Rob Sand. (file photo)
State Auditor Rob Sand has posted a video online to announce he intends to seek a second term.
“I didn’t run for office because I love politics. I ran for office because I can’t stand it,” Sand said, “too many people putting partisan interests ahead of the public interest, too many people protecting insiders — doing what they want instead of what they’re supposed to do.”
Sand, an attorney who had worked as a prosecutor in the Iowa Attorney General’s office, defeated incumbent Republican State Auditor Mary Mosiman in 2018.
“And we’re doing a good job of doing it differently,” Sand says. “Instead of firing people who made contributions to my opponent’s campaign that work in the state auditor’s office, I kept them and I promoted some of them to senior positions. I’ve got a Democrat, a Republican, and an independent in senior positions in the office. I think that’s the way it ought to be done.”
Sand, a Democrat, had been considering a run for governor, but did not mention that in the 85-second video. Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann accuses Sand of using the auditor’s office to make a partisan attack on Republican Governor Kim Reynolds’ use of pandemic relief to pay staff in her office last year. No Republican candidate has announced plans to run for state auditor in 2022.