Latest / Grow Clinton Podcast / GCP280 - A Conversation with Iowa State Senator Mike Zimmer (District 35)

Transcript

GCP280 - A Conversation with Iowa State Senator Mike Zimmer (District 35) · Grow Clinton Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: This year's skit was Family Feud Republicans versus Democrat.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that I kid you not, the very first page that came out said, I'm Senator Zimmer and I don't know which team I'm playing for.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: You're listening to the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Grow Clinton is a 501c6 nonprofit, economic, community development, and tourism organization based in Clinton, Iowa.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: For more information, visit growclinton.com.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Again, that's growclinton.com.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Now, back to the show.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: What's happening, all you amazing listeners out there in Podcast Land?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for tuning in to another, you know it, you love it, you know where to find it, folks.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: The Grow Clinton Podcast, this episode 280 already.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Jeez, Jenny.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: We're quickly approaching 300.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: It is crazy.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: As always, I am Annie Sokolovich, President and CEO of Grow Clinton.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: I will be your host for today's episode, joining the Stew Stew Studio, but another than Jenny Home, our director of member and community relations.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny, what's happening?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, another week.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Looking forward to it.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Have a lot going on at the office.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Today Monday?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it's Monday.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: And we prayed tonight.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, tonight is the Mardi Gras Parade.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Today we got a little history lesson.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Never knew why they referred to it as the Mardi Gras Parade, because Mardi Gras historically happens in March.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: March.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: But here we are in late October having a Mardi Gras parade in Clinton.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: We'll do it anytime you want, as long as it's fine.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Matt revealed that back in the day, way back in the day, like 100 years ago, that there was a whole bunch of kerfuffle on Halloween.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Some some ghouls and goblins out there doing no good.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Hooligans.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: The then county sheriff was like, hey, let's change the name to Mardi Gras Parade and try to get more people involved and outside of the Halloween mindset.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: But here we are, fast forward to 2026, and we still have a Clinton Mardi Gras Parade.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: People love it.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: People love it.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like our sponsors, Mike Chuck, courtesy of Citizens First Bank, making your finances and our audio here on the pod crystal clear.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to hang out with a bank that's always in tune with our community, be sure to check them out.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: GoCFB.bank.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Banking as it should be with Citizens First Bank.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Member F D I C.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Ad Craft Printware and Sully Sports.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: Adcraft's been in the custom parallel game since 1975.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now a cutting-edge operation, providing top-notch customized printware to teams and companies all across the United States.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: AdcraftUSA.com for all of your custom printware needs.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: The Grow Clinton Podcast is powered by Miles Communications, providing us with wicked fast, high-speed internet to ensure that each broadcast is crisp, clear, and consistent.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Miles offers residential and commercial high-speed internet services as well as television and telephone options to meet your home or company's communication needs.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: If they're not in your neck of the woods, they are on their way.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Lion Delves sell, well, they produce high density, low-density polyethylene plastic resins used to create a variety of products, including household industrial bottles, pressure pipes, food packaging, outdoor durable goods, milk jugs, all sorts of things.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: If it's made of plastic, chants are pretty good, those resins came from Clinton.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: LYB is committed to being a responsible, engaged neighbor in the communities where they operate, just like here in Clinton, Iowa.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Great show today, Jennifer.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: This is another in our series of candidates, and today we have an incumbent.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: We do.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Senate District 35, Senator Mike Zimmer for Iowa.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, thanks so much for joining us.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to be here.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: So here we go.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Elections coming up November 3rd.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Get out there and vote.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: How's it been going for you so far as the incumbent?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's been going very well.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: We have been knocking a lot of doors, um, starting up in Makokata and hitting Wheatland and Calamus and Grand Mount and that's the city.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: So your district's relatively large, correct?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah, I I think people need to understand when the census comes in, there's 3.2 million people that live in the state of Iowa.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: There are 50 state senators.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you just take 3.2, you divide it by 50, and each Senate district is a little over 60,000.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And um to in order to get that, they try to keep townships together.