Meyer focuses energy on unseating Latham

Over the course of his campaign to gain the Democratic nomination in the 4th Congressional District, Kurt Meyer has grown to love politics.

“This is a very satisfying process,” he said. “I’ve gotten to really engage with voters and hear about what’s important to them. I’ve really enjoyed myself.” Meyer has spent the past two decades as a consultant for non-profit organizations, and he believes that experience shows voters he can get results. But the election year has not been completely kind to him.

Meyer has faced accusations of being a “part-time resident,” with one opponent, Kevin Miskell, claiming Meyer didn’t have a permanent residence in the state until recently. The claim was buttressed by the fact that and his wife have another home in Edina, Minn., where his son goes to high school.

Meyer dismisses the allegations, saying he and his wife moved in 2004 to an area that overlooks land his family has owned for decades, and instead of engaging in negative campaigning will instead focus his attacks on Latham. He also points out that every candidate in the race has lived outside of Iowa at some point in their lives.

Meyer,who is also founder and president of Advocates for Cleaner Environment, an organization that promotes environmental education, has managed to amass a much larger campaign war chest than his opponents by giving his campaign $100,000 of his own money.

Here is where Meyer stands on the issues:

The war in Iraq

“The majority of people in this district have come to the conclusion that we need extract ourselves from this misguided war.

“I support an aggressive timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. The phrase I’ve been using has been `swiftly and safely.’ We can’t place the troops on the ground in danger, but we do need to get them home. I think somewhere around 18 months to 2 years, and if we can get out more swiftly, we should do it.”

The economy

“We are now seeing the implications of not having a long-term energy policy. Most of our economic blues stem from that. High gas prices and high food prices all stem from this administration putting together a scheme to profit their buddies instead of actually making policy to benefit Americans. We can see an economic renewal in this country if we were to focus our energy policy on renewable energy, and Iowa could be at the forefront of that.

“We also need to make a serious investment in our infrastructure, and that means roads, bridges, water systems and a lot of areas. These are investments that will come back to serve us in the long term. Re-evaluating our transportation system and putting more focus on public transportation, should also be a priority. Unfortunately, gas prices are only going to go up, so we could really see a renaissance in public transportation if we put the resources into it that it deserves.”

Health care

“I advocate a single-payer system. The physicians I’ve spoken with over the years have agreed with me that a single-payer, universal system is the best option because it will provide significant administrative savings. Around $300 billion is spent annually on administrative costs. Thirty-one percent of health-care dollars are spent on bureaucratic costs. That’s a lot of money spent on paperwork that we can invest in patient care with a single-payer system.”

Rep. Tom Latham

“Successful representatives are usually people who really focus on an area and end up becoming the go-to person in that area. Tom has not stepped up to do that while he has been in office. I think that shows a real lack of leadership. Part of the role of a Congressman is being out front on some issues. He’s instead decided to stick to the party line, which I think is a disservice to this district.”