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At an IowaPolitics.com forum last week, the topic of failed labor legislation came up. The four legislators on the panel made some fairly predictable points, but my favorite was a comment by Democrat Kevin McCarthy.

Traditionally, it’s the Democrats’ job to make labor unions happy, and the Republicans’ place to please the business owners. So it was no surprise to hear Republican Linda Upmeyer refer to the Dems’ latest labor bills as “job-killing.”

That led McCarthy to say: Now that Ron Corbett is the mayor of Cedar Rapids, he says that city’s decision to pay “prevailing wage” on public projects was the right thing to do. “He didn’t feel that way as a Republican legislator,” McCarthy said.

Nobody had mentioned Ron Corbett up to that point. Nobody was wearing a Ron Corbett T-shirt. But it’s always good to hear a politician suddenly blurt out something that’s on his or her mind.

I wondered: Is Corbett on the record about this? Quick, to the Internet.

Ah, there it is, in the transcript of the April 2, 2010, edition of “Iowa Press” on Iowa Public Television. Radio Iowa News Director Kay Henderson said: “Mayor Corbett, you surprised some of your former Republican colleagues by pushing through a proposal that would pay the prevailing wage in your county to people who are working on public projects in Cedar Rapids. Why did you make that move?”

Corbett’s reply: “Because we needed to. We had the highest unemployment rate in the community … and these folks need to get back to work. All they want to do is get up in the morning, make a good living, and take care of their families. And I have to look at the entire town of Cedar Rapids. I don’t have the shackles of a partisan label on me. I’m a nonpartisan guy trying to take care of our town.”

I’m no expert on democracy or anything, but this kind of sounds like a good way to handle government. It makes one wonder: How committed are we to the idea of political parties, anyway? Can we be a little bit flexible on that? Because if we could line up some people who would make decisions based on what’s best for the citizenry rather than the day’s talking points, we might be on to something.

The forum at Drake University featured McCarthy, the House majority leader; Upmeyer, the House minority whip; Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley; and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Jack Hatch.

The second-most intriguing comment came from McKinley, who claimed that Iowa’s education spending has risen 50 percent per student under Democratic governors Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver even as the national standing of our schools has slipped.

It makes one wonder: Where is all the money going? I’ve seen some educational palaces in recent years, and visited some high school football stadiums worthy of a decent-sized university. It would be a shame to pay for beautiful facilities but get graduates who are qualified only to come back and work in the concession stands.

How committed are we to emphasizing education on our state quarter, anyway? Can we take that back and go with an ear of corn?

And there was one last skirmish about the budget. Hatch, a Democrat, said the Republicans have been “proud to vote against every appropriations bill. They just complain; they don’t offer solutions.”

Upmeyer, a Republican, once again brought up her party’s contention that it offered $192 million in savings, but couldn’t get the Democrats interested.

These two parties do work in the same building, right? And I believe most of them speak the same language. Maybe the next session would benefit from nap time and play dates.

That’s the great thing about writing an opinion column. You don’t have the shackles of objective journalism on you.