(Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series.)

Ahead of the June 4 primary vote, the Times-Republican sent questionnaires to all of the candidates in contested races for county, state and federal offices. Our first feature is on Iowa House District 51, which encompasses about of Marshall County and roughly includes the northeast, northwest and southwest quadrants along with most of Story County outside of Ames. The city of Marshalltown and the southeast corner of the county are part of House District 52, where incumbent Democrat Sue Cahill is seeking her third term unopposed.

In HD 51, two Republicans, Brett Barker and Marty Chitty, and one Democrat, Ryan Condon, all of Nevada, are in the running to replace retiring Republican Dave Deyoe. The first half of their questionnaire responses are printed below, and the remainder will be included in Monday’s newspaper. Barker and Chitty, along with Iowa Senate District 26 GOP hopefuls Gannon Hendrick and Kara Warme, will appear at a forum sponsored by the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, May 23 from 6 to 7 p.m. inside Dejardin Hall on the Marshalltown Community College campus.

1. What is your personal, professional and educational background, and why are you running for Iowa House?

Brett Barker: I came to Iowa in 2002 to attend the University of Iowa and never looked back. After graduating with my Doctor of Pharmacy, my wife, Tracy, and I relocated to Nevada. This is where we are raising our 5 children and where we are proud to call home. As an Eagle Scout born into a Navy family, service is at the core of who I am. After being heavily involved on campus at the University of Iowa, I quickly became active in Nevada’s volunteer community, our local church, and was sworn in to the Nevada City Council in 2010 and have been the Chair of the Republican Party of Story County for the last 9 years. Having been raised in rural communities, I am passionate about making Iowa a place where our families can thrive and our children will choose to make their homes. I am running for the Iowa House because we need leaders with the vision and leadership to deliver conservative results including protecting life, reducing our tax burden, and ensuring strong fiscal policy.

Marty Chitty: As a lifelong Iowan who grew up on our family farm, I’m proud to call Nevada, Iowa, my home alongside my wife, Jenny. Today, we reside in the same farmhouse I was brought to after my birth, and we’ve been fortunate enough to raise our children here as well.

Following my graduation from the Nevada High School, I attended Waldorf, DMACC and Worsham School of Mortuary Science. After having spent four years as a funeral director following graduation, I decided to make a change in careers and worked at FedEx for almost 25 years throughout both Story and Marshall County areas. Following my time as a Story County Supervisor, I joined Converse Conditioned Air as their HVAC project manager.

I made the decision to run for House District 51 because I believe in giving-back when able to do so. My family and I have been blessed to live here all of our lives, and I’m at a point in my life following a great career that I want to give-back by serving you as your State Representative.

Ryan Condon: I was born in Boone, but was raised in an Army family. I have lived around the world in multiple countries and many of the states. Upon graduation from high school, I attended ISU and enlisted in the Army National Guard. I graduated with a BS in Psychology. Just after my graduation I was deployed to Egypt as part of Operation Enduring Freedom under the Multinational Force and Observers with the 1/133rd Infantry unit out of Waterloo.

When redeploying back to the states, I worked for YSS in Ames at the Rosedale Shelter, Youth Recovery House and 712 Treatment house in Ames. I later obtained employment as an Addictions counselor for Boone, Ames, and Nevada schools through YSS. After years with YSS, I was hired for the State of Iowa Child Support Unit. During my time there I was involved with both establishment and enforcement of child support orders. I remained with that unit for 10 years, until I became employed as an Investigator 2 with the Public Defender’s Office. I later took another position as Income Maintenance Worker with the Department of Health and Human Services. Just after announcing my candidacy, I accepted a promotion as Fraud Investigator for Workforce Development, however, due to that position being fully federally funded, I was told that my candidacy was a Hatch Act Violation and I would face federal penalties from the US Attorney’s Office if I either ended my campaign or ended my employment as a Fraud Investigator. Because of the importance of this race, I took a demotion back to an Income Maintenance Worker 2, which of course also included a reduction in pay.

As noted above, service to others runs in both my family and my personal history. In addition to my professional service, I have been a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader for Nevada Pack/Troop 128 for the last 13 years, a member of the American Legion, and a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission of Nevada.

I have been married to my wife Marilyn Condon for 21 years and have 4 boys, all of whom attend Nevada Public Schools, and all of which have been involved with the Area Education Agencies at some point. My oldest achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, and the remainder of my boys are working towards it. I have lived in Nevada for the last 16 years, and am proud to claim Nevada as my boys’ hometown, not because of the politics, but because of the people.

2. In reflecting on recent legislative sessions and the bills passed and signed, do you feel that the state is currently headed in the right direction? If not, how would you change course?

