State Senate candidate Scharper meets Charles City voters at outdoor event

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Deb Scharper of rural Osage picked a challenging year to run for state office for the first time.

“I’ve been on the phone and doing these local meet-and-greets with social distancing,” Scharper said. “Zoom meetings have a been a big thing, and I just never stop making those phone calls.”

Campaign events have been unusually rare for an election year, thanks to the social distancing protocols in place due to COVID-19, but Scharper ventured to Charles City on Thursday for an outdoor “meet and greet” event at the amphitheater on Riverside Drive.

“You deserve a senator who is going to listen to your needs, address your concerns and work for the people of District 26,” Scharper told the audience of 35-40 people. “I want to be your voice on the Senate floor to get things done.”

She announced her candidacy for the Iowa Senate after the March 15 filing deadline, but Iowa Senate Democrats gave her the nod at a virtual nominating convention. Senate District 26 consists of all of Floyd, Chickasaw, Howard, Mitchell and Worth counties, and parts of Cerro Gordo and Winneshiek counties.

Waylon Brown, a Republican from St. Ansgar, is the incumbent and Scharper’s opponent. Brown won his seat in 2016.

Scharper said she puts improving access to rural health care, high-speed internet and child care at the top of her “to-do list.” Other items on her list include fixing Iowa’s Medicaid system, attracting well-paid jobs to the district, protecting water and the environment, supporting communities and businesses hurt by COVID-19 and increasing funding for public schools.

“We need to put more money into our school systems, into our teachers and into the AEA,” she said. “We need to have that support.”

A graduate of Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock schools, Scharper has been a radiology technician for more than 27 years. She is registered in X-Ray, ultrasound, vascular ultrasound, mammogram and CT. She is active in the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD), where she serves as an ambassador for the state of Iowa, and she is an Alzheimer’s Association advocate.

Her husband, Cory, owns and operates Scharper Services in Osage, a small business that provides electrical, snow removal, tree removal and trucking services. Her five children all attend or graduated from Osage schools. She has lived in Osage for 25 years.

“I decided to run because I’m tired of not being heard by our current lawmakers,” Scharper said. “I have a loved one who was diagnosed at the age of 44 with frontotemporal dementia.”

She said she grew frustrated navigating Iowa’s privatized Medicaid system as she tried to get help for her loved one.

“He now lives 2½ hours away from me because there are no beds at all for him in this area,” she said. “That is uncalled for. I think it’s inhumane, to have your loved ones that far apart from you.”

Last March, Scharper went to the state capitol on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Association to advocate for upcoming legislation.

“I included all of my contact information and made myself available,” she said. “I was so disappointed in the lack of response, and that was the moment when I chose to make a difference.”

Scharper said that when no one would talk to her, she decided at that moment that she couldn’t keep volunteering to help people if no one in Des Moines was going to listen.

“I decided that if I really wanted change, I had to throw my hat in the ring, so that’s what I’m doing,” she said.

Scharper conceded that Brown likely has an electoral advantage over her among area farmers. Brown is a farmer and has served as vice-president of the Mitchell County Farm Bureau Board.

“He’s got that ticket, right there,” she said. “He’s going to have broad knowledge of that, but I have broad knowledge of health care. We need to look out for our population. I’ve always been a caregiver, and I know what it’s like to fight for a cause.”

Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, introduced Scharper at the event. Prichard represents Iowa House District 52 consisting of Floyd, Chickasaw and part of Cerro Gordo counties.

“Politicians always say that the next election is the most important election of our lives,” he said. “I feel pretty confident to say that’s not hyperbole to say that this time.”

Prichard was first elected to the House seat in a special election in 2013, and has been re-elected three times. He is currently serving as the House minority leader.

Prichard’s Republican opponent in the Nov. 3 general election is Craig Clark of Rockford. Clark won the Republican nomination over Charley Thomson of Charles City in the primary election.

Republicans currently hold the majority in both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate.

Prichard was critical of the divisive atmosphere currently in Des Moines, and said that divisiveness comes from Washington, D.C., and President Trump.

“There are no words for what comes out of his mouth,” Prichard said, referring to Trump. “As a country, we should be finding unifying principles, but instead we focus on finding things that divide us. It’s sad. This is not who we are.”

Prichard called for elected officials in Iowa to compromise in order to move things forward.

“The last four years, with complete Republican control, we have not done that at all,” he said.

He pointed to the lack of school funding and poor rural health care as examples of that, and said that the reason facilities like Floyd County Medical Center are having to collect property taxes to stay afloat is because Republicans in the state Legislature cut state funding for the facilities.

“There needs to be balance in state government,” Prichard said. “If we’re going to return balance to the Iowa government, we have to hold on to Iowa House District 52.”