It’s clear that the people of Davenport can’t count on Senator Roby Smith to put their needs ahead of GOP special interests at the Capitol, and they’re calling him to the carpet for it.

Last Friday, The Quad City Times hit Smith hard with a blistering editorial for what the newspaper called “two truly shameful party-line votes.” One that “abandoned any oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution” and a second that “made an orphan of reason and fiscal responsibility.”

Then, Smith endured a heated forum with his constituents on Saturday, leaving many deeply dissatisfied with his answers on gun safety reforms and the GOP’s tax free-for-all.

The worst may still be yet to come for Smith.

Today, the State Senator is going to do his best to put on a happy face and pretend that a bill being signed today at Davenport Central High School is actually a real solution to a serious problem.

Unfortunately, the facts are against him:

House Republicans and Senate Republicans agreeded to strip out all long-term commitments from their education funding and instead only a one-year effort.

In Smith’s district, here’s what it means:

  • For Davenport, the legislation being signed today District Cost Per Pupil total funding will only increase $95,058. Under the plan approved last year, it would have increased $380,000 at the end of 10-year phase in.

 

  • For Davenport, the legislation being signed today will provide no additional funding to cover higher transportation costs. Under the plan approved last year, total transportation funding would be more than $4.4 million at the end of the 10-year phase in.

“Senator Roby Smith is starting to learn the consequences of putting his party ahead of the people he was elected to represent. The people of Davenport know that they are not Senator Smith’s top priority and that he can’t – or won’t – produce results for their district. Democrats will always put working and middle class families, and their access to the American Dream, first. That’s who we are as a party, and we’re confident that the Democratic nominee out of Davenport will live up to those values,” said Iowa Senate Majority Fund Director Jacob Becklund.