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's how I end up with three townships in Jackson County, all of Clinton County, and then the northern townships of Scott County to get to that 61,000 or thereabouts.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then within each Senate district is nested two house districts that each represent half of that population.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of door knocking, sir.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: It is a lot of door knocking.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: So yep.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: I tell you what, though, how has it been going for you at the state capitol?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: This is year four, right?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: For you?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Two.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Two.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: So oh that's correct.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Or lieutenant governor, yes.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: I forgot all about that.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Former senator, now Lieutenant Governor, Chris Kanoyer, vacated her seat to be appointed as the lieutenant governor.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: She left her seat.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: There was a special election for a part-time or two-year of the four-year term.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, to finish out that term.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So and that's this.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And as a matter of fact, so audience members know that unlike the Iowa House, where the seats are up every two years in the Senate, the odd number districts are up for play this cycle.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then two years from now, then the evens will be up.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So only half of the Senate flips.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Four years gives you a little bit of reprieve from having a door knock.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: It does.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Two, it's it's a lot of door knocking.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: That is a lot.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: But also I think I'm glad you explained that because I think a lot of people don't understand that that's, you know, whoever's on the ballot, you know, that's you know, they don't understand the cycles and things like that.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: So in Des Moines, what uh have you found to be, you know, the challenges for us?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think what's interesting, uh, and again, being in a minority party, is that many of my Democratic colleagues come from large urban communities.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So as truly probably the only voice out there uh in the Democratic Senate caucus representing a rural area, I I it's a privilege for me to be able to express that maybe you're thinking for an urban area doesn't quite exactly match what our needs are for a rural area.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Powell Yeah, because that's quite a difference from Des Moines to let's say out, you know, here in our uh agriculture parts of the countr of the state.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And especially when it comes to economic development, uh, you know, rural rural areas are are uh not telling anybody any new.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a rough time right now.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And where you see a lot of economic development is just get on Interstate 80, and all you have to do is either drive past the Iowa City area or drive through Des Moines right off of Interstate 80 to the north and south of you, the Altoona.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: When we talk about the Wawk area, just an absolute explosion.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then even taking 3D 80 up through Cedar Rapids, you see a lot of economic development going on.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And and the challenge becomes how do we get that happening here in our area?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think as an economic development professional, we've seen that there's some communities that are just rich in property tax revenue and they can bolster that and use it to their advantage to provide some amazing incentives and attract companies, whereas the rural communities aren't as competitive.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: I know there's people out there that say, well, incentives are corporate welfare.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And to some extent, uh, I would say I agree.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: However, it's part of the algorithm and it's taken into consideration whenever we look to attract companies to the area, and we're competing on a global scale.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so don't get me wrong, some of them are jaw-droppingly excessive, uh, but others just it's just a matter of getting the work done and making sure that the money is available to extend infrastructure and things like that.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, is you're running for office because, and I quote from your website, Mike Zimmer for Iowa.com, you believe in strong leadership that supports Iowa's working families committed to fighting for stronger public schools, better wages and opportunities that foster real financial stability.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to build on that a little bit?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't think it's not lost that we have to keep in mind that Iowa does not have beaches or mountains or world-class and no fence to uh adventureland, amusement parks or draws like that.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: From our initial inception as a territory and to when we became a state, we are an agricultural state and we have invested strongly in public school education.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Those are our two founding um goals that we have for this state.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: And one time led the nation for public school education.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it all depends upon what you measure, but we were always at least within the top top five.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't disagree, but I think it's important for people to understand where that measurement comes from.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And um we did not have standardized tests that were accepted by nationally recognized for uh quite a while.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And when we finally did get what's referred to as the ISAPS test, the Iowa Statewide Student Assessment for Progress, um, I've been heavily involved with the uh implementation of those, monitoring those, tracking how students are doing in multiple school districts.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I will have to say one of the things that uh we're missing is that when school districts get that information back, it's just a data dump.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know how else to describe it, but uh we spent a full year trying to go through and disaggregate that information to figure out what are our students' strengths of our students.