I had the opportunity to sit down with Representative Chris Rants (R-Sioux City) over a diet coke at Legends in Pleasant Hill. Representative Rants first elected to represent Iowa House District 54 (Sioux City and Sergeant Bluff) in 1992 and still serves his district today in that capcity In 2003 was elected Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives and served as Speaker until 2006. He is one of six Republicans running for Governor.
We discussed a variety of different topics including state spending, property taxes, the Iowa Supreme Court ruling, abortion, what his priorities would be as Governor, our growing prison population, and why he decided to run.
One thing I certainly learned is that if you want to know what Chris thinks, just ask. Also of all of the candidates running I would classify him as the policy wonk of the bunch. Especially when it comes to the budget. He has also been talking up providing specific ideas for state government, and has many of those ideas listed at 99 Ideas.org.
I’m including the slightly edited audio of our meeting today, and will transcribe our conversation and post that periodically as I am able. No promises for a time frame.
Update: By the way, my Dad called me. Yes, my father reads my blog, so I have one fan. He mentioned the ending was abrupt. One of these days I’ll actually do this audio thing right. Right after the last question I asked, Representative Rants asked me a question about blogging and we went off on a tangent. Perhaps you would have been interested in that conversation, but I gather most of you wouldn’t. So no formal ending.