A bill in the Iowa House has recently been passed by Republican lawmakers.

This bill would allow individual lawmakers to decide how to spend money they received during campaign financing.

Current law dictates how such funds are to be spent, but many Republican leaders say legislators have enough sense to responsibly spend the campaign funds.

Such items the new law would consider include car payments, mortgage payments, clothing and laundry expenses and personal debts, as long as the lawmakers can tie these items to campaign expenses.

Wouldn’t it be nice if one could tie college loans to such monthly stipends provided by the government?

It could be assumed that a college degree would probably allow for an easier campaign for office. This degree — and the expenses which go along with it — could be theoretically linked to campaign expenses once in office.

At least, this is how it seems to us, taxpayers with credit card bills, mortgages, car payments and grocery expenses.

For once, legislators ought to realize that running for office involves a lot of time and money.

These lawmakers should take responsibility for their expenses and return any unused campaign funds back to the state.

A law such as this seems to skew the definition of public servant to one of serving legislators first and the public second.

The trend needs to stop, and defeating this bill is the first way to go about it.