T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Iowa Attorney General candidate Nate Willems, a Democrat and former state legislator, spoke to the “Tuesday Talks” group at Legends American Grill in Marshalltown earlier this week.

Believing the Iowa Attorney General should not file lawsuits for the purposes of political grandstanding, but instead protect Iowans, Democrat Nate Willems threw his hat in the ring for the seat.

“It’s the biggest law firm in the state of Iowa, and it’s the only one which is supposed to represent regular Iowans,” he said. “It does so many critical things from prosecuting the most violent felonies anywhere in the state to defending the state when it is sued. It provides support and guidance to every aspect of state government.”

Willems said that a couple of years ago, current Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird flew to New York to sit with then former President Donald Trump during his trial.

“She looked for any camera she could find to tell anyone who would listen that it was a farce,” he said. “Brenna is a very conservative Republican with very extreme views. If you can put that aside, I just don’t think she behaves as Iowans expect the attorney general to behave. She does not behave in the dignified manner we came to expect with Tom Miller as our attorney general.”

He was a speaker at the Marshall County Democrats Tuesday Talks session at Legends. Born and raised in Anamosa, Willems is a Cedar Rapids labor attorney and previous two-time state legislator.

“I spent a lot of time on issues for working people,” he told the attendees. “I passed into law legislation which penalizes insurance companies which deny worker compensation claims without a legitimate reason. I fought against the early efforts to strip away public employees’ rights to bargain their union contract.”

Willems said after the 2011 redistricting occurred, his district was cut five different ways. He did not seek another term but focused on practicing labor law, ranging from union contract cases to stolen payroll wages.

“What I do in my little office is just a drop in the bucket, because there is $900 million per year stolen from Iowa workers’ paychecks,” Willems said. “That means people working off the clock, people not getting paid overtime, people having tips stolen, being misclassified as an independent contractor rather than a W2 employee. As far as I’m concerned, that is stealing. We’ve had laws in Iowa for a long time saying stealing is illegal. We’ve had laws go back even further that say ‘Thou shalt not steal.'”

He said he is running for attorney general because he wants to investigate corporations which steal from employees paychecks. Willems also wants to rebuild the consumer protection division of the state office.

“Tom Miller, over the course of 40 years, built a national model, a unit that goes to work for consumers and senior citizens,” he said. “On the other hand, Brenna Bird filed suit to prevent safe staffing standards from going into effect in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. I have no idea why you would do this. We have a real problem in the state of Iowa with quality nursing homes which provide adequate care and attention to seniors and those who are vulnerable.”

Since nursing homes accept Medicaid funding, Willems said Iowans have the right to expect them to fulfill promises, and the attorney general should enforce those promises.

He wants to build an attorney general office with the mindset that every day is an opportunity to work for every person who is an Iowan. Willems believes the state office has lost many talented attorneys, and the talented ones left are waiting to be “unshackled.”

“To allow them to do the job they know how to do,” he said. “We are going to try to attract some talent into the AG’s office. Along with that, I’m working on putting together a blueprint for a wage enforcement unit . . . which overlaps with a traditional consumer focus unit.”

Willems and his wife, Maggie, have three daughters. He will face Bird, the GOP incumbent, in the November general election.

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