Randy Bauer

Former Iowa state budget director. I know public finance stuff. ♥ equity, social justice, economics, science - and chess.

[Team Sand @Team_Sand]

Week 1 of the general and @RobSandIA has launched his 100 Town Hall Tour, spoke at ABI, hit the #WorldPorkExpo, and joined Iowa Press.

Meanwhile, his opponent has kept busy fighting in the comments section and downplaying the fact that he still lives in Kansas.

[Democratic Governors @DemGovs]

After a decade of one-party rule, Iowa is #48 in personal income growth and #1 in cancer growth. It’s time for change, and it’s time to elect Rob Sand, a governor for ALL Iowans.

[Iowa Press @IowaPress]

Sand: We shouldn't be giving vouchers to the richest Iowans - that has been part of our upside down budget.

[Rob Sand @RobSandIA]

This shouldn't be news to anyone. If I win, we will have a divided government.

But that means we have to work together to get things done, and I think that's a good thing.

[Randy Bauer @RandyBauer]

@ZachLahn @patrynard These are all paid positions you have had, right, and presumably full time work? This reads like the resume of a political staffer, not a candidate for Governor. Insert the more 'Governor-like stuff and explain how you did them while you were doing al lthis staffer stuff.

[Randy Bauer @RandyBauer]

@rohanspatel This has got to be the weakest resume for a candidate for Iowa Governor - probably forever. Republicans should be ashamed that he is their guy. You really think he is qualified to lead a $16 billion enterprise?

[Rohan Patel @rohanspatel]

Lahn is as much an Iowa farmer as I am a Brazilian Soccer star.

We can both dream, but it’s never happening.

[Randy Bauer @RandyBauer]

@ProjectLincoln This is what happens when you cut government funding for stuff. My guess is this is DOGE in action. Live with the consequences, Texas beef producers.

[Randy Bauer @RandyBauer]

@DevinMBilski yeah, that's why they pannicked and talked Trump into a last minute endorsement of Feenstra, because they so wanted the Kansas carpetbagger at the top of the ticket. Spin much?

[Pete Buttigieg @PeteButtigieg]

Something remarkable is happening in Iowa with @turek4iowa's campaign.

Congratulations on earning the nomination, Josh. Looking forward to hitting the trail with you soon.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

Follow the money on this one. It is rotten to the core.

The Pentagon just lent $620,000,000 to a tiny North Carolina startup called Vulcan Elements. The company is two years old.

It had fewer than 50 employees.

And three months before the deal was announced, Donald Trump Jr.’s venture firm quietly took a stake in it.

Here is the part the administration tried to bury.

Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was weighing, Vulcan was the only deal initiated by a top White House aide. That aide was Peter Navarro, a close friend of Trump Jr. The order came down to move fast.

One official put it plainly: The call came from the White House. We have to get this done.

Staff worked late nights to push it through in weeks. Deals like this normally take many months of vetting. And when it closed, Vulcan’s valuation jumped from about 200 million dollars to roughly 2 billion.

A windfall for the investors, including the president’s son.

This is public money. Your money.

Routed through the Pentagon to enrich the president’s family and their friends. The Bush administration’s own chief ethics lawyer called it corruption we pay for.

And there is more coming.

A drone parts company Trump Jr. holds a stake in is also under Pentagon review.

This is not a one-off. It is a pattern. The president’s family is treating the federal Treasury like a private bank, and the bill lands on every taxpayer.

https://t.co/4kB1cZNmlE

[Robert Reich @RBReich]

Donald Trump just stole $1.7B from us — and he's creating a slush fund to reward his political allies.

I've never seen anything like this in my 50 years in politics.

It makes Nixon look like a boy scout.

https://t.co/h50c8yzXtJ

[The Lincoln Project @ProjectLincoln]

Massie lost because he wanted the Epstein List released and pedophiles held accountable. Trump didn't want any of that, so he had to go.

[Joel Montfort @jmontforttx]

Alligator Alcatraz is closing after one year and wasting $1B to house 1400 immigrants. That's an eye-popping $714,285 per occupant. Everything this administration does is filled with fraud and waste. https://t.co/3DoG1YTjTh

[Kevin Driscoll 🇺🇸 @kevndriscoll]

Rob Sand, a Democrat running for governor in Iowa, starts his town halls by having Republicans, Democrats and independents sing America the Beautiful together before anyone argues about politics.

It's hard to believe this is real when you first watch it.

Rob Sand is doing something very different in Iowa right now. It's working https://t.co/5EEXkTwJK9

(video credit: @LauraRBelin)

[Ty Rushing @Rushthewriter]

Great lede:
“Iowa First” Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn maintains a home in Kansas and flies to the state frequently in a plane he owns as part of an LLC.

[Randy Bauer @RandyBauer]

Donald Trump complains about China imports but his ties are made in China. Hypocrite much?

[Randy Bauer @RandyBauer]

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

[Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers]

Trump campaigned on bringing down the cost of living "starting on day one," and then: started a trade war; deported much of the farm workforce, bombed Iran, allowed healthcare subsidies to expire, cut food assistance, ran an interest-rate boosting deficit, and attacked fed independence.

[Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers]

So you're telling me that cutting tariffs leads to lower prices?

Fascinating.