Grassley engages in lively exchange at Dike listening post

It’s been said that the personal is political, and the line between the two became increasingly blurry during one of Republican State Representative Pat Grassley’s listening posts at the Dike City Hall on Friday morning.
           
Jane Close, a fellow New Hartford resident who lives near Mr. Grassley and his family, castigated the representative in an empty room amidst snowy roads and frigid temperatures, accusing him of attempting to “avoid” the public with the scheduling of his meetings.
           
“This is your problem, and you’ve got to fix it,” she told him.
           
Grassley countered that even when his house district included Waverly, a community of around 10,000 residents, before the last redistricting in 2012, he rarely got more than 15 attendees at town hall meetings. He added that individuals on his e-mail list and local media organizations are notified of the events in advance, and he has held regular gatherings across his three-county district annually since being elected in 2006 and redistricting in 2012. House District 50 now includes southern Butler, northern Hardin and all of Grundy County.
           
After Ms. Close departed, Grassley spoke to The Grundy Register about a host of topics making the rounds at the statehouse, including, perhaps most notably at the moment, funding for Iowa’s public schools. 
 
The state house has proposed allotting $32 million in Supplemental State Aid (SSA) or new funding (about a one percent overall increase), while the Senate’s bill allocates a total of $46 million and includes changes in flexibility for spending on transportation.  
 
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