Candidate, Iowa State Senate, District 18, 2008

No caucus information on file.

Vice President, United States Bancorp, 1999-present

No organizational membership information on file.

Priority Issues:

1. Education: Roughly 40% of Iowa high school graduates who go
on to college are not able to complete college level work and must take
remedial (high school level) courses before attending regular college
classes. This is unacceptable. We must raise standards in secondary
education, expand school choice, and create accountability for schools and
teachers. Recent changes to the law that do not allow local school
boards to dismiss an underperforming teacher must be repealed.

2. Spending: Iowans are overtaxed and under-served. Funds
intended for road maintenance, infrastructure, and parks are being diverted
for wasteful pet projects. Meanwhile, in the last 2 years, Democrats in
the legislature have increased spending $334 for every man, woman and
child in Iowa. For a family of four, thats over $1300 that could be in
their pockets rather than in state coffers. We need to restore funding
cuts to core government activities like roads and parks and reduce
funding for speculative ventures and giveaways to special interest groups.

3. Economic Growth: We need to create a system whereby all
employers in Iowa are encouraged to add local jobs by creating a favorable
business climate rather than giving huge incentives to a select few
employers coming in from the outside. We need to dis-incent companies from
shipping high technology jobs off to other countries by finding ways
to keep those jobs here in Iowa.