The township where I live was established before Iowa Statehood. There were oak, walnut, hickory, ash, elm, and cottonwood thriving here among numerous pure springs. The first sawmill and grist mill was built in 1839 by Anthony Sells on Mill Creek. Put the big groves of trees together with the sawmill and you have us. The forests were long gone when we bought our lot here. What dominates the landscape is culture we and others brought with us to an area where all trees indigenous to this part of Iowa once existed in abundance yet no longer do. Part of that culture was roads.
HF2667 and SF2394 have been introduced in the Iowa Legislature. They essentially let industry interests, meaning real estate developers, the Master Builders, the Home Builders, and the Concrete and Asphalt Associations, mandate what cities and counties are allowed to do with regard to design standards for roads in new developments. On March 4, HF2667 passed in the House 61-36, so this week’s action is in the Iowa Senate.
The industry wants freedom to set very low road design standards. They want those standards to be uniform for all new development in the state. They want standards to ignore differing local conditions such as soil types and terrain. If local governments wanted better local standards, taxpayers would have to foot the bill, not developers. These bills are wrong for Iowa.
Iowa road design standards are currently developed by experts at the ISU Institute for Transportation. A proposed law would shift control of the program to the Iowa Department of Transportation. The bill would require statewide compliance and impose financial penalties for non-compliance, even when local governments make changes based on site-specific conditions. The fiscal note estimates the change would remove $450,000 in revenue from Iowa State University and require the DOT to hire two employees costing $231,000. Another concern is which private-industry representatives might serve on the new board overseeing the program.
If the new bills became law, that could enable developers to build subpar roads in new developments and prevent local governments from having control. It is part of the Republican agenda of making Iowa a nanny state.
Developers must address roads while planning a subdivision, at the same time accountants put a pencil to it and determine potential profit. Saving money on roads is part of extracting every last dime out of a project. When low-quality roads break down, the cost is paid by taxpayers and homeowners, not developers.
When our developer turned his farm into a housing subdivision, he didn’t know what he was doing. There was a lawsuit regarding wastewater treatment. He spent the least possible amount on our two miles of roads, using chip and seal pavement. Evidence of his lack of financial expertise can be found in his declaration of bankruptcy.
The building trades behind the new bills do know what they are doing: extracting every possible penny from a project for investors. If the bill passes, it would play right into their hands.
On Monday I sent emails to U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst as well as to U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks on the subject of the U.S. aggression against Iran.
My message was simple: “I urge you to support the Kaine-Paul Senate resolution, S.J. Res. 104, the bipartisan war powers resolution that would prohibit strikes against Iran. Thank you for reading my message.” The email to Miller-Meeks referenced the House companion, the Massie-Khanna House resolution, H. Con. Res. 38.
The referenced resolutions are also simple: “Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The vote was scheduled for Wednesday in the Senate and the votes for a simple majority were not there. The House also voted no. Now what?
Senator Grassley responded on March 6, 2026. Read his response here.
I reject the Iowa Republican position exemplified by gubernatorial candidate Brad Sherman, who wrote in part, “I support President Trump’s action against Iran. These actions are not an initiation of war, they are a response to a war already declared by Iran. This is the inevitable response to an evil regime that has openly and continually stated its goal is to destroy America and has actively sought the means to do so.” Was Iran attacking the United States? No. Is Iran an imminent threat to the United States? No. This position abandons the caution about foreign wars that once defined Iowa Republicans.
The president failed to address with the American people the reasons for attacking a sovereign country. On Monday, he said 49 top Iranian leaders had been killed, according to CBS News. The joint operation with Israel did kill key Iranian leaders. Anyone familiar with Iran’s political system knows new leadership can be approved quickly. No one I know gave the aging Ayatollahs high marks. They were easy targets for Israeli ordnance. The younger Iranian replacements will be formidable and could be worse. There has been insufficient public discussion of this.
Is the motivation to address the risk of a nuclear armed Iran with delivery systems? Give me a break. While Republican opponents of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly called the Iran Deal, felt it was insufficient, the agreement placed verifiable limits on Iran’s nuclear program. When the president tore up that deal, he lost standing to claim this action was about nuclear weapons.
