More than 160 Marshalltown residents gathered to listen to and show their support for gubernatorial Democrat candidate Rob Sand on Friday.

Inside the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Sand told them one word can describe the political system – “broken.” Sand, originally from Decorah, has been the state auditor for the last six years, the only statewide elected Democrat in office.

“Politicans have figured out when you and only have two choices, they don’t have to solve problems to get reelected,” he said. “They just have to convince us the other option is the scum of the earth. I’m sick of it. I’ve had enough.”

The results of the broken system is more negativity, lying, meanness and anger. Sand said he would like Iowa to eliminate special privileges afforded to the Democrat and Republican parties, because the people should be in charge, not parties. That starts with changing the culture, and the first step is getting people together. Sand asked all Republicans to raise their hands, and a handful did. When he asked registered independents to raise their hands, far more were lifted, and the candidate asked for applause after each round of hands went up.

Sand began his speech to convince the crowd he is the right choice for the governor’s seat, and brought up a point he has frequently discussed before. In Iowa, independent voters are not allowed to vote in primary elections, which is wrong, he said.

“Your tax dollars are going to pay for an election, and you have a constitutional right to vote, but you can’t participate in it unless you join the private club first,” Sand said. “That’s not right. We should change that.”

He was originally a registered independent, but since he wanted to vote in the primary, he joined the Democrat Party.

“I’ve registered as a Democrat because my faith teaches me to care for the little guy, and I believe the Democratic party, at its best, is for the little guy,” Sand said.

He also remembered a Democrat President who managed to balance the budget and used the surplus to pay off the debt, referring to Bill Clinton. Sand stressed he did not leave his independent mind behind, and has said things which disappoint people in his party.

After ending his stump speech, he took questions from the crowd. The first question was what Sand would do to support healthcare and mental health employees. One of the big problems, he responded, is that facilities are understaffed. Employees need competitive wages.

“We should want to do this for two reasons,” Sand said. “Number one, maybe our faith teaches us to care about people who are sitting in a nursing home. Number two . . . when we all do better, we all do better, and a piece of doing better is making sure people have access to the resources they need.”

Marshalltown City Council candidate and former legislature representative Sue Cahill asked Sand if he has a system in mind to fix the revenue and expense issue the state has. She said taxes have been lowered but expenses keep going up and wondered what his plan was to make the state of Iowa “live within our means.”

Sand said Cahill had a public policy question, and a good practice is “honesty is the best policy.”

“What we’re getting with the state budget is a lot of dishonesty,” he said. “People making the politically popular decisions are saying ‘We’re going to cut taxes without doing the responsible thing of either cutting spending or finding some other place to generate new revenue.'”

He said it is projected the state will have a $1.2 billion deficit, but the surplus touted by politicians is not going to solve the problem. Plus, the economy in Iowa is not growing, Sand added.

“There is no resulting growth from these cuts,” he said. “They have not cut spending. They have not found new revenue sources. We are going to have to do a lot of work in the state of Iowa to right the fiscal ship. We have in Iowa, right now, a time bomb.”

An easy source of new revenue in Iowa not yet implemented, but the time has come, is legalizing marijuana and treating it like alcohol, Sand added.

“I do not want to pay for three hots and a cot for somebody just because they smoke pot,” he said. “Meanwhile, everybody who wants it in the state of Iowa is just going to the state next door. They’re taking their money to Illinois and it stays there.. . . That will go a long way to filling that hole.”

Alfonso Medina, the owner of La Carreta, asked Sand about his stance on undocumented immigrants, especially since Marshalltown’s population is 33 percent Hispanic. He asked what Sand’s message is to the people of Marshalltown who are living in fear.

Sand, who responded partly in Spanish, said there should be accountability for those who came to the country illegally. However, sending people back when they are doing work which needs to get done, following the law and paying taxes is not helping anyone.

“Do you want more chaos? I do not,” he said. “I want more order, and for the folks who are here contributing, don’t have a criminal record, are paying their taxes – there should be some measure of accountability but we should want to make sure they are helping Iowa grow. They are helping Iowa grow and making it more fun.”

A retired teacher was given the last question and asked what Sand’s plan was to stop the ESA vouchers from taking money from the public schools.

Sand wanted to “set the table” and again acknowledged he would be working with the same legislature which passed the bill, giving public tax dollars to private schools. Repealing it would not occur, but tweaks could be made. The system is set up for easy corruption as his office cannot audit the program or the private schools, and there are no restrictions on how the voucher money can be spent. Sand recalled speaking to a lobbyist for the bill and told the man there were no rules or oversight in the ESA bill.

“He said, ‘Yeah. We know. We don’t want public oversight on private schools,'” Sand said. “To which my answer is, ‘Then don’t give them public money.’ . . . That seems simple to me.”

He said oversight can be established which would put the state in a better position than it is today. Sand said he has had enough and referenced Jesus Christ getting mad at the money changers in the temple, and flipping their tables.

“I’m ready to flip some tables,” he said. “How about you?”

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.