300 Main Street, Suite 200, Dubuque, IA 52001
Mon – Thurs 8 am – 5 pm, Fri 8 am – 12 pm
Menu

Chamber Announces Candidate Alignments

For Immediate Release: October 4, 2018

[Dubuque, Iowa] The Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce, announces their candidate alignments for the November elections of Dubuque County Supervisor, Iowa House and Senate. As the voice of the business community the Chamber wants to inform our members about local and state candidates aligned with the organization’s pro-business, pro-growth priorities.

"We work with all our elected officials to advance policies that build a robust business climate", stated Chamber President Molly Grover, adding, "We need policies that make our business community thrive and prosper." As part of the Chamber’s work to pursue this effort an alignment process was established.

The Chamber’s appointed Candidate Alignment Taskforce conducted a screening and evaluation process for the Dubuque County Supervisors and the Iowa State House and Senate races to determine those candidates aligned with the Chamber’s legislative priorities. After a thorough and completed process, the Candidate Alignment Taskforce gave their final recommendations to the Chamber’s Board of Directors who approved the slate at their board meeting on September 27, 2018.

The alignment process allows for any and all candidates to earn Chamber alignment status. The non-partisan process invites all (of the indicated election races) to participate, does not pick race “winners” and focuses solely on candidates’ stances on business and economic issues. The Chamber does not contribute financially to any candidate, campaign, party or election in any way.  

The Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce invited all the following candidates/incumbents of the Dubuque County Supervisors Race, the Iowa State House of Representatives Races (Districts 27, 57, 58 and 99), and Iowa Senate Race (District 29), to participate in the Chamber’s annual candidate alignment process.

  • County Supervisor Daryl Klein
  • County Supervisor Jay Wickham
  • Curt Kiessling
  • Ann McDonough
  • Senator Tod Bowman
  • Representative Shannon Lundgren
  • Representative Andy McKean
  • Representative Charles Isenhart
  • Carrie Koelker
  • Lindsay James
  • Nancy Fett
  • Pauline Chilton
  • Lucas Link
  • Ralph “Hank” Linden
  • Joe Oclon

Chamber alignment status is based on a process that includes a written survey and interview on imperative Chamber legislative priorities. A point-based scoring system is used to determine aligned candidates. The taskforce recommends those candidates that score a minimum 70% support with Chamber priorities for Chamber alignment to the Board of Directors.

The Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce has approved the following candidates for Chamber Alignment:

  • Curt Kiessling
  • Ann McDonough
  • County Supervisor Daryl Klein
  • County Supervisor Jay Wickham
  • Representative Shannon Lundgren
  • Representative Andy McKean
  • Carrie Koelker
  • Pauline Chilton
  • The following candidates/incumbents declined or did not respond to our invitation to participate:
  • Representative Charles Isenhart
  • Lindsay James
  • Nancy Fett
  • Joe Oclon

For more information on the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerece visit www.dubuquechamber.com.

###