(Radio Iowa) – Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn says he hasn’t considered whether state troopers will take over to fly the small planes he may travel in if he’s elected. “Both of my grandpas were pilots,” Lahn said. “…I’ve been flying since I was a little kid. I got my pilot’s license in Webter City and, I can tell you, I will always fly.” Lahn regularly pilots a plane he owns and, one Saturday this past April, he flew himself to four different cities to attend the Iowa G-O-P’s district conventions.
In 1954, Iowa Governor William Beardley died in an accident, in a car he was driving. Since then, state troopers have served as drivers for governors. Current Governor Kim Reynolds has been using an Iowa State Patrol plane for official travel. “It’s something that I haven’t even thought about yet, just to be very open with you,” Lahn said. “I do know that we do have state troopers that are pilots. Actually some have reached out to me and said they do look forward to working with me should I become governor.”
In May, the Des Moines Register reported airport records show Lahn’s plane had flown back and forth to Kansas about once a week. The children from Lahn’s previous marriage and his wife’s previous marriage live in Kansas. Rob Sand, the Democrat running for governor, has questioned Lahn’s move back to Iowa in 2023 and how much time he spends in Kansas. “We do not have part-time problems in the state of Iowa,” Sand said during an appearance Friday in Algona. “They’re not going to get fixed by a part-time Iowan…If you’re not here, if you haven’t been here for 20 years, there’s probably a lot of things that you don’t know and there’s probably a lot of people you don’t know and I think that that matters.”
Lahn says he and his wife have a blended family and their children should be off limits. “My opponent has chosen to make this campaign about personal attacks against me and, specially, my children,” Lahn said. “…A grown man should not be talking about the minor children of his opponent. That is wrong.” Lahn made his comments this weekend on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.
Lahn says Sand has given his supporters permission to talk about his children and there have been instances where police have had to be involved. A spokesperson for Sand’s campaign says Lahn is lying about where he actually lives and the issue is how much time Lahn spends in Iowa.