Is the president part of God’s plan, being anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth? The Military Religious Freedom Foundation reports receiving complaints from non-commissioned officers who say their commanders told them the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Donald J. Trump was ‘anointed by Jesus’ to trigger Armageddon.” Read more about this here. They logged similar complaints across more than 40 different units located in at least 30 military installations. One NCO said their commander’s remarks “destroy morale and unit cohesion and are in violation of the oaths we swore to support the Constitution.” The Pentagon has not responded publicly to these allegations. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should consider John Prine’s message, “Now Jesus don’t like killin’, no matter what the reason’s for. And your flag decal won’t get you into heaven any more.”
Is the Iran aggression solely to take attention away from the Epstein files? More than a few people are saying so, yet I don’t know that this war will accomplish that for the president. Maybe people in the administration can’t walk and chew gum at the same time but the American people can.
When the president admonished the people of Iran, “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations,” he washed his hands of the consequences of this conflict. That is typical for Donald J. Trump.
Note: This passage was cut from my current autobiographical work, so I am posting it here.It is a bit dated.
I wrote about Father’s political work and before I close, I want to write about mine. I functioned at the lowest levels of politics and got elected one time to be a Township Trustee. The word “grassroots” is overly used, but that is where I functioned.
In the political world, so many people want to be strategists and speak at a high level about what is or isn’t the best thing to do in the elements of a campaign. It is the source of the increased swarm of media pundits and poobahs. It is the lifeblood of political bloggers. Political campaigns are not only about strategy.
The tactics of a campaign matter: messaging, voter contact, fundraising and public relations. Where strategy trumps tactics in importance is in defining the playing field. Strategies are too often based on false assumptions, and ragged history. The mistake is to take the external features of campaigning as the playing field. Avoiding mistaken strategy is the key to winning elections, something I hope my candidate will do no matter upon which election I am working.
The Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee voted to advance a series of first in the nation states for the 2024 presidential nominating calendar. Iowa was not one of them. The plan includes South Carolina first, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada the following week, then Georgia, then Michigan. The plan is expected to be approved by the DNC early the next year.
If one didn’t know Iowa were to be booted from the early states, they had not been paying attention.
Iowa and New Hampshire, both of which have state laws requiring them to go first, are considering next steps. If either state chooses to disregard DNC and changes the schedule, there are penalties, including losing delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Delegates are the whole point of the nominating process. There may be state penalties for failure to go first, but let’s face it, any state could pass such a law and who would enforce it? What will happen next in Iowa is presently unknown.
In 1968, the Democratic National Convention was a disaster in several ways.
Outside the convention hall, anti-war demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War roamed Chicago streets. The Chicago police department, under the direction of Mayor Richard J. Daly, used force in an attempt to maintain control.
During the evening of Aug. 28, 1968, with the police riot in full swing on Michigan Avenue in front of the Democratic party’s convention headquarters, the Conrad Hilton hotel, television networks broadcast live as the anti-war protesters began the now-iconic chant “The whole world is watching.”
At home, I saw televised news reports from Michigan Avenue. A friend was inside the Conrad Hilton with Harold Hughes who ran for president that year. Bill hoped the nomination of Hubert Humphrey, in a smoke filled room away from the convention, was something that would never again happen. South Dakota Senator George McGovern was assigned the task of re-designing the nominating calendar and process, which he did. We have been operating under the McGovern plan ever since.
Most Americans of voting age participate in presidential politics. Here is a brief summary of my memories. Consider it my farewell gift to the Iowa caucus.
Harry Truman: I was 13 months old when Harry Truman left office. I have no living memories of his administration.
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Our family didn’t like having a Republican president yet were thankful for his plan to build the Interstate Highway System. I recall talking about how it was designed so that military vehicles hauling missiles could travel under the roads and bridges that crossed the Interstates. We didn’t like Eisenhower yet accepted his credentials during World War II yielded a competent chief executive.
John F. Kennedy: Father worked on the Kennedy campaign and shared some of that with me. If there was a Camelot, I’m over that now. I wrote previously about this. Click here to read that post.
