Candidate Profiles

1) Inflation is preventing families in Cedar Rapids and Iowa from being able to thrive. We are having to spend our hard-earned money on groceries for the table, gas for our cars to get to work, and the houses we live in. I am committed to decreasing the tax burden on Cedar Rapids families and finding solutions for property tax relief. 2) Iowa was once known for its world class education, but we have seen the state quickly fall away from this excellence. Whether the students want to join the workforce, go to trade school, community college, or a four-year university; it’s our job to ensure that they receive the education they need to thrive. I will be a voice in Des Moines to fight for improving the schools in Iowa to prepare our children for a bright future. 3) We should not have to worry about our children walking home from school safely, whether we safely walk our streets at night, or worry about going shopping after dark. I will work to support our law enforcement and help them adapt to a changing environment. We need to remove burdensome government barriers and regulations that fail to protect our communities.

Funding should continue to be increased at a reasonable level to support our educational system, healthcare, and law enforcement. A world class education is an important piece of our children growing up to become thriving adults. An increase in spending should be accompanied by an increase in transparency by the local school boards around how they are spending the money in plain English so that parents can understand how their children are being supported. With or without insurance, medical care can be expensive. Iowans will continue to need help receiving the medical care that they need. We need to move away from the “defund the police” talk and support our law enforcement. Our communities are feeling the impact of the open border here in Iowa with an increase of illegal drugs and immigrants flowing into our state. Iowans should feel safe to walk their streets at night and our children should feel safe walking home from school. Our first responders put their lives on the line each day and we should support them.

We need to keep our roads safe and protect the lives of everyone using Iowa roadways. While crafting legislation to improve the safety on our roads, we need to be sure we don’t cause unintentional harm to Iowa jobs. From Instacart to Uber, we have become dependent upon mobile device to provide the services that we have come to depend on. These services have become a staple of our communities and local economies. Some people rely upon their devices to put food on the table, which is why we need legislation that balances allowing Iowans to utilize their devices in a safe way while driving responsibly to protect lives.

We are seeing too many nursing homes fail to take care of our seniors. The corporations that are running these homes are choosing to accept understaffed homes. Staff members struggle to meet the physical and emotional needs of those elders in their care. I believe that we need to increase the funding for nursing homes, oversight of the health and safety of the residents, and the penalties that these corporations face. The corporations and their officers should be held accountable for failing to meet the current guidelines. The corporations who manage the facilities need to act quickly to improve their centers when problems are found by inspectors. Our seniors shouldn’t have to wait for years to receive the help they need.

Cancer is scary to every family in Iowa and its increasing rate in Iowa versus the rest of the nation is concerning. As the father of a son who had leukemia when he was 3 ½ years old I understand the pain that comes with a cancer diagnosis. We need to first gain a better understanding of what is causing the increase in cancer in our state so that we can attack the problem quickly and efficiently. While we work to understand the cause of the increasing cancer rates, we need also to educate Iowans on the importance of cancer screening and how they might improve the survival rate from cancer.

I desire clean water as much as every Iowan and we need figure out where the pollutants are coming from that we can control. While our farmers have improved their management of fertilizer run off from their fields, we have failed to understand how cities and our roadways have added pollution to our streams and ground water. By taking time to understand how all Iowans impact the quality of our water we will be able to make meaningful improvements with limited impact. Wouldn’t it be sad if we increased the cost of our groceries by enacting new regulations that focus on our farmers and fail to improve the quality of our water?

Too many Iowans are suffering from mental health disease and are not receiving the care that they deserve. Even if they have insurance coverage, many are having to travel hours away from their loved ones to receive the care that they need while others don’t receive care at all. Iowans need the ability to receive the necessary care that they need in their local community, which in most cases involves long term behavioral therapy. Regulation over the growth of the mental health industry should be reduced so that every community can have the support that it needs to provide the necessary help to their residents in need.

I believe that everyone should have access to contraception to prevent pregnancy. The state should work with the county health departments and local agencies to remove the barriers that are preventing Iowans from accessing the necessary assistance. We should also look at providing access to alternative reproductive options like NaProTechnology to couples to help them manage their reproductive needs. I believe the legislature should look for ways to help expand access to in vitro fertilization for Iowa families struggling with infertility.

I agree with 96% of biologists that life begins at conception. I do not believe that the legislature should have to redefine what has already been agreed upon in the scientific community.

Teachers need to be supported in the classroom. They need to feel safe and have the ability to keep their students safe so that they can focus on teaching and learning by the students. The legislature can work with the state board to create policies that local school board can implement to support teachers in the classroom. Also, local school boards need to increase their transparency with their community to help everyone understand the support that teachers and staff are receiving in the classroom. Support for students with special needs is still lacking in the state. The students and their teachers are placed in environments that don’t lend themselves to learning and can make them feel unsafe at times. Given the correct environment, our children will thrive when provided with a great learning experience. The public needs to have easy access to how the school is spending its money that can be understood by all members of the community. School boards need to be held accountable for how the money is spent. We should be able to ask questions about programs that are being over funded and those that are being under funded. Too often, additional high level offices are being created while classrooms lack the teachers and paraprofessionals that are needed to help our children thrive in school.

Improving the education of our children will create a strong workforce to support continued growth in our state. Whether our children are going to join the workforce after high school, go to trade school, community college, or a 4-year university, we will see investment and growth from the strong workforce that we have. Lowering the tax barrier will put more money back into the pockets of Iowans so that they can invest in our state. Whether it is an individual with a great idea to start a business or the large business owner who is looking to expand, both will benefit from having the capital that is needed to grow their business. Also, businesses from outside of the state will look to expand into Iowa to take advantage of the lower tax rates and Iowans who take pride in the work that they do.