(Radio Iowa) – A central Iowa lawmaker is proposing that Iowa buy the nine southern Minnesota counties that are on the other side of Iowa’s border. State Senator Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, is sponsoring a bill to start the ball rolling. “Politicians have been talking about growing Iowa since I’ve been in politics and we’ve cut taxes, we’ve made our state more farm friendly and family friends, but we’re not growing fast enough,” Bousselot says, “and so looking for innovative ways like businesses grow — mergers and acquisitions — it used to be part of Iowa. Make it part of Iowa again. Make Minnesota Iowa Again.” Bousselot is an attorney who was former Governor Terry Branstad’s chief of staff. He’s now operating a real estate business, but isn’t suggesting now much the State of Iowa would pay Minnesota for those counties.

Senator Mike Bousselot (R-Ankeny) (official photo)

“I’m never going to negotiate against myself,” Bousselot says, “but we would simply look at what are the tax revenues that are part of that, what is the return on investment.” Bousselot, who is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, says it’s a very serious proposal. “Indiana’s speaker announced yesterday that they’re looking at how they can acquire 33 counties in Illinois that have sought to succeed from Illinois,” Bousselot says. “It would just be nine counties. It wouldn’t change the Electoral math for either state, but they fit into the culture of Iowa. They’re agricultural, conservative, farming counties that would be in align with Iowa and really fit our state.” Democrats like House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst say buying part of Minnesota would be an inappropriate use of Iowa tax dollars.

“We have serious problems in this state,” Konfrst says. “We have real families who are struggling with their bills and their budgets and it seems to me that this is not a realistic approach and it’s one to seek headlines and frankly it’s an insult to people who are trying to pay their bills.” Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner says Iowa lawmakers have enough to do for the people in Iowa’s existing 99 counties. Changing state borders requires an act of congress. Bousselot notes it was last done in 1961, when Minnesota agreed to cede to land to North Dakota because of a change in course of the Red River of the North. Bousselot suggests there would be immediate agricultural investment” in those nine counties if they become part of Iowa.

“Governor Walz referred to the farmland in Minnesota as full of cows and rocks. Well, what he sees as rocks and cows see as opportunity and so that investment in Iowa would immediately be worth more for Iowans, with those folks having lower takes — lower income taxes, lower sales taxes, lower business taxes — and better regulations for doing business,” Bousselot says. “…We’ve had someone reach out from Luverne, Minnesota, and they said: ‘We love the idea, but there’s a Luverne, Iowa. Can we keep our town name?'” Luverne, Iowa, was founded in 1880 and sits on the border of Kossuth and Humbolt Counties. It was named after Luverne, Minnesota, which is in the southwest corner of the state to our north. It would take over two and a half hours to drive from Luverne, Iowa, to Luverne, Minnesota, which is part of the Sioux Falls, South Dakota metro.