Marion Patch Q & A: Liz Mathis' New Gig

Q: How has it been adjusting from your full time job at Four Oaks to being a state senator?

A: On the day that I was sworn in up 'til now it has just been a steep learning curve. I've have had to take a look at my current job and make some structural changes. l'll be in there Mondays and Fridays. I took a cut in pay right after I finally got a pay raise because I will be part-time now. Also, when I come back to the office in April (after the legislative session ends) I have to know my staff has survived without me.

Q: What kind of attention have you been getting since taking the job?

A: So the lobbyist start contacting you and different groups that have needs and wants and want my support. So it becomes difficult, so you want to be sure to give them the time that they need. What I have been asking is please bring two constituents from my district with you, whether [the lobbyist represent] the American Cancer Society or the Gaming Agency. 

Now I have four email addresses: One is my Four Oaks, one is my campaign, one is my home email and one is my legislative email. Over the course of an hour and a half I can get fifty four emails.

Q: What is it like balancing the interests of different lobbyists?

A: You hear about a lot of needs. There are some groups that tell you how taxpayer dollars have been spent and so they give you info on what worked with the dollars we gave you.

I got this from the gaming lobby one day [shows charts and graphs of gaming's tax revenue impacts on the Iowa budget]. They show how much money has gone into the state markets. Now it has become a really integral part of how Iowa are able to get some things done.

So then the next day I get a mailing from the American Cancer Society and they want to ban smoking in casinos. So I talked to them. I told them this is what I got from the gaming industry Monday. I said, "How are you going to do this? You are going to need a lot of legislators on this. If this is about employee safety then you can get support, but otherwise you need a lot of legislators."

Q: How was the Iowa State Senate training you just completed?

A: I spent the day in the senate with them showing me everything — how you you file a bill to here is the bathroom. I’ll be sitting in Swati [Dandekar]'s seat, chair 13. That sounds like an unlucky number, but I was born on January 13. My birthday will be next Friday, Friday the 13th.

Q: How can the Iowa State Legislature avoid the trappings of the national legislature with its abysmal public approval ratings?

A: I saw a poll about this. The polls show the public wants us to get along. In congress, it's not so much that there are heated arguments over policy or law, it is that they are beating up on each other in the party rather then discussing the efficacy of lawmaking.

You can see voter turnout affected by it. They found that [the frustration with government] is tricking down and effecting school-board elections and statewide elections. We don’t want that to happen and we don’t want the extremes fully involved at the time, you want those in the center and those affected by he law participating.

I can already see that Mike Grotsnal said he wants this session to go smoothly and end by the first week in April. Hopefully we will be able to set a good example, because, quite frankly, the public is sick of it.

Q: What's going to be the focus of the next legislative session?

A: Mental health care reform, eduction reform and taxation reform.

Look forward regular Q & A sessions with Mathis as the legislative session continues.