As the 2003 legislative session winds down, some lawmakers are acting more like bullying schoolchildren than members of an august body elected to act in the best interest of all Iowans.

A good example of the sophomoric level to which dialogue has fallen was found in Senate Majority Leader Stewart Iverson’s empty threat last week to end the session early without approving the $810 million economic development fund. He was miffed over Democrats’ refusal to yield on overhauling the state’s income-tax system, but he also opposes cigarette tax increases to help pay for the Iowa Values Fund.

Holding the Values Fund hostage isn’t in anyone’s interest. Increasing the cigarette tax is, despite the argument of some pundits that it’s a levy on the already heavily taxed poor. Let’s put aside for a moment the prejudice implied in an argument that suggests only poor people smoke and consider this: Increasing the tax on tobacco might be the enticement people, regardless of their income, need to quit smoking. That’s in everyone’s best interests – the state’s and smokers’, who undeniably incur greater heath-care costs than non-smokers.

Together, increased taxes on tobacco and newly imposed Internet sales would make it possible for the Legislature to do something bold in positioning the state for the future. By creating a pool of money to nurture key industries in the state and attract new ones, lawmakers have an opportunity to poise Iowa for growth in a way few states can.

Iowa’s financial problems aren’t as severe as other states’, but its demographic challenges are more dire than most. The state exports many of its best trained and most technically advanced workers to other states. Its population is aging. Iowa grew at a slower rate between 1990 and 2000 than any other state. Experts project that Iowa will need 567,000 new workers to replace retirees in the next decade, but will produce less than one-third of the new workers needed to fill those positions. Iowa’s companies are getting old, too, but the state isn’t doing a good job of creating new business opportunities. It ranks 43rd in the number of rapidly growing gazelle companies and 50th in start-ups.

The petty quid-pro-quo arguments marking the final days of the legislative session should pale in comparison with such lethargic growth. The Iowa Values Fund is too important to be used as a pawn in a political chess game. It’s costly, but not as costly as doing nothing. Approving the initiative is simply the most important thing lawmakers can do to reverse the trends that spell doom for Iowa.