2-term incumbent faces martial arts instructor in House District 68
By CYNTHIA REYNAUD •
creynaud@dmreg.com • October 18, 2008
An incumbent with a focus on keeping young people in Iowa faces a martial arts instructor and business owner in the race for Iowa House District 68.
Republican challenger Larry Voorhees, the owner of and master instructor at Voorhees Taekwondo Inc., said he decided to run against incumbent Democrat Rick Olson to get off the sidelines and fix the issues with which he disagrees.
"For too many years, I've been fussing about what happens at the Statehouse," Voorhees said. "I can't tell my black belts to get involved in life if I don't do it myself."
Voorhees is a newcomer to government and politics, but says he has held leadership positions as the president of the State of Iowa Black Belt Association and as a project manager at Nationwide Insurance in Des Moines. Those jobs have provided him with skills he would use as a state representative, he said.
"People have this perception that government is so complex, and it's not, or it doesn't need to be," he said. "I have the contacts, I have the ability, to gather a group of people and get something done."
Olson has served two terms in the Iowa House. He said his background in law has set him apart from others in recent years.
Olson works as a private practice attorney.
"I've got the ability to communicate ... and an understanding of Iowa code and statutes," he said.
Olson's focus in the past four years has been on keeping young adults in Iowa. Another term in office would allow him to continue that work, he said.
He cited his own daughters as an example of talented youth who left the state for positions in other areas of the country.
"There's no reason for them to come back here," he said. "I wish they were back here in Iowa, but there's nothing here to keep them here."
Olson said he hopes to create benefits that offer discounted college tuition to students from Iowa who commit to live and work in the state for a certain number of years after graduation.
"That's how you keep these kids here," Olson said.
Voorhees said he will focus on whatever the community deems important.
"This is not pushing Larry's agenda. It's about what the people want me to represent them for," Voorhees said.
He listed "protecting traditional family values by seeing a marriage amendment voted on by the people of the state" and "providing fiscal restraint and responsibility in the state budget" as examples of what he thinks should be priorities.
"The bottom line is I want them to vote," Voorhees said. "It's not only our right, it's our duty and obligation to vote. If you didn't vote, you lost the chance to make the difference."
Candidate Q&A
Democrat Rick Olson and Republican Larry Voorhees answered the following questions about state issues:
Q. What is your top priority for enhancing economic growth in Iowa?
Olson: Providing a work force that meets the needs of business — existing or potential.
Voorhees: Encourage small businesses to grow, develop, invest and be innovative. Provide incentives to the smaller businesses so that the playing field becomes at least a bit more level.
Q. What is the most important thing the state should do to make Iowa schools more competitive in the global economy?
Olson: Emphasize math and science. Every child that graduates should be fluent in a language other than English.
Voorhees: I think a better question would be, “what is the most important thing the state should do to make Iowa GRADUATES more competitive in the global economy?” It is the students who we need to educate better so they can be more successful and competitive. We should emphasize basic skills: reading, writing, computational skills, basic economics, consumer skills, comprehensive reasoning, appreciation for the arts … and we do what we can to ensure that students don’t just pass these classes, but that they have the skills to be successful in these areas. Initially, it is the responsibility of local school boards to insist on these things, but it is up to the state to help make this the environment and the baseline.
Q. How would you hold state government accountable to taxpayers?
Olson: Encourage citizens to vote.
Voorhees: A good first step would be to require that any increase in taxation that equals 10 percent or more of the current budget must be voted on and approved by the general public before it can be instituted. Secondly, I would strongly suggest that tax monies raised for a specific purpose only be used for that specific purpose.
Q. What are Iowa’s most urgent infrastructure needs and how would you pay for them?
Olson: Most urgent would be highways. We need to re-evaluate the amount of taxpayer money being spent on farm-to-market roads, and reallocate the same to primary and secondary highways. We are increasing licensing fees. The bipartisan infrastructure and transportation task force has spent considerable time evaluating this subject. I would defer to their recommendations.
Voorhees: Roads, bridges, existing levees, in that order. Roads and bridges should be paid for out of the current funding models, for the time being, until we have a chance to see if we can do a better job. Levee repair/reconstruction will need to find at least a temporary funding source, within the current general fund, without imposing new taxation on people, if there isn’t a current mechanism in place. I also think we should research whether the development of light rail transit would be beneficial; however, that may be something that needs to be addressed by local metro areas, rather than by the state Legislature.
Q. What should Iowa do, in light of this year’s flood disaster, to protect property and taxpayer dollars in the future? If there are costs involved, say how you would pay for it.
Olson: Obviously, the federal government needs to step up to the plate and provide disaster relief. There are few ways to protect the community from flooding that doesn’t, then, cause flooding downstream. Nature has a mind of its own, and our ability to predict rain totals is not an exact science. The Army Corps of Engineers bears a certain responsibility in that they regulate the amount of water released in our major reservoirs in Iowa. The development of additional reservoirs may be of some benefit in the future. Re-evaluate flood plain development.
Voorhees: What funding sources are currently targeted for those types of projects? Has there been a well-thought-out program or project plan for the future? Without having access to that information, it would be inappropriate of me to speculate an answer. It remains to be seen what the current federal and state responses will be in the immediate future. Then, a long-term, broad-based solution will need to be studied and brought forward.
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