Conlin wants to fix D.C. ‘mess’
COUNCIL BLUFFS - Roxanne Conlin knows she's up against an entrenched opponent in Charles Grassley in her bid for the U.S. Senate seat, but there seems to be a change in the air, she said.
"All over Iowa, people I've talked to say ‘Grassley has changed,'" Conlin told supporters at a Council Bluffs stop Saturday night.
The Democrat raised more than $600,000 in the first seven weeks of her campaign, she said.
"I raised more from individuals than he did," said the Des Moines-based attorney, who was once an assistant state attorney general. "I am not taking PAC money or from federal lobbyists."
Despite her professional and financial success, Conlin said she knows first-hand how it feels not to have health insurance or enough food on the table.
"When I was 14, I got an ear infection and we did not have any money, any insurance. I got better, but I have a partial hearing loss. For a lack of a couple of dollars to buy penicillin, I have a permanent hearing loss," she said.
"My circumstances have changed now, but I know there are cold, hungry children in Iowa tonight. That matters to me. It always has and always will. "
Conlin, who entered college at 16 and law school at 19, talked about her successful class-action suit against Microsoft, which was settled for $255 million, of which Iowa received $180 million. During her career as an assistant state attorney general, Conlin wrote the first law of its kind protecting rape victims, she said.
Now, Conlin wants to serve Iowans in the Senate.
"Iowans deserve someone who will fight the bailouts to Wall Street and who is fed up with gridlock," she said. "I am prepared to go to Washington and fight to fix this mess. I promise I will do everything to make you proud that you supported me."
Source: OMAHA WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE
