Latest / Grow Clinton Podcast / GCP281 - Meet Randy Meier, Candidate for Iowa House District 69

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GCP281 - Meet Randy Meier, Candidate for Iowa House District 69 · Grow Clinton Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Test one, two, three.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_04: That looks good.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_04: Going live, Jennifer.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_04: Alright.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we do go live on all the socials.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then we'll do an audio-only version as well.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, Jenny, we're live.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Here comes the introduction.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Grow Clinton is a 501c6 nonprofit economic community development and tourism organization based in Clinton, Iowa.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, visit growclinton.com.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that's growclinton.com.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, back to the show.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: What's happening, all you amazing people out there in Podcast Land?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of You Know It, You Love It, You Know Where to Find It, Folks.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: The Grow Clinton Podcast bringing you episode 281.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: As always, I am your host, Andy Sikolovich, president CEO of Grow Clinton, joined in the studio by none other than Jenny Home, our director of member and community relations.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Jenny, what's happening?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: We got a big day here.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's busy.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh we've got entrefuel luncheon going on and then leadership institute uh committee meeting here.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's something that we need to talk about as a leadership institute.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership institute's been going on uh via the Chamber of Commerce, now Grow Clinton, for several years.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Very excited to say I'm a graduate of Leadership Institute, I think circa 2014.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it's an opportunity for leaders in the community at all age levels and levels of within their profession to learn more about what the Clinton area has to offer.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we bring in individuals that talk about municipal government.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: We bring in a lot of nonprofits and civic groups to talk about things like rotary and koanis and and the United Way and things of that nature.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then we do two community tours on a bus the city provides.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: We do one on the historical significance of our community, and that is given by none of them, the Matt Pars, our VP.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then I do one on economic development, where we go out to the Lincoln Way Industrial Rail and Air Park, and we end up at the Clinton Municipal Airport, too, which very few people have had an opportunity to go out there and actually see behind the curtain, go into the hangar, see the planes that are stationed there, and then also uh meet with Flight Deck Aviation that actually has a flight school out there.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: So that's pretty cool.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you are interested in registering to be a student of the 2027 Leadership Institute, please reach out to Stacy Borgeson from our office.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, very simply call 242-52.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: What is it?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: 242-5702.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Area code 563.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can go to growclinton.com and you can find some more information on there.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: But we love to have a full class.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think we have about, I don't know, 13, 14 registered right now.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So very excited about that.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's also excited, Jenny, about sponsors.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Check, courtesy of Citizens First Bank, making your finances and our audio crystal clear.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The new mics in the Grow Clinton Podcast Studio are proudly sponsored by the bank that's always in tune with our community.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Find them at go cfb.bank, banking as it should be with Citizens First Bank, a member F D I C now at the new location in branch in Morrison, Illinois.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: AgCraft Printware and Sully Sports.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, ICraft's been around since 1974.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: They started out just a small mom and pop style shop.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now a cutting-edge operation providing top-notch customized printware to teams and companies all across the United States.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: For all of your custom printware needs, Agcraft USA.com.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to check out Sully Sports.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can visit them at 19th Avenue Northwest, right there in the same building as Agcraft.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: They have all the sporting goods that you could possibly need.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, you can join the Sully Shirts Club.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: $24.99 is what I pay a month.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I get an exclusive t-shirt that's for club members only, plus 10% off everything in the store.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can also visit them online at SullySports.com.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Miles Communications, the original sponsor of the Grow Clinton Podcast, provides us with wicked fast high-speed internet to ensure this broadcast is crisp, clear, and consistent.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Miles also offers residential and commercial high-speed internet services as well as television and telephone options.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: If they're not in your neck of the woods, trust me, they're on their way.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Milestelephone.com.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Lion Delb Sell Clinton Complex, where they produce high-density, low-density polyethylene plastic resins used to create a variety of products, including household and industrial bottles, pressure pipes, food packaging, outdoor durable goods, construction and roof materials, and toys.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you know it, and it's made out of plastic chance, they're pretty good.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Those resins came from Clinton.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: LYB, as they're known on the stock ticker, is committed to being a responsible, engaged neighbor in the communities where they operate, just like here in Clinton.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Lion Delb Cell, thank you for your sponsorship.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Solutions for a better tomorrow.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Great show today, Jennifer.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, another candidate on and a podcast first timer.