The Truer Better Agenda: Accountability for All

Everywhere I go, Iowans tell me the same thing: our political system is broken. I couldn’t agree more.

I’ve been sounding the alarm about this and the dangers of the two-choice system for years.

I’ve watched government insiders prioritize their own bottom lines or special interests ahead of doing what’s right for Iowans, and politicians pit neighbor against neighbor while failing to do anything to fix our problems – and in many cases make them worse. An echo chamber can’t produce results, no matter which party is in power.

We have a lot of problems in Iowa – we have the worst economy in the nation, our public schools, which used to be our state’s crown jewel, are now middle of the pack at best, and we have the number one growth rate for cancer.

This year, we have the opportunity to change course in Iowa. The government insiders know it, too. That’s why they’re trying to cling to control by working to limit the powers of the next governor – just like they did with the Auditor’s Office in 2023 – because they know time’s almost up for their corruption and inside dealings.

Iowa’s political system and government is broken from the ground up. We can’t get to work solving Iowans toughest challenges with a broken foundation.

That’s why I’m releasing a series of proposals that get to the root of our problems: fixing the broken political system through accountability, transparency, and a commitment to public service.

I’m not talking about dusting old, failed policies off a shelf, or promoting pie-in-the-sky ideas that will never go anywhere. I’m talking about real, common-sense ways we can improve our political system – and Iowans’ lives.

This is a forgotten Iowa tradition. We were the first state in the nation to make sure politicians couldn’t gerrymander by setting up an independent redistricting commission. The first state in the nation to make sure politicians couldn’t just appoint their cronies as judges by setting up a merit-based judicial selection system. Iowa set the standard for accountability, but after a decade of one-party control, we’ve lost our way. It’s time to get back to what Iowa does best: protecting the values of fairness and accountability in our public offices, making government be about public service, not politics, and put Iowans, not insiders, first.

Since launching my campaign for governor, I’ve been traveling the state, hearing directly from Iowa families about what keeps them up at night. I’ve spent months meeting with experts and stakeholders across fields to develop realistic, affordable, and achievable proposals we could implement to start solving some of our state’s toughest challenges.

I’m releasing my Accountability for All plan to hold our government officials accountable and put Iowans – not politics or special interests – first, including:

Banning stock trading so politicians can’t use insider information to benefit and enrich themselves: Government insiders – like members of Congress, state legislators, and statewide elected officials like the Governor – have access to inside information about key industries and companies. Elected officials in these roles should not be permitted to trade stocks, plain and simple. I support banning stock trading at the federal level so politicians can’t use inside information to benefit and enrich themselves, and I will also call for Iowa to do it at the state level. As governor, I’ll call to reform our financial disclosure laws to bring more transparency to potential conflicts of interest by statewide elected officials and legislators, including:

Requiring all candidates for office to file personal financial disclosures listing all individual stocks and financial holdings;
Reporting quarterly earnings per financial holding; and providing updated reports for any changes.
Officials would also be required to put stock holdings in blind trusts until they are no longer in their positions of power.
Violations of these laws would result in mandatory prison time, not a slap on the wrist or a sternly-worded letter from a toothless agency.

Requiring mandatory prison sentences for taxpayer abusers and thieves: This is a no-brainer. I’ve introduced this policy every year as State Auditor since I took office, yet government insiders have refused to take action on this common-sense proposal. Makes you wonder why. Thieves who steal Iowans’ hard-earned tax dollars should get more than a slap on the wrist, which is far too often what happens. The punishment must be severe enough to deter people from committing these crimes in the first place. I support mandatory prison time for anyone found guilty of stealing over $10,000 in taxpayer dollars, banning anyone convicted of fraud from doing business with the state, and stripping them of taxpayer-funded benefits like retirement and health care.

Restoring the full powers of the Auditor’s Office: After we uncovered a record amount of misspent tax dollars in my first term as State Auditor, government insiders passed a bill – which Governor Reynolds signed – allowing government agencies to hide key documents from the Auditor’s Office, making it harder to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse of tax dollars. You can’t imagine a clearer line drawn between who is working for Iowans and who is working for insiders than that. No matter who becomes Iowa’s next State Auditor, Republican or Democrat, the full powers of Iowa’s taxpayer watchdog should be restored to best protect Iowa’s tax dollars.

Strengthen whistleblower protections: We need to support and protect those who are brave enough to come forward to call out powerful insiders without fear of retaliation. Currently, Iowa only offers whistleblower protections for state employees. As governor, I’d extend those protections to allow every Iowan to feel empowered to come forward with evidence of wrongdoing or abuses of power.

Making the Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program mandatory across government agencies: We launched this program in the Auditor’s Office, and it’s been a huge success in saving tax dollars – so much so that the Republican State Auditor of Mississippi copied it. If I’m governor, I’d make this program mandatory for all government agencies to ensure tax dollars are being used as efficiently as possible across the state. Plus, the award is an actual pie, and who doesn’t love pie?

