Bolkcom to lead progressive group

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, has been elected chairman of the board of Progressive States Network.

Bolkcom, who was elected to the Senate in 1998, has been a board member for three years at Progressive States Network, which aims to transform the national political landscape one state at a time.

Recent events have made clear the battleground for issues championed by Progressive States Network are the states.

“In my state, as in every state, we are facing historically critical challenges,” he said. Among them are the concentration of wealth and income disparity, the assault on the rights and job security of workers, opposition to investments in green jobs and 21st century infrastructure, immigration, health care and pension, “and a virtual corporate takeover of our political system that helps enable all of the above,” Bolkcom said.

“I am an organizer at heart,” Bolkcom said about his new role.

Thirty years ago he took a job as an organizer with Older Americans for Elderly Rights, where he worked to organize low- and moderate-income seniors in Western Illinois around health and income security issues.

Bolkcom worked on health issues, including youth tobacco use and environmental health concerns, for the Johnson County Public Health Department.

He served as a Johnson County supervisor for six year before being elected to Iowa Senate from Iowa City and University Heights. He has served as a Senate assistant majority Leader for the 2009 and 2010 legislative sessions and is the current chairman of the Ways & Means Committee. Bolkcom also serves on the Appropriations, Commerce, Natural Resource & Environment, and Human Resources committees, as well as the Health & Human Services Budget Subcommittee.

Bolkcom lives in Iowa City. He graduated from Saint Ambrose University and earned a masters degree in Public Affairs from the University of Iowa.