Lyndon Baines Johnson: I stuffed envelopes for the 1964 Johnson campaign at the Democratic office in downtown Davenport. I came to expect that all elections would be like the Johnson landslide. I was young.
Hubert Humphrey: Based on conversations with my father, I felt the Humphrey nomination was tainted. Partly, I didn’t understand how the convention got so out of hand. I resented the corruption evident in Chicago Mayor Daly. Richard Nixon won in 1968.
George McGovern: My main memory of McGovern’s campaign was a rally before election day at the University of Iowa Pentacrest. I don’t remember if I voted. I wrote more extensively about the 1972 election here. Richard Nixon won reelection.
Jimmy Carter: I was in between finishing Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia and traveling to my first assignment in Mainz, Germany during the 1976 presidential election. After Nixon’s resignation in disgrace, I literally didn’t care who was elected president that year.
Ted Kennedy: Turns out I didn’t care for Jimmy Carter enough to support him for a second term. I caucused for Ted Kennedy in Davenport and he wasn’t viable. I declined to join my union friends with the Carter group and went home.
George McGovern: My spouse and I caucused for George McGovern in 1984. We attended a forum in Des Moines where he, Walter Mondale, Jesse Jackson, Fritz Hollings, and others appeared. At the precinct caucus, I joined the platform committee and was selected to go to the county convention as a McGovern delegate. It was my first taste of Johnson County politics.
Michael Dukakis: We lived in Lake County, Indiana in 1988. I remember saying to myself during the June primary election, “Who’s bright idea was running Dukakis?” He lost to George H.W. Bush.
Bill Clinton: Still in Indiana in 1992, I supported Bill Clinton. I took our three-year-old daughter into the voting booth so she could press Clinton’s name on the touch-screen voting device for me. I didn’t devote a lot of time to Clinton’s campaign or to politics. Back in Iowa for the 1996 election, I continued to be inactive in politics. I judged Clinton could be nominated without my help and didn’t attend the precinct caucus. Clinton won Iowa 50.26 percent to Robert Dole’s 39.92 percent.
Al Gore: I skipped the caucuses in 1996 as I believed Al Gore would win the nomination without me. He did, and as we know, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped ballot counting in Florida during the general election, giving the win to George W. Bush.
John Kerry: I quickly came to believe the George W. Bush administration was the worst. In the first days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack, I rallied around the president. It didn’t last long. I wrote about my transition here. All three of us attended the 2004 precinct caucuses in Big Grove Precinct together and caucused for John Kerry. I helped run the caucus as secretary that cycle. I joined the Democratic central committee again and worked on the Kerry campaign. I also decided that after his performance in the White Water controversy, long-time U.S. representative Jim Leach had to go. In 2006 we elected Dave Loebsack to the Congress.
John Edwards: Despite all the negativity that came out about John Edwards after his last presidential campaign, I have no regrets having worked to make him the Democratic nominee in 2008. I spent time with him, his wife Elizabeth, and their children. This precinct caucus was the best attended in my almost 30 years living in Big Grove Township — about 260 people. I served as caucus secretary again and it was challenging to make a count. There wasn’t enough room in the school cafeteria and some of the voters stretched out into the hallway. I recall Edwards had a contingent from the care center in wheelchairs and on gurneys. In the end, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards tied and Clinton won the coin toss. Barack Obama got the most delegates and won the general election.
Barack Obama: During the 2012 precinct caucuses I led two precincts other than my own: Cedar and Graham. The caucus began with live video of Obama, then we broke into precinct groups. There wasn’t anyone willing to lead the caucus among the eight people in each group. I convinced a friend to be secretary. Obama’s reelection was not a given yet his campaign was thorough enough to win a second term.
Hillary Clinton: I led the Clinton delegation to the 2016 precinct caucus. We had so many delegates we could send some to the Martin O’Malley group to make them viable and deprive Bernie Sanders of a delegate. I decided being a Clinton leader took precedence over running the caucus. It was a good decision. As we know now, Clinton won the nomination and lost the general.