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: First timer on the podcast.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Randy Meyer for Iowa House District 69, the Challenger.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Very excited to have you on the podcast, Randy.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining us.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're welcome.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Pleased to be here.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Randy, you grew up on your family's Century Farm in Jackson County.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're the oldest of five.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have to pick on the other four?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what happened?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I was doing.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they needed some some uh guidance, straightening out.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: So from early age, according to your website here, you pitched in, milk cows, raise beef, cattle, hogs, chickens, growing corn, hay, oats.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: That upbringing is still instilled in you with a strong work ethic and a lifelong connection to the rural landscape.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And now you're throwing your hat in the ring to serve the great state of Iowa, specifically District 69, which covers portions of Jackson County, uh Clinton County, and Scott.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Correct?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_05: Correction.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_05: Um District 69, you may be confusing me with District 70, but District 69 is Clinton Comanche.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_05: Uh we go west to Elvira.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um we do not uh encompass Lawmore.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_05: That's kind of a carve-out.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_05: And then it goes north to the Jackson County line.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been learning through all these interviews that basically what they do is it's about the amount of population within the district.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Population based boundary of the district.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was always at the insumption where it was like clearly defined county or municipal boundaries, but no, it's actually the population so that it's equitable among all 99 counties and the representatives that serve those counties.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_05: The I I think the target population for a house district is about 30,100.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, Randy, you're throwing your hat in the ring.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: What made you want to get involved in state politics?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I I I confess I was pretty apolitical up until about uh 2017 when I uh saw the legislature start to take apart collective bargaining.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_05: And collective bargaining was always something that was uh I was very keen on because I was on the police department for 33 years.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_05: For much of that time, I was here in Clinton, yeah, Clinton Police Department.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_05: And for much of that time, I was the treasurer of the uh the police union.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_05: We didn't call it a union, we called it a bargaining unit.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_05: And I saw what a difference that could make in working conditions and uh the general atmosphere uh when you when you had a a collective bargaining agreement, there was uh it leveled the playing field.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_05: And what I saw the legislature doing was uh did not comport with uh what I wanted to see.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_05: So I started paying attention.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_05: And uh the more I looked, the more dissatisfied I saw.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I would see the legislature come into session, and it seemed like there were um uh threats made to public sector teachers, even librarians were gonna, you know, some kind of a crime to find to hang on you.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_05: And it just uh I didn't like to see that.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_05: Um I have a lot of respect for the education educators, and um I decided I could do a better job.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: So going into the house, let's say you're in there, what is your vision?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: What is your future?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: What do you see for the future of our district?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_05: So um I've alluded to public education.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_05: I I think we need a better, more quality education system.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_05: But um, I'm also extremely concerned about our water quality and our cancer rates.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_05: And I see um a lot of my focus being on on working on those issues, trying to improve our water quality and figure out what it is that's contributing to our high cancer rates.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_05: We have the highest cancer rate uh in the nation, and well, maybe it's the second highest, but it's one of the very few that's still accelerating.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_05: And I I think we don't understand what's going on.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_05: The first thing we have to do is understand why we're in that situation, what makes us different from everyone else, and what can we do to bring that down.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_05: Cancer is personal to me.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_05: My family has been impacted by cancer.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_05: I have friends who have cancer now, I have friends who have died from cancer.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_05: And and when I go around the community, I'm I'm struck by how prevalent it is.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_05: When I, you know, we're approaching 6,000 doors that we've knocked on in this campaign.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_05: And the number of stories I've heard from people who are suffering from cancer is uh, I didn't realize it was as bad as it is, but it's it's everywhere.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, water quality is a very complicated situation, but I'm excited to hear that you're willing to address it.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: According to your website, uh, you basically talk about how it harms the ag and local economies, and I couldn't agree more, especially from an attraction standpoint.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh having a statistic of being in the top five for cancer rates in the country is not necessarily a badge of honor.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and people don't necessarily want to move to a location where they're concerned about the cancer rates.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's going to be a bipartisan issue.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: How, if elected to the seats in the Iowa House, do you plan on working with both Democrats and Republicans to address water quality in an efficient and effective manner?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm I'm well aware that I'm in a minority party, and uh I can't get anything done without cooperation from uh the majority party at all.