Speaker: He's never held elected office, but he led a department in state government before launching his campaign for governor. We'll talk with Republican Adam Steen on this edition of Iowa Press.

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Speaker: For decades, Iowa Press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers from across Iowa and beyond. Celebrating more than 50 years on statewide Iowa PBS. This is the Friday, October 24th edition of Iowa Press. Here is Kay Henderson.

Speaker: Today we'll be having a conversation with a candidate for governor in 2026. We have already had candidates for governor at this table, and we'll have more in the coming weeks. Today, our guest is Adam Steen. He is a Republican competing for his party's nomination for governor in 2026. He's the former director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services. Prior to state government, he worked in business development and owned a management consulting team. He is also a credentialed minister. And by the way, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2002 Major League Baseball draft. Welcome to Iowa Press. Adam Steen.

Speaker: Well, thank you. I'm honored to be here. I appreciate that very, very much.

Speaker: Also joining our conversation is Katarina Sostaric of Iowa Public Radio.

Speaker: You've said on social media the state should take control of the Des Moines school district and cut off its funding in the wake of the arrest of former Superintendent Ian Roberts. How would the schools keep going if that were to occur?

Speaker: Yeah, in my administration, we need to make sure that we're doing everything we can to protect our students. The Ian Roberts situation is a travesty, and the fact that he was hired into that position as a criminal, illegal alien is, is something that we need to very pay very close attention to. And if you look at what President Trump is doing in situations where these blue cities are infiltrating different programs, different schools, he is going in there and he's taking action. In my administration, I would take action and ensure that our children are safe and that our families are safe. At the end of the day.

Speaker: And that includes cutting off funding to the district.

Speaker: Yeah, whatever we have to do, we need to audit that situation. We need to get the auditors to go in there and audit that situation and make sure that money is going to appropriate places. Otherwise, our children are at risk. And that's what the most important thing is, is protecting our children.

Speaker: And the auditor has said he will audit the district at this point, as the former basically HR director for the state, as the head of of the Department of Administrative Services, how did the state give Roberts a license?

Speaker: Yeah, so we need to look into that as well. There are so many unknowns right now. That's why we need the auditor to do his job and audit and not wait for proper forms to come in. Do your job, get involved, and make sure that we understand what's going on. The school system. Just put another top administrator on leave with no detail on why they did that. So at the end of the day, everybody needs to dig in and figure out what's going on. Again, it's what President Trump does on a regular basis. He doesn't sit around and wait for proper forms. He goes and he he gets involved and he makes sure that the facts come out so that we can make decisions to benefit our families and benefit our children.

Speaker: Let's stay on education issues. The state is giving money into education savings accounts that families are using to cover private school tuition. There are some who suggest that that money should be available for homeschooling. As governor, would you sign a bill to do that?

Speaker: Yeah, I would pursue a bill for homeschoolers as well. And right now, the traveling I've done across the state in the last two months, I've spoken with really two different, I'll say, types or styles of homeschoolers. Some homeschoolers would love access to those monies, and I think that would be appropriate for them as well. Some homeschoolers don't want access to that money because they don't want any strings attached to it, and they just want to be able to teach their kids the way they want to teach them. So I would pursue a bill that included homeschoolers with the option if they wanted to join into the program or not.

Speaker: There are some who have suggested there should be income limits on the ESA's. Would you support that?

Speaker: I would not support that. The ESA program, from my perspective, creates competition and it creates choice and it creates it gives parents the ability to teach their children the way they feel they need to be. They need to be taught. And the fact that somebody makes more money than someone else to me doesn't matter. It's a free market. Capitalism type play, and I would support any income limit being able to access the program.

Speaker: I've heard you a couple of times call yourself a big skilled trades guy, and recently it sounded as if you would redirect state money that was going to an institution or a business like John Deere that's getting a tax credit for research and development. Would you get rid of the state research and Development tax credit and redirect that money to skilled trades?

