(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat who is running for governor, is proposing term limits for legislators and statewide elected officials as well as mandatory prison time for any public official convicted of embezzling tax dollars.
“Running for office and holding public office should be about serving the public, not serving yourself,” Sand said. Sand supports banning Iowa elected officials from trading stocks. Sand suggests candidates should pass a cognitive test AND a civics test before they’d be able to run for election or re-election. And Sand is calling for open primaries, so independents no longer have to change their party registration to Republican or Democrat in order to vote in the primary elections that choose which candidates qualify for the General Election.
“I want independent voters to have an equal right in our democracy because this is America where we value independence. In fact we celebrate it on the 4th of July every single year,” Sand said. “I don’t think that the Democratic and Republican Parties solve enough problems to have a monopoly on our choices.” Republican Party officials say Sand has previously praised ranked choice voting, which they say leads to long delays in getting election results and is illegal in Iowa under a state law passed last year.
“What I have proposed would have quick results, same night. It is not ranked choice voting,” Sand said. “What I have proposed would give independent voters an equal voice and anybody who says anything other than because they’re desperate to keep it.” As for term and age limits on state officials, the Iowa Constitution only requires that members of the Iowa House to be 21, state senators must be at least 25 and governors have to be 30 when sworn into office. Sand says, as governor, he’d have conversations with legislators to come up with the retirement age and term limits they’d vote for.
“I think it’s important to give folks an opportunity to get at the work,” Sand says, “…but I think at the end of the day we can all recognize that if you’ve been there for five terms, there’s probably someone else who’s going to have a little bit more pep in their step, who’d do a good job,” Sand said. “…I think a lot of them are ready to do it…I think a lot of them support these issues publicly, lawmakers in both parties.”
Sand was elected state auditor in 2018 and reelected in 2022. He is the only candidate running in the Democratic Party’s Primary for governor.
