(A Radio Iowa report) – State Auditor Rob Sand, the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, held a town hall in one of Iowa’s most Republican counties last (Thursday) night. Republicans make up about 72 percent of Sioux County voters. Sand says it’s important for people to have access to candidates and elected officials.
“I also think there’s a lot of people who have more recently been voting more for the opposite party who are starting to notice their pockets are getting picked a little bit,” Sand said, “…and they’re looking for somebody that’s willing to look them in the eye and say we might disagree on some stuff, but I think we can get government focused on you again.” Sand told the crowd he’s running to rebalance Iowa’s politics after a decade of Republican control of the executive and legislative branches of state government.
“Everybody in Iowa learns it when you’re young. You can have a good thing in there, but if that good thing is in there too long it starts to go bad…It’s time to rotate the crops in the Capitol building, ladies and gentlemen,” Sand said, to applause. One person in the crowd in Sioux Center told Sand many Sioux County families have benefited from the state-funded Education Savings Accounts to cover private school tuition and other expenses.
Sand repeated his call for more government oversight of how private schools are using those tax dollars. Before the event in Sioux Center, reporters asked Sand about data centers, as a few counties in the area have data center moratoriums. “Data centers should pay full freight. They should carry their own weight. They shouldn’t be getting tax breaks and if they’re going to build here, it should be to the benefit of other people that they’re here,” Sand said. “…We should be seeing lower property taxes for neighbors. We should be seeing electrical utility rates not going up, preferably going down because of that.”
Sand made campaign stops in Sibley, Rock Rapids and Le Mars earlier yesterday (Thursday) before his evening stop in Sioux Center. He’s campaigning in three north central Iowa counties today (Friday).
