The Republican leader in the Iowa Senate says Legislative Oversight Committee should meet at the end of this month to investigate allegations of discriminatory hiring practices in the Iowa Workforce Development agency.
That’s a week before the election and Senate Republican Leader Mary Lundby of Marion is expecting resistance from Democrats. “(Democrats) have said…everything can wait ’til after the election and I just think…talking about discrimination…is not a political issue and there is no reason to wait,” Lundby says.
Senator Tom Courtney of Burlington, the Democrat who is co-chair of the Oversight Committee, declined to comment until he has talked directly with Lundby. Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle has blasted out-going Democrat Governor Tom Vilsack’s record on hiring minorities.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver has said he is “troubled” by the allegations that minorities in state government have been passed over for promotions.