Register Editorial Board's endorsement: Hubbell is the governor Iowa needs to move forward This state needs a leader who understands the concept of public service and has a vision beyond cutting taxes and government

The Register's editorial | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Fred Hubbell discusses mental heath at Register forum Fred Hubbell, Democratic candidate for governor, discusses mental health during a forum hosted by the Des Moines Register on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018.

Fred Hubbell is not a politician. He has never held elective office. He has not built his gubernatorial campaign around attacking his opponent. He is somewhat awkward in debates.

Yet he is perhaps the most qualified person in decades to seek Iowa’s governorship.

The Des Moines Register unequivocally endorses Fred Hubbell as the best candidate to unite Iowans and move this state toward a more promising future.

The future he offers is very different from the one offered by his opponent, Gov. Kim Reynolds. Her vision seems to consist almost entirely of more tax cuts and smaller government.

Hubbell’s vision is about putting people first. He understands how the actions of elected officials directly affect the lives of Iowans. During a recent meeting with Register editors and writers, he talked at length about how the privatization of Medicaid has hurt patients, health providers and taxpayers.

“The per-member cost is going up three times the rate it was before privatization,” he said. The focus of the $5.6 billion government program should be on health outcomes of Iowans, “not on the profits of out-of-state companies … making their money by denying and reducing benefits to our patients and denying payments to our providers.”

If elected, he would immediately begin working toward returning the program to state control, which is exactly what needs to happen.

Hubbell also supports funding the conservation and recreation trust created by Iowa voters in 2010. The money generated from a small increase in sales tax would allow for a “huge investment in rural Iowa,” he said, improving water quality, preserving topsoil, building recreational trails and cleaning up parks.

He spoke out against the GOP-led destruction of Iowa’s collective bargaining law, which he said hurts public workers and has prompted teachers to pursue jobs in border states.

In an exchange with a Register staffer about abortion, he summed up his position with this statement: “A woman has a right to control her own body, just like men have a right to control their own bodies. We don’t have laws that tell men what they can and can’t do” when it comes to reproductive decisions.

Amen to that.

The Iowa native has had a successful career as a business executive and a lifetime of civic volunteerism and philanthropy, as befits a member of a family that has combined business and civic betterment in Iowa for five generations.

Yes, he is wealthy. The GOP, which usually celebrates prosperity, has sought to use Hubbell’s wealth against him by making him seem distanced from working Iowans.

Nothing could be further from the truth. He's focused on raising family incomes, providing health care and ensuring state government works ethically and fiscally for residents, not special interests.

Reynolds frequently notes Iowa's top scores on career and quality of life rankings. Indeed, by many measures, Iowa is a good place to live. Yet its future is jeopardized by a shortage of workers, presidential tariffs, eroding topsoil, dirty water, and politicians who refuse to adequately fund basic government services, including K-12 education and the state's universities.

Reynolds has failed to address these challenges to Iowa’s economy and quality of life. No one would argue with the goals of the Future Ready Iowa program she has championed, an effort to help Iowans upgrade their job skills. But where is her vision for ensuring Iowa's economy generates high-wage jobs and the state remains a place where families want to live, work and play?

She insists a recent budget surplus is evidence the state is doing well, yet does not mention the surplus will be needed to cover the increased costs of the Medicaid privatization program she embraces.

Reynolds was part of an administration that closed state mental health facilities and oversaw the loss of hundreds of human services workers. Iowans now wait weeks for autopsies of loved ones, and as few as five state troopers are on duty to patrol the entire state overnight.

During her time in the office she inherited, she has advocated for improved mental health services and rightly signed into law a reform bill that all lawmakers supported. Yet she wrongly signed an extremist bill demonizing immigrants (it cracks down on so-called sanctuary cities) and another essentially banning abortion. The latter was especially painful to watch, coming from Iowa's first female governor.

Iowans deserve better. Hubbell understands the concept of public service. While he certainly does not need the job of Iowa governor, it is this state’s good fortune he wants it.