Elizabeth Warren: I led my own caucus for the second time in 2020, supporting Elizabeth Warren for the nomination. I was well organized and the process proceeded smoothly. We split our four delegates with one each to Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden. Biden placed fourth in Iowa. It wasn’t until South Carolina that the Biden train started to roll out of the station. Buttigieg won Iowa by a small margin yet any momentum was halted by a computer failure in the application we used to report our results. This disaster was likely a prime catalyst for removing Iowa from early in the nominating process this week.
Joe Biden: Joe Biden hasn’t announced whether he will run for president in 2024. One assumes he is in good health and will live long enough to serve a second term. If the DNC is successful in removing Iowa from the early states, as it appears they will be, presidential politics will be a lot different in Iowa. I hope it will be better.
It is recent enough as I type, we all know what happened next. I supported Kamala Harris for president.
Canada Geese finding open water as the lake re-freezes on Feb. 25, 2026.
When I began writing for Blog for Iowa in 2009, I covered individual political events like the state hall of fame ceremonies and the special election of Curt Hanson. In reading those old posts, I remembered I also wrote advocacy for nuclear weapons abolition and for improvement in the environment. Those kinds of posts remain viable and while I’m covering for Dave Bradley the next couple of months, I will revisit them from time to time.
At the same time there is a new politics around Iowans. So much of what we get from Republicans is vindictive. We feel that particularly well in Johnson County where I live. I mean, we need a law to force counties to follow the governor’s orders about flying the United States flag at half staff? HSB 634 does that and it cleared the first legislative funnel. The bill was in reaction to Johnson County Supervisor Jon Green defying the governor’s order to lower flags to half staff after the death of a conservative podcaster. Defending against Republican vindictiveness is a slippery slope. I, for one, decline to go there. Why slide down into the mud with them?
What is worth writing about? For me it is the several conversations I have each day with actual people about actual issues, regardless of our politics. Things like the ungodly amount of money our county spends transporting prisoners because there has not been public support enough to build a new jail. The presence of blue-green algae in the state park lake near where I live. The odor of concentrated animal feeding operations wafting over our homes on warm summer evenings. The covert work of fossil fuel money to kill one of the shining examples of what is good in Iowa: our support for electricity generated from wind turbines and solar arrays. These are things I hear from actual people and they will carry weight in how I pick my topics.
In a time of instant access to public media, the national news plays a role here. I wish it were buffered by distance, yet it clearly is not. We have a president and national media geared to dominating what we hear and see in public media. It would be dishonest to ignore all of those stories. So I will pick some.
I hope readers will stick with me. I hope to provide reasons why you should.
Dishes don’t wash themselves, so I went to the kitchen and started cleaning up. Each of us in the household does their share of work, and I like nothing better than clean plates and silverware waiting for supper. Being a blogger is a lot like living with a family. Between now and the primary I will fill in for Dave Bradley on weekends while he takes care of family stuff.
My plan is simple: on Saturdays, write about my personal political activity the previous week, and on Sundays write about Iowa politics more broadly. Campaign season already started with competitive June 2, Democratic primaries for governor, U.S. Senate, and other races.
Veterans of Iowa politics, going back to our 2004 defeat, feel frustrated about how to approach organizing and activism in today’s world. It is no longer enough to harp about knocking doors, making phone calls, and sending mailings based on a central organizing principle. Most of the people I see on a daily basis are not Democrats. Even so, we have meaningful conversations about important things. How do we transition ourselves and our party to be more relevant?
I believe we must write letters to elected officials. Letters to newspapers remain important because political staff do read them. I had three active letters this week:
I received a response from U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley to this email message from Jan. 26, 2026:
I watched the videos of the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Major news media verified what I saw are real footage that depicts the killing of two U.S. Citizens who were no threat to federal agents. Good and Pretti were exercising their constitutional rights when federal agents killed them.
This can’t go on.
As our U.S. Senator I expect you to do something to prevent additional killings like this. I don’t presume to tell you how to go about that. The measure of whether you succeed will be the de-escalation of tension in states where federal agents have landed to address the administration’s concerns about immigration, including Minnesota and Maine.
As a U.S. Army veteran I am appalled by the apparent lack of training and control of these federal agents. Now is the time to put your experience in politics to work and do something most everyone can agree is the right thing to de-escalate these tensions.
