Norris brings message of small town populism to GC stop

Never one to rest on his laurels, Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Norris took a self-described “break” from the news and his smartphone on Friday morning while traveling to Grundy Center for a meet and greet at Pancho Villa, opting instead for a manual on agricultural policy. As he arrived, he got wind of two unrelated but alarming developments: a coalition of Democrats and conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives had torpedoed the federal farm bill, and 10 more students were dead in an apparent school shooting near Houston.
           
Against that backdrop, the discussion amongst the handful of attendees quickly shifted toward guns, mental health (specifically, the closing of two institutions under former Governor Terry Branstad), health care costs, immigration, small town despair and issues germane to the rural areas that Norris, a Red Oak native who now calls Des Moines home, has sought to highlight throughout his campaign for the state’s highest executive office.
           
“When you think about (the fact that) the people in rural parts of this country have higher suicide rates than veterans, that’s something people can get their heads and their hearts around,” University of Northern Iowa Professor Joe Gordon said. “We have to do something about it.”
           
As governor, Norris told the group that he would free up more beds at critical access facilities like the Grundy County Memorial Hospital (GCMH) to be used for psychiatric care and mental health referrals.
           
“(Even) if you had a facility in Marshalltown, it would not be that convenient for people from Grundy Center to go to, but it would be a hell of a lot more convenient than going to Cherokee or to Independence,” Norris supporter Pete Grady said.
           
Grady’s wife Jeannine called the Republican legislature’s recent moves “a war on common sense” and urged Norris to pursue policies aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of mentally unstable individuals.
           
“There is such a thing as good government, and (it’s like) we’re putting training wheels back on our democracy,” she said. 
 
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