Vander Linden bring leadership experience to the table

Guy Vander Linden

I recently had an opportunity to talk with Iowa House District 75 candidate Guy Vander Linden (R). Guy is a retired Marine Corp Brigadier General. Guy also served as Presidential Helicopter Command Pilot for President Reagan.

My first question I asked, what makes him qualified to represent District 75. Vander Linden responded “I think biggest qualification is my experience in the military. I never had the same job twice, and every place I went I had to organize a different group of Marines to accomplish a mission, and it was all about building teams, and I think I was reasonably successful at that. I think I’m able to put together groups of individuals to get something done, and I’m hoping to be able to help doing that in the legislature.”

I wanted to know his thoughts on cap and trade. Guy commented “I prefer to call it cap and tax, It’s a ridiculous way of increasing fuel prices.”

We moved on to his stance the new health care law, and should it be repealed? “I think that Obamacare is a tremendous mistake. Yes, I do think it should be repealed or defended which ever is quicker and more efficient. I think it’s a terrible thing.”

I wondered about his thoughts on if Iowan’s having the right to vote on the gay marriage. Guys answer couldn’t be more simply put, “Yes”

I wanted to know if he felt we need a 3rd party, such as the tea party. Vander Linden went on to say “I don’t think of the tea party as a 3rd party, I think the tea party is, as I understand it, primarily their concerned with economic issues, taxing and regulation by the government of business and individuals. I think they are preaching what is primarily the conservative Republican line, so I don’t think it’s a separate party, it’s a faction of the conservative movement in this country.”

Moving on to unemployment, I was curious as to how he would assist in the creation of more jobs. “What I think the primary thing that the state government can do is get out of the way. According to the tax foundation Iowa ranks 46th in overall tax climate for business. And if your trying to start a business it ranks 49th out of 50 states. It would be prudent for the state to reduce it tax burden on industry and get out of their way in terms of allowing them to build their businesses and create jobs. Business creates jobs, the state doesn’t.” Said Vander Linden.

I wanted to know what he thought of Iowa’s budget, borrowing and if we were betting to much with loans to be able to recover later. Guy stated “I think so. states are always selling bonds to raise money at some time or another for things that have to be done like infrastructure and things that the state is definitely responsible for. I think our budget right now is out of whack, we’re spending more than we’re taking in, and we simply can’t do that. The state budget is just like a family budget, you’ve got to have revenue balanced with the spending, and we’re not do that. I think we need to look for places to cut spending and hopefully cut taxes as well.”

On to the question of states rights, I was curious if he thought those had been diminished. “Yes, I think the federal government has in several area’s gone beyond their enumerated powers and there by reduced the powers of the individual state and I think in many cases we need to turn that around.” Vander Linden said.

Lastly, I wondered what can be done to better manage and use the tax dollars the State brings in. He said “I think we will have to review everything. It’s just like a family budget, if your spending exceeds your income you got a problem. The chances of increasing income or revenue in the case of taxes in this economy is near zero. There for we are going to have to reduce spending, and we’re going to have to look for ways that we can get it under control. I’m sure that everything that the state is doing was well intentioned when it started out, but we simply can’t afford to do all that we’re doing now. So we’re going to have to find things we can cut.”

I gave Guy the opportunity to comment at the end. He went on to say “I’m very grateful to those who have supported me in this campaign. I’ve got a great group of volunteers that are working very hard and I can’t say enough about them. They’ve just bent over backwards to try to help me out and I hope that we’re successful in getting our point of view across, and that the voters will support us on November 2nd.”

I want to thank Guy for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak with me.

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