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe in some instances we actually found out, like in mathematics, here's something that's uh gonna be astounding to people is that students do better on the test when they've actually been taught the material before they're asked the question.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, come on.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, really.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was a surprise.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: So you're still going cold.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: We found out that our students were not performing well in the statistics part of the mathematics.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: We looked at the curriculum and found out that we didn't do the statistics unit until the latter two weeks of April, the first week of May.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: When was the test given?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: The test had been given two weeks beforehand, and we re redid the uh uh sequence in which we were teaching some of those concepts, and lo and behold, guess what?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: The kids did better.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So very interesting.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: For those that don't know, uh Mike is a graduate of Norse Scott High School.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: You hold a BA in industrial technology teaching from the University of Northern Iowa, Go Panthers, and earned a MA in educational leadership from the University of Iowa, Go Hawks.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, we you get to rep two or the three.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and uh we support our uh public institutions.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have five wife and I have five kids, three of them graduated from UNI, one from Iowa State, one from Iowa.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: So you've invested wisely across the state.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: We have.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what is you what do you feel, Mike, your career in education?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: What skill sets do you draw from for those many years of educating students working in administration, and how do you apply that to your position as a state senator?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: What I found interesting and that I was not aware of going out to the Senate is both in the House and the Senate, how few legislators have actually served on a public school board, served as a county supervisor, or served as a city council person.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you don't have that local experience, and then you're trying to pass legislation and which sounds good to you, or you think that should be, and then you're not turning around and talking to the people that are going to be the ones having to implement these great ideas, and uh that that runs into some real problems.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: So behind the scenes, what I've been able to bring as a member of the Senate Education Committee is number one, establishing that working relationship with the committee chair, uh Senator Lynn Evans.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: He was a former uh superintendent, but he's one of the I think there might be three or four of us out of 50 that have any public school or any education experience whatsoever at the K-12 level.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so that that was helpful into being able to bring that experience that I had from the classroom and also from the administration side to maybe craft that legislation in a little bit more workable fashion.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: So uh in your experience with that, and besides what you just mentioned, what would you like to see done differently in education in Iowa?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think the number one thing is um we need to stop with the unfunded mandates.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And uh also we need to take a step back and look at how we're allocating the resources that we have right now for public education.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: We allocate a tremendous amount of resources to professional development.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: We've been doing that now for eight or nine years.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I know that we have not actually taken a step back and asked ourselves, is this the best use of our resources?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Have we asked our teachers, how is this professional development going for you?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I know as a person on the receiving end of that PD, and then also as a person responsible for designing that professional development for the secondary, it is challenging.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: And what ends up happening is we try to apply a one size fits all, especially at the secondary level.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe what is applicable for PD for the English uh department is not applicable for the music department or the art department or the industrial tech department.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure scheduling is difficult as well.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: So then we end up spending a lot of money to bring in what I call the one sit and get, uh, will bring in an outside provider that will, you know, get you all fired up and then they leave, and then you turn around and go, okay, now how am I supposed to implement that from August to May?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I think we we need to revisit that.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: So when you decided to get into um government, what was the deciding factor?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I always ask everybody this.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: What moment was it where you said, I'm gonna do this?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um after I retired from public education June 30th of 2023, we went on a family vacation with the kids down to Colorado, and I no more got back.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh I live in uh just outside of DeWitt.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I live in the house that my wife and I and my father built and uh my my brother built in uh or 1993.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, cool.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we just traveled for 20 plus years.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: I drove down to either Pleasant Valley or down to North Scott where I was uh an administrator.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: But we still lived in the central DeWitt community.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I got back from vacation, all of a sudden I ended up being asked if I'd be willing to run for the school board.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, you gotta be kidding me.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I said I have been going to school board meetings for 20 plus years, but um I felt I had a skill set and some knowledge, maybe different from other people, and that maybe this might be a good match at a school district that I had taught in for a dozen years previously, and two of our kids had graduated from, so that's what happened.