Speaker: I would not read. I would not get rid of the tax credit, but I would get rid of situations where the tax credit is being given to large companies that are investing in A.I. and laying employees off, because what we could do with those monies, with those tax credits is shift them into the trades. The trades are where employees are hired, businesses come out of the trades because when employees get hired by trades company, they learn the skills that they need, and then they go out and they create business and businesses in themselves. And it creates real economic development across the state.

Speaker: So what I hear you saying is you create a tax credit for businesses that hire people that are skilled trades people.

Speaker: I would invest monies and incentivize businesses that are focused into trades. So I believe that we are missing it in the trades industry. There's a lot of good things happening right now, but we need industrial arts, vocational studies back into seventh and eighth grade. We need to invest into our high schools. We need to capitalize on our community college infrastructure. And frankly, I would partner to the greatest degree with President Trump and with his million apprenticeship apprenticeship program that he's doing right now. I mean, we've got a major opportunity to create economic development across the state that's going to help rural Iowa just as much as it would help more urban communities as well.

Speaker: Ernie Goss, an economist that's often on this program from Creighton University, released a survey and showed that farm equipment purchases have declined for the 26th consecutive month. What is John Deere to do if not layoff workers to readjust to the market?

Speaker: Yeah, that's a good question. That is where my free market capitalism comes into play. I mean, they have to make those decisions on their own. But what the state should not do is try to invest more money into situations and pick winners and losers. What they need to do is shift money's incentives into areas where we know demand pull is there so that, again, we can create jobs, we can create businesses and grow our economy from the ground up.

Speaker: You've said that you oppose the use of eminent domain to build carbon capture pipeline. What do you say to those who think that efforts to not to block eminent domain for the pipeline will be bad for corn growers, corn growers and the biofuels industry?

Speaker: Yeah. So innovation is key right now. There is a global shortage of beverage grade CO2. Beverage grade CO2 can come out of carbon capture. And guess what? You don't need a pipeline to distribute that CO2 to where it needs to go. So innovation, value added opportunities can be pursued on a regular basis. What I used to do in my professional background is work with businesses of different shapes and sizes, create value, add value, look for innovative opportunities and I don't believe our farmers are going to be affected if if we protect their land number one, which should be the top priority. But number two, looking for innovative ways to add value to our commodities, add value to ethanol. It is possible we're Iowans. We can get those things done. And I look forward to leading a charge on that.

Speaker: Would you be okay with the pipeline happening if it didn't use eminent domain?

Speaker: If the if the private entity structured private contracts with farmers, I have no problem with that whatsoever. Whether I believe carbon capture in the pipeline should be good or not, if it's privately negotiated, that's on the farmer and that's on the company.

Speaker: You've said that you won't cave to big money on this issue. When Governor Reynolds vetoed a bill related to eminent domain, did she cave?

Speaker: I don't know, I was not involved in that situation. I wasn't in the room. But what I can tell you is that my first day in office, because I can operate day one, because I've been operating in the state for five years. Should the legislature not solve this issue, this coming legislative session? If they were to give me a bill similar to Senate File 92, I would sign that day one.

Speaker: And just to be clear, that would just ban eminent domain for carbon pipelines. And since you brought up big money being involved in this issue, would you pursue any campaign finance reform.

Speaker: You know, campaign? That's an interesting question. So from my perspective, raising money for campaigns is a free market, free speech play. And so I would not pursue any reform at this point because at the end of the day, what you have to do as a candidate is show that you've got momentum, show that you've got a finger on the pulse of the culture of Iowa, and then be able to tell that story so that people give money to you and you can build your campaign just like building a business. And at the end of the day, if money comes from out of state, if money comes from different sources, it's a free market, free speech play. And I'm all in either way.

Speaker: When I covered your announcement here in the Des Moines Metro, you said you are a life at conception Guy. Does that mean you would sign a bill that would essentially declare personhood and and ban IVF and contraception?

Speaker: No, I, I believe that the heartbeat bill through and through was a fantastic move. Call it down the field to get closer to life at conception. I believe that six weeks is great, but we need to move that further. And I would be an advocate for pushing the ball down the field so that life is protected at conception.

Speaker: So that would ban all abortions.

Speaker: Correct.

Speaker: What about IVF and contraception?

