John Norwood, a Democrat running for state treasurer, said Saturday at the Iowa State Fair that he would focus on structural issues within the state retirement fund and on investing Iowa’s tax dollars back into the state.
Norwood spoke at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox.
Norwood who has spent his career in the business and finance sectors, founding TBL Ventures and more recently, advising small businesses across Iowa, said he views the treasurer’s role as the state chief financial officer.
He said to him money isn’t red or blue, “it’s green.”
“It’s your money,” Norwood said. “You worked for it, you earned it, and when the government collects it, you deserve to know where it goes and how it’s being invested, and whether it’s creating long-term value for Iowa. The treasurer’s job isn’t to spend money, it’s to make money work.”
Norwood said he would prioritize to putting the “brakes” on private school vouchers in the state, working to support new crop markets that could bolster Iowa’s agriculture industry and to prioritize state projects built with union laborers.
IPERS management
Norwood said there are “management concerns” within the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System, or IPERS. Namely, he said the system’s CEO should be selected by the board, rather than the governor.
In early August, Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed a new IPERS CEO following the resignation of the former CEO, who had been placed on administrative leave, and the firing of the chief benefits officer.
Norwood, speaking to reporters after his Soapbox speech, which included taking questions from the crowd, said he would have preferred to see an independent investigation into the situation and an interim CEO put in the position to allow the next governor to appoint someone to the role.
Ultimately, Norwood said, the treasurer needs to “pay attention” to what’s happening with the retirement trust fund that pays out more than $2.7 billion in annual benefits.
Investing in Iowa
Norwood is running against incumbent Republican Roby Smith, who won the seat in 2022 after beating the Democrat who had held the position for 40 years.
Norwood said Michael Fitzgerald – the Democrat who held the position for decades – “did a wonderful job” and mentioned programs like the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt initiated under Fitzgerald.
He said the office needs to be treated like a “full-time job” and said he felt that was only possible if the treasurer lived in the Des Moines area, allowing them to regularly interact with the Legislature and state officials.
Smith, who lives in Davenport, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Norwood said rather than sending short-term taxpayer dollars out of the state to try and get a return, he would push those investments to be made at local banks and credit unions.
“When we put the deposits in our local banks; they can make loans against those deposits, and that’s how we can grow the economy,” Norwood said. “That’s how we can work with agriculture.”
In the last election cycle, Norwood ran as the Democratic candidate for secretary of agriculture, and lost to incumbent Mike Naig.
Norwood said in order to grow Iowa’s rural and agricultural economies, the state would need to support more farmer-led initiatives and diverse markets rather than “rely on commodity markets of corn and soy.”
Norwood used Green Acres Milling, a farmer-owned oat milling facility based in southern Minnesota, which his company helped launch, as an example.
“I believe Iowa should encourage more regional farmer-led processing facilities, creating markets for, in this case, oats and other third crops,” Norwood said.
A more diversified farm profile, Norwood said, would also help to improve Iowa’s water quality. But for banks, farmers and crop insurance to make the leap to add a third crop into the system, they would need support from the state.
“We’ve gotta begin to align the financial drivers and understand the financial constraints,” Norwood said. “The treasury really should be working with the legislature and with the secretary of agriculture and the governor – you know, we’re all a team – in figuring out what we need to do specifically to add these third crops.”
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