came from political action committees, with the anti-tax Iowans for Tax Relief of Muscatine his biggest donor, at $5,000. He also got $16,420 in in-kind contributions from the Republican Party of Iowa, all of it in direct mail.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.

Name: Shawn Hamerlinck

Address: 2210 Nevada Ave., Davenport

Age: 28

Party: Republican

Family: Wife, Melissa; sons, Ashton, 4, and Bennett, 1.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychology, Loras College, 2002; master’s degree in sociology, Loyola University, Chicago, 2005.

Career: Youth field specialist, Iowa State University Extension Service; Davenport alderman; adjunct professor, Augustana College.

Name: Frank Wood

Address: 1135 Davies Court, Eldridge

Age: 56

Party: Democrat

Family: Married to Peggy; two children, Brian, 29, and Amy, 28.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in physical education, Augustana College, 1973; master’s degree in education administration, University of Illinois, 1984.

Career: Iowa legislator, associate principal, North Scott High School.