The Iowa Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate blasted Republican Senator Chuck Grassley on a host of issues during a speech earlier today, while Governor Chet Culver noted his family’s interest in the race to defeat Grassley. 

U.S. Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin was the first party nominee to address the Iowa Democratic delegates at their state convention.  Conlin listed a series of complaints about Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator she’s challenging in November.  Conlin criticized Grassley’s vote for the Wall Street bailout and she accused Grassley of opposing “re-regulation” of the oil industry. 

“Who is Senator Grassley listening to?  Who is he working for?  You know his motto is:’Senator Grassley works,’” Conlin said.  “…My response is:  ‘For who?  For who does Grassley work?’”

Conlin accused Grassley of opposing what she termed “re-regulation” of the oil industry in the wake of oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. ”Every morning we get up, every morning we look at that disaster and every morning we should point to Senator Grassley and say, ‘Why?’” Conlin said. “‘Why, Senator Grassley, would you let this happen to our country?’”

Conlin was also critical of Grassley’s stewardship of the Senate Finance Committee, accusing Grassley of allowing the dollar’s value to plunge and the U.S. trade deficit to soar. ”Senator Grassley, as head of the finance committee, turned billions of dollars in surplus into a deficit. That was Senator Grassley’s work,” Conlin said.  “He reduced taxes for those who already have the most, not once but twice.” 

Conlin said Iowa “can do better” than Grassley. “He has been in the United States Senate for 30 years.  He is about to begin his fourth decade in the United States Senate,” Conlin said. “It’s up to us to persuade Iowans that three decades is really long enough.” 

Another Democrat made note of Grassley’s longevity in office, too.  During his speech at the Iowa Democratic Party’s state convention, Governor Chet Culver noted it was his own father, former U.S. Senator John Culver, who lost his bid for a second term to Grassley in 1980.

“You think it’s been a long 30 years for you,” Governor Culver said, with a laugh.  “It’s been a long 30 years for the Culver family, too.  We will replace Chuck Grassley with Roxanne Conlin on November 2nd.”

A spokesman for Senator Grassley said Conlin ”put her personal hypocrisy on display” with her comments at the convention.  “Making such an absurd and unfounded claim that Chuck Grassley is responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, when she herself has some of her millions of dollars in personal wealth invested in an ownership interest in Transocean, the very company that was responsible for the equipment that caused the leak, is a new low,” said Bob Renaud, Grassley’s campaign manager. 

Click on the following link to listen to Conlin’s speech: ConlinConvention

Photo courtesy Iowa Democratic Party.