HD 21 showdown pits newcomer vs. veteran

Four years ago, state Rep. Don Shoultz was looking forward to the first Democratic majorities at the Capitol in more than 10 years. After serving 24 years as state representative for Waterloo’s House District 21, Shoultz expected to sail back to Des Moines for his 13th term on the winds of a flagging economy and a national anti-Republican attitude in a district with two Democrats for every registered Republican.

Anesa Kajtazovic , left, and John Rooff

Four years ago, 53 Democrats would go on to Des Moines. But Don Shoultz wasn’t one of them. The outspoken and often blunt Democrat was upset by a Republican with no political experience to the tune of 300 votes in a year that saw Democrats win back control of both legislative chambers and Terrace Hill for the first time in more than 30 years.

Tami Wiencek put her years of name recognition as a television anchor for local NBC affiliate KWWL, as well as a formidable fundraising effort to work and pulled out the only bright spot for Republicans in 2006.

“It’s a pretty Democratic district, one of the better in the state. It was one no one expected me to lose,” Shoultz said. “But with her being on TV for close to 20 years and a lot of money she was able to win.”

Four years later, the electoral math as well as voter attitudes have reversed, and Black Hawk County Republican Chair Don Wood, along with other GOP officials, expects state Republicans to take back the Iowa House. Even though Wiencek lost her re-election bid in 2008 to state Rep. Kerry Burt, the seat is now open following Burt’s legal woes.

“(House District 21) is definitely one in play and I’m sure the Democrats will try their best to keep it… it won’t be an easy battle,” Wood said. “There’s a groundswell across the nation that’s concerned about the direction we’re headed and I think that gives (Republicans) a few more cards in the hand.”

But Wood concedes it will take more than a groundswell of conservative enthusiasm to elect a Republican in a district that is predominantly African-American and has strong ties to working-class and labor issues.

Wood, along with basic election math, says the former Blackhawk County supervisor and longtime Waterloo mayor John Rooff, who won the GOP nomination back in July, will have to reach beyond the district’s 4300 registered Republicans if he wants to beat his Democratic opponent, Anesa Kajtazovic.

Wood said the 64-year-old Waterloo native will have to use his name recognition and his record to tap into the district’s independents and Democrats in order to top his 24-year-old challenger, who has strong ties with the city’s Bosnian immigrant community, estimated to be around 5,000, many of whom live in her district.

Wood also said even though Burt may have soured voters in the district over the past two years, having a fresh-face like Kajtazovic running under the Democratic banner should minimize any damage Burt’s transgressions might have caused the party.

University of Northern Iowa political science professor Chris Larimer says he sees a lot of parallels between this year’s house race and that of 2006. It has name recognition, a fresh-faced challenger and a heated political climate, and it could be one of the few contested races to buck a statewide trend.

But Larimer says there is still one thing missing in this race: money.

“In 2006 and in 2008 when you had competitive races across the state you’d see some fundraising go into the hundreds of thousands,” Larimer said. “In this district, it’s a little strange. It’s as if no one wants to talk about the race. I’m not going to say the public is apathetic about it, but they aren’t really engaged.”

In 2006, a candidate in an average state house race had to raise more than $60,000. In 2008, that figure ballooned up to $73,000. As of now, neither Rooff or Kajtazovic have been able to half the amount raised by either Shoultz, Wiencek or Kerry Burt this close to the election.

While Kajtazovic has been able to raise close to $12,000 so far with the help of contributions from various labor organizations and PACs, Rooff has only been able to raise a third of that, and currently has just $629 in his campaign coffer as of the July 19 finance disclosure reports filed with the Iowa Ethics Campaign Disclosure Board. Neither candidate has seen a dime of money from other political PACs, including the coffers of the state parties.

Larimer says such anemic funding is strange considering the stakes of this year’s elections and the district’s dynamic candidates.

“This should be a competitive race and you’d expect a lot of money to be raised,” Larimer said. “The Republicans could potentially take back the Iowa House (of Representatives), you’d think winning this open seat would be extremely important to them.”

Added Larimer: “It’s as if both parties have said ‘we’ll just let the chips fall where they may’ and go from there.”

Both campaigns, as well as Wood, say the ongoing recession and the expensive gubernatorial race have made it harder for down-ticket races to pull in cash like they used to. But Larimer disagrees.

“I don’t buy that (former Gov. Terry Branstad) is sucking up all that momentum,” Larimer said. “Neither party seems to care about the race, even though both parties talk about keeping or taking the Iowa House. I don’t get why you’ve got this open district and why you don’t see more fundraising.”

Whether or not and to what degree the fundraising picks up in the race, its thrift matches the rhetoric and the issues Kajtazovic and Rooff are using to connect to voters.

For Kajtazovic, who fled Bosnia with her family in 1997, the limping economy and dwindling funding for public education are preventing other Iowans from accomplishing what she has been able to do. Kajtazovic graduated from Waterloo West High School and went on to earn dual degrees in business and public administration from UNI in just three years.

“We came here with nothing,” Kajtazovic said. “But what helps is to be able to get a good education and find decent jobs. We need to continue developing and focusing on future job industries like wind energy.”

Now working as a mortgage analyst in Waterloo, Kajtazovic says that she has gotten a first-hand glimpse at the ugly-side of the recession, watching her father battle for hours at his job and watching cousins lose their jobs completely.

“People are struggling all over the city, even within my own family,” Kajtazovic said. “My story responds well with people because they realize that we’re all in this together.”

Kajtazovic thinks the state should be investing more in education, as well as jobs, and that if elected, she would make protecting working families in Iowa one of her top priorities.

“My mom was injured at work and I understand those complications that families have to face,” Kajtazovic said. “I think the legislature should do more to help Iowans who work hard.”

Rooff agrees with his Democrat on what’s at stake in this year’s election. He thinks the legislature has been habitually underfunding education and that it should re-invest in everything from local schools to state universities. But he thinks the state needs to shore up its own spending, and step away from the business community, if Iowans want to see more industry and jobs.

“I don’t think you can focus on anything other than keeping and creating jobs,” Rooff said. “Right now, this is the first time in our lives that they’re children will not be better off than they are.”

According to Rooff, the state needs to lessen its corporate tax burden and that he would support more tax incentives if that meant more jobs would come to Iowa. An accomplished business owner in Waterloo, Rooff thinks that his party label doesn’t matter when it comes down to looking out for citizens struggling to find work.

“I’m running as a Republican but I am running as a Republican that will represent everybody,” Rooff said. “It’s one thing to say you represent working families, it’s another to say that’s who I am. It’s who I came from.”

Rooff says his experience in running a county, a city and businesses is what voters will respond to come Election Day. If that experience translates to name recognition, many area experts agree it could be a very close race.

“A no name Republican wouldn’t have a chance in this district but having a familiar face will be huge,” Larimer said. “There will be some skepticism about a young Bosnian girl, running for the Iowa House.  A lot of folks, especially the elderly, will wonder, ‘who is this?’”

Kajtazovic says she’s working hard to calm that question. She says she’s knocked on 5,000 doors since entering the race in March, and that her energy, as well as her fresh ideas, will be what makes the difference in the election.

“It doesn’t matter if you have a well known last name if you don’t put in the work and talk to people,” Kajtazovic said. “They know I’ll have the longest name on the ballot and they know I’ll work hard.”