From the Gazette
State Rep. Dawn Pettengill, D-Mount Auburn, today announced she is switching political parties to join the Iowa House Republican minority caucus."I think it'll be a better fit here," Pettengill told a Statehouse news conference where she was joined by House GOP Leader Christopher Rants of Sioux City. "I'm very happy about it."
Pettengill, a second-term representative from Benton County, had been at odds with Democrats through much of the just-concluded 2007 session. Most notably, she was a ``no'' vote on Democratic priorities including union-backed fair share legislation, raising cigarette taxes and extending civil rights protections to gays and lesbians.
"There's a lot of issues that didn't match the conservative bent of Benton County," she said in officially crossing to the Republican side of the side. "They didn't send me here to be a rubber stamp for anyone."
Pettengill becomes the second member of the House GOP caucus to have switched party affiliations. Rep. Doug Struyk, R-Council Bluffs, switched from being a Democrat to becoming a Republican in March 2004.
Also see What Iowa Progress has to say. And Essential Estrogen
It makes one pause to wonder why Rep. Pettengill didn't declare herself an Independent?
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