Soderberg factcheck
A brief overview of the incumbent's campaign material.
Claim 1: "I have worked hard to protect the rights of the unborn"
Representative Soderberg proudly points out that he opposed bill SF 2425 stating that it increased the state budget that could be used for abortions. What he fails to mention is that SF 2425 was the Health and Human Services appropriation bill and the funds allocated for abortions were only in the case of medically necessary abortions. To meet the criteria, the bill states that the abortion could only be performed in cases where the mother's life was at risk, the fetus suffered a congenital defect, or the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. I agree that we should do everything we can to reduce the number of abortions in Iowa, but putting the mother's life at risk or forcing an incest victim to carry a baby to term is not the best way to go about it. You can read the entire bill here.
Claim 2: "I have worked hard to stop efforts to lift Iowa's Human Cloning Ban"
Representative Soderberg points points to his vote against SF162 as proof of his efforts to prevent human cloning. The fact is that section 2 of SF162 clearly states that the purpose of the bill was to prohibit human reproductive cloning. You can read the bill here.
Claim 3: Serving on the board of the Iowa Power Fund
This is true. But what our representative fails to mention is that he is an Ex-officio non-voting member of the Power Fund board and actually voted against it's creation in the first place.(last paragraph). The Power Fund was created to promote the goals of Iowa energy independence.
Claim 4: "I support responsible energy efficiency measures, renewable energy and renewable fuel initiatives to help reduce our foreign oil use while protecting out environment."
As stated before, Soderberg voted against the creation of the Iowa Power Fund. With that vote, he also voted against the creation of the office of energy independence and against SF 485, a bill to simply measure greenhouse gas emissions in Iowa. As mentioned elsewhere in this website Chuck announced on the House floor in January that he would not support any legislation intended to address the issue of global warming. Chuck Soderberg does not believe there is a human component to global warming.
Representative Soderberg presents a long list of bills he supported as evidence of his commitment to renewable clean energy. What's important to note regarding that list is that every one of those bills supports small-scale efficiency efforts and have little or no emphasis on making the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
By compiling this list I have not intended to impugn Representative Soderberg's character or integrity. To the contrary, I believe that Representative Soderberg is a man who stands by his principles. I'm just not sure that his principles are appropriately in line with the general consensus of the district he represents.
