Name: Amy Sinclair, Republican
Office/District: State Senate District 14
Hometown: Allerton
Why running for office: “I don’t know that it was my intention to run for re-election. I had kind of anticipated serving a couple of terms and not seeking re-election. But, to be honest, my first term in office was in the minority and it was not as productive as one might want it to be. When we’ve spent the last four years doing the largest tax cut in the history of the state of Iowa, we passed bills — while we’re dealing with some court battles I don’t particularly like — that supported life. We were able to cut regulations and managed to get a predictable and reliable school funding process that we’re putting in place and dealing with inequities, we’ve done a lot of pretty incredible things in the last four years.
“(Sen.) Charles Schneider might’ve said it best, the last four years I’ve done more than most conservative legislators could dream of doing in a lifetime. And he’s accurate. There are still things to get on top of. Iowa still has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the nation. We still have high personal income tax rates. We’re a high-tax state and that’s not good. While we’ve done the highest tax cut in the history of the state, there’s more to be done with it. I want to be part of doing that.
“There’s more to be done to improve the quality of education in this state. We started with the classroom behavior work that we’re doing and I think that’s something that will be more than a one-and-done fix. I think we’re going to have to keep coming back and seeing where we are and address that situation as part of an ongoing problem that is based not in education but in broader society. You don’t have these kinds of situations in classrooms if there isn’t a bigger problem outside of the classroom. We need to make sure we’re continuing to protect the teacher and other students in the classroom. That’ll be more than a one-year kind of fix. I don’t think you fix that in one, simple bill.
“We have to whittle away at occupational licensing. I think that really is one of our biggest deterrents to people moving back into our state. And I think we need to deal with regulatory reform. A constituent of mine moved from Kansas and was a licensed cosmetologist in Kansas. It took her over a year to be able to work in the state of Iowa. That’s not OK. We really need to get at those regulatory deterrents to coming to Iowa and becoming productive members of society. All of those things are just pieces of work that are left undone and I’d like to get them done.”
Facebook: Sinclair for Iowa
As of now, Sen. Sinclair does not have an opponent for the primary or general election.