Thank you for your service and for reading my note.
I reached out to elected officials twice. The emails are self-explanatory.
Vote No on Senate File 2293 – Feb. 21, 2026
Dear Senator Driscoll,
I live in your district and urge you to vote no on SF 2293 which is scheduled for debate in the full senate next week.. The bill changes Iowa Code to remove the requirement for a state history research center in Iowa City
My reasons are the same as when I wrote you Feb. 11: When I studied at the University of Iowa, I took advantage of the State Historical Society research center in Iowa City. It provided a different type of resource than what was available to me at the university. The availability of the staff, artifacts, books, microfilm, and other materials were important to my education and should remain in Iowa City for future students to use like I did.
That said, I am open to alternative solutions, such as incorporating the materials into the University of Iowa Libraries, in effect, making them the research center. I would be ready to have that discussion.
Please vote no on SF 2293 should it come up for a vote this week.
Thanks, Paul
Impeach the president
Rep. Miller-Meeks
It is time to impeach President Trump and I ask you to take a leadership role in this effort.
The president seeks to usurp the power of the Congress in multiple areas, yet his claims about his authority to impose tariffs is so far out of line, even the U.S. Supreme Court overruled him. As you are aware, immediately after the Supreme Court ruled against the tariffs he imposed, he initiated new ones, and then revised those in a way that created chaos in international markets and among our allies.
Yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 1.6 percent in reaction to the president’s tariff vacillation. This is no way for a government to run, hence my request the U.S. House draft articles of impeachment, approve them, and send them to the U.S. Senate for trial. Thank you for reading my message.
The congresswoman replied with a form message within an hour. That tells me someone is reading these missives, even if I don’t like the answer.
I don’t know if I will change any minds, yet we have to do something. We’ll see what else I come up with between now and the June 2 primary.
A front-page headline in the Feb. 26, edition of the Solon Economist read, “City Council Debates with Jordan Creek Church Over Water and Sewer Services.” You didn’t need to be Jeane Dixon to see that one coming. The city made it clear a year ago that for the church to glom onto city infrastructure, the property must be annexed. No application for annexation has been submitted, according to the article. The 11.23 acres in question sits in the Solon “fringe area.”
Can’t we just hook on to the line you ran right past us to Gallery Acres West, a church representative suggested. The city is not having any of it. City council would have to approve connection to the Gallery Acres West line, something they would not consider without annexation. “We’re not in the business of just providing water and sewer for people who don’t want to be in city limits,” Mayor Dan O’Neil said.
Actually, the city is in that business to an extent. On Dec. 20, 2017, city council voted 4-1 to provide public water service to a subdivision called Gallery Acres West located west of Solon on Highway 382. The difference between Gallery Acres West and Jordan Creek Church is the houses were already built in the former, then the standards for arsenic contamination in public water systems changed and they did not own sufficient land to install a treatment facility. Running a water line to Solon was the best solution they could come up with. The site for the new Jordan Creek Church is presently a vacant field. The subdivision invoked “moral arguments” for the hook-up, yet there are no reasonable moral arguments for the church that hasn’t been built.
In June last year, the Solon Economist reported, “The city’s support for the Jordan Creek Church and their desire to build was stated by Mayor Dan O’Neil who noted the City’s concerns aren’t with the proposed church but rather to maintain “orderly growth and expansion of the city” while avoiding burdening the taxpayers by providing infrastructure the development (church) should fund itself.” The key word here is “orderly.” Implied is “who pays for infrastructure?”
Some members of council changed in the last election, but overall, council’s position has not. It is right for Mayor O’Neil to call for an orderly process in resolving infrastructure needs of the church. The city is open to receiving Jordan Creek Church’s request for annexation.
I spent more than 30 years dealing with small community public water and wastewater systems. When I saw the sign announcing the future home of the church, the first question I asked was about water and sewer. It seems clear from the news story, church leaders did not, and there’s the problem.
I’m from the government and I’m here to help. Now that I on-boarded with the county auditor to be a poll worker, I can truthfully say that. Ronald Reagan made a joke about those nine words, yet voting is no laughing matter.
