Brad Zaun

Iowa House Candidate (R)

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Why He Matters

A longtime local business owner and current state senator, Zaun has a track record of being both firmly rooted in his suburban Iowa community and committed to civic duty.

While in the state senate, Zaun filed a bill to exempt Iowa from the federal health-care reform bill. As a candidate, Zaun has called President Obama's 2010 health-care reform a "disaster."

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Mayor of Urbandale (1998-2005); Owner, Zaun's Trustworthy Hardware (1988-2005); Urbandale City Council member (1996-97)
Birthday: February 23, 1962
Hometown: Des Moines, Iowa
Alma Mater: Dowling High School; attended Grand View University and Ellsworth Community College
Spouse: Dede Zaun

Religion: Catholic
State Office: (515) 281-3371
Campaign Office: 7032 Holcomb Avenue
Email
Web site

Path To Power

Zaun was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa. The son of a John Deere dealer, he learned about agriculture and business from an early age and after spending some time in community college, he went on to become the proprietor of his own hardware store. He was nominated for the Iowa/Nebraska Entrepreneur of the Year in 1994.

Iowa Businessman

A small-business owner who at one point nearly lost his hardware store to bankruptcy, he successfully ran Zaun's Trustworthy Hardware in Urbandale for 18 years.

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The Issues

Zaun is a fiscal conservative who has said he will not even spend his constituents' tax money on rent. "I'm going to go to Washington, D.C., and get a couch that folds into a bed, and that's where I'm going to sleep," he has said.

Zaun has promised to preserve and protect Social Security for senior citizens dependent on government assistance. Like other GOP candidates running for office in the 2010 midterms, he supports repealing the Obama administration's health-care plan.

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Not officially affiliated with the tea party movement, Zaun has attended tea party rallies and events.

Zaun does not believe in granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants and believes that illegal immigration is a threat to homeland security.

Zaun us also against abortion rights and committed to upholding the "sanctity of marriage and family," Zaun opposes gay marriage.

He supports repealing the estate, or inheritance, tax. He says, "It's wrong to punish someone's lifetime of hard work by another onerous tax."

Energy and Natural Resources

Zaun doesn't support the June 2009 House energy bill and its cap-and-trade provisions, citing the rising cost of electricity. He says he has also considered alternative energy sources such as nuclear energy, wind and shale.

Zaun believes that humans must be careful stewards of natural resources and avoid causing unnecessary damage to the environment. However, he also believes it is crucial to tap into domestic petroleum reserves and natural gas supplies to reduce U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Taking a particularly controversial stance in Iowa, a state dependent on biofuel tax breaks and jobs provided by several dozen ethanol refineries, Zaun does not support ethanol subsidies.

Health-Care Reform

Zaun believes in some reform of the current health-care system, but says his interest is in protecting patients.

Calling the Obama-backed 2010 health-care law a "disaster" and claiming it will be a financial burden to small businesses, Zaun filed a bill in the Iowa Senate to exempt Iowa from the federal health-care reform bill. While he believes it is necessary to curtail the health-insurance industry, he believes the current overhaul will put too much power in the hands of the federal government.

Zaun supports health-care savings accounts so that patients can have direct control over how their insurance benefits are spent. Zaun also supports prohibitions on insurers' ability to drop sick patients from their rosters in the event patients fail to report previous, unrelated health problems on their application forms. He favors transparency in pricing and incentives for people who make healthy lifestyle choices.

Zaun favors Medicare reform to increase efficiency and tort reform, so that doctors will not perform unnecessary testing for fear of being sued.

Jobs

A former small-business owner, Zaun has stated that "government cannot 'create' jobs; only the private sector can create real and sustainable jobs."

He believes that reforming the tax system is the way to stimulate job growth and remove the burden from small-business owners. "If you put more money in the pockets of small-business owners, they will reinvest. They'll hire more people," he has said.

The Network

Among Zaun's high-profile endorsements in 2010 House race were former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and GOP Iowa Senate Leader Paul McKinley.

Additional Resources