New Iowa leadership makes stop in area

(Above) Speaker of the House Linda Upmeyer (seated) introduced Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg and Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Iowa’s new governor, Kim Reynolds and her appointed Lt. Governor Adam Gregg included a stop at the Mason City Airport on their “Building A Better Iowa” tour Friday, May 26.

Reynolds, who succeeded Gov. Terry Branstad Wednesday after he was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to China, delivered a brief address and then spent time meeting about 75 North Iowans who turned out to congratulate her.

Reynolds and Gregg kicked off their tour around the state in their hometowns of St. Charles and Haywarden, Iowa.  Wednesday they criss-crossed the state sharing a message of working toward business growth, education, workforce training and innovative energy policy.  Their stop in the Mason City and Clear Lake area was made in an airport hangar owned by Tom and Barb Hoveland, who is the Chairman

[wlm_nonmember]To read more of this article, please login or sign up for our E-Edition[/wlm_nonmember]

[wlm_ismember]

of the Cerro Gordo County Republicans.

“I am fired up and ready to go,” Reynolds told the crowd.  “We have so much untapped potential.”

Reynolds said that as Lieutenant Governor she was honored to travel the world and represent Iowa, looking for companies to invest and bring jobs here.  Some $14 billion was invested in the state during her tenure, she said,  and Iowa’s unemployment rate has dropped to a 16-year low of 3.1 percent.

Still, Reynolds said there are some who still need jobs and she advocates a simpler code to inspire growth, not inhibit it.

“Our fields feed the world and now we can energize them,” she said, pointing at new technology such as Bio Mass and Bio Gas.  “It also doesn’t hurt that we have the governor (Branstad) opening up China for our beef.”

Most North Iowans were meeting Gregg for the first time, although he was the republican nominee for Iowa Attorney General in 2014.  He  previously served as the Governor’s legislative liaison and policy advisor and served in that capacity for the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions.

Gregg began his remarks by noting he was joining the first woman Speaker of the House, Linda Upmeyer (R-Clear Lake) and Iowa’s first woman governor, Kim Reynolds, at the microphone.

“Kim is a personal friend and professional mentor.  I am an ordinary Iowa guy blessed with an extraordinary opportunity to serve the people of Iowa,” he said.

Upmeyer said she has worked together with Reynolds on many initiatives and reform and she considers Gregg to be an excellent partner for the governor.

“They have common sense and are grounded in Iowa,” said Upmeyer.  “I pledge House Republicans are ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work.”

[/wlm_ismember]