Bisignano and Blake would serve voters well

Voters on Des Moines’ south side – in state senate district 17 – know all too well the primary is coming up on June 3. They have received mailers, seen lots of news stories about the race and maybe even talked to each of the three candidates.CCI Action Fund members held briefings with candidates Nathan Blake and Tony Bisignano on two separate occasions earlier this year. We wanted to learn more about what makes them tick – and about the issues they’re campaigning on and how they’d address those issues if elected. And then in early May, we co-sponsored a candidate forum attended by both Blake and Bisignano, and over 100 voters in the district.   By all accounts, it was a great eventNed Chiodo was invited to the candidate briefings and the public forum, but didn’t attend.What’s become clear to us is that there are two great candidates in Tony Bisignano and Nathan Blake. Both would work for everyday people by pushing to raise the minimum wage, standing up for the rights of all workers, and taking on the corrosive influence of big-money contributions on our political system.What’s less clear is where Ned Chiodo stands on these issues, or if he can be counted on to stand up for everyday people at the statehouse.Over the past decade, Chiodo represented factory farm owner Jack DeCoster, and more recently lobbied for the payday loan industry that churns out 400% APR loans to folks already struggling to get by.Moreover, Chiodo has spent a lot of time and money the past few months slinging a lot of mud.   And some of that mud could have stripped over 50,000 Iowans of their right to vote.This election should be about the issues, not about who has the best smear campaign.SD 17 has a long history of electing progressive candidates to represent them. A vote for Nathan Blake or Tony Bisignano will continue this tradition.