Why am I running for Office

On September 22, 2009 I announced my intention to run for Iowa Senate in district 37, and to unseat the incumbent Senator Staci Appel.   Most people presume that I am running because of my passion to see the Iowa Marriage Amendment come to the people for a vote.  Conventional wisdom says that I am running to replace Senator Appel because she is an obstruction to passing the marriage amendment, and because she is married to one of the Supreme Court Justices who participated in the creation of so-called homosexual “marriage”.

Marriage did play a role in my decision, and will be a key issue in our race, but it is a reflection of my motivation for running – not the motivation itself.  My reason for running comes from a lifetime of hard lessons, from an understanding of just how difficult it can be to raise a family, and from knowing what it’s like to overcome many obstacles along the way.  In short, I’m running not because I am convinced that I am better than anyone else in the district, but rather because I know that I am not.

Two years ago, I would never have imagined that I would be serving in the Iowa House.  I have never had political aspirations, and actually shied away from politics and politicians.  It wasn’t until I met our legislators, and figured out just how unwilling they were to listen to a constituent like me, that I finally got involved.

When I first went to visit the capitol, I watched Senator Appel turn red in the face when asked to defend her actions on the Senate floor.  Instead of thanking me for paying attention, or even trying to convince me that my impression of her was wrong, she just flatly said, “this conversation is over,” and walked away.  I thought that was shockingly disrespectful, until I tried to meet the man who was then our State Representative.  When I asked to speak to him, he came to the front door of the House, looked out at me and the friends that were with me, turned around and went back inside.  We waited for over two hours, but he never again so much as showed his face in the capitol rotunda that afternoon.

As a result, of watching my State Senator walk away from me rather than answer honest questions, and after watching my Sate Representative hide from his constituents, I decided that something had to change.  I knew we needed new representation in the legislature, but I decided early on that I would not be that guy.

I had a picture in my mind of what an elected official looks like, and I certainly didn’t fit the bill.  I thought that politicians were people who came from privileged backgrounds, that they were well connected with powerful people, and that they were more or less born to serve in elected office.  I’m not sure why I thought that office holders were such a separate and privileged class, but I was pretty sure that I had no business running for office.

I’m more than a little too short for my weight, I’m bald, and I’m not especially well known for my diplomacy.  I’m a father of six, who has had to work hard to make my way in the world, and who has a colorful past.  For example, I was married and a father before I could legally drink.  I was anything but a “good boy” growing up, and found myself getting into trouble via the many temptations this culture has to offer.  As a young man an older man I looked up to violated the trust I put in him, which took me years to overcome.  I was essentially the guy you wouldn’t want your daughter to marry, until my wife whipped me into shape and God got a hold of my heart.  As a father of a teenage daughter now, its obvious God has a sense of humor because I find myself trying to protect her from the very sort of boy I was.

I have been poor, abused, and written off.  I know what it feels like to be given up on.  I know what happens to your life when you do the bad things the culture wants to say are really good.  Like many of you, I know what the real world is like, and that it’s not always easy to do the right thing when everyone else seems to be getting away with doing the wrong one.

If they would’ve handed out an award in high school for “least likely to ever run for office” I certainly would’ve won it.  Nevertheless, someone had to take a stand, and my problem was no one was willing to rise up and run against an incumbent in a district that favors the democrats in an anti republican year.

That left me with a dilemma. I could allow my appearance, my business, or my past to keep me from running, or I could step forward and see what happened.

I chose to step forward.

With your help, I beat that incumbent for his Statehouse seat last year, and this year I need your help to rid this district of another elitist politician this go around.  I have nothing to hide.  My life was not always pretty, but it is an example of the grace of God and the power of second chances.  Many of you in this district could use a second chance, and we all could certainly use a little grace.

I’m just like you.  I have kids I love but am not always sure I can afford.  My wife and I have the same ups and downs you have.  We never seem to have enough money, and our family history isn’t a Hallmark Card.  But we believe in the America Dream.  Shawnee and I teach our children that if you do the right thing more often than not, you can be successful here in Iowa.

Sadly, Staci Appel and Chet Culver are remaking Iowa in their image, and if we don’t stop them before it’s too late we’ll leave our children and grandchildren with an Iowa our parents and grandparents wouldn’t recognize.  An Iowa where elites fatten the wallets of their political cronies while your jobs leave the state, and an Iowa where unelected judges impose their twisted morality on the rest of us without allowing us the fundamental right to vote.

Despite my obvious imperfections, I’m willing to take a stand because there’s too much at stake.  But I can’t make that stand alone.  I need your help, and we are better together.  The history of this republic has shown that whenever we the people rise up collectively and take a firm stand, the establishment eventually surrenders.  I want us to make that history happen again.