With a gaggle of fellow officeholders in train, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds brought her election campaign to Perry Tuesday afternoon and made a brief speech to local supporters at the Perry Hy-Vee.
Speaking to the small but ardent audience, Reynolds emphasized the current strength of Iowa’s economy and said her administration’s tax policies have contributed to the state’s low unemployment and rising wages.
“We’ve lowered taxes for hard-working families, small businesses and farmers,” Reynolds said, “and we’re growing jobs and wages and opportunities. We’re investing in our greatest asset, our young people, with education, and we’re really helping Iowans get the skills with the Future Ready Iowa initiative to fill the jobs that are available today, tomorrow and into the future. We’ve got jobs looking for people.”
The governor described her opponent, Des Moines businessperson and Democrat Fred Hubbell, as a “tax-and-spend liberal” in contrast to her own government-shrinking policies.
“My opponent, the first thing he wants to do is raise taxes on hard-working Iowans,” Reynolds said. “We want to keep lowering taxes, not raise taxes. In the debates, his answer to every questions was what? More money, more money, more money, bigger government, bigger government, bigger government. He’s a tax-and-spend liberal. He can’t spend your money fast enough.”
Reynolds said the Hubbell campaign is trying to persuade voters that she plans to work with the Iowa Legislature to reform the Iowa Public Employee Retirement System in a way that reduces benefits and puts many people’s pensions in doubt.
“When you don’t have a vision or you don’t have any ideas to run on, you resort to scare tactics,” Reynolds said, “and that’s where they’re at in these last seven days. If you hear somebody say, ‘The Republicans are going to take away your IPERS,’ you tell them that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
The governor claimed: “We are not going to do anything with your IPERS today, tomorrow or into the future. It’s not going to happen.”
Iowa Sen. Jake Chapman of Adel introduced the governor. Brief remarks were also delivered by three other Republican candidates, Iowa Auditor of State Mary Mosiman, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and Iowa House of Representatives Distrit 20 candidate Ray Bubba Sorensen.
Also joining Reynolds at her Perry stop were U.S. Rep. David Young of Van Meter, Dallas County Supervisor Mark Hanson, Dallas County Treasurer Mitch Hambleton and Dallas County Recorder Chad Airhart.
Reynolds assumed the governorship in May 2017 after the previous Iowa governor, Terry E. Branstad, was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to China. Reynolds is running for her first full term as Iowa’s first female governor.