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_05: I I couldn't even get a bill considered.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_05: I I know that.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_05: I know what the landscape is out there, but I also know my history and what I've done.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_05: Um in law enforcement, I had a leadership role at the Clinton Police Department, and there's no such thing as a loan, an effective lone ranger in law enforcement.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_05: You have to have people you can work with, you have to know which levers to pull to get the kind of assistance that you need.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_05: I think I was pretty effective at bringing those law enforcement partners together in my career.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_05: Um we did very complicated investigations that involved a raft of other agencies and personalities, and I was able to uh interest those people in our problems and bring in those those solutions.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_05: And we did a great job uh with that.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_05: And I I think I'm I'm able to collaborate with people, uh, I'm able to seek commonalities and and bring forth solutions.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_05: And I don't I'm I'm very evidence-based also.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_05: Um that's law enforcement training, also.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_05: You you don't go after mirages, you go out where the evidence is, you look for the evidence, and then you act on that evidence.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_05: And that's the way I would proceed all in that in that.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: When the data is captured and the evidence presents itself, there's no denying what is uh right or wrong, and you have to be able to accept that and then move forward, whether you like it or not, to find a solution.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now you continue in this community, uh, you're very well known, your face is well known because you do a lot in helping people avoid being victims of scams, uh specifically an older population.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_05: That's true.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and and it's that's a role that's very gratifying to me.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_05: I've I've enjoyed that, and um I I cannot begin to thank my wife enough because she found me that job.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_05: She literally did.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_05: She I had I had retired from the police department.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_05: I was happy as a lark, just doing what people do when they retired.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_05: And she came home one day and she said, I found the job for you.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_05: Didn't know I was even looking, but I um she she was right on target.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_05: She uh pointed out the sheriff's office needed a new director at Seniors versus Crime, and I interviewed for the position, and they uh they signed me on, and I've I love it.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_05: And you work closely with our good friend over at Citizens First Bank and West?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_05: I do.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_05: We we collaborate.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_05: Um this was another good idea, not mine.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_05: Other people give me good ideas.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, it's the best way to do it.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you could spend hours racking your brain, or you could just let other people come up with great ideas and you can implement it's what I do.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_05: But we've collaborated on a number of presentations to the community or civic groups and uh you know things uh of that nature.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_05: And we we have a pretty organized program, and uh we do I I think we uh play off each other's strengths when we talk to the community.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: So what does this very job?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: So what do you hear more about when other than water quality and cancer, what do you hear when you're knocking on the doors?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_05: Data centers.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_05: Not surprising, right?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_05: Not surprising.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_05: Um there's a lot of strong feelings about data centers, and uh you know it depends.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I'm just gonna I've been knocking on doors since mid-May.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_05: Um and for a while it was it was the only thing people talked about.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_05: That's when I think the issue first became uh well known.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_05: Um it's still in the top three, um, but I hear people talk a lot about the uh affordability.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_05: The cost of living is just um you know, it's it's really uh hitting people pretty hard.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, but that's that's never gone away.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: No, it is affordability, cost of groceries, the cost of meat, uh specifically beef.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, as a as a cattle farmer back in the day, you can probably relate.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there was a time where I remember my great-grandmother eating like a raw loose meat sandwich, and that's when you knew where your beef came from and how it was raised and you know, and ethically harvested.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's it's a little different, different story out there, and it costs a lot of money.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I picked up a just a cheap cut of meat the other day, beef to make some beef jerky, and I walked out spending 50 bucks on beef, and I had very little to show for.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, you know, pot roast is 30 bucks for a nice pot roast.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you think that's a family traditional meal is throw in a pot roast, some some potatoes, some carrots, celery, some seasonings, and boom, it's should be low cost and and plentiful to be able to feed a full family.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_05: But my we, you know, growing up raising beef cattle, we we did custom butcher our own.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_05: And um, sometimes my dad would sell beef to people for a dollar a pound.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_04: Like Wow.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, those days will never return.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So the other thing noted here on your website, again, that is Randy Meyer for or Randy MeyerIowa.com, and Meyer is M-E-I-E-R-Iowa.com.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Fair taxes and wages for working families.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Fair taxes and wages matter in Clinton County because working families deserve to keep up with rising costs, support local businesses, and invest in their futures without shouldering an unfair burden while the wealthiest pay less.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: How would you engage that issue?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_05: So one of the things I hear from people uh when I talk to them, when I go to their doors, is I I I ask them directly, how much money are you making?