The following is an open letter to
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley:
Dear Sen. Grasssley:
Over the past several years, I have
had the honor of interviewing you a few times. You had a special
relationship with my former boss and you visited Belle Plaine several
times. On several other occasions, your staff called our office to
set up phone interviews with you from your Washington office.
So it is with these memories in mind
that I must regretfully say I am disappointed in you. For many years,
you have represented this state admirably. In fact, on at least one
occasion I was able to tell you that even though I am a registered
Democrat, I always voted for you when I had the chance. You always
represented your constituents well, often going against the wishes of
your party. Your service has been a no-nonsense style as you often
were not afraid to cut through the red tape that Washington seems so
fond of to get results for us.
But now, as chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, you have apparently fallen in line with your
party's leadership, drank the Kool-Aid of obstructionism and decided
you will not allow any discussion of a nomination for a judge to fill
the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
What happened to you? Surely with your
experience, you have the opportunity to show the way to other members
of the Senate and allow the government to function even in an
election year. Of course, President Obama is not from your party. But
he has shown that he won't make any radical nominations. In fact, one
of the rumored candidates is a woman from our state who you
wholeheartedly supported for another judgeship. She went on to gain
unanimous approval from the Senate.
Don't you think there is a good chance
that our president, who has 12 years experience as a constitutional
professor, realizes the gravity and importance of this nomination?
You have said that you think that the
new justice should be appointed by the next president. Are you saying
that President Obama should refrain from doing his job for his last
year? If you employed a worker for your farm and signed him to a
multi-year contract, surely you would not want to pay him for the
final year of that contract if he failed to do the work. Perhaps more
importantly, would you trust a President Trump (God forbid) to
nominate the next justice?
I can only guess that you think that
if you join your Republican colleagues in blocking this nomination
you can somehow save a dying political party. But you risk doing this
at the expense of what has been a truly noble legacy of your service.
Do you want to be remembered as someone who allowed partisan politics
to govern his final months in office? You are running for
re-election, but this move might be just the thing that pushes the
voting majority to the other candidate.
You still can change your mind. Take
the high road. Please reconsider.
Currently a disappointed constituent,
Jeff Orvis