At the Iowa GOP Convention - June 15, 2014

Good Afternoon. I’m Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and I recently have become your nominee for Iowa 2nd Congressional District. I’m going to take a little moment of personal privilege here and Kurt Meeks, somewhere back there is my husband, would you stand? So Kurt, I wanted take this moment to thank him and all the fathers. I wish you all a Happy Father’s Day.

Kurt and I have been married almost 32 years, and we have two wonderful and independent tax paying children. And since the democrats have been scouring the families Facebook pages, I thought that I might just come clean and let you know what my children said on primary night.

Our lovely daughter Taylor said, “Congratulations to my mom! She’s small but mighty.” Our son Johnathon said, “Congratulations Mom, you’ve come a long way from cleaning my diapers. One more win, and you can clean up the poop in Washington!” So I’m running for congress because we need to clean up an incontinent and dysfunctional mess in Washington D.C.

Will Rodger said, when people are stressed, they care to know that you care, before they care to know what you know. When you’re visiting and talking with people, you see aimlessness, and apathy and acquiescence, and even anger. People are concerned. They’re concerned about who’s standing up for the little guy. Well my daughter was right. I am the little guy and I’m standing up.

They care about health care, they care about increasing take home pay, and they care about a government that works for all of us and is accountable. The healthcare field has been a debacle. Why am I so passionate about these issues and standing up for the little guy? I come from a family of 8 kids. My dad was a Master Sargon, my mom finished 8th grade. When I was burned at 15, I decided to become a doctor.

So I did what most responsible republican women do, I left home at 16, entered community college, enlisted in the army at age 18, got a Degree in Nursing, a Master’s in Education and ultimately went to medical school. I recently resigned from the Department of Public Health to run for this office.

Now, I’m not saying I’m perfect. That’s not the impression I’m trying to give you. I’m just running for congress, not sainthood. But I’ve had a lifetime of being trusted to listen to people and to take care of those who are most in need. And when it comes to health care, the health care bill has not lived up to its expectations. Costs are going up, we’ve just learned that the two insurance companies in the exchange are increasing premiums.

People are losing their jobs, they’re going to part time work, and we know if we want better health care reform, who are we going to trust to do healthcare reform? The man who lied and followed the president and said, “You can keep your health care plan, you can keep your doctor, and premiums will go down?” Or are we going to trust the guy who said he read the bill, and then fell asleep in the health care hearings? Or are we going to trust the guy who exempted himself and members of his staff from following the same laws?

Increasing take home pay. We’ve seen great policies in Iowa that can be exported to Washington D.C., and it’s time to put Iowa in Washington, and put Iowans first. If we want to expand the middle class, and increase take home pay, then we’ve got to stop the economics of trickle up poverty.

Then what about a government that works for all of us and is accountable? We have seen vast scandals in this administration, unlike any administration that I have ever seen. We don’t need any more Pelosi and Obama puppets, we need a government that works for us. We have seen drone attacks, spying on reporters, we’ve seen an IRS scandal that targets conservatives, and recently learned that the IRS can’t find Lois Lerner’s emails. Oh gosh, don’t worry about that, just call the NSA, they find all the emails. Don’t worry, we’ll do worse than that. The campaign is only just beginning.

We want a government that works for all of us, and is accountable to all of us. I think we have some veterans in the room, I’m one, Sam Clovis is one, Joni Ernst is one, Governor Brandstead is one, can our veterans stand? The most appalling act of this administration, is foreign policy and our veterans. The VA debacle, the veterans not getting care, releasing Bo Bergdahl in exchange for five terrorists, and the Benghazi actions. Where we could justify releasing Bo Bergdahl and bringing him home under the justification that no solider should be left behind. Yet, we left four American’s in Benghazi, without going to their aid. That is a travesty.

So, I’m asking for your vote, I’m asking for your support, if you can’t vote for me, contribute to me, if you can’t contribute to me, then I ask for you to pray for me and my family. Because we don’t need any more people that we can’t trust that are in (inaudible) after this administration. We need policies and to put Iowa in Washington, who will put Iowans first. When you send me to Washington D.C., I can guarantee you I will read the bill. No more Pelosi puppet, no more Obama puppet, I may be a small Mariannette, but I am nobodies puppet.

We’re going to send a resilient message to Washington DC, we’re going to take out our pen and write a prescription. Keep your doctor, and lose your Congressman. Thank you very much, God bless Iowa.

Speech from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_RywLY1yhg&index=1&list=PLDLQiUqKaml7nOpYtGs-qdtDUb7ykCCpK.