To the editor:
Warren Varley is running to be our representative to Iowa House District 20. He is not a newcomer to public service. His community work has spanned decades. Warren grew up on a farm near Stuart in a family that valued the importance of education and the traditions of public service and hard work. All are core values on which he has built his life.
Warren studied agronomy at Iowa State University, and while there he met his future wife, Karen, also an agronomy student. Karen and Warren both graduated with high honors from Iowa State and then headed east to Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., a school renowned for both its law and agriculture schools, Warren earning a law degree and Karen an MS in plant genetics.
After graduate school, Warren and Karen chose to return to Stuart to raise their four children. Later, Karen also earned a law degree at Drake. Now their children are grown and educated, and Warren and Karen farm together and practice law together.
Warren has built his leadership through hard work, study of the issues at hand and collaboration with his friends and neighbors. Through that hard work, collaboration and study, Warren’s leadership has emerged.
Warren was first elected to public office as a trustee for the Adair County Memorial Hospital. This experience helped him to gain a deeper understanding of health care in rural Iowa. He knows rural hospitals are critical to individual and public health and are drivers of economic development in rural Iowa. He appreciates the financial struggles rural hospitals face as they work to meet community needs.
Warren believes it is imperative that health care be affordable, effective and accessible and that the legislature should have a part in making that possible. He was disgusted by the Iowa Legislature’s action last session to allow policies to be sold in Iowa that don’t cover preexisting conditions. He knows that privatized Medicaid is not working and must be reconsidered. Warren Varley has given his time and energy to learn about health care and work to make it as effective as possible locally as he served on the board of our local hospital.
Warren is past president of Midwest Partnership Economic Development. He knows that flourishing communities offer high-wage jobs, effective schools, a high quality of life and other opportunities that must be addressed. He explains that the urban location of companies like Apple are glitzy and exciting and bring big names to town, but in the end they provide few jobs in exchange for significant tax dollars.
Warren believes a hand up to rural Iowa yields far bigger results than the tax giveaways touted as economic development in our current administration. Warren and the economic development group in his hometown point to concrete accomplishments, including their substantial new housing development that offers families safe, affordable and livable housing in Stuart. Warren Varley is experienced and knowledgeable about the multiple facets of rural economic development through his work as chair of the this important economic development group.
Warren Varley is committed to education, both pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and higher education, including community colleges and our Regents’ institutions. All have been underfunded for the last decade, especially egregious as the legislature and governor gave fat tax cuts to big corporations and the richest among us. He knows that the more education citizens have, the more they contribute to their communities, the healthier they are and the happier they are.
Without an effective and well-funded educational system, high-wage businesses will not come to Iowa, and the quality of life in Iowa will diminish. Currently, Iowa cannot fill existing skilled jobs. This low investment in education is already having a severe impact on business development and certainly on the quality of life in Iowa. Warren is committed to adequate funding for Iowa education pre-K through higher education, knowing it’s a ticket to a brighter Iowa future.
Warren Varley knows all these issues facing rural Iowa because of decades of service and engagement in local groups working to address community needs. He is a leader in word and deed. He has always worked with everyone – anyone willing to roll up their sleeves and get busy finds a friend in Warren.
He is a problem solver. He listens. He thinks independently. He has enough knowledge of governance and public policy to weigh the many facets of hard decisions and make a reasoned choice. He has earned his leadership credentials through community development, knowledge of the issues, and hard work. He is a leader. He doesn’t just talk about it.
The person we elect will decide with his votes and his voice if rural Iowa will be left behind or if rural Iowa will be a vibrant and important part of Iowa. We have already voted for Warren for HD 20. We hope you will join us by casting your ballot for Warren Varley on Nov. 6 or before.
Willard and Susan Olesen
Greenfield
