A western Iowa lawman spoke late Wednesday afternoon at the Democratic National Convention, accusing Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan of proposing cuts in federal spending for “first responders.”
Carroll County Deputy Sheriff Ken Myers got a burst of applause from convention delegates when he stated his support of President Obama.
“Governor Romney has said it’s time for us to cut back on public employees like teachers, fire fighters and cops and that’s exactly what his plan would do. When the Republican governor of Ohio attacked the collective bargaining rights of police officers, Romney supported him,” Myers said, and some in the crowd booed.
AUDIO of Myer’s speech.
Myers, who spoke for about three-and-a-half minutes, spent part of his speech talking about an incident last spring when he and other law enforcement officers were involved in an armed stand-off with a man inside a house.
“First responders like me put our lives on the line,” he said, and the crowd applauded. “We’re proud to do it. It’s just the job we signed up for, to protect and serve, but we need a leader who’ll do the same for us and that leader is President Barack Obama.”
The Romney campaign shot back at Myers, saying neither Romney nor Ryan have proposed cutting federal spending on public safety by “nearly 20 percent” as Myers claimed in his speech. Romney’s campaign website makes no mention of local law enforcement, nor does it mention public sector unions for police and fire fighters. The Obama campaign has been arguing federal spending for things like grants to local law enforcement agencies would have to be reduced to meet Romney running mate Paul Ryan’s overall plan for reducing the federal budget.