Iowa gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018

Funding Pre-K and K-12 It’s time to take politics out of education funding. Iowa used to be known as a state that guaranteed a world-class public education, but over the years we’ve seen the legislature play politics with education funding, leaving our kids and teachers out in the lurch.

As governor, Fred will work with local school districts to give them more discretion over how they locally allocate funds. Whether schools need better transportation options or programs to attract top-notch teachers in rural areas, or special funding for ELL programs in urban areas, each school system across the state should be able to provide for their community in the best way possible.

Fred has heard from school superintendents across Iowa who lament the state’s constant fluctuation in funding, preventing proper local planning. Iowa teachers deserve the resources they need to educate, and Iowa children deserve stability in their education that gives them the best opportunity to succeed. That starts with full and consistent funding.

Affordable Higher Education Iowa’s community colleges and regent schools are state treasures, but Governor Reynolds and Republican legislators are making it harder and harder for students to access higher education. In January, Governor Reynolds announced another round of cuts to higher education funding that would result in steep tuition hikes.

As governor, Fred will work with community colleges and regent schools to stabilize skyrocketing tuition. He brings with him first-hand experience as the former chair of Simpson College, where he worked to regularly find ways to reduce student debt.

Our state grows when we have the best educated workforce possible, but dramatic cuts to higher education are taking a toll on our economic development. Making higher education more accessible and affordable creates a more skilled workforce and helps get Iowa growing.

Job Training and Apprenticeship Programs Ensuring Iowans have the opportunity for higher paying jobs starts with job training. Across the state, Fred has heard from a number of employers who say jobs are going unfilled because of a lack of qualified candidates. A stronger focus on job training and apprenticeship programs is key to growing our workforce and our economy.

As the interim Director for the Department of Economic Development, Fred prioritized funding for job training and apprenticeship programs, and as governor, it will be a key piece of his education plan. Fred will work with employers to create locally-driven public-private partnerships at all high schools and community colleges to help equip Iowans with the skills local employers are looking for. Iowans deserve to work where they live.

Creating Jobs and Economic Development The best approach to creating jobs and spurring economic activity is to invest in our local communities and grow them from the ground up. For too long the Iowa legislature has created special tax giveaways for big corporations that don’t create enough jobs and don’t help get incomes rising. That money should be used to grow local Iowa businesses — including expansion of broadband internet access across the state. The amount of money rural Iowans have to pay to simply access the internet in the 21st century is unacceptable.

Fred knows we must make investments that push incomes higher for Iowans all across the state. As Director of Economic Development, Fred prioritized investing state funds in projects that created good returns for Iowans.

As a state, we can’t be flooding the market with low income jobs. As governor, Fred will work to ensure Iowans have access to jobs and higher incomes where they live — not just in our growing cities, and definitely not outside Iowa. An example can be found in our growing wind and solar industry, where we could create thousands of new jobs while investing in renewable resources.

Supporting Farmers Farmers are key to the success of Iowa’s economy. We need to support our hardworking farmers by ensuring strong trade partnerships not just with other states, but with other countries to expand our markets for Iowa-grown goods.

Continuing the investment in a robust renewable energy portfolio is a vital component in supporting Iowa’s agriculture industry. Iowa’s farmers produce much of this country’s ethanol and biodiesel supply, and that effort must continue. It’s good for agriculture, our economy, and the environment. As head of the Iowa Power Fund, Fred helped grow Iowa’s clean energy sector by making investments in more than 30 projects across the state.

Taxes We need an approach to taxes that puts people first. Our current tax system is too complicated and artificially inflates tax rates for individuals and businesses through excessive and ineffective tax credit programs. Iowa has so many tax credits, deductions and exemptions that it creates winners and losers depending on who has the best lobbyist or the most creative accountant. It’s patently unfair. In 2017, the state of Iowa awarded $208.8 million in tax credits, some of which are refundable and transferable credits the recipient can sell on the secondary market for cash.

