Grassley Brings Iowa Values and Work Ethic to Job in Washington
- Every day, Senator Grassley works hard for Iowans, setting the standard for constituent service. He has:
- Responded to more than half a million inquiries from Iowans this Congress;
- Sent more than 500 inquiries this Congress to government agencies to improve transparency and accountability;
- Conducted live tele-town hall meetings with constituents, reaching out to 120,000 Iowa households this year; and
- Held more than 99 county meetings this year alone, totaling more than 3,537 meetings throughout his service to Iowa in the United States Senate.
- From 2011-2014, Senator Grassley served as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and now serves as Chairman. He also serves on the Finance, Agriculture and Budget committees. Senator Grassley even received a waiver from Senate Republican leadership in order to work on more than the regularly assigned number of committees.
Grassley’s 99 County Meetings
- Every year since being elected to the Senate, Senator Grassley holds meetings in each of Iowa’s 99 counties at least once per year. Senator Grassley makes a point to seek out Iowans where they work, go to school and spend their days. Factories shut down the floor so he can have Q&As on any subject with hundreds of workers for an hour. School assemblies gather so he can answer questions from students for an hour and develop their understanding of representative government. Senator Grassley wants to hear from all walks of life, so he goes to Iowans, understanding not everyone has the ability to attend a town meeting at the courthouse on a weekday afternoon.
- In Polk County alone, he’s held more than 30 Q&A meetings just this year. The Q&As are composed of non-partisan audiences where he talks issues and takes questions on any subject for an hour.
Grassley Working to Bring Flood Funding to Iowa
- Senators Grassley and Ernst are leading an effort to correct a biased federal funding formula used by the Army Corps of Engineers that awards flood protection dollars based on property values, not public safety. Senator Grassley works relentlessly to give Iowa taxpayers a fair shake, from federal flood protection to farm payments to Medicare reimbursement.
Patty Judge is a Habitual No-Show
- While Senator Grassley hasn’t missed a vote for more than 23 years, a record 7,600 consecutive votes, Patty Judge has a poor attendance record during her time in public office.
- Economic Development Commission – missed 69 of 72 meetings
- State Fair Board – missed 76.3 percent of meetings
- State Senate – missed 182 votes, putting her among the bottom half of state lawmakers during her last term
- Her attendance was so bad on the job-creating Economic Development Commission that she and all future Agriculture Secretaries were removed from the board.
- The Des Moines Register in 2006 called her a “habitual no-show,” and 10 years later, rated this criticism of Judge as True.
- Beyond speeches given to local Democratic committees and friendly, partisan audiences (examples 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 in recent weeks), Patty Judge is rarely seen in formats that provide non-partisan audiences with the ability to ask unfiltered questions.
- In the Democratic primary, Patty Judge flouted the debate schedule and snubbed voters, missing five of ten debates. This included the Poweshiek County Democrats’ Debate on May 13, the Eastern Iowa Democrats’ Debate at St. Ambrose on May 16, the Des Moines South Side Democrats’ Debate on May 24, the Iowa City Candidate Forum on May 27 and the Waterloo Senate Forum at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church on May 28. One Democratic activist described Judge’s absenteeism as “spitting in the face of democracy.” On one occasion, Judge chose to attend an out-of-state fundraiser in San Francisco, a sanctuary city, rather than sit on the same stage with her opponents. She even failed to respond to an invitation for a debate in Waterloo.
- A recent Burlington Hawkeye editorial highlighted this recurring problem, describing Judge as running an “ineffective, almost invisible, campaign,” noting that they didn’t believe that “even if she ramps up appearances and advertising in the closing weeks of the campaign, she’ll change the minds of enough voters to unseat the popular Grassley.”