Brad Magg to run for Iowa House District 38

Brad Magg, a city council member in Colfax and the owner of Goldie’s Ice Cream Shoppe in Prairie City and a number of concession stands at the Iowa State Fair, is running for the Iowa House District 38 seat currently held by Republican Jon Dunwell. Magg told Newton News he will be running as a Democrat.

In addition to owning Goldie’s, which won best tenderloin by the Iowa Pork Producers Association in 2009, Magg is the founder of Magg Family Catering and co-owner of Spring City Pharmacy. He also helps manage The Bacon Box, The Snack Box and G-Pop’s Candy Box concession stands at the State Fair.

As a lifelong Jasper County resident, Magg said that while his classmates in Colfax were eager to leave their hometown he saw the potential of his community and planted his roots, but not without trying to convince them to stay. Although they didn’t listen back then, he said many have reached out the past few years.

“They want to move back to town,” Magg said. “I’m happy we’ve got our community to that point and help build it back up, but sadly now a lot of my friends are wanting to leave the state because they don’t think they’re welcome here or it doesn’t align with the way they want to raise their family.”

Magg still believes in Iowa’s potential and that the state and Jasper County are “far better” than what lawmakers are trying to turn it into. Which is why Magg feels inspired to run for House District 38, which covers nearly all of Jasper County apart from Monroe and Prairie City.

Magg told Newton News in a phone interview today that lawmakers elected to the statehouse need to focus on Iowa issues and the issues that affect the state’s individual communities. Although Magg said he has had a decent rapport with Dunwell, he also expressed frustration over the lawmaker’s decision making.

“What Mr. Dunwell is doing doesn’t quite represent the values that I think the constituents in the district have,” Magg said. “…I’ve had some great conversations with him over issues these past few years and it’s just become pretty apparent it falls on deaf ears.”

Specifically, Magg said he shared with Dunwell his concerns over last year’s property tax reform law. The law, which Magg said is touted as a tax cut, restricted how cities, school districts and counties were able to tax their citizens. Many local city leaders have voiced their opposition to the law since it passed.

“It increased costs for the city, the school, the county by thousands and thousands of dollars in order to do the same thing in a more complicated manner,” Magg said. “People still don’t fully understand or can get an explanation from the state on how this is supposed to be done.”

In the end, Magg argued the law will actually cost residents more as result. Lawmakers were so excited to call it a tax cut, but in actuality they just made it worse, he claimed. As a city council member for 14 years, Magg said he is a big believer in local control and has never lobbied to raise taxes when budgeting.

“So the thought that the state has to come in and tell us we have to tax less without giving any support or guidance on how to do that just doesn’t make any sense and it only made the situation worse,” Magg said. “He (Dunwell) clearly doesn’t understand how some of the tax structures work.”

Magg also has concerns about the status of the public education system in Iowa. It is disheartening, he said, to see extremely talented teachers, who truly care about their students, leaving the profession. Meanwhile, he said, the state is focusing its efforts on book bans.

“I don’t know the last time I saw a child actually reading a paper book,” he said. “If we’re worried about students getting their minds corrupted we should probably take the phones out of their pockets and focus on that. The amount of time, energy and money spent on this issue isn’t going to make a positive difference.”

Magg said there is no reason lawmakers cannot work together to focus on the common good rather than pushing personal agendas “for friends in high places.”

Another issue that is important to Magg is healthcare. When he looks around the county, he is distressed to see a lack of doctor’s offices in smaller towns. Newton is the only community unaffected, but Magg finds it absurd the other incorporated territories in House District 38 do not have their own.

It is partly why he was so passionate about saving the pharmacy in Colfax and maintaining Spring City Pharmacy’s presence in the community. He believed if the pharmacy was lost it would likely not return. Magg said the health care system is not only broken it is a “dumpster fire next to a propane tank.”

Magg said 40 percent of independent pharmacies in Iowa are expected to close this year. While getting prescriptions through the mail can be beneficial, he argued that when people need an antibiotic they do not or should not have to wait two days for it to be delivered.

“Keep in mind that Sudafed products like Mucinex D cannot be sold without a pharmacist there to sell it to you,” he said. “So when you want high-powered allergy or sinus medication, you won’t be able to buy it anymore. The Walgreens and those kinds of pharmacies are also closing faster than independents.”

Coupled with drastic cuts to local governments and a “complete lack of support” for public schools, Magg questioned if there will be anything left for rural Iowans.

“Every town is just going to have a Dollar General and maybe a post office if they’re lucky,” he said.

Magg has been passionate about restoring pharmacies, and he has shared his thoughts with lawmakers who may be considering some type of bipartisan legislation to help. Magg said he spoke with about 12 different Republican lawmakers a few weeks ago at the statehouse.

“I spoke with Mr. Dunwell a fair amount, and he has been the least excited and least compassionate about the struggles facing Iowa and rural Iowa in general,” he said. “This isn’t good. People won’t be able to live here anymore without basic medical care.”

Which is only fueling Magg’s decision to run for office.

“I’m sick of the partisanship and the games that are being played wasting valuable resources that are doing nobody any good,” he said.

Alex Cleverley, chair of the Jasper County Democratic Party, said in a statement to Newton News that Magg would be a wonderful leader for House District 38, and she is excited to see a young public servant step up to the plate and give county voters a voice in the legislature.

“Brad is a natural leader who wears many hats. He brings a great deal to the table, which I think voters can get behind and support,” she said. “Our current representative seems to be a little tone deaf when it comes to constituents’ needs here in Jasper County. It’s disappointing leadership.”

To Magg, Jasper County is great and has always been great.

“But I think we’re very close to losing that status,” he said. “…If no one pays attention or actually tries to fix the problems we’re dealing with, let alone trying to plan to be prepared for the future, then we’re not going to be great and it’s not going to be a great place to move to or raise your family or retire.”