Appointed interim Director of Economic Development by Governor Chet Culver to help clean up the disastrous film tax credit scandal in 2009, Fred also participated in a tax review panel that actually identified a bevy of wasteful tax credits and incentives that, if capped or eliminated, would have saved the state $161.5 million annually.

Governor Reynolds is giving out even more wasteful corporate giveaways, like the “Apple Deal”, which gave the richest company in the world $20 million in tax credits for only 50 permanent jobs. Meanwhile, to pay for these giveaways, Reynolds is cutting health care, higher education, infrastructure investment, funding for our court system, and much more. Iowans continue to suffer from Reynolds’ misguided priorities and fiscal mismanagement. It’s unacceptable.

As governor, Fred would propose a comprehensive reform of the state tax code that scrutinizes every tax credit and incentive to make sure they actually provide a good returns, simplifies tax law, and lowers rates for Iowa’s middle and working class families and small businesses.

Mental Health Care How we treat the most vulnerable in our community speaks volumes about our state’s strength and heart — but right now our state isn’t doing enough to fix Iowa’s growing mental health and substance abuse crisis. In every community Fred travels to Iowans are concerned about family members, friends, or neighbors who are in desperate need of mental health care and substance abuse services but don’t have local access.

We need to reverse Medicaid privatization, give local communities more authority to invest in locally-driven programs like crisis intervention and prison diversion programs, create a program for youth in need of treatment, put a focus on preventive treatment, and increase the number of high-intensity treatment beds available across the state.

While the legislature has slashed funding for mental health services and failed to properly address this growing crisis, Fred and his wife, Charlotte, have personally worked with a local medical center to help increase the number of acute treatment beds by 50%, hire additional mental health professionals, and expand services. As governor, Fred will expand on this work and bring much needed care to communities statewide.

Click here to find Fred’s plan to fix Iowa’s growing mental health care crisis.

Medicaid We need to reverse Medicaid privatization NOW. We see story after story in our local communities and in the press about what a disaster the Reynolds’ failed privatization experiment has been, but they have not taken action to rectify it.

Medicaid privatization has left many of the 600,000 Iowans who use the program with greatly reduced benefits and systemic denials of coverage that especially hurt the most vulnerable among us: the elderly, children, and the disabled. Health care providers continue to be financially strapped, with some forced to close, because of denied and delayed payments from managed care organizations. In addition, over a third of patients were left with just ONE care provider after the departure of AmeriHealth late last year. So how is the Reynolds Administration addressing the failures of her privatization experiment? By hiring the same Medicaid director who drove Kansas’ Medicaid system in to the ground.

We cannot wait any longer. As governor, reversing Medicaid privatization will be a priority on Day 1.

Planned Parenthood Fred is the former chair of Planned Parenthood of Mid-Iowa and served on its board for a number of years. During his time at Planned Parenthood, protesters threatened his business because of his work with the women’s health organization — but, to Fred, what’s right is right. Not only did he continue to work with Planned Parenthood, but in 2011 when they were blocked from opening a new clinic in Dubuque, Charlotte and Fred stepped in to help the organization purchase a new building and successfully open the new clinic, bringing better and safer health care services to women in Eastern Iowa.

Part of making sure all Iowans have access to quality and affordable healthcare is ensuring everyone is treated fairly — no matter their gender or economic circumstance. Planned Parenthood provides important medical services and education for thousands of Iowans, and as governor, Fred will continue to do everything he can to restore state funding and improve access to quality, affordable health care across the state.

Environment
s Iowans, we take great pride in our land and natural resources — from our fertile soil to our rivers, lakes and trails all across the state. They not only drive our economy, but boost our quality of life. By investing in renewable energy, preserving our topsoil, and bringing together all Iowans, urban and rural, to address growing water and air quality concerns, we can ensure that the Iowa we all love is safe and protected for future generations.

