Editorial: Franken for Senate

Retired Navy Admiral Mike Franken is what Iowa and America need in the United States Senate: a brilliant man who put his life on the line for this nation, who takes seriously the oath he swore to protect and defend the Constitution, who mourns the consolidation that has polluted and eroded the rural place that forged him in Lebanon, Sioux County.

Franken is the Democratic challenger to Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican who was elected to the Senate in 1980. It’s hard to fathom anyone defeating Grassley, but the most recent Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed Franken trailing by just three percentage points. That’s stunning.

Iowa voters are tired of Grassley, 89, first elected to the Iowa Legislature in 1959. If you think there might be a problem in Washington, remember that the senior senator has been part of the inside scheme there for a long time, including stints as chairman of the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees. Grassley is the D.C. elite.

At one time, we fancied him a maverick, an honest Chuck who railed against the military industrial complex and preached the HR Gross gospel of not spending money on much of anything. We liked that younger Chuck.

Power got to him. He lost us around 2010 with the Tea Party revolution, when he did not refute the scaremongering about offing Granny through some sort of Medicare death panel during health care negotiations. If your health insurance premiums have soared over the past 20 years, Chuck Grassley is a big part of the reason why.

He really lost us with his embrace of Donald Trump. This was not the straight old farmer anymore. There he was on stage mucking it up with a prevaricator, a narcissist, an insurrectionist. Grassley did not want Congress to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection for fear what it would tell the American people.

That’s about the time that Franken, 64, retired his commission in the Navy after a distinguished career. He could not in good conscience serve Trump. He moved back to Sioux City and ran for the Senate two years ago, losing in a primary. He then methodically set about beating Grassley. Franken defeated former Rep. Abby Finkenauer in a remarkable primary upset. He has built momentum since with straight talk about defending the Constitution, serving with integrity and promoting freedom right here at home.

We are moved to salute.

Franken is sharp. He understands the existential threat posed by climate change to food production. Isn’t that the sort of senator you would want serving on the Agriculture Committee? He deeply appreciates the strategic threats posed to the United States around the world. Isn’t that the sort of person you would want on the Armed Services Committee? He helped lead the military effort in Africa to beating back the Ebola epidemic. Wouldn’t you want a person who understands science and logistics watching over our national security?

New Hartford, Grassley’s home base, certainly is no better off than it was in 1959. Consolidation has been the overarching theme in agriculture since he took roost in the Senate. It has been devastating to rural communities. The family farmer is on the endangered species list. Grassley has been moaning about anti-trust enforcement in agriculture since Heck was a pup, but he never was able to convince a Republican president to do something about it. He surely wrote a lot of stinging letters.

Grassley could liberate Dreamers from his high position on Judiciary. He will not lift a finger until someone bricks up that wall. He is stuck in 1986, the last time we had an immigration reform package, and he still can’t get over “amnesty.”

Iowa is better served with a split Senate delegation. It’s an important hedge depending on who occupies the White House. Franken would balance and complement Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, herself a military officer.

We could all use a fresh start. Franken says he wants to bring people together. He laments how friendships have been torched by our uncivil discourse. Reared in a machine/welding shop, he is a pragmatist who can figure out how to hammer things out. That’s what Iowa needs. Vote for Mike Franken for U.S. Senate.