MUSCATINE, Iowa — On Friday, Iowa’s Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in a unanimous decision that makes Iowa the third state in the nation to allow same-sex couples to wed. That ruling provoked a plea from Muscatine’s David Stanley, a former Republican senator, to lawmakers at a local legislative forum held at Muscatine Community College on Saturday.

“You’ve got to pressure marriage for one man and one woman,” Stanley said as he gave a firm speech from the podium about past legislators fighting to uphold the meaning of marriage as early as the the 1960s when gay marriage wasn’t the “popular thing to do.”

Stanley was one of about 50 people who attended the forum, which  was hosted by Muscatine Community College and the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The panel included Sen. Tom Courtney, D-Burlington; Sen. Jim Hahn, R-Muscatine; Rep. Nathan Reichert, D-Muscatine; Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, R-Wilton; and Rep. Tom Sands, R-Columbus Junction.

Stanley, chairman of Iowans for Tax Relief, also spoke up about a proposed plan, House Study Bill 234, that would end federal deductibility. In this plan, Iowans could no longer subtract what they pay in federal taxes from their income when figuring their state taxes.

“A tax on a tax is wrong. It’s very simple. This bill creates winners and losers,” Stanley said. And though he said he falls in a high tax bracket and would pay fewer income taxes with this bill, he is opposed to it because “it’s not right and it’s not revenue neutral.”

Courtney disagreed with Stanley.

“I think this is the right way to go,” Courtney said of federal deductibility.

Reichert said he sees some good and some trouble with the the bill and he needs more information before making a decision.

Both Sands and Kaufmann agreed that the bill is “terrible.”

Sands said that people should be clear that it is not a middle-class tax cut and that there are some people in each income bracket who will see their taxes go up, including 69 percent of those who earn less than $70,000 a year,” Sands said. “Doesn’t sound like a a tax cut to me.”

Stanley told the panel that if they vote for the bill they will hypothetically have a sign around their necks that reads: “I taxed your taxes.”

On the subject of same-sex marriage, Courtney said that there won’t be time to bring it up this year and “it won’t come up next year either.”

Hahn said “They’re doing it on the East Coast and on the West Coast but we should say a family is a mother and father and kids.”

Though Reichert said he has always supported Iowa’s existing marriage law, he hasn’t made a decision on this one yet.

Sands said lawmakers will have to step up to the plate and reflect the majority’s point-of-view.

“Marriage should be between one man and one woman, Iowans believe,” Sands said.

Kaufmann said “take it to the people” and let Iowans vote.

Money cutsSome persons are concerned of the potential ramifications of Education Appropriations Bill 1322, which is still a senate study bill. It provides for funding cuts to certain local education programs.

John Dabeet, an instructor at MCC, encouraged the panel to use federal funding to give back to community colleges.

“This will cut 12.7 percent from our budget,” Dabeet said. “I can’t comprehend this. If you believe in education you have to try to help.”

Dabeet said the cut will result in higher community college tuitions and job cuts.

Muscatine Regional Empowerment will also take a disproportionate hit compared to other education programs, according to the group’s director Christy Roby Williams. The bill will result in a 19 percent cut in the program’s funding — about $103,000 for Muscatine.

The program provides in-home education, preschool programs, affordable child care for working families, and other child-based programs.

“Their success is our future,” she said of the potential for 140 Muscatine families and children to lose support due to the cut.

Both Roby Williams and Dabeet separately asked the legislators to do what they can to stop such cuts.

Courtney said he hopes the final cuts turn out to be less than what both are now facing, but that, ultimately, budget reduction will be needed.

Kaufmann said that legislators have to be careful with federal stimulus money because in “2011 those monies will run out.”