From an email I received overnight:
I’d like to introduce myself, Lynn Heuss, and tell you why I’m involved with I’M for Iowa.It'll be impossible for me to listen live today over the internet, but Mickelson's shows are archived here as a MP3 audio file usually by the end of the day or within 24 hours of broadcast.
I met Ed three years ago while serving as director of a free meal program for the homeless, low-income and working poor in downtown Des Moines. He was one of a handful of “dignitaries” that attended the event and the only state elected official. I was a political cynic at the time, but because Ed showed up, I thought it earned him the right to question my cynicism …which he promptly did! We had a spirited conversation that eventually (over a period of several months) led to my own re-engagement with the political system because he convinced me that it wasn’t the system that didn’t work, but it was the people in it that created the problems.
My greatest cause of frustration was the seeming lack of compassion and concern by those in politics for the well-being of the poor. I had, up until my conversation with Ed, simply believed that one could work more effectively for justice through religion. Naively, I didn’t anticipate the level of politics involved in our religious institutions. That, then, is what led me to jump back into governmental politics with both feet, including working on Ed’s gubernatorial campaign, as his clerk for the 2006 session, and now in I’M for Iowa. If it takes getting involved with the system to change it – I decided I wanted to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
LISTEN!
One way to be part of the solution is using the voices we’ve been given – to speak up and to speak out – about issues that are important. Tomorrow, Ed will be doing that as he hosts the Jan Mickelson show on WHO Radio (1040AM) from 9:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. Please listen and call in (515-284-1040 or 1-800-469-4295) with your questions or comments.
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