Rob Sand says government ought to work for
the people paying the bills. Zach Lahn says big companies have too much say in
Des Moines. Listen to them talk, and you’d think they were going after the same
bunch of bastards.
Put
them onstage together, and they go after each other. Apparently, cleaning up
government starts with mudslinging.
They’re
running for the governor’s office Kim Reynolds is leaving. Sand is a Democrat
and Iowa’s state auditor. Lahn is a Republican, businessman, and farmer running
for office for the first time. Sand says he’s got the experience. Lahn says the
people with experience helped make the mess.
Fair
enough. Let’s look at what they’ve got.
Sand
grew up in Decorah, went to Brown University, and got his law degree at the
University of Iowa. In high school, he spent two years trying to get a public
skate park built. Two years convincing adults to let kids skate. Probably
decent preparation for the Iowa Legislature.
Before
becoming auditor in 2019, he worked in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office,
prosecuting people for financial crimes, including the film tax-credit scandal
and the lottery-rigging case involving Eddie Tipton.
Tipton
worked in lottery security and figured out how to rig the winning numbers. Most
of us buy a ticket and lose five bucks. He found a way around that.
Sand
helped prosecute him. That’s something he did, with a case and a result voters
can look at.
He also hired a Democrat, a Republican, and an independent to help lead his office. Two had given money to his opponent’s campaign. Plenty of politicians say they’ll work with the other side. Sand put some of them on the payroll.
His
office also runs a program that gets cities, counties, and schools to share
ways to save money. Mississippi’s Republican auditor started one like it. It’s
not exciting, but spending less to get the work done is something taxpayers can
appreciate.
Then
we get to the money Sand says his office found being misspent. His “Uncovered”
commercial makes a point of it. He also wants public officials who steal tax
dollars to go to prison.
But
finding money that was spent wrong and getting it back aren’t the same thing.
Was it stolen? Used for something it wasn’t supposed to pay for? Did anybody
return it? Tell us what happened after the report came out.
The
private-school tuition program is less clear. Radio Iowa reported that the
annual state audit found no issues with it. Sand said the records arrived too
late to take a closer look. The governor’s budget director disputed his
explanation for the delay.
So
there are questions. But wanting to look harder doesn’t mean somebody stole the
money. And an audit that found no problems doesn’t mean every dollar got
checked.
Sand
also wants limits on how long politicians can stay in office, more protection
for public workers who report wrongdoing, and rules against politicians trading
stocks. He wants to change how Iowa runs elections, too.
He
hasn’t gotten those things done. As governor, he’d still need lawmakers to
help. Some would have to vote to limit their own time in office. Good luck with
that.
Sand
knows how to investigate people in government. Now he wants a job where he’ll
have to get those people to agree with him. How does he get something passed
when they don’t want it?
Lahn
grew up near Sioux City, went to the University of Colorado Boulder, and bought
back a Belle Plaine farm his family once owned. His campaign also points to
purchases of the town’s old theater and railroad depot.
People
can understand that story. The family farm was sold. He bought it back. He’s
putting money into a small Iowa town. Those are things he can show us.
But
buying a farm and fixing old buildings don’t settle whether he can run the
state. They give us a place to start asking.
Lahn
helped start Wonder, a private school in Wichita, in 2018. His business puts
money into farming, property, and technology. He and his wife have seven
children between them.
He
hasn’t held elected office, but he’s worked for members of Congress and the
political group Americans for Prosperity. He knows something about politics. He
didn’t get lost on the way to the feed store and accidentally file for
governor.
People
leave Iowa and come back. We keep saying we want them to return. But if you
want to be governor, people can ask where you’ve been living and whether you’ll
be here doing the job. Answer it and move on.
Some
of Lahn’s ideas deserve more attention than the address fight. He says data
centers should pay more to the towns where they are built. He wants to stop
giving tax breaks and other help to out-of-state and foreign companies.
That’s
worth a look in a state where a company announces an enormous project and
politicians line up to help pay for it. Take the proposed $15 billion steel
plant in Lee County. A big price tag gets attention. What would Iowa have to
put up, and what would the company have to deliver?
Which
deals would Lahn stop? What happens to promises already made? It’s easy to tell
a company to pay its share during a campaign. Tell us how you’d do it.
He
also wants to take big farm suppliers to court over business practices he says
hurt competition. Farmers know what seed and equipment cost. What would he
challenge, and how would winning help the farmer paying those bills?
Lahn
would like to get rid of the state income tax. Down the road, he’d also like to
end property taxes on the home you live in.
People
would love smaller tax bills. They’d also like the road plowed, the ambulance
to come, and the school to stay open. Where does that money come from? Saying
you’ll cut waste isn’t enough. Show us how much you can cut.
Sand
has bills to explain, too. He wants a 5 percent increase in state money for
public schools in his first year. He also wants income limits on state help for
private-school tuition. Lahn supports that help and says teachers need more
freedom to try things.
What
would any of that change for a kid sitting in class? Would there be more help
when they fall behind? More teachers? Smaller classes? Tell parents what they’d
get for the money.
Lahn
also says teachers pushing a political agenda should lose their licenses. That
needs a hell of a lot more explanation. Who decides what counts? What happens
when a parent doesn’t like a history lesson and calls it political?
Before
somebody loses a career, the rules ought to be clear. Being the loudest person
at a school board meeting shouldn’t be enough.
On
healthcare, Sand wants nonprofit companies to take over managing Medicaid. He
says the change would take time. Would patients get care faster? Would fewer
claims get turned down? Would more doctors take Medicaid patients?
Those
are the things people need to know. A different name on the paperwork doesn’t
help much if you’re still waiting.
Lahn
needs to explain his vaccine position. Iowa’s News Now reported that he agreed
in January when asked whether he would ban mRNA vaccines, the kind used in some
COVID shots. In October, he said that technology could have benefits in the
future.
So
what’s his position now? What would he ban, and why? People shouldn’t have to
watch months of campaign clips to figure out what he wants to do.
Both
men say they want cleaner water. Sand wants more work to protect the land and
restore wetlands. Lahn wants to help farmers keep pollution out of the water
and put money into the state fund meant for that kind of work.
Okay.
How much money? When does the work start? How will we know the water got
cleaner? A picture beside a river won’t tell us much.
Sand
has court cases, audits, and work to save money behind him. He needs to explain
how he’d use that experience to run the state. Lahn has businesses, a school,
and money invested in Iowa. He needs to show that his promises add up.
They
both say they’ll stand up to powerful people. Fine. Tell us where you’ve done
it, where you fell short, and what happens when somebody you need tells you to
go to hell.
We’ve
heard the pitch. What else have you got?
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