Implementing rules and transparency for the private school voucher program: The current school voucher program is an open invitation to waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. This school year alone, the voucher program is estimated to cost taxpayers $350 million meant for our public schools to unaccountable private schools, while funding for public schools isn’t keeping up with inflation. We need to ensure public oversight over public dollars. I support:

Requiring annual audits of the private school voucher program to ensure that the money is spent responsibly.
Limiting tuition increases so that the schools can’t just hike costs and become as unaffordable as they were before.
Implementing income limits so that the money is going to students and families who need it the most – not to the wealthiest Iowans who were sending their kids to private schools anyway.
Ending sweetheart deals for companies like Odyssey, which manages the school voucher program and more than doubled its rate less than a month after signing their no-bid contract, costing taxpayers an additional $2.7 million. Government insiders are trying to lock in those deals for years to come, regardless of who is elected in November. That’s wrong.

Establishing requirements for elected officials so we can get back to public service, not protecting the careers of insiders, including:

Enforcing term limits: Iowa is one of only a handful of states that doesn’t have term limits in place for elected officials. Public service is a noble calling and we want to elect people with good experience, but too many years in power can lead to complacency, inefficiency, and even corruption. We need term limits to prevent career politicians who have no desire to actually solve any of our problems from holding indefinite positions of power. I support limiting statewide elected officeholders to no more than 3 terms in any statewide office, and state legislators to no more than 12 years in the legislature. Plus, no more than a total of 20 years maximum overall in any state office.
Enforcing age limits: Iowans and Americans are ready for a new generation of leadership. Our Constitution has minimum ages for different offices for good reasons, and we should have similar guardrails. I support enforcing age limits for our elected officials and judges in line with the standards set for the Iowa state Supreme Court. At 78-years-old, we thank them for their service, wish them a happy retirement, and clear the way for the next generation to serve. I have been on the record in support of mandating age limits far before the trust had been broken by elected officials who put their own careers ahead of what’s best for the people they represent, and enforcing age limits can help rebuild that trust.
Requiring elected officials to take cognitive tests: Over the last several years, self-interested politicians have eroded voters’ trust by putting their careers ahead of what’s best for the people they represent. Requiring cognitive tests is a step toward rebuilding that trust and ensuring our elected leaders are up for the job. Candidates should be required to submit a letter from their doctor attesting to their mental and physical fitness in order to appear on the ballot. I’ve been calling for implementing cognitive tests for years. It’s time to get it done.
Requiring elected officials to take a civics test: I think it’s good that high schoolers now have to pass a citizenship test to graduate. Certainly, our statewide elected officials and state legislators should have to pass one to serve in positions of trust and power. They can take it when they turn in their signatures to get on the ballot.

Require annual public town halls for officeholders: If you want a job in public service, you have to be willing to meet Iowans where they are – in their communities. As governor, I would propose a requirement for all statewide elected officials and legislators to complete annual public town halls. You don’t have to do 100 every year like I do (although you should, you wimp!) but I would require 20 per year for statewide elected officials and 5 for state legislators in their districts. Each town hall would require at least two weeks’ notice, be posted publicly either online or in print, must be free to attend and open to members of the press, and half the time must be devoted to answering questions. I support enforcing this through ballot access – if you don’t fulfill this responsibility throughout your term, you can’t get on the ballot. Think of it as an annual performance review: if you can’t face the people you represent, you have no business being in public service.

Give independent voters an equal voice in our democracy and end the two-choice system: Iowa’s current election system forces you to join a private club in order to exercise your constitutional right to vote, disenfranchising independent voters. That’s wrong, undemocratic, and should be brought to an end. We need to eliminate the two-choice system that pits neighbor against neighbor and forces Iowans to choose the lesser of two evils. It enables corruption. The last decade of one-party control has landed Iowa in a bad spot, but if you think the solution to that is giving the other party a decade of that same power, I invite you to visit California or New York. We should have a single public primary for candidates of all political parties or none at all, from which up to four candidates advance to the general election. In the general elections, Iowans can use approval voting: vote for as many of the candidates have earned your support and whoever has the most support, wins. Candidates will have an incentive to be more civil and more honest. Balance can help unite Iowans, repair our broken political system, and solve some of our state’s toughest challenges.

The last decade of one-party control and insiders putting politics over Iowans has eroded trust in nearly every realm – from our failing economy, our declining public schools, and our growing cancer rates. These policies have led to Iowans leaving the state in droves, seeking better opportunities and more freedom elsewhere.

As governor, I want to get to work addressing some of Iowa’s toughest challenges on day one. That all starts with repairing the broken foundation.