2002 CLINTON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM (as approved by the County Convention, 3/16/2002)

STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES

Clinton County Democrats Home Page

We reaffirm that the Democratic Party should be the party of the common person and should stand strongly for jobs at a living wage, decent and affordable housing, adequate health care, and a fiscally sound social security system for all.

The increasing flow of our nation's wealth into the hands of fewer people continues.  Tax cuts should not disproportionally benefit the wealthy at the expense of low and middle income families.

Corporations continue to offer part-time and temporary jobs with no benefits and low wages. We believe that Iowa's future growth is dependent on full employment and that our people need full-time work with benefits and higher pay.  We believe that part-time workers should have pro-rated benefits and decent pay.  We support efforts which give workers organizational opportunities to deal with multinational corporations.

Iowa must continue to maintain the highest standards for all levels of our schools, all students, and all teachers. All Iowa Students deserve competent, caring, and enthusiastic teachers who are well prepared and well compensated.  We must ensure that these schools can provide a top-quality education for their students through an adequate and stable source of K through 14 funding.

We support the family farm rather than the large corporate operations (such as, but not limited to, corporate hog factories) that are moving into Iowa.

We reject the position that economic development is not compatible with environmental preservation.  We support the concept of government programs and regulations to preserve the environment, and we support research into environmental hazards and into the means to overcome them.

We recognize the responsibility of governments to facilitate economic development by means of supporting education, scientific research, and infrastructure.  We oppose corporate welfare, the system of government subsidies to businesses.  These include cash grants, tax breaks, subsidized loans, and free public services from the federal government and the State of Iowa.

A top priority of all governments should be to provide our citizens a safe place to live, to make the streets of our cities safe, and to keep our people from having to live in fear of crime.

We recognize that the United Nations has contributed much to our global security through health, education, family planning, UNICEF, and other programs as well as by providing peaceful measures for resolving international conflicts.

We support the national fight against terrorists.  We also salute the men and women who have given life or limb because of terrorist action as well as those who are risking life and limb as part of this effort.

No one including the President of the United States should use this fight to advance personal or partisan goals.  However, we believe that the President has been using the popular support for countering terrorism to distract public attention while he advances a partisan agenda.   This includes privatizing social security, weakening environmental laws, renouncing international treaties, and other partisan matters.  We denounce such behavior.

We oppose discrimination based on gender, age, race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, economic status, disability, or ethnicity.

PLANKS

AE  (AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENT)

AE-1.  We propose a cap on subsidy payments to large corporate farms and agriculture subsidies to other large corporations.

AE-2.  The Federal Government should eliminate the "freedom to farm" legislation.

AE-3.  We support startup economic assistance to young family farmers.

AE-4.  Resolved that all resources available to expand and ensure the world food supply be encouraged through education and practical experimental proofs to the end that we reinforce the confidence of our own nation's people and those of the rest of the world so that bioengineered food grains and feedstuffs be accepted by both groups and open up the markets to world trade for these and all other products of America in a more fair trade practice.

AE-5.  Prime farmland should be protected from urban sprawl, encroachment by highways, and other types of development pressure.

AE-6.  To prevent cruelty and filth in meat processing plants, state/federal inspectors should be stationed at the blood pit with the authority to stop the line if improperly stunned and conscious animals are getting through.

AE-7. Current environmental laws should be strengthened and enforced.

AE-8.  Wetlands should not be further converted or developed.

AE-9.  MTBE should be eliminated as a fuel additive and ethanol should be substituted to prevent environmental damage.

AE-10. The US should be the leader in encouraging renewable fuels and fuel efficiency. Government energy programs should include further fuel efficiency as an important component.

EL  (ECONOMY, COMMERCE, AND LABOR)

EL-1.  We support project labor agreements and using Vision Iowa monies for financing these agreements.

EL-2.  We support raising the state minimum wage to a living wage based on the Illinois definition of living wage and indexed to the cost of living.

EL-3. We call for continued government support and subsidies for long distance passenger train service, and we call for the extension of passenger train service to Clinton County.

EL-4.  Goods should not be imported into the United States produced by repressive child labor, or from factories that have unsafe or unhealthful working conditions or that do not pay workers a living wage.

EL-5.  In order to keep top firefighters and law enforcement employees in the state of Iowa, the state needs to ensure that adequate protection is available to care for the families of any employee killed or injured in the line of duty.

EL-6.  Recent changes that have taken place in our country's welfare system have eliminated access of many of our working people to health care, nutrition, and child welfare programs.  The state needs to ensure access to all necessary programs for those who need them.