Barker: Thanks to the strong leadership of Governor Reynolds and our Iowa Republicans, Iowa is a bright spot nationally. In Iowa, we have cut taxes, removed excessive regulatory burdens, empowered parents, and made our state a place that families can prosper. These conservative reforms have resulted in Iowa being ranked the #3 state for opportunity and the #6 state overall by US News & World Report.

Chitty: The conservative approach during recent legislative sessions has provided for tax relief for Iowans in the face of increasing inflation, which has helped Iowans from all corners of our State to pay their bills. It amazes me that democrats were against reducing the taxes on Iowans when the State of Iowa has over $1 Billion in cash reserves.

As a member of the Nevada School Board, Covid-19 brought many challenges to the forefront as it pertained to educating our children. Governor Reynolds’ commitment to returning children to the classroom following the pandemic was spot-on, as it helped to ensure the most vulnerable of students didn’t ‘fall through the cracks’ through remote learning at home. It amazed me that a majority of democratic legislators were against returning children to school in the Fall 2020. The legislative policies enacted in the most recent legislative session will also help to ensure that our children are never again utilized as bargaining chips for teachers unions and instead will ensure that teachers are now compensated at a much higher rate.

Condon: This last legislative session I describe as an intentional disaster for many Iowans. I do not say that lightly. I support raising teacher pay, however, in the most flagrantly political calculation in my time as an adult, this legislature tied teacher raises to cuts- and that is what it is, regardless of spin to AEAs. To eliminate jargon, I will use the term special services instead of AEA. For example, if a child needs speech therapy, they use those services. If they have some sort of other disability, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, etc, special services are who handle those issues, in addition to media or other equipment needed. Much of those services are now going to disappear, and will be privatized, shifting those costs to parents. No one campaigned on this change, asked for it, or needed it. It was simply because the governor said she wanted it in a speech. Even Republicans were shocked, however, they ignored their constituents and went through with it anyways.

Our new Educational Director Snow has a BA in Political Science. She has never taught or assisted in any state in the union. In fact, she doesn’t even have the credentials to teach in any state. But she is the director of education. I have been in the state government for 17 years. She wouldn’t have made it through the first screening phase of any position with no experience in the field, yet she was appointed to be the Director of Education in Iowa. Let that sink in just what a political calculation that is.

Our governor denied additional food assistance for children to “stick a thumb in the eye” of President Biden. It’s not like that money goes back to the federal government, it just went to another state that would accept it. Iowan’s tax money-it was already dispensed from Congress, we simply gave it to another state because of the Governor’s political callousness.

Our governor denied expanded Medicaid for seniors for the same reasons, that money was already spent-Iowan’s money-and it went instead to other states that would accept it. Seniors received a small increase in Social Security, resulting in thousands of seniors being denied Medicaid because they were now over income by sometimes as little as $10.00. I know because I made the calls to inform them and listened to them crying because now they would have to find private insurance that could cost hundreds a month. All because our governor wanted to make a political point.

There are many more errors and miscalculations, but these are a few that stick out to me.

Barker: The Iowa Legislature just passed one of the largest funding increases for public education and significantly increased teacher pay to one of the highest in the nation. Iowa has a long and proud history of educational excellence. My wife and I are products of public schools and all our children attend the Nevada Community School District. I also believe that parents are in the best position to make decisions on which educational options are best for their children, be that the local public school district, another school district, a private school, or homeschooling. These families pay taxes and Education Savings Accounts allow parents to choose the best educational option for their children. I strongly support the core mission of the AEAs to support the special needs of children. At the same time education has become top heavy with more and more funding going to administration at the expense of educators. After getting all stakeholders at the table, the AEAs were neutral on the final bill that gave local school districts more oversight over funding while at the same time protecting the core services of the AEAs.

Chitty: The AEA reform bill was rolled-out too quickly. Fortunately, as the legislative session progressed, there was much outreach from the schools, public and affected parties. The AEAs were chartered in 1974 by Governor Robert Ray and the legislature to solely address special education. Over time, and with little direct oversight, the AEA’s portfolio of offered services grew. Some school districts took all services available, while others just a few. Starting in 2018 Iowa’s special education test scores, NAEP, placed our state in a “need of assistance” category. In 2024 we are still there. Change was surely needed, and this was not unknown to our AEA system and its leaders. While the AEA reform bill did ultimately get adopted, the final bill was much more robust and will better-serve the students of Iowa than the original bill would’ve been able to do.

