Brad Sherman is one of six Republicans running for the GOP nomination in Iowa House District 91. Here are his answers to our 2022 Legislative Survey for Iowa Republicans:
GENERAL QUESTIONS
Describe your worldview and how that will influence you as a legislator.
I embrace the Christian Worldview. My guiding principle as a legislator is: “Rights come from God and the purpose of government is to protect those rights.” This is stated quite clearly in the Declaration of Independence.
In your opinion, what are the three most pressing issues the legislature should address.
Life: (ending abortion)
Liberty: (Medical Freedom and Voter Integrity are included here) Property Rights: (fighting socialism)
These basic rights must constantly be defended.
Feel free to explain your ideal tax policy policies for Iowa (included in this section in order to allow for as much flexibility as possible).
I support the recent action which moves us toward zero income tax and lowers corporate taxes. Corporate taxes are simply added to the price of the corporation’s product and the people are the ones who pay it.
States should push for Federal tax reform that would abolish the IRS and move to a flat tax or a consumption tax.
School Choice (money should follows the student)
Have you or will you sign The Big Family Pledge? Yes
FREE MARKET
Do you believe the government should force consumers to buy a product?
NO
Do you believe the government should force retailers to sell a product? NO
Do you support reforming or eliminating Iowa’s Certificate of Need laws? YES
Do you support periodic reviews of all government licenses and boards to ensure they’re necessary? YES
LIFE
Do you support the Protect Life Amendment to the Iowa Constitution?
YES. It could have been stronger, but I support it. It is a foundation to build on.
When do you believe life begins and at what stage does it deserve protections under the law?
Life begins at conception and at that point, the baby is a person and should be afforded the same constitutional rights as any other person.
EDUCATION
Would you support universal Education Savings Accounts for Iowa families?
I assume this refers to: https://www.iowaace.org/education-savings-accounts/
I would support this as long as the funds deposited are from the taxes paid for the purpose of education.
Do you believe obscene materials and pornographic materials belong in public school libraries?
NO
In what grade should schools begin providing instruction to students on sexual orientation and gender identity?
NEVER. This is not the purpose of public schools.
Would you support a bathroom bill in Iowa, which states biological males use the boys’ bathroom and biological females use the girls’ bathroom?
YES
LGBTQ
Should gender identity be stripped out of the Iowa Civil Rights code:
YES. All people have rights, and those rights should be protected equally because they are people – period. There is no need to create special classes of people to accomplish this. When special classes of people are created, it always make others less special and ends up violating their rights.
Should Iowa make it illegal for minors to undergo sex-change surgery and treatments?
YES.
Should Iowa school teachers ask students for preferred pronouns?
NO
Should Iowa require school teachers to share a child’s “preferred pronoun” and or “gender identity” with the child’s parent(s)guardian(s)?
This should not be a topic of discussion in the classroom. But whatever it is discussed, there should be complete transparency with parents and parents should be alerted.
Do you support banning conversion therapy (making it illegal for a parent to take a child to a health care professional to talk about confusion as it relates to sexual orientation or gender identity)?
Parents should not be prohibited in any way from getting mental health counseling, or spiritual counseling for their child if the child is experiencing gender confusion.
COVID RELATED
Do you believe any institution – whether private or governmental – should be able to mandate a vaccination?
NO
How could the Iowa legislature have handled the COVID pandemic differently?
House File 889 which was passed last year (2021) would have been a good bill if it had not included exemptions. The exemptions caused the content of the bill to betray its title. There should have been no exemptions. Vaccine passports should have been banned – period. Businesses should not have been shut down. Masks should not have been mandated.
Doctors should have been encouraged by the Board of Medicine to discover and develop best practice protocols using safe drugs including off-label applications such as Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin. But instead, doctors were intimidated and feared for their license if they did. This is medical tyranny and it points to a need for some new people on the State Board of Medicine.
Do you believe Iowa should reform the Governor’s emergency powers:
YES, There should be some limits.
CLOSING QUESTIONS
Are there any issues of disagreement you have with the Republican Party of Iowa platform from 2018:
The Declaration and the Constitution define what powers belong to Federal and Government. Therefore, since life is in the Declaration, it is a nationwide issue and abortion should be banned on a federal level. However, if federal will not do it, it is up to the states to stand for life and against any federal legalization of abortion. This could be clarified in the Life Section, Item 1.
Some other issues may need clarifications but I see nothing else that raises immediate concern.
What improvements, if any, would you make to Iowa’s voting laws to ensure elections are fair and full of integrity:
My thoughts on Election Integrity.
1. More stringent criteria for absentee voting. Should only be for unavoidable circumstances.
2. Early voting only at the Auditor’s office.
3. Clean up the voter rolls.
4. Ensure that there are NO voting machines – period.
5. Paper ballots must be used and saved after being counted.
6. ID required.
7. Paper ballots can be counted with counting machines (counting machines are different from voting machines).
8. Counting machines must NOT be connect to any network or have any Internet connection.
9. Full and free access by poll watchers.
10. All counting should be done under video recording.
IOWA HOUSE DISTRICT 91:
You can visit Sherman’s campaign website here.
John George is one of the other Republicans running for Iowa House District 91. You can read his answers here.
