Two of the three candidates for Iowa House District 79 spoke at a public forum in Oskaloosa Monday night.  Republican Dustin Hite and Libertarian Nicholas Ryan took questions at Penn Central Mall.  Hite was asked if he would roll back the privatization of Medicaid.

“I think the privatization of Medicaid started with all the best of intentions and that was to decrease the cost to Iowa taxpayers.  As you know, sometimes we do things and the results aren’t what we expect them to be.  And when that’s the case, I think we as elected officials owe it to our constituents to have an open mind.”

When asked about eminent domain, relating to the proposed airport for Oskaloosa, Ryan said eminent domain has purposes—for building critical infrastructure like roads and power lines.  But he doesn’t see the airport as a critical infrastructure project.

“But I think that particularly with Chapter 28E of the Iowa Code and Chapter 6A, which deals with condemnation proceedings, I think that we can do a lot better.”

Democratic candidate Samantha Klein did not attend.  There’s another candidate forum tonight (9/25) at 6:30 at Penn Central Mall in Oskaloosa.  This one features the four candidates for Mahaska County Supervisor: Republicans Steve Parker and Steve Wanders, Democrat Paul DeGeest and petition nominee Scott Van Veldhuizen.