County supervisors meet House candidate

Union County Board of Supervisors met Paul Dykstra Monday, a candidate for Iowa House District 17.

Dykstra, a Republican, is wanting to replace Cecil Dolecheck who will retire at the end of the legislative session which was originally scheduled to end today but is not likely to happen. Like Dolecheck, Dyskstra is from Ringgold County.

County autonomy is an issue for Dykstra.

“Some of you know me as a supervisor,” he said about his one term in Ringgold County. “Memories came back pretty strong the other day. I was in Taylor County talking to their supervisors.”

The discussion was about a proposal to install an elevator at the Taylor County Courthouse with an estimated cost of more than $1 million. It will need a bond issue for the funding.

“There’s not a lot of money down here,” he said referring to southern Iowa. “That is one of the things that concerns me. At the state level, the state dictates what the counties do. We are supposed to be governed from the bottom up, not the top down.”

Dykstra was not planning on running for the seat as he wanted to sell agriculture property but had received phone calls from people asking if he’d be interested in running for Dolecheck’s seat. It changed his mind.

Dykstra also has an interest in the personal side of state politics and the people behind it all.

“When I was no longer a supervisor, I started going up to the capitol, trying to not pedal my influence. Being there I attended prayer meetings and was asked to take that over. I am the director of the Iowa Prayer Caucus.”

Weekly, he meets with up to 25 people including legislators and has been contacted by others about their spiritual and personal needs.

“I lift them up,” he said. “We see results. We see results by the influence of God in the capitol. There is a spiritual battle that goes on there every day. If you see some of them, if you know some, look at how depressed they are when they leave trying to move good legislation forward and getting snowballed. They can’t get it done. It’s a battle.”

Dykstra wonders about the motives of legislators.

“Some are up there just for the glory. I watch that too. It’s comical. It’s like watching kids play king of the mountain,” he said.

He said one year there were 2,200 bills considered which is too much for one person to review. He credits those who use others to do research on top of their own.

‘It’s a monumental task,” he said about being a legislator.

He said his interests will be agriculture and rural Iowa wanting to improve the area as a place to raise families.

“I want to preserve it that way,” he said.

Originally from Minnesota, Dykstra moved to Ringgold County in the early 1980s from Jasper County to farm.

Dykstra will face Devon Wood in the June 7 primary. Wood is a 2013 Shenandoah High School graduate and attended Simpson College where she served as chair of the Iowa Federation of College Republicans and chair of the Simpson College Republicans. She clerked in the Iowa House. She lives in New Market and is a board member on the Iowa Nursing Home Administrators Board.

The territory Dolecheck had will not be the same for whoever replaces him because of redistricting earlier this year. The new district includes all of Ringgold, Taylor and Adams counties. Creston is included in the district as is much of Union County. Lincoln, Dodge, New Hope, Jones and Pleasant townships in Union County are not included in the district. House 17 also has a portion of southeast Page County including the town of Clarinda.

In other supervisor news...

Supervisors approved to use Ahlers and Cooney to assist with an urban revitalization plan. Last week, supervisors met with a representative from the law firm to learn how it can guide them through options to create a tax abatement program to encourage new construction in the county. No timeline for development of any program was determined Monday.