Fred and his wife, Charlotte, have been long time supporters and advocates for environmental sustainability efforts. Fred served as chairman of the Iowa Power Fund from 2007 – 2011, where he led efforts to invest state funds in the renewable energy sector, helping make Iowa a leading producer of wind power and clean energy. Charlotte currently serves on the Environmental Law and Policy Center’s Iowa Advisory Council, co-founded the Iowa Environmental Council in 1993, and previously served on the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission, overseeing the environmental protection activities of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Click here to read Fred’s detailed plan to protect Iowa’s precious natural resources.

Air & Water Quality

We need a unified effort, in both our urban and rural communities, to implement long-term, permanent solutions to protect the water we all share. By supporting our farmers to implement sustainable farming practices and promoting expanded soil and water conservation efforts, together with appropriate water quality monitoring and transparency across the state, we can help keep our drinking water and recreational waters clean and safe for all Iowans.

Given the very rapid increase in the number of CAFOs across our state, and the growing number of counties which have registered their frustrations with current rules, it is also time to review the state’s master matrix and its applications.

Restoring Workers' Rights
Expanded collective bargaining is not only the right thing to do, it’s personal to Fred. He is a former labor union member, and both his daughter and son-in-law currently belong to a union. When Fred later became a business leader, he regularly worked with unions to encourage their representation in the workforce and ensure fairness at each and every level.

The dismantling of workers’ rights in Iowa is politically motivated and wrong. Every Iowan deserves safe working conditions and to be paid fairly for their work. As governor, Fred would restore Chapter 20, allowing for expanded collective bargaining rights, and restore the workers compensation laws that were recently stripped, allowing Iowans who are hurt on the job the protection they deserve.

Across the state, teachers are leaving Iowa to seek employment in states with stronger collective bargaining rights and better pay. If we want to provide our kids with a world-class education, we need to fix the damage done to workers rights by Republican leadership in the legislature.

Supporting Veterans
When our state’s women and men step up to serve, they put everything on the line. They do it for family, friends, and for our country — for all of us. When they return home, they should find a state that is not only grateful for their service but one that makes them feel welcome, that eases them into civilian life and provides them with the resources they need to move their lives forward.

Our Veterans should receive the quality health care they deserve. As governor, I will work to make sure the state of Iowa is an ally in connecting Veterans with services through the VA. In reversing Medicaid privatization and increasing access to mental health services, we’ll reform a system that has grown to value profits over people into one that puts people first.

Beyond services, Veterans should come home to a state that is a partner in their transition back to civilian life. As governor, I will work to ensure our state invests in opportunity, expanding access to capital investment funding, and connecting Veterans to gainful employment in the private sector. The skills forged in military service are invaluable to Iowa’s businesses, and we need that skilled labor across our state — from improving our infrastructure, to teaching our students, to working in our hospitals or clinics. Further, we’ll work to ensure access to quality, affordable, continuing education opportunities so we ensure that development never ceases, and that all Iowans have an opportunity to grow.

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Kim Reynolds understands the challenges families face because she’s faced them herself. A fifth-generation Iowan, she grew up in a working-class family in St. Charles, Iowa. A recognized leader in state and local issues, Kim served as county treasurer and state senator before becoming Lieutenant Governor and Governor.

As Lt. Governor, she served as the chairwoman of the National Lt. Governors Association. In this role, she led nationwide discussions on policy, economic development, and issues affecting states across the country.

Kim has made Iowa a national leader in STEM education; and she’s led economic development trade missions to China, Germany, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand, working towards increased exports, more foreign direct investment and new jobs for Iowa.

Throughout her entire life, Kim Reynolds has never forgotten her working class roots. As a teenager she worked as a waitress at Younkers, and later as a checker at Hy-Vee all while raising a young family and getting her college degree.

That’s why her top priorities as governor are creating good-paying jobs, cutting taxes, investing in public schools, and increasing opportunity in every part of Iowa. Kim and her husband, “First Dude” Kevin, have been married 36 years, have three daughters and nine grandchildren. ^[28]