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Then when Lieutenant Governor Kanoyer was elevated December 16th, 2024.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 2024, I was just in my second term as school board as a school board member of Central DeWitt.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: We had gone through a number of of changes with the superintendent, and we had finance issues that we needed to get our house in order, and that's where I really wanted to stick with.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got asked to run for this, and I said no once, I said no twice, and then I was asked a third time, and I was like, okay.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, all right.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I said okay.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I will say the education uh funding formula that the state uses.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Now I am not a subject matter expert, however, I did stay at a holiday in express.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by that is I had two days of training on school funding formulas, and I left after two days more confused, and it wasn't due to the poor performance from the lecturer or the educator, it's just a very complicated process.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do you think the state of Iowa should look at the school funding formula and maybe potentially modify it a little bit to be up to the standards?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because it was drafted and adhered to back in the 70s, I believe.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it was.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think what's important for our listeners to understand, especially Iowans, having done summer training for teachers uh in Michigan, South Dakota, Illinois, Iowa has one of the most equitable funding formulas in those states that I've been at, because most states, it's 100% millage rate, aka another term for property tax.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's how and so if you happen to live in a property-rich school district, uh like I was up in uh Clarkston, Michigan, teaching there, which is outside of Detroit.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there I had teachers that were uh teaching, and their school district was in the same district as world headquarters for Chrysler and General Motors, and their students had uh it was unbelievable what they had.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the other side of the street, just the opposite side, they were on in a property poor school district, and so they were on state minimum funding, and it was tens of thousands of dollars differences that those two school districts had.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: In Iowa, we do not have that.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's great.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: We do not have that.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the state legislature uh dictates the maximum amount of money per pupil that each school can spend this year.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's give give me a little grace, it's somewhere around$8,000 per person or per student.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter if you live in a property rich or property poor school district, that's what you have to work with.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Where it starts to get interesting is when you're in a property-rich school district and you start levying general obligations bonds or something like that, in which now you can uh spread that responsibility out out of more taxable dollars, you can do more.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I give North Scott as a great example.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: They were, once upon a time, a property poor school district.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Then when I went to school there and Caterpillar came in, and that's in Mount Joy, and Mount Joy happens to be in the North Scott Community School District, even though they're part of Davenport, then all of a sudden there was growth going on and all kinds of things were happening.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: We were building buildings, we were putting up, and I was I was there as a student, and then afterwards watching all that happen as my uh younger siblings went through the school district.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then when that uh company closed and they went back to Chillicothe, Illinois, it was devastating, absolutely devastating.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we lived with that until now fast forward, and now all of a sudden you're into 2022, 23, and all of a sudden Amazon is built.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Kraft Heinz shut down in downtown Davenport and moved out to the same industrial park, and then sterilite comes in.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, all of a sudden you've got$300 million plus in property tax in part of that school district.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: So now what can you do with that?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now all of a sudden you're starting to enter in agreements with the Y, you're starting to put build a Y because you have funds there, you're starting to add a regional innovation center because all of a sudden you have funds there.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you had not had that, that it would not have been possible uh for the taxpayers, local property taxpayers, to take on that kind of burden.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: It makes a difference.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you explained that because it makes a huge difference.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: And those are the types of things that we share with our partners at Grow Clinton and the community as a whole as to what can be done when we realize significant economic development and the attraction of uh new employers to the region.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's quite complicated, but it is kind of the old saying, you know, rising tides raise all ships.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we realize from time to time as we start to become more successful without the throughout the region.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you have a great partnership with a young lady that sits next to you at the state senate, right there next to you.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now tell us about that.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is awesome.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um when I was first approached about running for the Senate seat, I didn't know anything about how this would work.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know anything about a companion, nothing.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was encouraged to go up to McCoken and visit with Bob Osterhouse.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And Bob Osterhouse with Osterhouse Pharmacy is a uh just a pillar of that community.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And Bob had been elected in the mid-90s in a special election on the house seat similar to mine.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I went in a talk with him, and my wife went up with me, and that's when Bob explained, yeah, my wife Anne, we did this adventure together.