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IowaPolitics.com: Soggy county picnic hears from five GOP guv hopefuls
8/16/2009

By Tyler O'Neil
For IowaPolitics.com

WAUKEE -- Torrential rains didn’t stop about 80 people from attending the Dallas County GOP Family Picnic at Napa Valley Gazebo on Saturday to listen to five hopefuls for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

The candidates -- Sen. Jerry Behn of Boone, Christian Fong of Cedar Rapids, Rep. Christopher Rants of Sioux City, Rep. Rod Roberts of Carroll and Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City -- each had four minutes to sell the crowd on their candidacy.

Vander Plaats was the most energetic of the speakers at the event, saying he had the ability to pull from Gov. Chet Culver’s supporter base and calling himself “Culver’s greatest threat.”

He talked about the Iowa Supreme Court extensively, reiterating his plan to issue an executive order putting a stay on same-sex marriages and criticizing the court for, in his eyes, legislating from the bench.

"Today's it's about marriage and freedom, but if you continue to allow the Supreme Court to drive a car that isn't theirs, it'll be about private property, it'll be about freedom of enterprise, it'll be about how you educate your children ... every one of your freedoms is up for grabs," Vander Plaats said.

In his speech Rants criticized Culver’s record on job development in Iowa. He said the Iowa Power Fund had only created 100 jobs, at an expense of $500,000 each.

"Those sort of programs aren't what's going to get the job done for us," Rants said. "It's a better tax climate, it's a better regulatory climate."

Rants also said Iowa continues to drop in various education ratings, and he would work to improve the system by raising Iowa school’s standards.

Event organizers Rob and Christine Taylor, Dallas County GOP organization and publicity chairs respectively, said the event turned out well in spite of the rain thanks to high attendance, activities for the children present and copious amount of burgers and hot dogs.

“(The) main purpose was to stir a grassroots effort, to let people know politics is family friendly,” Rod Taylor said.

Organizers also hoped the picnic would draw in more GOP supporters. Rod Taylor said several independents and Democrats attended the event, and he hoped the candidates’ speeches would resonate with them. Christie Taylor said attendance and excitement at these types of events – picnics or town halls – is the highest it has been in decades.

“People are taking notice about what is happening in government,” Christie Taylor said.

Rants said he was impressed with the turnout.

“The neatest part of this event is seeing all the young families about,” Rants said. “It used to be when you come to a Republican event it was all people with white hair. Not that there is anything wrong with people with white hair ... but the fact is, why are we all doing this? Because we care about our kids.”

Among the audience at the picnic were Iowa GOP Chair Matt Strawn and U.S. Rep. Tom Latham. Strawn said political grassroots activity has become more visible recently.

“There is something going on in this state,” Strawn said. He went on to say although there is work to be done in Washington, D.C., “we can the change direction of our state right now.”

Latham agreed with Strawn, that the issues are what is motivating the people and, commenting on the recent health care town halls, he said, “I wish we were ... organized (enough) to get that many people to voice their opinions, but we’re not.”

Fong said he has been extremely impressed by the size and energy of the Republican events he has attended in the last few weeks. He said the enthusiasm comes from citizens looking to reclaim the “Iowa Dream,” and he promised to bring that dream back into reach. Fong also said he would support a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

He discussed a reduced income tax as a way to keep youth in the state after college and talked about his background in business.

"I know, as a business owner and as a businessman, that Iowa's core values say we have to have fiscal responsibility in the Statehouse," Fong said. "As governor I would balance the budget every year ... without raiding the reserves."

Behn worked to engage the audience by cracking jokes and sharing a short history about himself. He also focused on job creation and same-sex marriage in his speech. He said he's been conducting an "unscientific poll" talking to high school and college students who say they would stay in Iowa if they can find a job or start a business. In order to make that possible, Behn said Iowa must cut taxes.

"Right now we are close to a billion-dollar shortfall in Iowa," he said. "We are being corralled into a tax increase if we don't do something." He said the key to the budget was addressing the "unrestrained spending" seen under the current administration.

Behn was also critical of the Iowa Supreme Court and encouraged the audience to vote no on retention of the three justices who will be on the ballot in 2010.

Roberts said he enjoyed going to all the GOP events around the state, even the soggy ones, because of the people he was able to meet. He also commented on the strength of his organization, saying there are people all over the state ready to back him in his bid for the nomination. His speech focused on respecting the Iowa people, especially when it comes to the spending of tax dollars.

Rod and Christie Taylor said they hoped the audience would use this opportunity to examine who would make a good GOP gubernatorial candidate. Each said they were leaning towards a favorite candidate but had not yet made a decision yet as to who they will vote for in the primary.

Several other audience members also had yet to select a favorite candidate.

Jeanie Harless of West Des Moines said she came to the picnic to see what the candidates had as platforms. The number of candidates and audience members present impressed her, but she did not yet have a candidate preference after the speeches. Barb Taylor of Waukee said she had hosted Vander Plaats and Behn in her home during previous races and was excited to hear what the other candidates had to say. Taylor said even after hearing the speeches that she didn’t yet have a favorite candidate either.

“It is much too early to make that kind of decision,” Taylor said.


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