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<\/div>\nRepublican Zach Lahn is running for Iowa governor as a D.C. outsider despite his long career as a political operative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cZach Lahn is not a politician but another Iowan like you,\u201d his campaign website claims. \u201cHe is a father, farmer, and a businessman. He is [a] 6th generation Iowan, his own biggest donor, and does not answer to large corporations or special interest[s].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
A review of Lahn\u2019s finance disclosures, however, shows that he earned at least $231,505 as a campaign staffer and congressional aide. This includes working for lawmakers in Montana and Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Lahn\u2019s earliest known political job was as a staffer to Colorado state Sen. Greg Brophy in 2009, the same year Lahn graduated from college. He made news around this time for challenging President Barack Obama to a debate during a town hall meeting in Grand Junction, CO, without disclosing<\/a> that he was a paid operative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n In 2010, Lahn worked for Republican Cory Gardner, who was running for the U.S. House at the time. After Gardner won, Lahn was a staff assistant to the new congressman for three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n In May 2011, Lahn was hired to manage Montana Republican Steve Daines\u2019 2012 campaign for the U.S. House. He reports making nearly $92,000 in this role. Lahn then spent eight months as Daines\u2019 state director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Lahn\u2019s first political job in Iowa was managing Republican David Young\u2019s 2014 campaign for the U.S. House. Lahn was hired in July 2013, but left the campaign four months later. He then went to work for one of Young\u2019s primary opponents, former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Young ultimately defeated Schultz in the primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n MsNow reports<\/a> that Lahn then became the Montana state director for Americans for Prosperity, a far-right group funded by conservative billionaire Charles Koch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Lahn has come under fire in the Iowa governor\u2019s race for living in Kansas<\/a> prior to his campaign launch. His political background further undermines his claims of being a lifelong Iowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Earlier this year, Lahn claimed, \u201cI told my wife many times, if I ever ran for anything, the only thing I\u2019d ever want to run for was governor,\u201d but Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate, said Lahn previously expressed interest<\/a> in running for Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Lahn\u2019s Democratic opponent, State Auditor Rob Sand, launched a TV ad<\/a> last week describing Lahn as a \u201cpart-time Iowan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n The Cook Political Report, which ranks the competitiveness of political races, says the race for Iowa governor is a toss-up.<\/p>\n The post Lahn\u2019s record contradicts his claims of being a political outsider<\/a> appeared first on American Journal News<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n
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Source link americanjournalnews.com<\/a>\r\n
Republican Zach Lahn is running for Iowa governor, presenting himself as a D.C. outsider and a typical Iowan, despite a significant background in politics as a campaign staffer and congressional aide. His campaign claims he answers only to Iowans and is his own largest donor. However, his financial disclosures reveal he earned over $231,000 working for various lawmakers across states. Lahn’s political journey began in Colorado in 2009, leading to roles in Montana and Iowa. His recent residency in Kansas has raised questions about his ties to Iowa, with opponents labeling him a \u201cpart-time Iowan.\u201d The race is considered competitive.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican Zach Lahn is running for Iowa governor as a D.C. outsider despite his long career as a political operative. \u201cZach Lahn is not a politician but another Iowan like you,\u201d his campaign website claims. \u201cHe is a father, farmer, and a businessman. He is [a] 6th generation Iowan, his own biggest donor, and does not answer to large corporations…","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}