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_05: What what are you paid?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_05: And I I hear a lot of people tell me$16,$17,$18 an hour.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: And they're working full time.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_05: Now that's well above the minimum wage, but it it it's not enough for them.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_05: That's not a living wage for them.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um we need to raise the minimum wage.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_05: Uh when you have a situation where we have high prices everywhere, those prices in most cases are probably here to stay.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_05: Otherwise, we're in a deflationary cycle.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_05: Nobody wants to see that either.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_05: But um we have to increase people's wages and enable them to cope with that.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_05: Uh wage growth in Iowa is pretty stagnant, and wage growth nationwide is falling well behind the rate of inflation, also.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_05: Um whatever measures we need to take to boost wages, that's something I would be very um concerned about and and devote a lot of time to working on that issue.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_05: Uh when you talk about the taxes though, um the development scheme that the majority party has used has been to cut taxes and that's gonna spur economic growth.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_05: That hasn't happened yet.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_05: Uh they tell us it's coming, it hasn't happened yet.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_05: I'm concerned that we're gonna get into a situation where uh the income tax is gonna dry up to the point it's not able to sustain state operations, and then what do we do?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_05: Sales taxes.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_05: Well, uh I don't want to see an increase in sales taxes.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_05: If we have to increase sales taxes, that it needs to be um there needs to be a lot more things probably exempted from sales taxes.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_05: I want to be in a position where I'm there at the table to make sure that those kinds of uh issues get addressed so that they're equitable for everybody.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_05: I I I just know in this community there's a lot of people who are having a hard time making a living.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_05: And um those they tell me those things and it moves me and I want to work for them.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great reason.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we all want to live in an affordable country, state, community, where things are readily available to people of all socio and economic statuses.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it takes political movement and a lot of hustle and a lot of grit to move the needle on things like that.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was too concerned, you know, when corporate income tax was basically slashed down to a flat rate, how we were going to continue to pay for the things that we were paying for at the state level.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And looking at a kind of a declining or quickly eroding reserve, I'm a little concerned how long we can maintain that without some significant changes.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, cost of running municipality or running any kind of level of government, state government, inflation impacts that as well.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_05: And um if you talk to anybody who does municipal budgeting, they'll tell you 80%, or even the schools, 80% of the budget is personnel there.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_05: So if those budgets are are cut, it falls on people.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, there's only so many boxes of paper clips that you can not order anymore.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: We see it here at Gro Clinton.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're uh 501c6 nonprofit organization.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: We love the work that we do, but at the end of the day, I I cannot blame corporations that have to slice and dice their budget to support retaining the personnel that they have by making cuts.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: And often those cuts come through philanthropic giving.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's usually the number one thing that gets withdrawn.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it's unfortunate and nobody loves it, but we feel the impact just as much as anybody else does.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yes, we are a nonprofit, we're not a for-profit.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: We do not sell widgets to make money, but at the end of the day, things like tariffs and increased cost of doing business and rising inflation, the cost of personnel, um, even though it's justified, impacts how we do business each and every day.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm always really impressed with um, I do a lot of kind of what you do, just going out and visiting people, how resilient people are though, too.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: They, you know, they'll tell me that, yeah, it's tough, but we're gonna keep going, we're gonna keep going.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: But at a certain point, you know, it gets tough, it gets more and more tough.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_05: It just gets harder.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_05: And people have to make choices like what am I gonna cut?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_05: And I I I'm starting to hear this more from people when I talk to them.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_05: Well, what are they gonna cut?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_05: They're gonna cut their prescription benefit, their prescription drug purchases.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_05: And that's never a good idea.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_05: But but people are faced with that and they say, I just can't afford that medication, so I'm giving it up.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: I have some major issues with the regarding Medicaid and the way specifically the prescription side of Medicaid, because it is truly a cliff effect.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: You make a buck over what you're supposed to be making to qualify, and next thing you know, you lose your prescription card, and but the math doesn't work out, you know.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it cost you say 75 bucks a month to have that medication on Medicaid, and now you make an extra couple hundred dollars a year, and all of a sudden you're no longer qualified, and it went from 75 to 500 bucks a month.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the way it should be.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: It should be a tiered system so you can graduate out of it.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of education in Iowa, strengthening public education is one of your top three initiatives or bullet points here on your website again, randymeyerio.com.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Public education is vital to Iowa's future because it prepares students for good paying jobs, strengthens local communities, and keeps the state competitive.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Strong schools support families, attract employers, and ensure every child has a fair chance to succeed.