Former Des Moines publisher to explore Democratic gubernatorial run

Saying Iowans “need a champion in government,” former Des Moines publisher and school board member Jonathan Ray Narcisse has announced an exploratory campaign for governor.

Say he understands “working Iowans' pains and passions,” Narcisse said he is considering seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.

So far, the Democratic field includes Sen. Jack Hatch and former lawmaker Bob Krause, both of Des Moines, and Paul Dahl of Webster City.

Narcisse, who captured 1.8 percent of the vote when he ran as an independent in 2010, said both political parties have exploited Iowans' goodness.

“Iowans are more vulnerable now than ever before,” he said. “The guardians of state, our legislators and the governor, have not protected our working families, our taxpayers, our children. Instead government, at the state and local levels, has become a trough from which special and vested interests feed -- while the rest of us pay for it.”

The 2014 gubernatorial debate, he said, should not be reduced to speeding state troopers “and tired party clichés like ‘let's raise taxes.'”

“It must be about real solutions to Iowa's challenges based on the hard data and the hard truths facing our state,” Narcisse said.

Contact Narcisse at narcisse2014exploratorybid@gmail.com.