Iowa GOP Distract Themselves During Education Debates (IMAGES)

There has been heated debate recently in the Iowa State Legislature over funding for teachers and schools. Like in most states, these underpaid and under appreciated teachers spend much of their tiny salaries on supplies that should be at their ready.

There was a long-winded debate planned, and GOP Rep. Ross Paustian was caught reading a book entitled “Sex After Sixty,” later claiming that he was in fact paying attention and, besides, he already knew how he was voting.

Rep. Paustian explained to the media that this was just a case of “unfortunate timing” and that the photo was taken of him while the book-a gag gift to Rep. Rob Bacon, who sits next to him-which was being passed around during the debate, ended up in his hands while a camera caught the moment:

I’m getting a lot of pretty vicious emails from people, so I have to explain. The main thing is I was totally engaged in what was going on on the floor. … I knew what was going on. I knew how we were going to vote on amendments. So it wasn’t like I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on.

If any of my constituents were offended, I apologize. I certainly wasn’t trying to offend anybody. I’m doing my job here for my constituents.

But Paustian wasn’t the only one that wasn’t giving the debate their undivided attention. Rep. Clel Baudler appeared to be watching Netflix movies on this laptop, with headphones on.

Iowa Legislators claim that students and education are their priority but they only spend less than $10,000 per student per year, compared to New York which spends almost $20,000 per student per year. Of course, the students in Iowa are better off than the students in Utah, who barely get $6,000 per student per year.

The problem they are addressing is that funding for students in Iowa is being reduced, currently ranking 35th in the nation in funding per student, or $1612 per student below the national average.

And yet the GOP keeps voting against students, teachers and education. Repeatedly.

And the local media isn’t going to let them hear the end of it.

Featured image cropped from a tweet from Brianne Pfannenstiel, a reporter at Des Moines Register