Brad Zaun (R-Urbandale) is an Iowa State Senator from the the 20th District. He has served in the Iowa Senate since 2005. He is the former mayor and city council member of Urbandale.
Zaun currently serves as the judiciary committee chairman. He said this is only the second time a non-attorney has been chairman. As such, he has to deal with many controversial issues. He said his focus is on small business, but he is also proud to serve on the education committee.
He spoke about the impact of COVID-19 and how it forced the closing of the legislative session. He said they were able to fund all promises with no cut-backs due to use of the emergency funds. He said the derecho storm also heavily impacted the state financially.
Zaun said his is proud of his work on mental health care and noted how he worked with Gov. Reynolds to gain $2 million for Polk County issues from economic development.
He noted that he is a small business person and is proud of work in this area. He is concerned about the COVID-19 impacts, as they have been severe, especially in the service industry.
While door knocking every night, he said is hearing from parents who want their kids back in school. As former mayor of Urbandale, he believes in local control, but he wants state government to provide guidance as needed.
With sales tax declines, budget is a concern for him. Zaun noted that they did begin taxing online sales a year ago, and he is glad they did as local retail is clearly hurting due to Amazon growth. He said the budget is fully funded right now but will likely need adjustments in January. He noted how the federal money helped.
Zaun stated that the legislature has not gotten back together since the two-week session. No clerks. No door people. No guests. Each gallery reserved for different groups. Six-foot social distancing in place. All committee meetings were in main chamber. He noted that they still “got the work done in a couple weeks. Mostly budget stuff.”
When asked about committees, Zaun said he wanted to serve on the education committee but was asked to be on judiciary by the majority leader. He said he learned a lot about being pulled from different angles. He liked business law in college, but he said he is certainly no expert in the area and relies on staff and those in the related industries. He said he is continuing to learn a lot and is told that it is refreshing to have someone serve in this role who is not an attorney.
Zaun said he is running for office again to “get things back to normal with COVID,” and that mental health continues to be a major priority for him. He also said that he had his “eyes opened up on Black Lives Matter” when meeting with black community leaders and learned that this movement is about much more than racial profiling. He also noted the “sad situation” when police were attacked at the Capitol. He said protesters are now putting laser lights in police officers’ eyes. He stated that he wants to make sure police have the tools to do their jobs effectively.
He was asked about the impact of early voting and noted that 700,000 Iowans are being asked to vote early. He said he feels Voter ID requirement was a good idea, but that he is not worried about voter fraud.
Zaun noted that he has a formidable opponent, but that he is not going to say bad things about her. He said his TV ad is about him, not his opponent. He noted that people tell him they are frustrated with Greenfield/Ernst negative campaigning. He says people know him and what he is all about.
On a final note, Zaun stated that public safety is also a priority for him. He said he doesn’t not want what happened in Minneapolis to happen here. In order to deal with this and other priorities, he said they need to build savings back up.