Speaker: Yeah, IVF for me is a is a different story. I can tell you from a again free market capitalist perspective, we have a child ten years old, has special needs and it's a genetic disorder. So there's a 25% chance that any other child that my wife and I have, my wife Casey, and I have, will have or be affected by Joubert syndrome. And so when Ryker was born, it was a tremendous challenge. But has turned into a tremendous blessing. Now, when we decided to have another child, we were advised that, hey, you can we can fertilize eggs and we can look at those eggs to determine which egg would be affected by Joubert syndrome or not. And we thought, well, that's strange. Like, I've never even considered that. And and so my wife asked the question. She said, what? What happens to the fertilized eggs then? And they said, well, they're discarded. And that just broke our hearts. I mean, it just ripped our souls apart. Thinking of discarding a child, but let alone discarding someone like our son. It just made us sick to our stomach. And so we chose life because that was our decision and that's what we wanted to do. But I do believe abortions need to be eliminated fully. It should be life at conception. But IVF is a different story from my perspective.

Speaker: You've also said on the campaign trail you've called yourself the faith guy. There are two other pastors running in the Republican Party, so why claim that title?

Speaker: Yeah, yeah. So their testimonies are their testimonies, and my testimony is my testimony from my perspective and my testimony being that when I was 30 years old, so 15 years ago, I recommitted my life to Christ, I was living selfishly. I had a Jesus sized hole in my heart, and I needed him to fill it. And so when I recommitted my life to Christ, I stood up. I was a brand new man. And what that did was it changed me and it shaped me, and it turned me into somebody who will be an advocate for the Lord every step of the way. So when I claim my faith, when I claim Christ, I'm very, very serious about that and others can do the same. I have no problem with that whatsoever. But Jesus is Lord in my eyes, and I'm never going to turn back from that.

Speaker: One of the candidates in the GOP race who's not yet in, who is not a pastor, by the way, is Congressman Randy Feenstra. And at an event in Earling, Iowa, earlier this month, you asked, where is Randy? Suggested he was in a basement raising money. How do you compete against someone who has better name recognition than you, and is raising more money than you are?

Speaker: Yeah, that's a great question. Well, I would maybe challenge the name recognition and potentially challenge the money situation as well. We have an unbelievable campaign going. We've got an unbelievable team going. We've been traveling across the state for now two months, a little over two months. In every single room. We go into the story of what we are doing here in the state, the story of what we're going to do here in the state resonates. There are times when I give a three minute speech and I get 4 or 5 ovations in the middle of a three minute speech, and it's because I've got my finger on the pulse of the culture of Iowa. I've got an operational background that is second to none, and I've got the ability to work with the legislature and others recognize that. So name recognition and money to me are just all part of the the process. And I feel very, very comfortable with where we're at.

Speaker: I want to talk about property taxes. You've said that you favor property tax reform, but you don't want there to be reckless cuts. So what would you do?

Speaker: Yeah. So 100%. We need property tax reform. And at the end of the day, we need to focus one on who we're electing into offices that are determining how our property taxes are built and the structure. So we need to make sure that our school board members are properly vetted and that they understand how money is spent and how to be fiscally responsible with our tax dollars. We need to make sure our city councils are making appropriate decisions. We're electing the right city council members as well, and also county supervisors. So first and foremost, I challenge the people to make sure that they are electing the right people into office that are fiscally responsible, that understand how tax property taxes work, and then also, I've said this fairly publicly that I'm a fan of zero based budgeting. So proving out why moneys need to go in certain places and then proving out why programs should justify certain monies. And what that does is it is it forces you to go to a zero based budget. So then that can determine where those monies are going. You have to prove it out. And it's very transparent and the process works very, very well. We did some of that within the state when I was there. And I believe we can do some more when I become governor.

Speaker: Some Republicans in the legislature have proposed using state funding to replace some property tax funding as a way of providing property tax relief to Iowans. Given that the state is facing a projected $1.3 billion deficit this fiscal year, already dipping into reserves to cover that, do you think options like that are still on the table for you? If you were to be elected? And we're looking at property tax reform?

