At least two Republicans have indicated they will seek their party’s nomination to run for State Treasurer. Jim Heavens has been the Dyersville Mayor since 2003 and says he’s interested. “I think those of us (who) have some serious misgivings about the way the way the state is headed, need to step up and volunteer to do something to try and correct that,” Heaven says. He says he is at a point in his career and family life that he can run for the job. Heavens says he can bring a knowledge of state funding to the job as treasurer.
Heavens says he has been on the receiving end of state funds in six years as mayor, and has just been re-elected to another two-year term, so he has a knowledge of what is paid to the state in taxes and what cities get back from the state. He says he is also “a student of corporate life” and keeps up through reading on financial issues and how they affect government. Heavens is 58 and is also a nutritionist for U.S. Feeds in Dyersville, and has held management positions with Hubbard Milling Company, based in Mankato, Minnesota and International Multifoods Corporation.
Current State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, a Democrat, was first elected in 1982 and has the longest tenure of any current elected official. Heavens says moving from a local office to a statewide office will not be easy. Heavens says his chances of winning are 25-percent as he says there will be at least one challenger in the primary with a theoretically a 50-50 chance of winning, and if he wins the primary, then he would have a 50-50 chance to win the general election.
“It’s gonna be a long struggle…it’s gonna be something that’s gonna takes a lot of work, a lot of effort, I’m kind of looking forward to it, it’s a great adventure,” Heavens says. Heavens would first have to face Story County Treasurer David Jamison. Jamison has filed the paperwork to explore a run, and tells Radio Iowa he will make an announcement of his campaign in the coming weeks.
“I think with the way things are going in the state of Iowa and looking what needs to happen in terms I think of fiscally responsible leadership and trying to get our state back on sound fiscal footing, I think the state treasurer is a good fit for me,”Jamison says. He says he has the experience in government as a public finance officer and that makes him a good fit for the job.
Jamison says he will lay out his campaign in more detail once he makes the announcement that he is running. He says he has always been an advocate for transparency, openness and innovation in government, and those are the broad topics where his campaign will focus. Jamison is in his fourth term as Story County Treasurer after first being elected in 1994. He agrees that making the step up to a statewide office will not be easy.
Jamison says it will be a struggle for an office down the ballot, especially in a year when the focus will be on the governor’s race and a U.S. Senate race. Jamison lives in Ames with his wife and three kids.
Janelle Tucker, KMCH Manchester contributed to this story.