Michael Mauro

Michael Mauro
Iowa Commissioner of Labor
Incumbent
In office
May 1, 2011 - Present
Years in position	2
Party	Non-partisan
Compensation
Base salary	$112,070
Elections and appointments
Appointed	2011
Appointed by	Governor of Iowa Terry Branstad
Term limits	N/A
Prior offices
Iowa Secretary of State
2006 - 2010
Education
Bachelor's	Drake University
Personal
Birthday	September 29, 1948
Websites
Office website
Personal website

Michael Anthony Mauro (born September 29, 1948) is the Iowa Commissioner of Labor. He has served in this position since May 1, 2011.

Biography

Prior to his appointment, Mauro served as the Democratic Iowa Secretary of State from 2006 until 2010. He was first elected to the statewide position in 2006. In January 2009, he announced that he would run for a second term in office. Nearly a year and a half later, however, Mauro narrowly lost in the general election on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 to Republican Matt Schultz after receiving forty-seven percent of the vote.

Education

• Bachelor's degree, Drake University

Political career

Iowa Commissioner of Labor (2011-present)

Mauro was appointed to the statewide position of Iowa Commissioner of Labor by Gov. Branstad effective May 1, 2011.

Iowa Secretary of State (2006-2010)

Mauro served as Iowa Secretary of State from 2006 until 2010. He was elected as a Democrat to the statewide position in 2006. He lost his bid for a second term to Republican challenger Matt Schultz in the 2010 general election.

National Popular Vote Act

The National Popular Vote Act (NPVA) is part of a nationwide movement, backed mainly by prominent and influential left-leaning political activists, among them billionaire George Soros, seeking to undermine the electoral college. Rather then push for a federal amendment drastically altering this process or removing it altogether, proponents of NPVA have gone from state-to-state requesting states legislatures to vote in favor of entering an interstate agreement whereby each of the respective individual states is required to "award state electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote plurality, despite the vote in their own states." It is believed that if a coalition of individual states controlling at least 270 electoral votes is formed, it could effectively disable the electoral college without having to drag out a lengthy, and most likely unsuccessful, constitutional amendment process. As of March 2010, only five states, none of them considered 'battleground' or 'swing' states, had entered the compact - New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Washington, and Hawaii, after the state legislature overrode the veto by the governor.

The problem, critics argue, is that this directly undermines the procedural method of making changes to the United States Constitution that the Founding Fathers established over two-hundred years ago. A week after SF 227, the National Popular Vote Plan bill, narrowly passed out the Iowa State Senate State Government Committee 8-7, Mauro voiced his concerns about the measure. Insisting that the electoral college was established in the first place by the Founding Fathers to protect the electoral representation of less populated states, such as Iowa, he cautioned "lawmakers in leading a charge to adopt a resolution that could be detrimental to Iowa and our important role in choosing the President of the United States." He warned the ramifications of passing the National Popular Vote Plan bill would be "dramatic," resulting in Iowa losing its prominent place within future presidential campaigns.

Office commercials

State Republicans accused both State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald and Secretary of State Mauro of using taxpayer funds to promote their re-election campaigns, disguising them as promotions of programs their offices oversee. Beginning on September 27, 2010, Mauro's Office released a radio/television advertisement "intended to help ensure that all Iowans, especially those who are disabled, learn about the Secretary of State’s AutoMARK ballot voting system that allows Iowans living with a disability to vote independently and in private." While programs like this are no doubt important, critics argued, it was the timing of these advertisements in addition to the fact that Mauro introduced himself as the State's Secretary of State that had State Republican leaders upset.

Elections

2010

See also: Iowa Secretary of State election, 2010

• 2010 Race for Secretary of State - Democratic Primary

• Michael Mauro ran unopposed in this contest

2010 Race for Secretary of State - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Matt Schultz	49.8%
	Democratic Party	Michael Mauro	47.0%
	Libertarian Party	Jake Porter	3.1%
	Write-In		0.1%
Total Votes			1,080,281

2006

• 2006 Race for Secretary of State - Democratic Primary

• Michael Mauro ran unopposed in this contest

2006 Race for Secretary of State - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	a Michael A. Mauro	53.7%
	Republican Party	Mary Ann Hanusa	46.3%
Total Votes			1,039,058

Campaign contributions

2006

2006 Race for Secretary of State - Campaign Contributions
Total Raised		$268,788
Total Raised by Primary Opponent		N/A
Total Raised by Gen. Election Opponent		$90,671
Top 5 Contributors		Iowa DNC $15,854 (5.90% of Total)
		Forward Together PAC $15,593 (5.8%)
		Heartland PAC $10,000 (3.72%)
		Keeping America's Promise $9,000 (3.35%)
		Associated General Contractors of Iowa $9,000 (3.35%)
Other Notable Contributors		SEIU $5,000 (1.86%)
Individuals v. Institutions		$170,832 (63.6%)
		$32,585 (12.1%)
In v. Outside State		$183,346 (68.2%)
		$85,241 (31.7%)

Personal

Mauro currently resides in Des Moines, Iowa with his wife, Dorothy. The couple has had three children together.

Recent news

Know more information about this profile? Submit a bio

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term "Michael + Mauro + Iowa + Labor"

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Michael Mauro News Feed

• 51 Iowa workers killed on the job in 2012 honored at Capitol - DesMoinesRegister.com
• Workers Memorial Day Honors Iowans Who Lost Their Lives in the Workplace - Iowa Workforce Development
• DIGEST: Iowa 11th in US state exports to China - Sioux City Journal

See also

• Iowa Commissioner of Labor
• Iowa Secretary of State
• Governor of Iowa
• Terry Branstad

External links

Suggest a link

• Michael Mauro for Secretary of State Campaign website
• Michael Mauro's Facebook profile
• Project Vote Smart - Michael Mauro biography

References

Political offices
Preceded by '	Iowa Commissioner of Labor 2011-present	Succeeded by NA
Preceded by '	Iowa Secretary of State 2006-2010	Succeeded by Matt Schultz