Speaker: Yeah. One thing I do know is that the legislature is looking at property tax reform this session. So what I don't want to do is just develop a plan based upon speculation. But what I will do is watch and see what they come up with this session. We'll see if they can move the needle further down the field to benefit Iowans. And if we don't feel like it gets that far, then we'll develop a plan from there. But right now, I'm watching this legislative session very, very closely to determine what to do.

Speaker: Before the pandemic hit, Governor Reynolds released a plan that called for raising the state sales tax and using some of that money on water quality improvement. And water quality is a is an issue across the state. How would you, as governor, address the demand from some Iowans to do something?

Speaker: Yeah. So water quality is near and dear to my heart. These cancer rates are staggering and they're scary. My father passed away three years ago. He was my mentor. He was my the guy that I went to. I'd call him every every night coming home just with different thoughts and challenges. And he passed away of kidney cancer. And that cancer was not genetic. I'd like to know how he got that cancer. And my mother just survived breast cancer. And her cancer was not genetic. So from my perspective, and having such a deep sort of connection to the challenge, one of the first things I did when I announced my campaign was start calling people that I knew, that were embedded in that industry so I could develop a legitimate task force with trusted advisors, with experts that can guide me and shape me and help me understand where one the problems are starting, where two we could find solutions, and then where three we could actually execute on those solutions. I may I may project management type of decision maker. And that requires experts to come to the table to give me the facts, give me the recommendations, and then we will execute accordingly.

Speaker: So what's the timeline that you want to see? I mean, the governor has appropriated $1 million to the University of Iowa to start digging into why Iowa has such a remarkably high cancer rate.

Speaker: Yeah. The reason I'm starting now with that task force is because my time working in state government to get something done takes 6 to 8 months. I mean, there's just so much red tape and government is involved in so many different things. We've got to cut all that red tape, get things out of the way. So the reason I'm starting now is that on day one, because I can operate day one, we will be ready to go with a plan. And so we're starting over a year in advance to make sure that we're ready to go with solutions that are going to help Iowans.

Speaker: Going back to water quality. You know, one of the key debates is that goes on with that is, do farmers need to have some kind of requirements that they need to follow related to water quality? Because right now it's voluntary conservation practices. Is that something you would consider is requiring conservation practices for water quality?

Speaker: What I've learned at this point is actually kind of probably shouldn't say this, but it's a little bit scary. There are multiple toxins in our soils, multiple toxins going into our water supply, and that's through several different forums that I've been to just on the campaign trail so far, listening and learning. I'm not there as a candidate. I'm there to learn. And that's how I do things, is I learn and try to find experts that will help me learn more so that we can make decisions. So it's not all on the backs of farmers. It's not all on the backs of our ag industry. There are several toxins that we need to weed out and understand what they're doing. Before we put any reform or any regulatory burden on anyone. At this point, we're not there yet, but we need to get there soon.

Speaker: You are facing two lawsuits related to your time in. As the head of the Department of Administrative Services.

Speaker: You chuckled.

Speaker: One over your decision to close a state historical building in Iowa City, and one for preventing the Satanic Temple from having an event in the capital. Why do you talk about those so much on the campaign trail?

Speaker: Yeah, we need leadership that's willing to stand up and fight for our children. We need leadership that's willing to stand up and fight for the taxpayer. And the fact that I have stood up, I've got the scars. I've been in the battles shows that I'm willing to stand up and fight again. President Trump, his ability to lead this country is extremely impressive. And the way he comes in, the way he does things, the way he makes decisive decisions on a regular basis, is something that we should emulate across this entire country. And so the fact that I'm willing to stand up and fight for our families and fight for our children prove that I'm the type of leader that Iowa needs for for times such as this.

Speaker: So in regards to the lawsuit related to the closure, eventually, I think in June of next year of the state Historical Society's research center, Centennial building. Centennial building, you've talked about that. And and there are people that are raising concerns about how the artifacts and, and papers that are there being distributed. What do you say to those folks?

