| My name is Brent Siegrist. I am the Republican candidate for Iowa House District 16 which covers about half of the city of Council Bluffs. I am running for the Iowa House because I know that I can make a positive difference in the lives of the citizens of Council Bluffs.
I was born and raised in Council Bluffs and have lived in Council Bluffs my entire life except for a couple of years when I lived in Omaha while teaching in Nebraska. I graduated from Dana College and them begin a career as a public high school teacher. I taught high school social studies at Springfield-Platteview High School for 6 years after college. I was also the head cross country and wrestling coach, as well as an assistant boys track coach. From there I moved back to Council Bluffs and was a teacher/coach at Missouri Valley high school for 12 years. While there, I taught government, economics and history while also being an assistant coach for football, volleyball and girls track at various times. I coached wrestling the entire time I was at Missouri Valley. In 1984, I decided to run for the Iowa House. I was a big underdog, but won a narrow victory which turned into an 18-year stint serving the citizens of Council Bluffs in the Iowa House.
For the first 8 years I served in the House, I taught my classes first semester and then served in Des Moines during second semester. I served on the Education, Environmental Protection, Judiciary, State Government and Education Appropriations committees during those years. As a result, I am well versed about how the legislative committee process works and will be effective immediately if elected. After the 1992 election, the Republican's became the majority party in the Iowa House. I ran for House Majority Leader (the 2nd most powerful position in the House) and my colleagues voted me in as Majority Leader. The Majority Leader is the person who decides which bills will be debated and schedules all of the floor debate. The job of the Majority Leader is to basically run the operations of the Iowa House. I was reelected to this position in 1994, 1996 and 1998 without opposition.
During my time in the Legislature, I met my wife, Valerie; got married (1990); had our first child (Robert) in 1995 and our second child (Harriet) in 1998. My wife is a nurse at Jennie Edmondson hospital in Council Bluffs and our son is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently living in Los Angeles pursuing a career in acting. Our daughter is a senior at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa where she is a member of the swim team. Upon graduation, she plans on joining the Peace Corp to help others.
I had decided that I would not run for reelection in 2002 and concentrate on being home with my young family. I retired from the Iowa House following the 2002 election and, continuing my career of public service and my passion for education, I was hired to be the Executive Director of Iowa's Area Education Agencies.
In 2018, after just short of 15 years with the AEAs, I retired. For the last two years, I have been at the State Capitol as a lobbyist/advocate for the City of Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Council Bluffs Community School District, Iowa Western Community College and the Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce. I am there to advocate for the needs of those 5 organizations, be it adequate school funding, economic development needs, flood relief or whatever the issues the citizens and students of the groups have an interest in. For some people the term "lobbyist" has a negative connotation. That can be debated elsewhere. I can teel you that in this case, my service in this position n as advocate mirrors exactly what a State Representative doesadvocating for the groups and organizations in your district. |