The Iowa Senate routinely passes resolutions that honor individuals, but when the Senate honored actress Annette Bening for her Iowa ties, that was the final straw for one senator. Bening never lived in Iowa, but her parents did before she was born and she has some relatives who still live here, but the Iowa Senate nevertheless passed a resolution honoring Bening. Now, Senator Mary Lundby, a Republican from Marion, has drawn up her own Senate resolution. “We had so many resolutions honoring athletes and a lobbyist…and I thought ‘I wonder if anybody ever thinks about the ordinary, everyday Iowan (who) goes to work, pays their taxes, says nice things about the state?'” Lundby says. “I just thought it would be appropriate to honor all the rest of ’em. That’s what Lundby’s resolution does. It honors every Iowan and all former Iowans. Lundby will push for the Senate to pass her resolution before the Legislature adjourns for the year.”I’ll finally have an opportunity to thank all my constituents and all other Iowans — living and dead, whoever passed through about the state, thought about the state,” she says. “All of ’em.” Passing a resolution is a symbolic act; it carries no legal punch. As far as a punchline to this story, Lundby says she will be able to talk eloquently about her resolution when it comes up for Senate consideration, despite having her tongue firmly in cheek.
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