Condon: I absolutely do not support either the AEA reform bill or ESAs. Using the governor’s own numbers, 85% went to students who were already in private schools. If people want to have their children attend private schools, they can. They don’t need the taxpayers to foot the bill. Those schools do not have to meet the standard of public schools, for either students or teachers, there is no oversight despite every other school having to meet educational standards. Private schools do not have to accept students of any sort they don’t want or approve of. To date, no one has made a coherent argument for ESAs, because if they do agree with it, they would have to accept that people could not pay for a city’s police force, firefighter’s, roads- everyone would have to pay for their own. Once you look past the rhetoric it falls apart. This is failing to mention the increased costs the state will have to bear if we do not change course. As for AEAs, I noted many reasons above. Education funding has failed to keep up with inflation for the last 10 years. In terms of raw dollars, yes it is bigger, but once you look at real numbers, we have been woefully underfunding our public schools for years. We used to be first in the nation for public schools- it was so much a point of state pride it was on our state quarter. Those days have long since passed, and we can see it in our present day rankings.

4. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the Iowa Legislature has passed a fetal heartbeat bill that bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. Do you support this law, and what would your position on the issue be if elected?

Barker: I am unapologetically pro life and applaud our legislators for protecting life. I also believe that we must focus on preventing parents from feeling like abortion is the best option by minimizing unwanted pregnancies, supporting families after the birth of the child, and ensuring we have a robust foster and adoption system.

Chitty: I am in agreement with Ruth Bader Ginsburg in saying Roe v. Wade was a poorly rendered ruling. It is rightly a state’s rights concern. I fully support the fetal heartbeat law, I would ask our State Supreme Court to rule accordingly. My faith says human life, granted by God, happens at the moment of conception. I would look for offered paths legislatively to continue.

Condon: I support a woman’s right to choose, period. My wife works in a hospital and has seen firsthand horror stories of women that needed this care, for incest, rape, inviability of life or any other reason. There are state’s that now are pursuing criminal action against women or doctors that need this procedure, or even travel through a state to obtain this healthcare. This is not just about abortion, it is for a slew of procedures that fall under abortion- for example a D and C (dilation and curettage) when a miscarriage happens. In some circumstances a woman would now be criminally investigated to see if it was natural. Think about the cruelty that takes. What arrogance and self righteousness would make a woman subject herself to her most private issue, the hubris that takes? Think to yourself the strains on our social safety network, our law enforcement network, our social services- and then realize almost all of these are facing budgetary crises now- and you want to add more. It’s cruel, unnecessary, and pointless- as abortion will continue, we will just also have more dead women.

5. Do you support the use of eminent domain on private property for carbon capture pipelines?

Barker: I believe that private property rights are foundational. In any situation, eminent domain should be exceedingly rare and the last resort. Our laws should protect landowners from the abuse of eminent domain and be consistently applied across all industries.

Chitty: As a practice, almost all pipelines in Iowa are owned by private entities. I have a county map of these pipelines from my time as a Story County Supervisor. They are widespread and largely unnoticed.

Throughout my life in Story County, I’ve also watched windmills constructed–with the support of many and were also opposed by many. These, as it should be, were constructed without the use of eminent domain; and the owner of the windmills paid the landowner for the opportunity to construct a windmill.

The carbon capture pipelines should not be treated differently. Either the owner of the pipeline negotiates a payment to the landowner or the pipeline owner reroutes to a path with a landowner willing to accept the payment offered.

I will be a hard no on eminent domain for the carbon capture pipelines.

Condon: Absolutely not, under any circumstance.

6. In general, do you agree with the current legislature’s spending priorities and efforts to reduce state income taxes? If not, what would you propose if elected?

Barker: Our legislature has been fiscally responsible and Iowa is one of the best managed states in the country. At a time when the pinch of inflation is the highest it’s been in a generation, we must work to continue to reduce the tax burden on Iowans.

Chitty: I do favor the yearly incremental reduction in individual income tax and tightening loopholes that shelter the few at the expense of many. Reigning-in the growth capture for cities and schools that have had recent windfall dollars because of exploding property valuation increases is a positive for all property owners. A slow and annual walkback of our tax code, using revenue estimating committees (REC) numbers, still has us paying less in personal taxes and growing our tax fund balances. All of these things are positives which I support.

Condon: The legislature’s current efforts are to reduce corporate and big business taxes, in addition to their large dollar donors; any cuts to normal people are incidental, not the focus. Commercial taxes were cut years ago, and the cuts to counties and cities were to be backfilled from the state. That is now coming to an end. Cities and counties are going to be making up that difference. A flat tax is the most regressive tax there is. But examine our state’s status at the moment. Low, almost non existent corporate tax rates, no retirement taxes, reduced flat tax. Now consider this- young people, professionals, are leaving this state in droves. Jobs sit empty for lack of applicants. Childcare is astronomical. Healthcare is astronomical. Property taxes are sky high and getting higher due to falling funds from the state. New people to fill the boomers leaving the workforce are nowhere to be found, we lack tradespeople in a seriously concerning situation. Entire counties of Iowa schools have to consolidate as small Iowa towns wither and disappear. Now ask, are our priorities right? No. No, we are not moving in the right direction.