When I saw a letter in the Daily a few days back mentioning the name of our State Rep. Lisa Heddens, I got very excited. She is someone who has been serving Iowa for a decade now. Unfortunately, the letter was quite anti-Heddens. As I read on, its author, Ben Ashland, started to stray so far from the facts, I half expected him to accuse Heddens of being Herky the Hawk in disguise.

It was said in the letter that “the truth will out.” It just wasn’t mentioned you had to wait a few more days. So much of what Heddens stands for and represents was grossly distorted. She was portrayed as out of touch. Here’s the truth:

Heddens is an ISU graduate. Her daughter graduated from ISU less than a year ago. I’m sure she can remember what she paid for her own education and what her daughter’s cost is today. The cost of education isn’t unknown to her, but I would hate to imagine where it would be without people like her fighting to keep it from rising or to slow the pace in which it has risen over the years.

She speaks to students, teachers and local business leaders. She’s not an out of touch politician; she’s our neighbor who lives here in Ames. For those of you who grew up here, you may already know her well. For those of us simply passing through Ames on our adventure through college, she’s fighting for us all the while.

Ashland stated Lisa has fought Republicans who supposedly fought valiantly to give more funding to the regents. The truth is the Republicans in the Iowa House introduced a bill including a $31 million cut in funding to the Regents. Lisa, knowing that would be devastating for students here, voted no. Ashland was right: She’s fighting Republicans, but fighting to save our school and keep our tuition low, not the other way around.

I don’t know where the author got the idea Republicans are trying to help the university. Perhaps, he’s just trying to fit facts into an ideology. The conservatives in the House directly voted to stop funding for the ISU Research Park, one-third of which consists of student employees. Try fitting that into the farce that they’re on our side.

Hedden’s achievements go so far beyond just campus. She’s worked actively in causes of health care, assisting those with disabilities, and infrastructure investment that helps make Iowa safe. We’re Cyclones here. We should be honest with each other about who will best serve us as students. We shouldn’t mislead one another and distort facts in order to win politically. That’s something a secret Hawkeye fan would do.