Democrats to nominate House 33 candidate tonight

By James Q. Lynch

The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Linn County Democrats will meet tonight to nominate a successor to Rep. Dick Taylor, a Cedar Rapids Democrat who resigned his House 33 seat earlier this month.

The Democrats' nominating convention will be 10 minutes after the adjournment of their regular monthly Central Committee. The Central Committee will meet at 7 p.m. at the Best Western Longbranch Hotel and Convention Center, 90 Twixt Town Rd. NE.

The candidates are:

Norm Sterzenbach, 63, a longtime Democratic and union activist. He's second vice chairman of the county party has been a lobbyist for the IBEW at the State Capitol.

And Kirsten Running-Marquard, 32, who works in 2

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District Rep. Dave Loebsack's Cedar Rapids office, and has been involved in a number of political and union campaigns. She is the daughter of former Cedar Rapids Rep. Rich Running.

Nominations may be made from the floor.

Taylor, 78, cited health reasons for resigning in the middle of his term.

There has been some controversy over nominating a candidate for the Nov. 24 special election.

Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, who has been backing Sterzenbach, asked for the convention to be after the meeting so all vacant Central Committee seats from House 33 could be filled.

Central Committee leaders, however, didn't want to fill those seats with people, it said, who will attend the nominating convention and then never participate again.

State Party Chairman Michael Kiernan set the convention for after the Central Committee meeting, but it will be up to the precinct representatives at the monthly meeting whether to fill the nine vacancies among the 22 positions in House 33.