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so knowing how ugly the 2024 presidential campaign had come out and just the TAC ads and stuff, before I ever agreed to even step forward in this, I had a visit with my adult children, with my brothers and sisters that live in this area, with my mom and dad that live in this area.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Is this something that we're gonna be prepared to do?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because it you've seen what happened.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And with their encouragement, they said yes.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then I asked my wife, I said, Are you willing to do what Bob and Ann did?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're willing to be my clerk, and we go out there and we do this adventure together, and she agreed to do that.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yes, she sits as close as close can be.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the beauty of it is, is that when I was a school administrator, whatever, I would get home and she would ask, Well, how the day went.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I didn't mean to be rude.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like, Oh my god, I don't want to re I don't want to relive that again.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, out in the out at the Capitol, she's right there watching what happens.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't have to explain.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: All you have to do is say check your notes.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because I had met Tammy when you were campaigning the first time after then Senator and now Lieutenant Governor Chris Kanoyer vacated the seat and, like you said, moved up.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: But then I came out to visit you guys for our first day at the Capitol, and you came out and she was with you.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, oh, this is so nice.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: Tammy came to visit him as well.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then we went up to the top and we kind of like looked down and stuff.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh, she's this clerk.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: When I say they sit close, like you don't realize until you you go up to the mezzanine and kind of look down how close the clerk and the elected officials sit.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: They share a very, very small desk.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Most people think that they have like every senator, every representative has their own office and it's huge and negative.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: They have a very small space to work.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so what types of uh work, I guess, does Tammy do for you as the clerk?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot because uh again, I just gotta review all the bills.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I just yeah, she I mean, I don't I didn't realize exactly what the work schedule when we went out there, but this is the routine how it goes.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the Senate gavels in at one o'clock uh p.m.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: on Monday, and that gives all of us an opportunity to travel back to the Capitol.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Tammy and I leave at around 7:30, and we get out to the Capitol around 10:30 in the morning on Monday, and then that's when we have looked at the bills that have been released as this is what we're going to be covering.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then she runs that off, and I'm still a paper pencil guy.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I'm old school on that.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: We have binders upon binders.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and so then I we we got a system down.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: It took us a while to figure out how to do that.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a system down where I have a folder and she has it all prepped for me.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm going to a subcommittee meeting, I only have one bill.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then that's the bill we're talking about.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then when we're done with that subcommittee, I come back and then she puts it into the committee uh binder because then the next step is we'll have a committee meeting and there'll be multiple bills that are in there.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them that I was on the subcommittee and others that I was not.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: So then I have to, you know, educate myself as to what we're going to be talking at the committee level.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so she manages all of that for me.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: She makes sure that I'm where I'm supposed to be at X amount of time.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: But when again, when you're in the minority, it really is the easy part.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: When you go in the majority, and if by chance you happen to be a committee chair, that um clerk position is huge.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: They have to schedule the rooms, they have to get the bills together.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is a tremendous amount of work.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: I had no idea.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: And to your point, how many people conflate a federal position with a state position?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're part-time.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: My wife gets paid$15 an hour to be a clerk.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I get$25,000 to do to do the to represent uh Senate District 35.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that's it.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: When somebody says, oh, your office, my office is the desk and her desk right there in the Senate chamber.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have any other space that we're working out of.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we do have uh full-time staff that serves the Senate Democrats, and the Republicans have the same, but that's like five people.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean she's running your game.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's what she's doing.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's a life partner, right?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: It is, it is like there review bills, tell you what you need to do as an elected official, then also tell you you got some food in your teeth, and that could be your wife.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: And tell you, that's what tells me where to go.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and Tammy's a lot like my wife's at a at a very tall stature of 4'11, and your wife is relatively short as well.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: So she probably has enough space behind that desk to feel comfortable.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Some of those clerks I see, and I'm like, there's no way.