The Republicans in the Iowa Senate have elected a man who decided to stay in the Senate and not run for Governor in 2002 to take Senate President Mary Kramer’s place when she leaves to take a post as U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas. Jeff Lamberti, a republican from Ankeny, will become Senate President when Kramer resigns. Lamberti beat Senator Jeff Angelo of Creston for the job. Lamberti says there’s a lot of talk about an urban/rural split in Iowa, but he hopes that having a suburban lawmaker elected to lead a rural-leaning bunch of Senate Republicans shows those divisions can be set aside. Lamberti, who is a lawyer, was first elected to the Legislature in 1994. Lamberti says the new job will require most of his time, and he’ll scale back his law practice significantly. Lamberti’s father founded the Casey’s General Stores convenience store chain.
