Cynthia Axne belongs to only one political caucus -- the New Democratic Coalition. Moderate. Moderate fiscally. She s clear about her political home. Proud of her "sharp elbows," she has prize committee assignments for a freshman Member of Congress from Iowa.
In another country, he would be Sir Fred. He might be the Earl of Terrace Hill. Terrace Hill is the Iowa Governor's Mansion. Formerly a Hubbell home, it was donated (not by Fred) to the state of Iowa to become a museum and the home for the Governor. Fred Hubbell has been a central civic figure in Des Moines and philathropist. As Acting Director of Iowa's Department of Economic Development, he identified $160 million of ineffective tax credits and incentives and targeted them for elimination. He served as Board Chair of the Iowa Power Fund which was authorized to invest $100 million in wind and solar energy. In this land of ethanol production, wind now provides nearly 40% of Iowa's electricity generation. Coal's share has dropped from about 75% to 45%.
Cynthia Axne Cynthia Axne was a back of the house person for several agencies in Iowa. She focused on budgets, personnel management, technology -- unglamorous work. “I made sure state agencies had proper processes and strategies in place to implement their services in a tighter fashion — making sure they used taxpayer dollars wisely.”"It's not policy, it's problem solving." Not always. She was fired by a Republican governor. Her views about health care and gun safety are very different from the views of the incumbent she is running against.
After college graduation, Abby Finkenauer spent nearly two years running for the state legislature. She cherishes the conversations she had with people as she went door to door campaigning for herself. The campaign itself, she thinks, was a right of passage, a process of becoming a genuine grown up taking on adult work. As a legislator in her twenties, Abby Finkenauer did the work. She sought relief for people with college loans, urged that people be able to testify about legislative proposals via the internet, and fought to protect women's right to control their bodies.
David Loebsack is a Democrat who supports Democratic issues. He refers to his childhood poverty when he focuses on the importance of the availability of jobs. He refers to his childhood poverty when he stresses the importance of keeping taxes for middle class people low. He credits a good deal of his success to his education in Iowa public schools and in public universities. He looks at strengthening education through partnerships between employers and community colleges. He is a champion of renewable energy -- particularly (though not only, after all he represents Iowa) the wind energy which has become such an important part of the energy supply in Iowa.