Friday, June 09, 2006

 

Intelligent Commentary Going Round & Round

Iowa Ennui over at Things Going Round & Round has some great analysis of the first volley in the governor's race. As you probably know, our candidate, Jim Nussle has been promoting a plan to bring Iowa's teacher salaries above the national average. Chet "Sucessfully sued twice for campaign violations while Secretary of State" Culver takes the bait and tries to attack Nussle on budget principles, missing the more sophisticated angle (Anyone suprised?). Here's TGR&R's take:
It’s not hard to see how a promise of an aggressive pay increase for teachers, classroom instruction money, translates into a larger discussion of the dysfunction in Iowa’s educational bureaucracy. Just spend an hour attempting to figure out where and how the AEAs acquire & use their funds.

The only surprise is the Culver comment. It suggests that this particular funding nuance is lost on our newly minted Dem gubernatorial candidate. As odd as it might seem, good politics begets good governing; it reflects on a politician’s ability to see things beyond the obvious.


Comments:
Nussle had a great line in the QC paper the other day during the 'almost meet' at the airport.

The QC paper reported that Culver says he wants to raise teachers’ salaries to the national average. Currently, the state is ranked 41st nationwide in teacher pay.

Nussle responded that average isn’t much of a goal, and he’d shoot for higher.

The obstacle of course, will be overcoming the media assisting Culver, with negative comments something to the effect of, "the budget won't allow for what Nussle proposes."
 
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