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know who I don't know which, if it was a representative or a state senator, but the gentleman had uh another gentleman as a clerk, and this dude, I don't know if he was completing, you know, competing at a bodybuilding competition or something, but he was a jacked up dude.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, there's no way that you fit behind that desk.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: No way.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Crazy.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: The space is small.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: What do you see for the future?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: You go back and you won the election, you go back in.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: What do you see for the future of Iowa?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I mean I'm glad you asked the future of Iowa because um during the campaign you have to belong to one of the two uh clubs.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: But once you're elected, you have to I find you have to take that club thing off as much as possible.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And your letter by your name is I for Iowa.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's and I know that sounds so corny, but gee many Christmases.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I mean.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be that way.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is gonna I hope this doesn't surprise anybody, but the majority party in the Senate isn't, and I'm gonna say in the House is not going to change in this election.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the re the ours Republicans will hold the majority in both the House and the Senate, and maybe it'll be less of a majority, and then we have a little bit more of a voice to maybe take some of the sharp edges off of some of these bills that come forward.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that's what I tried to do the last two sessions.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I give the, I share this with the listeners.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: The Senate pages are high school students that come out and they help run off papers and do that kind of stuff for the Senate.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And they have the same, they have pages over on the House side also.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the session, the pages, Senate pages put on a uh roast, a skit where they it's a bipartisan roast.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: We have a dinner where we're all there from the Senate.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And uh this year's uh skit was Family Feud Republicans versus Democrat.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the I kid you not, the very first um page that came out and said, I'm Senator Zimmer and I don't know which team I'm playing for.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: I took I took that as a as a great badge of honor and recognition.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: They watched that if you're gonna get stuff done, it's not done by demonizing anybody.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: That gets you absolutely nowhere.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it doesn't get any get you anywhere by isolating yourself and only thinking in one way with one group.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I try to work really, really hard um with my uh counterparts, both the lobbyists and with uh all the members on my committee.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh they they recognize that.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I will tell you that behind the scenes, uh a lot of the senators, even from the other party, were looking forward to having me back.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that's something I was gonna mention.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, it during the campaigns and stuff, you see stuff on TV, you see it in a lot of people get hyped up like it's a knockdown drag out fight, but it's not like that.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: When you go to Des Moines, you try to work together, right?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm sure it gets heated, but you do work together and you, you know, well, I'll give you an example, and this is all public information, and that is in this legislative session in 2026, there were 200 bills that uh went to Governor Reynolds for her signature.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Out of those bills that she signed into a law, I voted for over 80% of them.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then in session 2025, it was 77, it was over 77% that I voted for.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, uh, you'll see that when you get into the campaign session, they'll pick out you know, a few of those things to try and make it contentious, or they just flat out make stuff up, just make it up out of nothing.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I will say that I was watching football and I did see an advertisement come across the screen, and I was not watching, but I was listening, I was working in my garage, and I heard somebody say, I am a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden I went, Are you serious?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh, that cannot be right.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I you know, rewind it, listen again.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, somebody passed, somebody said this is good and gave it the stamp of approval and let it go off into you know local media.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: It is what it is.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what I always say?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: Eighth year, final year for President George Washington before he left the the White House said, I am concerned that the degradation of our republic is going to be because of a two-faction system.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what he said.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh you you kind of see it starting to morph that way, where Americans are no longer acting as a collaborative and focused group of politicians.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, those lawmakers are starting to just do what's being told by the leadership of said party, regardless of what party you affiliate with.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: So and I do appreciate you telling us your stats on the voting and everything.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think it gives a better perspective into what actually happens, and it's not like reality TV and it's not like you know, people are there just to go viral or anything like that.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's important, that's why I share this, because I listen to the political rhetoric that, oh, when I get out of the capital, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: If if, for example, you are a business owner and you're a sole proprietor, the only person you have to convince is yourself in the morning to make that decision.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a county supervisor and there's three in Clinton County, all you have to do is convince one other person.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden that's great.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you're on a school board and it's even seven, you just have to convince a couple other people.