EL-7.  The tax laws should apply equally to all who live or work in the United States.

EL-8.  We support the repeal of Iowa's so-called "Right-to-Work" law and thus allow employers and unions to bargain freely over union security clauses.

EL-9.  We support the rights of workers to organize by supporting card check recognition for public sector workers in Iowa, by advocating for reform of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to include card-check recognition for private sector workers, and add meaningful penalties to the NLRA to punish employers who violate the rights of workers.

EL-10.  If a temporary employee works in a company over 90 days, he/she should become a regular employee with benefits.

EL-11.  We support equal pay for equal work.

EL-12.  Federal school-to-work opportunities should be renewed and re-funded.

EL-13.  The hiring of replacement workers during a labor dispute should be illegal.

EL-14.  The laws prohibiting redefining workers as independent contractors not eligible for benefits or protection should be enforced.

EL-15.  Public entities should be required to pay prevailing wage on construction projects valued at over $2000.

EL-16.  Prison labor should not be used to replace bargaining unit workers.

EL-17.  Wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment should be mandatory subjects of bargaining for public employees.

EL-18.  We oppose the privatization of public services.

ED  (EDUCATION)

ED-1.  We support adequate funding for local K-12 schools, AEA's, and the community college system.  Financial support should include, but not be limited to, early childhood/at-risk programs, improved teacher preparation, staff development, continuing education for teachers and support staff including summer programs, technology, sufficient funding for Head Start to include all qualifying children, special education programs, increased state funds for school nutrition programs, and increased state funds for school maintenance and construction.  Iowa schools should rank among the best-supported schools in the nation.  We support a 6% allowable financial growth rate.

ED-2.  We support the appropriation of money to raise Iowa K-14 teachers' salaries to the national average.

ED-3.  We support increased aid to students in such forms as scholarships, grants, the work-study program, tax credits beyond the 12th grade, and low-cost, low-interest student loans.

ED-4.  Federal and state funds should be used to strengthen public education.  Public funds should not be diverted to private schools.  This includes but is not limited to diversions in the guise of vouchers and charter schools.

ED-5.  School bond referendums should require a simple majority rather than the current 60%.

ED-6.  We support reduction in class size and increased public funding for non-certified school employees required by such reduction.

ED-7.  All schools should meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act with sufficient state and federal funding to do so.

ED-8. In times of revenue shortfall, no single area of education should be singled out for greater budgetary restraint than other areas of education or of state government in general.  Any revenue shortfall should be mitigated by use of the rainy day fund and by restraint in the area of tax cuts.

ED-9.  The one percent sales tax for school infrastructure should be expanded to include the entire state.

ED-10. We support having a minimum standard for certifying teachers in our state.

GO  (GOVERNMENT)

GO-1.  We support preserving the Community Reinvestment Act.

GO-2.  Anti-trust laws should be strengthened and enforced.

GO-3.  Existing gun control laws should be strengthened and enforced.

GO-4.  It should be illegal to "tag-tail" bills onto other bills.  Each bill voted on in Congress should stand alone on its own merits.

GO-5.  We support campaign finance reform which restores the principle of "one person, one vote" to elections, cuts the influence of corporations and the rich, frees candidates to concentrate on issues and constituents, gives every qualified person an equal opportunity to run for office, and reduces the escalating cost of running for office.

GO-6.  Immigration laws should be enforced.

GO-7.  We call for the abolition of capital punishment in the United States.

GO-8.  We oppose electric utility deregulation unless there is protection for utility workers; assurance of affordable, reliable, and safe electric service; and environmental protection.

GO-9.  The legislature should not adopt local property tax freeze measures.

GO-10.  The marriage penalty should be eliminated.

GO-11. We support maintenance and enforcement of the Universal Building Code for Iowa.

GO-12.  Anyone who ever served in the US military and received an honorable discharge should be given all the rights that all wartime veterans enjoy.

GO-13.  Corporate welfare should be stopped.

GO-14.  Legislation should be initiated to institute the following measures regarding disclosure, expansion or combination, increase of debt within a TIF, and time frame:

1.    Local governments creating a TIF should create a TIF Disclosure File for each TIF from commencement to dissolution detailing all public records including but not limited to minutes, public notices, debt, agreements, acquisitions, sales, expenditures, and receipts.

2.    Any combination or expansion of a TIF should require that a new base at current value at the time of change be created for any property in the old and new parts of the expanded or combined TIF.

3.    Any additional debt subsequent to that initially established within a TIF should require approval by the affected school boards and the county board of supervisors.

4.    TIFs should be limited to 10 years in length without a vote of the people.  TIFs limited to 11-20 years in duration should be allowed with the approval of 50% of the voters in a countywide election.

