Why Dick Schwab Lost District 73

In his Nov. 7 recap of the results of local contests in the election Johnson County Blogger John Deeth (johndeeth.blogspot.com) wrote:

But Dick Schwab didn't get as big a Johnson County margin as he needed, and fell short in House 73. (A lot of local Dems are VERY mad at some locals who backed Schwab's primary challenger, never really got on board, and publicly trashed Schwab as recently as last month.)

Schwab lost was because he ran a lousy campaign:  it was rife with hypocrisy, smears, and a lack of coherent discussion of the important state issues (his position on TIFS wasn’t as good as his opponent’s) and he all but ignored the Cedar County Democratic Central Committee – which worked tirelessly and thanklessly anyway to try to get him elected. He tried to run entirely on his past experiences in education and business. He didn’t take the time to try and understand the rural populations of Cedar and Muscatine Counties, and grossly misunderstood the importance of winning the considerable Independent vote (about 1/3 of the electorate in Cedar County) and the many who would be fed up by his disgusting comments and mailings. At one debate Kaufmann was so frustrated he asked Schwab,  ‘why don’t you tell voters your positions on the issues instead of trashing me’? 

 Oct. 16 Press Citizen article about Schwab: Schwab also mentioned Kaufmann’s legal record, specifically a public intoxication charge Kaufmann received in Iowa City in February.

“My short version of that is this: Do we really want to send a law breaker to be a law maker?” Schwab said. “Bobby needs a little more consistent judgment before sending him to Des Moines.”

It was repugnant to see Schwab call Kaufman a "law breaker" for getting a public intox charge. Kaufman is only one of many thousands of area residents who have a similar mark on their record thanks to the ICPD and Campus Police. We don't think such a minor offense should disqualify someone from running for elected office and voters certainly haven't held it against state Senator Bob Dvorsky who had his own run-in with the law over a similar infraction six years ago, except that his involved driving while drinking. 

DM Register Oct. 8 2010:

At least six Iowa candidates for top state offices have been arrested for drunken driving — but if history is any guide, it won't matter to voters on Nov. 2.
Sen. Robert E. Dvorsky

Dvorsky, a Democrat from Coralville, is seeking re-election to the Iowa Senate. He doesn’t have a Republican challenger.

WHAT HAPPENED: Dvorsky was driving away from a campaign fundraiser for a fellow senator in Des Moines in April 2006 when a police officer stopped him for improper lane use at 1:50 a.m. Police reports show Dvorsky had a .093 blood-alcohol content. Dvorsky received a deferred judgment, which meant that if he stayed out of trouble for a year, the drunken-driving charge would be cleared from his record. There is no sign of his OWI case in court records today.

RESPONSE: Dvorsky immediately called his actions “a terrible mistake” and told voters he took full responsibility for his actions. “This is totally out of character. It’s just a terrible mistake,” he said at the time. “I cannot erase what happened. … However, I can promise that it will never happen again.” He was re-elected that November without a Republican challenger.

What we think is far worse than a public intox charge is the fact that the State Democratic Central Committee gave Schwab more than $74,000 to produce and mail the negative flyers about Kaufmann, which were nastily pointed in their message about Kaufmann's public intox charge.

Did the State Democratic Central Committee give that much money to other state candidates? Did the expensive flyer donation occur because Sue Dvorsky is chairwoman of the State Democratic Central Committee and she and her husband were strong backers of Schwab? We must not forget that Dvorsky loves TIFs and lives in Coralville. 

Dick Schwab is not universally admired in Johnson County because of what many perceive as his cavalier attitude toward rules, regulations and general citizenship. This was well articulated in a column by Tom Carsner in the September 27, 2012 edition of the Press Citizen:

The Press-Citizen reported on July 3 that Dick Schwab was "delighted" that his Celebration Barn on Sugar Bottom Road would not be required to comply with the same fire and building code as every other business in Johnson County.

We think State Fire Marshal Ray Reynolds, whose statutory priority is public safety, caved to political pressure by granting Schwab a variance on a sprinkler system for his barn. Reynolds accepted Schwab's laughable plea of poverty that claimed that bringing the barn up to code would place an unfair economic burden on its owner -- a self-described philanthropist. Since when did it become the fire marshal's job to ensure that a non-compliant business, built in violation of zoning ordinances and building codes, remain profitable? His comment that "the beauty of the International Fire Code is that it allows you to look for equivalencies" was cringe-worthy.

Finally, people like to feel their representation is close to home, which is one reason we supported David Johnson, who has lived in Cedar County most of his life. The Tipton Conservative had this to say in their October 31 endorsement of Kaufmann:

Which brings the issue back to who should succeed Jeff Kaufmann in the Iowa House. Bobby Kaufmann's opponent for the newly created House seat is Dick Schwab from Solon. Solon is also in Johnson County and if Schwab is elected, readers should realize, Cedar County will have lost representation by one of its own in the legislature and we'll be, as noted, solely represented in Des Moines by 2 Johnson County liberals. Residents of Cedar County -- those who haven't yet voted -- should think hard about whether this is what they want -- to only have Johnson County speaking for us, or rather, to have Bobby Kaufmann speak for us in the Iowa House.

Only the portion of Johnson County in District 73 went to Schwab (68-32); Kaufmann won Muscatine County (District 73 portion) 63-37 and Cedar County 63-37. Schwab's total vote tally was 5,612 and Kaufmann's was 7,476. In the end Johnson County delivered for Schwab, but he was unable to overcome the shellacking he took in the rest of the district.

Carol deProsse
Caroline Dieterle