On-boarding consisted of driving to the county administration building, locating the appropriate area, entering data on their system, and providing my I-9 documents for photocopying. I completed a time sheet with ten minutes and 20 miles. Easy-peasy.
About eight of us used IBM Think Pads for data entry. IBM sold that business line in 2005 and the company that bought it soon discontinued the product. I’m glad to see our county government using technology to get every last penny from the investment. I had forgotten how to use the track pad, so needed help.
As is usually the case, I ran into people I know from politics. I maintain a friendly relationship with everyone I helped elect at the administration building.
I made two other stops while in the county seat.
On the way in, I stopped at the used book store to see if they had certain titles by John McPhee whose Draft No. 4 I just finished. They had a McPhee reader with parts of the essays I sought for five bucks. A while ago, I had asked them if they had a copy of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. I gave my copy to our child and wanted a replacement. When they said they didn’t have it, I procured it elsewhere. On Friday, they had been unexpectedly holding a copy for me. I declined it in person, yet on the way home, reconsidered it. Surely I could find a home for it. I emailed I would buy it if they still had it.
The other stop was at the grocer. It is conveniently located on Highway One which leads to our home near the lake. It has long been a stop when I have something to do in the county seat. I like the wholesale club better, yet they don’t have the granularity of item selection a home cook needs to run a kitchen. This produce section is particularly loaded with organic fruit and vegetables, all in a single location with non-organic. Too, when I fill my cart, the total is usually less than $100. At the wholesale club it can be double or triple that with less items overall.
I won’t be lording my new government employee status over too many people. The small bit of income will easily find a home in our budget. In fact, even though the general election is not until November, the money is already spent.
Susan Jutz, Carmen Black, Paul Pisarik, Bobby Kaufmann, and Bill Northey at Local Harvest CSA Sept. 24, 2015.
It may be futile to pick a candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture in the June 2, Democratic primary. Running are Wade Dooley a sixth-generation farmer and Practical Farmers of Iowa member, and Chris Jones a scientist, former University of Iowa research engineer, and veteran of the Des Moines Water Works. The problem for Democrats is Republican incumbent Mike Naig is expected to win the general election.
To the extent Big Ag controls this race, Naig — a former Monsanto lobbyist — has the inside track. Whether any Democrat can overcome that advantage is an open question.
Either Dooley or Jones would be outstanding secretaries, with a focus on things that matter to all Iowans, not only farmers. There is no reason for me to pick a horse in this race in February, so I won’t. I will post the about page of the two Democrats to use as a reference and return to this topic if something newsworthy happens. In alphabetical order:
Wade Dooley
Wade Dooley is a sixth-generation Iowa farmer who has spent his life working the land along the Iowa River northwest of Marshalltown. He’s been farming since he was 14 years old, and after graduating from Iowa State University and working in the seed industry, he returned home to farm with his father on their family’s Century Farm in 2008. Over the past 18 years, Wade has focused on building a more profitable and sustainable operation, implementing conservation practices including diverse prairie restoration along the Iowa River and using no-till farming and cover crops across all his acres.
Wade believes that strong communities are built when people work together toward common goals, and he’s put that belief into action throughout his life. He currently serves on six local boards and committees, and was recently a board member of Practical Farmers of Iowa, a non-partisan organization focused on farmers helping farmers. Whether it’s speaking to local leaders about conservation practices or working with neighbors to solve problems, Wade has always believed in the power of listening to each other and finding solutions that work for everyone.
Wade is running for Secretary of Agriculture because he believes Iowa’s farmers and communities deserve leadership that puts their needs first. He’s seen firsthand how the right support can help family farms succeed and small towns thrive, and he knows the Department of Agriculture has the resources and expertise to scale solutions for communities across Iowa. As Secretary, Wade will bring a practical, results-focused approach—willing to try new ideas, measure what works, and change course when something isn’t working—while working across differences to get things done for Iowa.
Wade lives in Albion, Iowa with his wife, and they are preparing to welcome their first child.
