Column -- Corbett's Run

It's been a little more than 10 years since Ron Corbett dropped the bombshell. I just had gotten to work that day in February 1999. I hadn't even had my first cup of Joe.

And suddenly the state's most powerful elected Republican says he's stepping down. You usually need the Jaws of Life to have to pry the gavel out of the Iowa House speaker's hands. Corbett was handing it over voluntarily.

A few saw it coming. I wasn't one of them.

Corbett was heading back to Cedar Rapids to lead the local chamber of commerce and be closer to his family.

How could an ambitious guy in his late 30s chuck a good Statehouse gig for an opportunity in Cedar Rapids?

Little did I know I'd be standing on a chilly street corner a decade later listening to Corbett announce his candidacy for mayor of Cedar Rapids. But here we are.

And if Corbett's grown politically rusty during his time offstage, it didn't show much Monday.

His announcement hit all the right buttons. He said, despite big challenges, the city's best days are ahead.

After offering faint, polite praise for city recovery efforts, he derided what he called a "culture of delay," with endless studies and the high-cost consultants. He promised a "new game plan" focused on creating jobs.

Even his campaign banner unfurled without a hitch.

This was pretty much the Corbett I remembered sitting in the speaker chair's - likable, driven, highly organized and clearly impatient with government as-is.

"Ron always has a plan. Always about action. Never about just holding a position or power," state Rep. Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, who served with Corbett and went on to become speaker himself, said in an e-mail.

As speaker, Corbett was a partisan but also a pragmatist. In 1998, with Republicans controlling the Legislature and governor's office, Corbett vowed to debate and pass a death penalty bill. But by the middle of February, with other issues pressing and death penalty support eroding, Corbett didn't hesitate to pull the plug.

That same year, sticking to his guns on education reform meant sparking a remarkable feud between Republican legislators and GOP Gov. Terry Branstad. Lawmakers passed a reform package that fell short of Branstad's demands, prompting veto threats, calls for a special legislative session and a crossfire of Republican-against-Republican radio ads. In the end, Branstad backed down.

Ironically, in 1999, Corbett and the GOP reached an education reform compromise with Democratic Gov.

Tom Vilsack.

"We stood up for what we believed in. But you can also work across the aisle," said Brent Siegrist, who was House majority leader in 1998 and became speaker in 1999 after Corbett's departure. He thinks Corbett could be effective as mayor, which is a non-partisan position. "He's a very forceful personality."

His political instincts aren't always on the money. He was an early backer of former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson's presidential campaign.

Despite his skills, there's no guarantee he'll win. This town is more interested in what he'll do than his resume. He has eight months to give us his plan.

» Todd Dorman's column appears on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.Contact the writer at (319) 398-8452 or todd.dorman@gazcomm.com