Hubbell makes campaign stop in Charles City

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Iowa gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubbell said his private sector experience gives him an edge over the other Democratic candidates in the primary.

“I’ve also worked twice in the state government, and gotten results for people,” he said. “I’m a lifelong progressive Democrat and a fifth-generation Iowan.”

Hubbell is on a 14-day tour that is taking him to 35 different locations all across the state as he makes his case to be Iowa’s next governor. The Des Moines businessman — and currently the frontrunner in at least one poll — visited Aromas Coffee in Charles City on Monday, and said it was the fourth time he’s visited the town.

“Charles City is a thriving community, a lot of good employers, a new middle school that is quite well done — so you have a lot of good things going on here,” he said. “You have local leadership coming together and getting results for your town, and that’s a good model.”

Hubbell stopped in Fort Dodge and Mason City before coming to Charles City, and a stop in Waterloo was next on the agenda. The Democratic primary is June 5. The winner will get the opportunity to try to unseat Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in November.

Iowa Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, has endorsed Hubbell for the nomination and introduced him to the crowd of about 30 people on Monday. Prichard stressed that in order to get anything accomplished in the Iowa Legislature, bipartisan support is necessary, and he feels that Hubbell is the candidate most likely to be able to build that support.

“If you’re going to do things that improve lives for Iowans, you’re going to have to find a way to work with the other side of the aisle,” Prichard said. “The candidate who can best do that, in my evaluation, is Fred Hubbell.”

Hubbell stressed fiscal responsibility, and was critical of Reynolds and elected Republicans in the state Legislature for what he characterized as mismanagement of the state economy.

“If you look at our state, for the last four years in a row we’ve been 47th or 49th in personal income growth,” Hubbell said. “We’ve got to do something different.”

He told the audience that there was a time when Iowa invested in its people, instead of big companies, and he’d like to go back to that time.

“For me, it’s all about investing in people. Education and health care, raising the minimum wage, restoring collective bargaining rights and investing in infrastructure.”

Infrastructure investments Hubbell has in mind include roads and bridges, high-speed internet and housing.

“If we make those kinds of investments in our people in our state, we can attract higher paying jobs with higher incomes,” he said. “That’s the long-term way to grow our state — not by giving tax credits to the Apples in our world, who don’t create many jobs and don’t really need the money.”

Hubbell is a retired CEO of the Equitable Life Insurance Co. and a Des Moines philanthropist. He is former chairman of Younkers and former president of Equitable of Iowa, which his family founded in the 1860s. His family built its fortune in finance, real estate and railroads in Iowa. He has served on the boards of several other international and Iowa corporations, including Pioneer Hi-Bred International, West Bank Corp. and The Weitz Corp..

Hubbell said Iowa isn’t currently doing enough to promote alternative energy, which he believes has great potential for growth.

“Let’s continue to invest in biomass and wind and solar, and in companies that want to come here and pay a good, livable wage to people, because we have a highly-trained and highly-educated work force, clean water and a high quality of life,” he said. “That’s the way we used to grow our state, and I think we can do it again.”

Hubbell said to do all that, Iowa needs to elect a good Democrat to beat Reynolds in the fall.

According to a recent poll, Hubbell holds a substantial lead over the rest of the Democratic field. A Remington Research Group poll commissioned by KBUR Radio of Burlington showed Hubbell at 46 percent, well above the needed 35 percent threshold to avoid a runoff. Iowa Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines comes in second at 20 percent. No other candidate breaks 10 percent.

Other candidates in the poll included nurse and union leader Cathy Glasson of Coralville (7 percent), physician and former Democratic Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire (3 percent), former Iowa City Mayor Ross Wilburn (1 percent), and John Norris (5 percent), former chief of staff for Tom Vilsack.

Hubbell said he doesn’t focus on the polls.

“All we focus on is, we want to see as many voters in as many communities as we can.”

He admitted, however, that being in the lead is better than not being in the lead.

“We want to win the primary, and be ready on day one after the primary to take on Gov. Reynolds,” he said. “We don’t want to give her any advantage.”

When it comes to Reynolds, Hubbell said her record as governor speaks for itself.

“I think the big issue is her record,” Hubbell said. “If you look at her record, and the record of the Republicans — underfunding education, underfunding health care, taking away collective bargaining rights — they’re not investing in the future of our state.”

Several of those gathered Monday wondered where Hubbell stood on gun regulations, in light of recent mass shootings at schools in Florida in Texas. Hubbell shared a story about being a passenger in a plane that was hijacked in 1981. He said the three hijackers had pistols, grenades and eventually semiautomatic weapons. He and his wife spent 13 days held hostage among the other passengers on the plane.

“I’m quite fearful, and quite aware of what those weapons can do,” he said. “It bothers me when our governor says we have reasonable laws and there’s nothing to talk about. She’s wrong, and we all know that.”

Hubbell said he believes in gun rights, but he also believes in reasonable regulations — and he thinks most Iowans agree.

“We need to focus on gun safety and public safety,” he said. “We don’t talk about those things, instead we talk about gun rights, and those are fine, but the bigger issue is, where do Iowans want the line to be drawn when it comes to gun safety and public safety? How do we make our schools safe, and our streets safe? We need to talk about those things.”

Born and raised in Des Moines, Hubbell received his BA at North Carolina, attended the Harvard School of Business and studied law at the University of Iowa. He spent four years as chairman of the Iowa Power Fund board, where he worked primarily on renewable energy and renewable fuel, and four months as interim director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development. He was named to the Iowa Business Hall of Fame in 2009, and has been a major donor to Democratic candidates and liberal causes.

Hubbell and his wife, Charlotte, have three children and three grandchildren.