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: If elected to the legislature, what would you do to support the strengthening of public education in the state?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_05: And I want to add one more thing about the value of public education because a good public education or a good a good quality education of any kind makes you a good citizen.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_05: And we need citizens that are engaged and uh understand what their role is in a democracy.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_05: They need to be engaged, and uh those are the w things we need to instill in them in a public in an education system.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_05: And uh I I never want to call the education system just uh a job training exercise.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_05: It's sure it's much more than that, okay?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_05: But um our education system has been underfunded.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_05: Um you know, we're we're running at like two, two and a quarter percent um increases in the What the state allocates for the supplemental aid.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_05: That's not enough.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_05: I've talked to the administrators of the school districts in this district, and they'll tell me it's not enough.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_05: They're just robbing Peter to pay Paul, getting by, or even not getting by.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_05: And eventually they don't fill positions.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_05: They don't fill positions now.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_05: I was rather surprised when the command superintendent told me that in 2025 nobody in the district got a pay raise.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_05: They just didn't have the money to give anybody a pay raise.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_05: Not the superintendent, not anybody down to the bus drivers and the bus monitors.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_05: Nobody got a pay raise.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_05: Well, that's not a way to uh retain good personnel there.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_05: You cannot sustain an enterprise long doing something like that.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_05: So we need to increase at least to the level of inflation, the supplemental aid that goes on.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Which is difficult because in arbitration, even the bargaining units within the education world are requesting additional funds to support themselves in in light of inflation and the cost of living.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: However, the percentage of state supplemental aid is much less than that.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's never gonna be an even keel decision at the end of the day.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: So what's the what are your steps in education to make our public schools, what would be your first, second, third step in making our schools uh a little bit more robust and well funded?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: What would be the after they get the funding, what would be your steps?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_05: Well, uh that's not I'm not an expert in that education system, but I know you know we have good administrators in this community.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_05: They're all relatively new.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_05: Um it's young blood, yeah, so to speak.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_05: And uh I would seek those people out and ask them what they need done at the state level to um give us a more efficient and um robust education system.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you hear all the reports about the students, uh there's one out there right now about students leaving and moving to smaller communities and you know, getting, you know, that's their their open and rolling out of their communities.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_05: Not only opening and rolling, it's homeschooling too.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_05: I've I've encountered more than I thought when I've gone door knocking of people who homeschool their kids.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_05: Now that's something I mean, I would I would never have considered myself competent enough to do schooling.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right there with you, Randy.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_05: No way.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_05: But people they're doing it.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_05: And um I'd like to understand more about that.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_05: And I I'd spend a lot of time talking to people when I encounter them and and to find out what their motivations are for that.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_05: And they there's a gamut of motivations that I think.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think one of the big things too is child care and affordability.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's absolutely true.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_05: Uh we haven't even touched on childcare before.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and and that's a that features in a lot of problems with families, young families there, even families uh who make a good wage.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_05: I've I was talking to a fellow that worked at at ADM, his wife had a a a part-time job, and he he told me how much he was making, and it was a it's a decent wage.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_05: And he said, I think my wife has to quit her part-time job because we have two small children and we cannot afford the child care.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so it continues to rise because those expenses.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, child care is uh a privately run industry.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is not supplemented by supplemented by the state.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: So when we look at K through 12 or secondary education, that whole learning experience a child has from the time they're out of the womb till they're a toddler till they go off to kindergarten, that is all covered by the two the cost of the care itself.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: And again, with inflation, diapers, wipes, just the and the mandates that they have to have, both from a cleanliness and a health standpoint, plus education and consistent training, that all takes money.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we've been working on that issue, I love to say successfully, but we've been working on that issue probably since, geez, I don't know, 2015, 16, I think we did dipped our toes in that water uh back in the day when I was with the development corporation.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And there is no clear silver bullet.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: There is no one, you know, one-stop shop for all the solutions, but something's got to be done.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's so important to the support of our uh industry and our workers.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, a lot of times people don't put that together, that that's what keeps people in the job for us.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: It it is a workforce issue.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, are you gonna work full-time, knowing at the end of the month do you bring in a couple hundred bucks?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: After the cost of childcare.