County Conventions Help Refine Party Planks
Sone Scott (right) talks with the Democrat convention Saturday morning.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Democrat and Republican parties of Mahaska County each met on Saturday to help further refine their planks and to name delegates to travel on to represent local interest at district and state convention.
This is part of the continuing process that started back in January with the caucus. There, central committee members were selected, and then a group of delegates were also selected. Those delegates are who participated in Saturday’s meetings.
Each party heard from their respective candidates and elected officials. An example of such speeches is that of Sone Scott, who spoke with the local Democrat party about her candidacy for Mahaska County Treasurer. Scott has been a part of that department for over 30 years, getting employed when she was 18 years old.
Also making speeches were candidates, or in some cases surrogates selected to speak on a candidates behalf. During the Republican convention, Iowa State Senator Ken Rozenboom spoke on behalf of Joni Ernst, who is seeking to become Iowa’s first female US Senator. Ernst is currently an Iowa State Senator, and this past week picked up the endorsement of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
One of the planks in the local platform for Democrats is to bring attention to the Citizen’s United case. “While corporations or unions may not give money directly to campaigns, they may seek to persuade the voting public through other means, including ads, especially where these ads were not broadcast.”
The United State’s Supreme Court upheld that decision on Citizens United by a 5-4 vote in January of 2010.
If you would like to know more about or become more active with either party in the county, you can communicate with the local Mahaska County Democrats via Facebook HERE. You can find the Mahaska County Republicans on Facebook HERE.
For those seeking to be elected to county office, there is time yet to collect the required signatures to be placed on the ballot.
Candidate Nomination Papers for the June 3, 2014 Primary are available at the Mahaska County Auditor’s Office and on line at www.sos.state.ia.us/elections for the following county offices:
• Two seats for Board of Supervisors
• County Treasurer
• County Recorder
• County Attorney
The filing period begins Monday, March 3, 2014. The last day to file nomination papers is Wednesday, March 26, 2014, at 5:00 p.m. in the Mahaska County Auditor’s Office.
During this past weekend, each party conducted internal polling that highlighted a current frontrunner for each party in the upcoming presidential election. Democrats gave Hilary Clinton the nod and the Republicans said that Rand Paul was their choice. Vote in our interactive poll for your favorite.
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