Chris Jones
A leading advocate for environmental justice in Iowa, Chris Jones has studied the state’s water quality for decades. At the University of Iowa, he worked as a research engineer, studying contaminant hydrology in agricultural landscapes. Prior to that he worked for the Des Moines Water Works and the Iowa Soybean Association. He has a PhD in analytical chemistry from Montana State University and a BA in Chemistry and Biology from Simpson College in Indianola.
In 2023, Chris published The Swine Republic: Struggles With the Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality, which was selected by the Library of Congress as Iowa’s representative in the 2024 National Book Festival. He continues to write about water quality and related issues on Substack.
Chris was born in Monmouth, Illinois, where his father worked as a clerk for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The family returned to Iowa in 1967, where his father continued his railroad career. He spent his childhood in what was then the sleepy town of Ankeny. His mother worked as a secretary for the U.S. Postal Service, which included a stint as the secretary for the Des Moines Postmaster.
Chris has three adult daughters: a physical therapist, a statistical biologist working for the CDC, and an atmospheric chemist working in Colorado. He enjoys fishing, hunting, and tending his garden and orchard. He lives in Iowa City.
Postscript: If one blows the other out of the water on fund raising, that may influence my vote.
Following is an email sent to my State Representative Judd Lawler on Sunday, Feb. 8. A subcommittee advanced HF 781 last week and there is debate about whether it is right for Iowa in 2026. Of course it is.
Dear Rep. Lawler,
I live in rural Solon in your district. I appreciate receiving your legislative updates and read them all. Not too many, and not too few of them. Thank you.
I am writing today to ask the House Commerce Committee take up HF 781 which was passed out of committee last week. As you know, the bill seeks to close the loophole regarding smoking in casinos left open to pass the Iowa Smokefree Air Act.
I was on the Johnson County board of health when the law went into effect on July 1, 2008 and it was important for all the good things the law does. At the time I felt if compromise was needed to receive the positive benefits of the law, then so be it.
However, since then, there is new, discouraging information about the frequency of cancer in Iowa. Second hand smoke is a known carcinogen, and limiting or removing it from casinos is a proposal whose time is right. We owe it to casino customers and workers to do this.
When I managed some trucking fleets in Pennsylvania I brought my managers into the Philadelphia area and we visited the Trump casinos in Atlantic City one night. The air was clean inside them. The future president fought regulation of tobacco smoke inside his casinos because he felt customers would seek gambling in nearby Pennsylvania. Of course, that argument is less relevant in Iowa today since of the surrounding states, only Missouri permits tobacco use inside casinos.
I wanted to let you know this is a long-standing issue for me. I urge you and the Commerce Committee to take up the bill before the first funnel and pass it to the floor for debate.
Thank you for reading my message and good luck this session.
At our consolidated Democratic precinct caucuses on Feb. 2, I gave two speeches supporting candidates. Here they are, prepared for delivery.
Nate Willems, Iowa Attorney General
I’m proud to endorse Nate Willems for Iowa Attorney General.
I worked with Nate, as many of us in the room did, when he ran for Iowa House after Rep. Ro Foege retired. People in our district know him because he represented us.
For nearly 20 years, Nate has fought for workers as a labor attorney — including his recent winning of a major wage-theft case that returned millions of dollars to Iowans who had been cheated.
That record is why Nate is endorsed by former Attorney General Tom Miller and the Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO.
Nate is a life-long Iowan who understands that the Attorney General’s job is about protecting victims, prosecuting violent crime, and holding powerful interests accountable.
I trust Nate Willems to do that job for Iowa.
Jon Green, current Johnson County Supervisor
I’m proud to endorse Jon Green for County Supervisor.
Jon showed up in our area, canvassed with me, and listened — which tells you exactly the kind of County Supervisor he is.
One of the hardest issues we face is the jail. Jon understands we need a solution that works for the county, for county employees, and for the people who are incarcerated there — and that means real leadership, not delay or division.
As chair, Jon has proven he can lead in difficult moments. He builds coalitions, believes in transparency and debate, and makes sure every voice is heard.
At a time when local communities are often caught between state and federal pressures, Jon will stand up for this county.
We need local leaders who understand not only what the law requires, but what the people demand.
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