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or you're gonna eat that couple hundred bucks and stay home with your kids.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, mom, dad, doesn't matter who, but that's a serious decision you have to make.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're working in a job, putting in 40 plus hours a week, missing time with your children, missing events and milestones, to put a couple extra hundred bucks in your pocket at the end of the month, you're gonna reevaluate whether it's juice is worth the squeeze.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's exactly true.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Randy, what are you most excited about come November 3rd, this election day?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, getting elected, uh, but also if elected, when you get to the House and you're sitting in your first session and you're starting to get to know how the process works, what are you expecting out of your constituents and out of your peers in elected office?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_05: Well, for my constituents, I would hope they would um understand that I I want feedback, I want communication.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_05: And I can tell you what, from my point of view, I'm gonna be very vigorous in looking for that feedback, reaching out to anybody who I think is uh has an opinion, an informed opinion on on a specific topic.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_05: Um I have no problem calling people and I I I kind of model myself after what Mike Zimmer has done.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_05: I've talked to a lot of people who tell me Mike Zimmer really keeps in touch with people, and that's what you have to do.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_05: You have to know what the community wants.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_05: Because things move at a pretty quick pace at the legislature, especially in the closing sessions, and uh getting a phone call in to somebody to get uh a quick feedback, opinion is is critical.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_05: I want to be able to do that, and and that's gonna happen.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_05: I will reach out and talk to people.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_05: You know, if it's if it's Gro Clinton, if it's schools, if it's uh, you know, this city administrators, anybody who county supervisors, whoever I think needs to be in part of that decision-making process, they're gonna get a phone call from me.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what about your peers in the elected office working across party lines?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: You've already kind of touched on that, but it's incredibly important because as we discussed and we had interviews with many candidates and incumbents alike who have said that the one of the nice things is those individuals that are elected into office, whether the state senate or the state house, they all come with a very different background.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: And being able to bring the knowledge they have from prior careers or their existing professions, it's important to learn from each other.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_05: I I agree with that.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_05: Nobody has all the answers.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_05: And I I would be the first to say there's a lot of things I am not well schooled on, and uh I need other people to tell me what what it is I need to know about that.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_05: And I I commit myself to looking up those people who have a better font of knowledge than I do and and learning from them.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_05: And that doesn't matter what particular party they belong to.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_05: If if I see them as having some expertise or some ability to cooperate, I'm I'm willing to talk to that person.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_05: I don't have a problem talking to anyone.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm you sound like a very common sense individual, Randy.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's not uh you'll hear me on record say, and I'll say it again, partisan politics, I feel, are destroying this republic.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just I'm very concerned about the level of animosity and the negativity shared amongst Republicans and Democrats back and forth with what I perceive to be the absence of just basic professionalism and decorum and a willingness to work collaboratively, do what's right for the state.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Something's got to change.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, and and that would be um that would be the way I would want to work.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_05: I don't make promises to people, I don't take pledges, but I I just I will say I'm committed to working for solutions.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_05: That's what I want to do.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_05: And I and I think my background and 48 years of of law enforcement in one fashion or another has taught me that and is it should show people that I'm that's what the kind of person I am.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_05: And I I'm with you on the negativity.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_05: I I don't know if I'm uh upset or amused by some of the negative stuff I see about myself because it's just bizarre.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: I I I'd love to know financially how much money is invested in specifically mailers.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, this is I get my mailboxes full with five, six, seven every single day.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I love for somebody to demonstrate and show me the science and the data behind individuals who vote making a candidate selection on the mailers.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I can understand if you receive one that week and you read it and you're like, I agree with this individual, but why should I receive the same mailer from the same candidate five days out of the week or six days out of the week of those Saturdays?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: You get that informed mail, you know, and in the morning, and just this morning especially, I got so many pieces of mail of that same thing.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I know it's part of because you must have been by my house yesterday because I had your rat card in my door, and I appreciate stopping by.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: One of the volunteers wasn't me.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: But uh either way, I invite enjoy the volunteers stopping by.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: I would have loved to have a conversation with them.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, I mean, it's just I have a small mailbox, it's like a little boutique mailbox, and it kind of hangs on the edge of my porch, and my hand barely fits down the slot to get the stuff.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: So when the mail lady, who's very, very nice, by the way, uh, from the USPS, she just basically puts everything in the best she can because she doesn't want to have stuff blowing all over the place.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: But when she does it, I have to like break my knuckles to get all that stuff out of the box.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: I have a post office box.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that's impossible to get it out.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_05: But that that is a comment I hear um from a number of people, especially in the last couple of weeks when this mail has really become a deluge.