Republicans reach out to Charles City voters

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Paul Pate tackled a number of topics on Saturday in Charles City.

And yes, his failed run for Iowa’s governor in the late 90s was one of them.

“I thought I heard a voice say, ‘Paul, run for governor, run for governor,’” said Pate. “I did and I found out the only voice was my mother’s.”

That brought a laugh at the Charles City Library over the weekend, where Pace, Iowa’s secretary of state, attended a Republican fundraiser along with state Auditor Mary Mosiman and state Sen. Waylon Brown.

Most of the talk, however, was serious, with such topics of voter ID, Russians meddling with elections and the current state of the economy.

Pate will do battle against political newcomer Deidre DeJear this November for the state’s position of top election official, one of the main duties as secretary of state. Deidre, a 32-year old Des Moines resident, narrowly won the Democratic primary this past June over Rob Mowrer.

Pate and his wife of 40 years, said his three kids, along with his five grandchildren, all live less than two miles from him in Cedar Rapids.

“We believe in Iowa — we’re investing in Iowa,” said Pate. “We want Iowa to be the place for people to grow and be a part of. That’s important.”

Pate served two terms in the mid-90s as secretary of state and was a two-term mayor of Cedar Rapids. He was an Iowa state senator for two terms as well. He has been Iowa’s secretary of state since January 2015.

Pate, 60, touted the nation’s strong economy and setting a record for new business filings for the third year in a row in Iowa. Another key component of the secretary of state’s office is providing services for businesses. During the 2018 fiscal year, 23,649 new businesses were created in the state. The 20,000 mark had never been surpassed before 2016.

“The strong signal is you are investing in Iowa. That’s not a short–term investment, that’s a long–term investment,” said Pate.

Pate credits interest rates along with positive confidence in the economy and community, and also Republican-held control in key areas of government.

“I’m going to be very partisan and tell you, it happened because you had a Republican governor. It happened because you had a Republican majority in the Senate and a Republican majority in the House,” Pate said.

Starting this year, Iowans must present a voter ID or proof of identification to cast an election ballot. If they cannot present one, they will have to sign an oath to verify their identity. Beginning in January 2019, the state will require voters to provide an approved form of identification such as a driver’s license before they vote.

“Under my watch as secretary of state we have registered over a quarter of a million new voters,” said Pate. “Those on the other side try to say we Republicans are disenfranchising voters. No. We’re inviting.”

News reports surfaced this year that Russia scouted Iowa county election websites in an attempt to hack into those computer systems.

“Yes, the Russians are screwing around in our sandbox — through propaganda,” said Pate.

But he said no Russians were able to meddle with the ballots cast in Iowa.

“I’m telling you right now, for the record, nobody from Moscow, Russia, got to vote in this state. Not a one of them. I do let people who are eligible from Moscow, Iowa, vote,” he said.

Mosiman, 56, who lives near Ames, is running for re-election for the first time since being appointed by former Gov. Terry Branstad in 2013 then elected in 2014. She was Story County auditor for 10 years prior to that.

Her opponent this November is Rob Sand, a 35-year-old year old lawyer who was born and raised in Decorah. Sand has been the assistant state attorney general since 2010. He helped prosecute the movie tax program scandal and the rigging of the Iowa lottery, which received numerous national headlines.

The race has drawn much attention this election cycle and Mosiman wants to let people know that her office is tough on corruption.

“We audit — everyday and all day,” said Mosiman.

She said right before her fifth anniversary as state auditor, her office reached a threshold as it issued its 100th fraud report of Iowa’s government entities. She said that was the fastest in Iowa history.

Her fraud investigations into government waste have tallied more than $13 million being bilked from taxpayer money, she said.

“There’s three of us on the ballot. I’m the only CPA,” said Mosiman. “That’s a big distinction, because if the elected state auditor is not a CPA, the office can no longer do financial statement audits of Iowa’s government entities in either the state or local level.”

Mosiman said the cost of audits, for the most part, would double, if not triple, is she weren’t re–elected.

“That will have a costly impact to our government entities and a trickle down effect then to our taxpayers,” she said.

Brown, R-St. Ansgar, won his District 26 seat in 2016, so he won’t be on the ballot again until 2020 if he seeks re-election.

But Brown said he wanted to make sure that people continued to be a part of the voting process, whether that’s knocking on doors, donating or helping stuff envelopes.

“We can’t afford to sit this one out. We cannot be on the sidelines this election,” Brown said.