It wasn’t that long ago that the Des Moines Register advocated eliminating her position and proposition that I thought was nonsense. Now Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds is on the verge of becoming Iowa’s first female Governor when Governor Terry Branstad resigns to become the U.S. Ambassador to China.
It is not a secret that I’m not in the Branstad fan club, but one of the things I do appreciate is that he has given significant responsibility to Reynolds. She has been an active participant in his administration. I believe she is stepping into this office with competency and experience.
Kim Reynolds is ready to lead the state of Iowa.
She is staunchly pro-life and I think most would agree that she is more conservative than Branstad.
I know there are some among grassroots conservatives who have written her off due to her involvement with the Branstad administration. I think that would be a mistake.
I believe her office will be more vocal on the life issue. I’m confident she will sign any pro-life bill that hits her desk. I think she is more likely to address and act on defunding organizations than provide abortions.
She has the opportunity to show she will be different than Branstad.
My hope is that she will reconsider the direction taken with education policy. I suspect she will be friend to school choice as Branstad was open to school choice, but more importantly, I hope that she will consider ways more local control can be returned to local school boards. She can address Common Core, the Next Generation Science Standards, and Smarter Balanced Assessments.
She will have the opportunity to instead of bringing jobs and businesses into the state through tax incentives, she can help improve the state’s business climate for everyone through corporate tax reform.
She can be a champion of religious liberty. She can work to shrink the size of government, as well as, shrink the size of the budget that has increased every year under Governor Branstad.
Will Reynolds do some things I disagree with? Of course she will, but I think her stepping into the Governor’s office will bring positive change. I’m looking forward to seeing her govern.