Shawn Hamerlinck (born 1980) served one term in the Iowa State Senate, representing the 42nd District. He lost re-election in 2012. Hamerlinck was named in a sexual harassment lawsuit, which claimed that Hamerlinck often commented about women's breasts[3]
He sits on these committees: Economic Growth, Education, Local Government, Rebuild Iowa (Ranking Member), Ways and Means, Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals, and the Appropriations Subcommittee.
In 2005, and again in 2007, he was elected an alderman for Davenport's second ward.
In a budget hearing on 6 June 2011, a number of student leaders from the regents institutions of Iowa testified that they and their institutions were financially squeezed, and were likely to be further squeezed absent a bigger allocation from the state. They were: Spencer Walrath, president of the University of Northern Iowa student government; Jared Knight, vice president of the Government of the Student Body at Iowa State University; Elliot Higgins, president of the University of Iowa Student Government; Dr. Lyndsay Harshman, a graduate of the University of Iowa medical school who is past president of the Council of Graduate & Professional Students; and Michael Appel, a University of Iowa College of Law student who is vice president of the Executive Council of Graduate & Professional Students. After listening to their remarks, Sen. Hamerlinck told them, "I do not like it when students actually come here and lobby me for funds. That's just my opinion. I want to wish you guys the best. I want you to go home and graduate. But this political theater, leave the circus to us, OK?"[7]
Hamerlinck objected that Democrats were exploiting student sentiment to drive a political wedge, and urged the students to focus less on politics and more on their own studies and careers.[8]
^Boshart, Rod (June 6, 2011). "Hamerlinck: Students used as 'propaganda'". Quad-City Times. Retrieved 2012-03-09. Hamerlinck issued a written statement after what he called "Senate Democrats' dog and pony" education hearing, stating that "students should never be put in the position to be used as political pawns and that is exactly what took place today. It saddens me to see bright young Iowa students being misled about our state's financial situation. Their view of Iowa's budget is inaccurate and it is my hope that our Regents institutions are educating them on the facts rather than political propaganda."