Gregg Hennigan puts in print a fact others have noticed:
The 10 people running for City Council in Iowa City are diverse in their opinions but not in their backgrounds — nearly all of them are white and most are men.And the one woman in the race, Michelle Payne, is also the one registered Republican in the race. Just two years ago, we had a female majority council (Bailey, Champion, Correia, Vanderhoef).
That is particularly striking when considering the three members who will leave the council later this year. Ross Wilburn, a black man, Regenia Bailey, a woman, and Mike Wright, who is gay, all chose not to seek re-election...
But here's the REAL lack of diversity on the city council: it’s been 32 years since a student was elected to the city council (David Perret in 1979). If we were a city of 65,000 with 25,000 African Americans or Hispanics who had been unrepresented in city government for 30+ years, we’d be in federal court for a Voting Rights Act lawsuit.
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