GO-15.  We support maintaining the reciprocity tax agreement between Iowa and Illinois.

GO-16.  We oppose raising the speed limit on interstate highways to 70 miles per hour.

HR  (HUMAN RESOURCES & HEALH CARE)

HR-1.  The Social Security program should be preserved as a social insurance program.

HR-2.  There should be a standardization of regulations from state to state which will facilitate the process of adequately serving the needs of the elderly and protecting the finances of the surviving spouse of nursing home residents.

HR-3.  We oppose the state of Iowa diverting or borrowing money from the IPERS retirement fund.

HR-4.  We support separating workers compensation into two parts; one based on medical costs and the other based on wage replacement. We support giving the employee a choice of doctor and eliminating the 1998 changes to the Occupational Hearing Loss Statute.  Workers' records should not be released to firms that blacklist them; current law on first reports of injury and in-state claims reports should be enforced.  Time frames to decide cases should be enacted.

HR-5.  Employers with four or more workers, including the state, must provide family and medical leave.

HR-6.  The "employment at will doctrine" should be eliminated.  Discharged workers should be given access to the courts.

HR-7.  Unemployment compensation should be extended to more than the current 31% of eligible workers and should be extended to people who have to leave employment due to domestic violence.  We oppose diversions from the fund.

HR-8.  We support high-quality, affordable childcare for all children.

HR-9.  We support adequately funding legal services for low-income people.

HR-10.  We support funding for transitional housing programs (i.e. housing for those who may be homeless or leaving abusive relationships).

HR-11.  Congress should provide all managed care consumers with at least the same basic patient protections as those provided by the Medicare program.

HR-12.  A systematic plan should be developed to phase in development of a coordinated, comprehensive long-term care program for the United States that would cover all Americans regardless of age or income.

HR-13.  We support the passage of safe-needle legislation to protect health care workers and other workers.

HR-14.  We support comprehensive mental health parity including substance abuse and treatment for all organic and inorganic mental illness.  Further we support requirements that insurance companies and managed care companies provide mental health benefits for all adults, adolescents, and children. We support ending arbitrary assignment of benefits which limit the number of outpatient visits, in-patient care, and medications for mental health patients.

HR-15.  The Medicare system should be strengthened so that it continues to provide affordable, high-quality care including prescription drugs for current and future beneficiaries.

HR-16.  Be it resolved that the Democratic Party is in support of health care coverage where all citizens have available affordable and adequate insurance either though existing government programs, employer benefits, or by expanding and subsidizing current programs.

HR-17.  Be it resolved that the Democratic Party recognize that the constituents have differing opinions on the difficult abortion/human rights issue and respect their differences.

HR-18.  Congress should change the Medicare geographical adjustment to reflect the true relative cost of living in each area and discontinue reimbursement based on historic norms.

IA (INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS)

IA-1.  We support humanitarian aid to needy populations. Food and US made goods should be sent rather than money.

IA-2.  Any international trade agreement should include provisions for core worker rights and environmental protection.  World Trade Organization rules should not undermine legitimate national, state, and local laws which protect public health, environmental, and social programs.

IA-3.  International debts of third-world countries should be forgiven.

IA-4.  We support all efforts to reduce and prevent the international development, proliferation, and use of nuclear, chemical, biological, and other weapons of mass destruction.  We support the international banning of land mines.

IA-5.  Americans should become aware of the problems caused by global overpopulation.

IA-6.  We oppose the training of members of repressive regimes in abusive methods of interrogation which allow them to suppress political opponents in their own countries.

IA-7.  We support the United Nations as a reconciling body and call upon the United States to support the UN and pay our legitimate UN debts.

IA-8.  We oppose military aid to repressive regimes.

IA-9. The Bush Administration should stop its attacks on international treaties such as the Global Warming Treaty, the Anti-Missile Treaty, and the Biological Weapons Convention.  The Comprehensive Test Ban treaty should be submitted for ratification and ratified by the Senate.  Further cuts in nuclear weapons should be negotiated and the results of those negotiations should be written up as a verifiable, binding treaty, submitted for ratification, and ratified.

IA-10.  As we protect ourselves against attacks by terrorist organizations, we should focus military action on areas with clear connections to threatening organizations.  Any expansion of military action should be undertaken only with clear, attainable antiterrorist goals, only with the concurrence of traditional American allies, and only with the fully informed assent of the US Congress.  Military action should not become the method of first choice in dealing with potential future problems, and international diplomacy should be used wherever possible to defuse potentially threatening situations.