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_05: Um, they don't like it.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_05: No, they can't actually.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_05: No, they that's and I I don't, I I too.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_05: And I'll I'll tell you, my campaign's sending out two pieces of mail, and both of them say one says Randy Meyer's a great guy, and the other one says, please vote.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's it.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_05: That's what I'm doing.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_05: Because I I understand people don't look at that stuff.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_05: They it's in their hand long enough to walk from the mailbox to the garbage.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, in most cases, or the recycling, whatever they're oh, there's some poli sci guy out there that's gotta figure it all out, and shock and awe is what gets them.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, dude, sitting around.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta hear one more thing, and the other night I was watching football, and I think I mentioned this on a previous podcast, but uh, I'm listening to the ad and I I wasn't paying attention to the TV.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of tinkering with some tools in the corner of my garage, and I heard somebody introduce himself as a United States Marine Corpse vet.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, did he just say corpse?
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like C-O-R-P-S?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, really?
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I rewind it and I'm like, at some point, somebody is being compensated to serve as a filter for these advertisements, and gave that one a stamp of approval.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it was not the first time I had heard it, so that I can't be the only one that has that's heard that and noticed it.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the dad continues to run Thursday night football, Monday night football, Sunday during TV, Saturday during college games.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: And no, don't you think it's AI generated voice or something?
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, I think somebody it was well, my guess it's an actor.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they didn't know they're not a veteran of the Marine Corps, obviously.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: And they dropped that in and nobody caught it.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: So thinking, that's Brandy's right.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, some of these you watch them, and it's just like bizarre.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, like where is this going in the future?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: How are we, you know, and the language that they're starting to use in these ads, I just I yeah, I I don't know.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: I just think it it's the word is right.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: Bizarre.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_05: Bizarre, bizarre.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_05: And I I've sought to keep my campaign positive.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_05: And I talk about what I see, what I want to do.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_05: And um, I think that's what everyone should do.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, absolutely.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's refreshing.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Randy, best of luck to you again.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Election day, November 3rd.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: Go out there and vote.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to vote early, you can go to the Clinton County admin building at 1900 North Third Street and do so and get your little I voted sticker.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a traditionalist, so I'll be out there in the third.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want more information on Randy Meyer, you can go to Randy Meyer.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's M-E-I-E-R-Iowa.com, visit his website, read some more about uh his history, what he's done, and also a veteran of the United States Army.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: Proud veteran of the U.S.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Army.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_05: You were MP?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_05: I was a military police.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_05: And um, you know, before we get too many accolades here about my military service, I just want to tell people I slept on the ground one night in three years.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: So Brandy, I was in the Air Force.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: I know you slept on the ground, my friend.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's special quarters.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is the feather count on this is not high enough.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_05: Believe me, we knew that about the Air Force.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's my grandfather was in the Air Force, and when I was looking to join the military, he's like, You're gonna go in the Air Force.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Are you telling me?
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are you asking me?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I did enlist the United States Navy and I was put into a part of the delayed entry program.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was called the Seaman Apprenticeship Program.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: And this is kind of right when Google, like chats becoming a thing, and I started like Googling it.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: My dad went to a to a uh chat room and found people complaining about like, I've been scraping barnacles off the side of a ship for six months.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's no indication I'm getting a job.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I dipped out of that, walked over to the Air Force recruiter, and that was that 12 years later.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I was happy with my decision.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: But no, grandpa would feel bad about not sleeping on the ground.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've slept in palaces, my friend.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Palaces.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: All right, everybody.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to another episode, episode 281 of the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, be sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: You search Grow Clinton Podcast and hit that button.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: Never miss an episode again.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: Jenny, have a great rest of your week.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow is Friday.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: You too.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Randy, enjoy your week and your weekend.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: Best of luck on the campaign and best of luck on November 3rd.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right, everybody, until we speak again, stay classy.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: See ya.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to subscribe and follow us on all your socials.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, see ya.