Tamara Bavendam

Tamara Bavendam graduated from Central Community High School. Bavendam earned a bachelor's degree from Luther College in 1977, an M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 1981, and a graduate degree from Hibernia College in 2007.

Bavendam's career experience includes working as a physician.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am not a career politician. I am a retired surgeon, medical researcher, grandmother and a common sense problem solver. I moved to Robertson County to be closer to family and invest in a community after a career of living in cities coast to coast.

I grew up in rural Iowa. My father was a farmer and my mother, a public school teacher. I learned early that you show up, work hard and take care of your neighbors. Our state legislature should take the same approach –– show up to work hard on behalf of ALL of the people.

There are so many problems to tackle that it is overwhelming. We must make sure that our tax dollars are being used to support working families and retirees, not just corporations and wealthy donors. The wealth gap must be addressed and the corruption must to stop. While there are no easy solutions to the dire circumstances we are in, we must stop the bleeding and create the circumstances for our small communities, states and country to grow into the country we always aspired to be.

Campaigns should be funded by people, from public funds, not corporate PACs. Corporate interests, such as data centers, should not be approved in secrecy. Communities can decide, after consideration of risks and benefits, if they want a data center in their back yard. Personally, I do not.

I am running to represent ALL of District 66––putting people of party. My priorities are: Strong Public Schools, Healthcare for all and Affordable Living.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Strong Public Schools: end education freedom scholarships; increase TISA allowance for rural schools to compensate for costs of transportation; increase teachers pay; end teaching for the test; take a longer term view of what a successful school is –– how well are students prepared to enter adulthood and succeed, no matter what path they choose.Healthcare for Everyone: expand Medicaid; return insurance companies to a nonprofit status (profit comes from NOT delivering care to insured individuals. Costs go down when administrative burden in insurance companies, hospitals and physician offices is reduced); negotiate costs with pharmaceutical companies; expand mental health services; increase medical workforce and provide incentives for health care professionals to practice in rural areas; appropriately compensate professionals for time talking to patients rather than ordering tests because there is not enough time to ask enough questions to truly understand the problem; covered preventive visits for everyone.Affordable Living: end grocery tax; make childcare more affordable for all; end medical debt; support labor rights and collective bargaining; expand paid family and medical leave; increase funding for affordable housing; targeted relief for small and mid-size farms.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am most passionate about making sure that people have opportunities to share their opinion and know that I respectfully listen to everyone. While I will not be able to please everyone, I can explain why I vote the way that I do. I will be a fighter for everyone in Robertson County in the state legislature.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty and Integrity

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Act on behalf of the people who elected you and not the party.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like it to be easier for Democrats in Robertson County to themselves as successful candidates in campaigns for city, county, state and national offices.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was babysitting followed by being a waitress in a small town "greasy spoon", followed by being a nursing assistant in a nursing home.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

When I first started by urology practice in Seattle, I was the only woman West of the Mississippi River and North of Los Angeles. I was specializing in women's urologic problems and quickly found out that my training had poorly prepared me to meet the needs of my patients. Mostly, the women's problems had been dismissed or minimized when they did not respond to the conventional treatments. I had the choice of going along with convention or working with the women to find better treatment options for them. As it turned out, most of the successful treatments were behavioral and rehabilitative in nature, not surgical and it was VERY challenging to get a surgical specialty to take this new approach seriously. This revolutionary, often common sense approach, based on listening to my patients and working to improve the symptoms is now standard of care.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

In a functioning 2 party system, compromise would be what naturally happens. Both parties come to the table with common goal and negotiate legislation. We do not have a functioning legislature now and working people are struggling to meet their basic necessities. If both parties are not interested in working on behalf of ALL of their constituents then compromise is not possible.

What was the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember?

The assassination of John Kennedy