{"id":517,"date":"2011-05-05T08:16:09","date_gmt":"2011-05-05T13:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=517"},"modified":"2011-05-05T08:16:10","modified_gmt":"2011-05-05T13:16:10","slug":"paying-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=517","title":{"rendered":"Paying Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Twenty-one years ago this week, Florida executed Jesse Tafero in the electric chair.\u00a0 The significance of this state-sanctioned murder is that it was a continuing example of what can go wrong and why change was needed.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the change made was not the change needed.\u00a0 Tafero was tortured as the electric chair malfunctioned three times.\u00a0 Tafero was still alive as flames jumped from his head.\u00a0 Florida eventually ceased using the electric chair and began executing defendants with lethal injection.\u00a0 The method doesn\u2019t determine what is and isn\u2019t humane \u2013 the death itself is not humane; it\u2019s barbaric.<\/p>\n

Perhaps politicians are beginning to understand the gruesome practice for what it is.\u00a0 There were no bills introduced this legislative session in Iowa that would have reinstated capital punishment.\u00a0 The death penalty was supposed to be a defining issue in political races of the past.\u00a0 It\u2019s not now, and it never was.<\/p>\n

Governor Tom Vilsack proved that opposition to the death penalty is not a weight around the neck when running for public office.\u00a0 Senator Vilsack strongly opposed the death penalty, and offered to filibuster on the floor of the Iowa Senate in 1995 to prevent House File 2 from being enacted.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t necessary; there were more than enough votes to defeat the measure that year.<\/p>\n

However, years later Vilsack ran for governor and the issue was nothing more than a minor mention during the campaign.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t hide the fact that he was a strong opponent of capital punishment.\u00a0 With that in mind, he went on to win two terms as governor.\u00a0 During the time he was governor, everyone knew that pushing a death penalty bill through the Iowa Legislature was a futile effort because Vilsack promised to veto such a bill.<\/p>\n

You know what?\u00a0 Tom Vilsack never once said the word \u201cveto\u201d in the same sentence as \u201cdeath penalty\u201d.\u00a0 I cautiously watched for eight years.\u00a0 Never did Governor Vilsack promise to veto a death penalty bill.\u00a0 He did say, however, that he wouldn\u2019t sign a bill reinstating the death penalty.<\/p>\n

Today, Iowans should be proud that we held back those efforts in 1995.\u00a0 Since that year, several states have abolished the practice for a number of reasons.\u00a0 It\u2019s too expensive.\u00a0 It is not administered justly.\u00a0 It is inhumane!\u00a0 It is discriminatory in practice, and evidence is emerging that indicates some people who have been executed may have been innocent.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud to live in a state that does not tinker with the machinery of death, as former Associate Justice Harry Blackmun called it.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Copyright 2011\u00a0 Fawkes-Lee & Ryan.\u00a0 All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know what? Tom Vilsack never once said the word \u201cveto\u201d in the same sentence as \u201cdeath penalty\u201d. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,17],"tags":[215,53,216,15],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death-penalty","category-issues","tag-capital-punishment","tag-death-penalty-2","tag-hary-blackmun","tag-vilsack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":519,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions\/519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}