DES MOINES — The Political Soapbox, hosted by The Des Moines Register, allowed candidates for offices across the state to stand on their ‘soapbox’ and address the crowds of Iowa State Fairgoers.
Attorney General
Brenna Bird (R)
A Republican running for re-election for attorney general spoke Aug. 17 from Guthrie County and opened with the importance of going out into communities and hearing feedback.
“I work in all 99 counties every single year and hear from people what’s on your mind,” Bird said. “That’s how I learn how to serve better, how to serve every county in Iowa, because every county, every part of the state, is different. I want to serve the whole state.”
Bird highlighted the importance of upholding the Constitution, helping victims of crime, heightening regulations around athletes competing in women’s sports and solving cold cases.
“That was something I campaigned on in 2022: that we needed to have a cold case unit to work on the over 400 homicides that we have here in this state,” Bird said. “We have a dedicated prosecutor and investigators. Our first case was a Harrison County case that we brought to court. 37 years ago, Barbara Lenz went missing, and today her murderer is sitting in prison. We never give up on justice.”
Nate Willems (D)
Willems, from Anamosa, Iowa, and the Democratic nominee for Iowa attorney general, spoke Friday.
“For almost 20 years, I’ve been representing working people in Iowa,” Willems said. “I spent four years representing 11,000 hospital workers in Iowa City whose wages were paid systematically illegally late. I prevented Clinton County from doubling the health insurance premiums for their deputies, jailers and civilian staff.”
Willems additionally won the largest union wage increase in Iowa history for police officers in Carter Lake. Willems believes the work he spent his career doing could and should be handled by the attorney general’s office.
“You see, there’s $900 million a year stolen from Iowa workers’ paychecks,” Willems said.
This theft comes from unpaid off-the-clock labor, unpaid overtime, illegal deductions from pay, stolen tips or misclassification of employees as independent contractors.
“That $900 million represents 10 times the amount of all other types of theft in the state of Iowa combined and Brenna Bird’s office does nothing about it,” Willems said. “If you want to understand who Brenna Bird works for, you need to hear this.”
Willems went on to explain that a plant near Shell Rock polluted the air with cancer-causing chemicals for three years. The company knew about the pollution for roughly a year before informing residents of Butler County.
“Butler County has an above-average cancer rate in Iowa. Iowa has the second-highest rate of new diagnoses of cancer in the United States. Iowans are getting sicker, faster, than almost anywhere else in America,” Willems said. “The company was given a minimal fine and Brenna Bird did not seek additional penalties.”
Willems has campaigned on supporting county attorneys in prosecuting violent felonies, bringing legal action against corporations stealing workers’ paychecks and going after corporations polluting Iowa air, land or water.
Secretary of State
Paul Pate (R)
Pate, currently running for reelection, has served as secretary of state consecutively since 2015 after serving his first term in 1995. He resides in the Cedar Rapids area, where he owns an asphalt paving company, Pate Asphalt Systems, run by his oldest daughter.
“The 250th anniversary of this great country, try to be able to reflect on what it means to be a citizen of this country, and one of these main issues is the right to vote, to have our voice heard in our government and I think we’ve done an amazing job of doing that in the state,” Pate said.
Pate covered election standards and stated that over 90% of Iowans believe we have strong elections.
“When we do our elections in this state, we make sure we have things like voter ID, we worked very, very hard to get us voter ID in this state. I hope someday the Democrats will join us in Congress in getting us voter ID on the national level. We have many things that we do to protect the integrity of your voting,” Pate said.
Pate also highlighted the increase in young voters and voter registration numbers. He spoke about the Safe at Home program that he is very involved in, which helps victims of domestic violence. Pate leads the Iowa Business Against Trafficking (IBAT) program, which helps stop human trafficking.
“Let’s keep the politics out of this as much as we can. I am not just a Republican running for office; when I look at my job as secretary of state, I’m the referee. I don’t wear a team jersey when I’m running these elections. I’m out there to make sure the rules and laws are followed. Focus on making it easy to vote, but hard to cheat,” Pate said.
Ryan Peterman (D)
Ryan Peterman, the Democrat running for Iowa secretary of state, spoke on Aug. 15. Peterman lives in the Quad Cities and formerly served as a Navy pilot.
“I am in this race for so many of the same reasons I joined the Navy,” Peterman said. “I love our country, I love Iowa, I believe deeply in democracy and I believe deeply in the importance of public service.”
Peterman asked the crowd who believed that their life improved under the current Iowa elected officials. The crowd responded with a chorus of boos.
“It’s because we don’t have folks in public office that are there for the right reasons,” Peterman said. “We don’t have folks that are there to serve the public, to solve problems, to make life better for all of us.”
Peterman stated that Pate forgot who he works for: the people of Iowa.
“He is certainly not thinking of Iowans when he is making it harder for us to vote,” Peterman said. “He is not working for us when the time period we have to vote gets shorter, when polling places are closing, when polling places are closing, he is not working for us when voters are purged from the voter rolls.”
Peterman highlighted how Pate dispersed personal information of Iowans to the United States Department of Justice.
“When the DOJ came knocking here in Iowa, Paul Pate said ‘here you go,’ and he handed our information over and did it without a fight,” Peterman said. “In 30 other states, secretaries of states, both Republicans and Democrats.”
Peterman closed by stating that he’s spent over a year meeting with Iowans and hearing about the problems facing Iowans ranging from the water quality crisis to a lack of access to healthcare.