Speaker: Yeah. So when so we had been talking about this for three years. And so I was with Das for, for five years after alignment, I oversaw the State Historical Society. And so for three years we talked about this and some of the former commission members, they came up to me right away and they said, we got we've got to do something about the Iowa City building. We have to do something about that building. So when I did the research and got to understand what was happening down there, we're spending millions of dollars on that building. We're spending millions. We have millions of dollars in repairs set to take place in that building. And there was a moment in time where there were some federal grants that were cut, which forced us, as a historical society, to look at where our money was being spent. And I said, okay, first and foremost, we need to preserve and protect the culture of Iowa. That's one of the things that I'm jumping into this race to do. And that means artifacts at that building. And so I said, here's what we need to do. We need to shut that building down. It's going to save the taxpayers millions of dollars in repairs. We need to make sure that the employees there still have jobs. And we also need to preserve the artifacts that are in that building. And so we executed on that plan. And right now, the artifacts are being moved to the Des Moines location. There's room there. They will be preserved. We're not getting rid of anything. If local historical societies want the artifacts, deaccessioned to them, we're willing to do that if they want to. But we're not just going to throw things away or get rid of things by code. We can't do that. What we will do is we'll protect those within Des Moines. We're going to get rid of the building, and we're also going to preserve the jobs of the people that we're working over there. So it's a win-win win for the taxpayer, for the employees, and for the history of the state.

Speaker: The governor has received a report from the Department of Government Efficiency Task Force for the State of Iowa, backing up a little bit, you were at the Department of Administrative Services when her alignment project happened. As governor, would you do more realignment, reduce the number of agencies, cut agencies?

Speaker: Yeah. So I'm not aware of agencies that got cut. I mean, my my department merged. Yeah. So my department ran the project to go from 37 agencies down to 16. And what I got to see in the background was one where a ton of efficiency was created. And by a ton, I mean a lot of efficiency was created through that. I also believe that there's more efficiencies that can be created just through span of control, which is more of a manager, supervisor play than anything. At the end of the day. But yeah, my work with the state for five years has shown me that there's a lot of room to create more efficiencies and a lot of room to save taxpayers a lot more money down the road.

Speaker: When she announced the release of that report this past week, the governor said nothing's going to happen to Ipers. But in the details of the report, it says that lawmakers should consider for newly hired employees offering the option of ipers or a 401 K like benefit plan. Is that something that you think the state should do?

Speaker: Yeah. I don't have an issue with that. It provides an option. Now, my administration, I will not touch Ipers. I will not like Ipers will stay. It's an unbelievable benefit to state employees. It provides another leg of the stool for attraction and retention of employees. So I'm a huge fan of ipers through and through. I would not gut it. I would not get rid of it. But if there was another option that we could put into play, I oversaw the benefits packages for the state at Das, and so there's a there's a 401 B, there's other things that you can do from an investment perspective. That is another leg to the retirement stool as well. But yeah, if they if we could create an option where they weren't forced into ipers, I'd be for that. But you need to talk to actuaries and make sure that that didn't mess with the pension system at the end of the day, too. So there's some details you got to work out.

Speaker: Got about a minute left.

Speaker: Just a minute left. Snap. There's disruptions coming in snap benefits potentially with the government shutdown. The Republican governor of Virginia is going to potentially use emergency funds to cover that food assistance. Should Iowa use emergency funds to cover food assistance?

Speaker: We need to ensure that people are being fed through and through. And something I talk about on a regular basis is I am challenging the local church to rise up and take ownership in your communities and access the private sector in a way that we can offset government spending, government funding, so that people can be fed and children can be fed. So from my perspective, this is an amazing opportunity for the local church to rise up, fund the food banks across this state so that the government doesn't have to. And we can finally get to a spot where we're not reliant on government to take care of our daily needs.

Speaker: Adam Steen, thank you for joining us today on this edition of Iowa Press.

Speaker: Thank you.

Speaker: We have invited multiple candidates for the Republican and Democratic nomination to join us here at the Iowa press table. You can go on iowapbs.org and see previous episodes and tune in in the coming weeks for more. For everyone here at Iowa PBS. Thanks for watching today.

Speaker: [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

Speaker: Funding for Iowa Press was provided by friends. The Iowa PBS Foundation.

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