The V-eekly

There has been a lot in the news and flying around the rumor mill about where I stand with the jail. Here are my thoughts and stance on the Johnson County Jail. The jail is in serious disrepair. It was one of the first buildings I toured when I was running for county Supervisor in 2022, and I left the tour with a headache and a sick feeling in my stomach--it is a disgrace that the conditions of the jail have gone unaddressed for so long. It is not a place anyone should be inc

It is a tragic reality that we live in a time when mass shootings occur on a regular basis. It deeply pains me that our community has recently been home to such a violent and terrifying act. And while I am grieving with and for the victims, survivors, family members, friends, and bystanders, I am also ready to hold up a mirror to our county and dig into the work of holding the grief and loss while finding actionable policies, practices, activities, whatever it takes to heal,

Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of touring two data centers in Iowa, one of which is Meta's largest data center in the world, which is in Altoona, and the other was QTS in Cedar Rapids. I say privilege, because I know that as an elected official there are spaces that I gain access to that are not afforded to everyone, and I take that privilege and duty seriously to report back to our residents what I learned and how it is informing our decisions moving forwa

The sun is shining, the spring air is still crisp from wintering over, and the buds are popping out on the magnolia outside my window. Fresh starts are everywhere and given the ramping up of this campaign season (hard to believe the June 2nd Democratic primary election is merely 8 weeks around the corner!), I'd like to offer a review of my Plan for Progress that is also available on my website and has been for months. Let's call this 3 with V! #1 Artificial Intelligence and D

TDoV I have said: When they go low, we go deep. And this last week highlighted the power of how deeply we are connected. Trans Day of Visibility (TDoV) week was a whirlwind of activities that spanned art-film-music-dancing-drag performance-food! And underlying all of this joy was mutual aid and community building. These core seeds of our community have buoyed us as a community and continue to provide much-needed connection and financial relief to our loved ones. I won't go in

Update on the School Resource Officer (SRO) One thing that was illuminated last week, is that Lisa Green-Douglas is the liaison to the CCA School Board. Wow. When I indicated in our last meeting that I had reached out to the school board to ask if they wanted to meet and talk things over, she admonished me with a 'I am already meeting with them as the liaison' while at the same time denying that she knew that they were discussing an SRO. Similarly, Rod Sullivan was clearly up

Headlines about a School Resource Officer and Yes, the Governor is obsessed with us (Johnson County. Well, and trans people) Last week the Clear Creek Amana (CCA) School Board and the Sheriff brought before us a contract to help pay for a School Resource Officer (SRO) to be embedded in their middle and high school buildings for a one year pilot program. To the CCA School Board's credit, they did quite a bit of work leading up to the contract they presented us- they sent out a

As we know, this is an election that will determine who will sit in this seat through the remainder of the Trump Administration and I know I have the skill set and courage to stand up to authoritarianism. It is a heavy lift to not only run against a 20-year incumbent who is also a Democrat, but then to also explain these districts and what that means.

I was very fortunate to get to meet Rep. Jayapal. I know. I am not a Washingtonian, but I was able to meet with her and her legislative staff to discuss her Resistance Lab, which is where I got the template for the anti-ICE/DHS resolution that we passed a few weeks ago.

The County Budget & The State Legislature (I promise not to sound too nerdy!) It is that time of year when my attention is pulled in two different directions: our values are on full display when formulating our county budget; and the state's values are on full display when they pass laws that deprive certain residents/natural resources (like water and soil) of protections. County Budget- Here's a short video to provide a basic overview of the process- We have been reviewing a

Week One: How This Re-Election Campaign Is Different First of all, thank you to everyone who helped put together our launch event this weekend and to everyone who attended- deep gratitude for taking time out of your Saturday to join us! I can feel the energy of this campaign, and it is wildly different than 2022. That is in large part because: Supervisors in three counties (Johnson, Blackhawk, and Story) were districted by the state legislature. Here is an article explaining

Coming soon! Follow along and get the latest news about V! The V-eekly Report will share events, appearances as well as information about the campaign.