Governor Reynolds delivered a speech tonight that was detached from reality.
The Governor refused to use her prime time speech to encourage Iowans to wear masks, practice social distancing, or to offer any plan for how vaccinations will be distributed at more than its current snail’s pace.
The Governor offered platitudes and asked for a moment of silence for those we’ve lost this past year, but conveniently ignored her administration’s abject failure to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Governor touted strong jobs numbers, but refused to acknowledge the rapidly growing number of Iowans who have abandoned looking for a job altogether because of her failed leadership.
The Governor used the stories of Iowa students for applause lines, but is proposing a dangerous policy that would rob public tax dollars to put them in private schools.
The Governor thanked public employees and front line workers for what they do, but conveniently left out the fact that she has offered no pay increase for public workers this year.
The Governor didn’t even mention the words ‘middle class’ and that wasn’t a surprise. She places zero priority on middle class families in our state.
And finally, standing in front of members of her own political party who are refusing to wear masks and putting the health of our state in danger, the Governor abdicated her role as a leader. She could have implored them to take this pandemic seriously, and to stop making unsafe decisions. Unfortunately, she did not.
Governor Reynolds has proven who she is: someone who refuses to stand up for working families, who continues to put our health in danger, and who must be held accountable for her disastrous record.
Matt Sinovic is the executive director of Progress Iowa.