I guess I've always been interested in public affairs. My mom tells me I was the only one in kindergarten (Crocker School, Des Moines, Iowa) who knew the answer when the teacher asked who the governor was.
While in high school I worked for radio station KIOA, which had the first telephone call-in program in the state. I worked with Russ Lavine, the program's host who taught me by example about citizen involvement, some of which you can read about elsewhere on this site. Russ was probably the greatest single influence upon the development my civic principles. Some regulars on the program often used to join Russ and me for onion rings at a local motel after the program. Affiliated as the Fair Tax Association, they were Harold Wheaton, Bob Scott, and George Flagg. Harold died soon after that, but Bob and Russ and George all were eventually elected to the Des Moines City Council. George is still on after about 20 years. Now I'm on the Winfield's city council. A pretty good batting-average, 100%, for that table! There must have been something in those onion rings.
I registered to vote the day I was eligible, and I have never missed voting in an election since then. I usually vote at the Elections Office during the month before the election, just in case I get called out of town and am not here on election day.
As a student in Iowa City, I was not allowed to register ("college students should vote back home, not here") but after discussing the matter with the city attorney, he decided that it would be wiser to allow me to register than to have me bring a case that would successfully challenge their practice (but he asked me not to tell the other students). Of course, I did tell them. I even had a letter to the editor published in the student daily newpaper to spread the word. Several years later I found myself in the position of writing election laws for Iowa, and I inserted provisions that make it quite clear that students cannot be denied the right to vote in their college communities, and that is still the Iowa law today.
During my student days, I ran for election to the office of Justice of the Peace. I guess the results should not be surprising, considering I was running as a Republican in a college community. But I couldn't run as anything else, now could I?
I earned my BA degree as a history teacher. I have done some substitute teaching over the years in Winfield and nearby communities and must say that I really enjoy a day in the classroom. When I do it, I am a substitute teacher, not just a babysitter for the day, and I enjoy the sense of accomplishment when a kid comes up later and says that I made it interesting for him.
I founded a firm that organized and kept track of voter registration for the election officials in Iowa. We also published an annual comprehensive book of the current election laws, complete with annotations of court cases and attorney general's opinions. As consultant and lobbyist for the election officials, I spent much time working on election-related legislation over several years, and wrote the annual election law revision bills. One of the reforms I introduced centralized election administration with the county clerks instead of with the various city and school boards. Another preserved the secrecy of absentee ballots by having all of them in the county counted at a single special precinct the day after the election, thus allowing those that arrived on election day to be counted too. I also suggested to the Code Editor that he publish a version of the Iowa Constitution with all of the amendments incorprated in place, instead of the original with all the amendments in chronological order at the end. He took the suggestion and that is the version that is common use today.
During that time I was very active in Republican politics, being a precinct committeeman and member (and Finance Chairman) of the Linn County Central Committee and a regular delegate to the district and state conventions over the years. In 1976 I was an alternate delegate (pledged to Reagan, not Ford) to the National Republican Convention in Kansas City.
I closed Iowa Data after 10 years and went to work for a division of Rockwell International, who wanted a liaison to solve some problems that arisen with their largest customer, in Miami. We lived in Miami for five years.
After being transferred to Winfield by my employer in 1985, I became concerned about attempts by Bill Bruss to change some of the large lots in the Wooded Winfield area into dense subdivisions. That was the first of my numerous times circulating petitions door-to-door ("If you haven't had Stan knock on your door for something, you ain't never been home"). I started attending meetings of the Village Board, and also the Plan Commission, on a regular basis. I spent about eight years in the audience of most of those meetings, some would say as a gadfly, before being elected to the Board in 1997.
During that time I recruited candidates to run at various elections, wanting the voters to have a choice. So few want to run that for many years before that most trustees had been appointed to their posts and there had been only rare contested seats. In the 1991 election, as in the 1997 election, the voters elected the entire group that had been recruited, throwing out all of the previous board that were running for reelection. As part of those efforts I edited The Wooded Winfield Newsletter, and later The Winfield Monitor.
During those Years In The Audience, I organized several referenda so that the owners of the village could give orders directly on some things. Those which passed overwhelmingly include keeping the village hall in the downtown area, and another prohibiting Tax Increment Financing Districts. I also organized a referendum on the question of having renewable two-year terms instead of four-year terms for local officials, which almost passed.
I ran for the post of village trustee in 1995 and again, this time successfully, in 1997. I entered office on April 17, 1997.
I believe in limited government. It is not the role of local government to do much more than assure that we have a thorough and effective police department, and to maintain the streets. Most other things belong to the private sector or other governmental bodies. Those of us elected to office do not know better what is best for others. If I could paint something in large letters upon the walls of the Board's meeting room, it would be "Leave The People Alone."