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: When you're out at the Capitol, the magic number is 26 on the Senate and the magic number is 51 on the House.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: But that's still 50 other people and 25 other people, because again, 51 is the majority on the House side, because there's 100 representative and 26, there's 50 of us.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have uh the majority is 26.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: You got to work together.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you go out thinking, I'm going to do this and I'm gonna do that, and you're telling people that, that's not how it works.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, it does not work that way.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's funny that you say that because we were just watching some commercials.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we were watching football too, and people come on every single time I say it, they say, I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna, and I say, all by yourself, you know, like they're gonna go take it by storm and it's all gonna happen because that's what they want.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: But that you're right, it doesn't happen like that.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and that's why it's important that Tom Detterman and Norland Momson both represent the House.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: The House cannot get anything done without the Senate, and the Senate cannot get anything done without the House.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where I tried very hard to make sure that I was talking to Tom, talking to Norland.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: What are what are your priorities?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: What do you see coming out of the House?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then I try to match that up to say what's happening over in the Senate, because to sit there and say, I passed XYZ on the House, and then it goes nowhere in the Senate, well, great, that's just hollow words.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, then yeah, you did something, but it didn't it didn't come to fruition.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: It did nothing happened with it.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, to you, sir, uh running for election as the incumbent to continue to serve the state of Iowa, to anybody that puts their name on a ballot, a huge amount of respect.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we appreciate you here at Roe Clinton, and we wish you uh the absolute best.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: Have fun.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, take care of that clerk of yours.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: Just remember, she she has a portion of your retirement.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: So she does.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: This is a no-fault state.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: She is awesome.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Mike.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for being on the podcast.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: The Jenny, Monday, big week for you.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I gotta ask a question.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: How's your mom?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: My mom's doing well.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: My mom had knee surgery um the 23rd, I believe.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and she she's struggling a little bit.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think, well, you know, that's not a very comfortable surgery, especially when that nerve block wears off and the amount of pain.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: And my mom's never really gone through something like that before.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, she had like gallbladder surgery and bunion surgery.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: She's probably gonna be mad I said bunion, but whatever.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a big one for.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: So sure is.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: I spent a lot of time thinking about her, and my stepdad Glenn has been doing a great job keeping me in the loop.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: But he did text me yesterday and said that the night before was rough.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that nerve block were off, and uh while she does have some pain medication, you know, they don't mess around, they get you up and moving.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: So she has PT today.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: What was really nice is her physical therapist called her the day of her surgery, young guy, I mean late 20s, if that, named Cody, and just wanted her to have a great surgery and said that on Monday when she comes into the office, he'll be there waiting for her and not to worry.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: He's not there to inflict pain, he's there to make her feel better.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we're rooting for you, Michelle.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: So she's hanging there.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: But before you know it, she'll be leaping buildings in a single bow.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: Bionic woman.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, she says probably not, I'm sure.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: But and then shortly after, she'll get another one done.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: She'll get another one.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: Do it.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're gonna feel good.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: People say it's a game changer.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: My stepdad's had both done, and my father-in-law's had both done.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, and they they they're moving.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: Keeps you going.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: All right, everybody.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to another episode of the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: Again, presented by Grow Clinton, nonprofit organization where we focus on economic development, community development, and tourism, located in the great city of Clinton, Iowa, on the eastern side of the great state of Iowa, right along the Mississippi River.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, if you have not subscribed to the podcast, be sure to do so wherever you catch your pods.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and just download the Grow Clinton Podcast, subscribe, never miss an episode.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: Until we speak again, folks, stay classy.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: See ya.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Grow Clinton podcast.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to subscribe and follow us on all your socials.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, see ya.