Steven Ray

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Steven Ray

Republican Party

Education

Associate

Des Moines Area Community College

Bachelor's

Iowa State University

Contact

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

Steven Ray was a candidate seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Iowa in the 2018 election. He dropped out of the race in February 2018.

Biography

Ray's first job after graduating from high school was with the Boone County sherriff's office, where he was hired in 1988 as a public safety dispatcher. In 1995, Ray left the sheriff's office to join the communications department of the Iowa State Patrol. By the time Ray left the state patrol in 2007 to join the communications bureau of the Iowa Department of Public Safety, he held the rank of lead communications specialist II. Ray resigned his position as regional manager with the department in August 2017 after announcing his run for governor. Ray was first elected to the city council of Boone, Iowa, in 2004 and continued to hold his city council seat at the time of his entrance into the gubernatorial election.

Education

• A.A. in liberal arts and sciences - Des Moines Area Community College (1990)
• Bachelor's in political science and government - Iowa State University (1992)

Campaign issues

The following issue statements were found on Ray's official campaign website. For a full list of issue statements, click here.

“	Public Employees I was very troubled by the political motivations behind the elimination of collective bargaining and sweeping changes to Iowa Code Chapter 20 in the last 2017 legislative session. It has become clear to me that there was an underlying need to use a long-standing political agenda to make these changes at the expense of public employees. Public employees are not the problem. Government bureaucracy IS the problem and it doesn't have to be. Constituents want their government services when they need them and it takes public employees to make government work smarter and more efficient. Reducing public employees as a “badge of political honor” is the wrong business model for serving Iowans. Iowa government is severely hurting from a lack of essential positions needed in this state, from health and human services workers to follow-up on increased cases of suspected child abuse to state law enforcement and public safety support staff that provide emergency response to the public 24/7/365. Many other agencies in state government are suffering the same shortage of essential personnel. Had the changes to Chapter 20 in the collective bargaining bill come to my desk as governor, I would have vetoed it and sent it back to the legislature expressing my view that there are other areas to cut spending in state government than to put these symbolic means to cut spending on the back of our public employees. State workers, in particular, pay their taxes, spend their money in Iowa, raise their families here just like everyone else. Public workers, THE front-line workers, don’t get rich from being a state employee and most could get paid more in the private sector. Many choose government because it is a sense of serving their fellow citizens and there is a pride that comes along with that commitment. All public employees, municipal, county and state employees, can be assured that a Governor Ray will stand behind you and the hard work you do each and every day. We will find ways to reduce unnecessary spending elsewhere in state government and ensure we have the help on the front lines to adequately accomplish the business of the people and to keep our state and local communities safe and well-served. Public Safety – Law and Order – Law Enforcement Supporter – Mental Health Concerns in Iowa As governor of Iowa, I will be an enthusiastic and ardent supporter of Iowa law enforcement every day. I grew-up in a law enforcement family and have been around it for over 46 years and worked in it for three decades. My grandfather, the late Story County Sheriff John P. Stark, taught me many lessons over the years and I learned a great deal from him in dealing with the public and what it means to be a public servant. He was clearly the strongest role model in my life and the best mentor I could have had growing-up. I certainly give much of my success in my career to watching and learning from him. Our law enforcement and other public safety personnel (911 and police dispatchers, fire and EMS to name a few) are often the forgotten and under-appreciated first-responders. All of them suffer from extreme amounts of stress and should have our unwavering support. They certainly will have a Governor Ray standing with them and having their backs for the important work that they do each and every day for Iowans. Mental health is one of the most dangerous issues facing law enforcement nationwide. Those that know me well understand I have been concerned about this issue for sometime, long before it has gained some media attention lately, and I am deeply concerned that the state of Iowa has failed and minimized the need for appropriate handling of mental health treatment for Iowans. Mental health is a serious issue and can be dealt with professionally and with the help of state resources. We are often finding people with mental health issues that are draining our jail/prison resources and packing our court systems for non-violent crimes because they are not being helped with intensive professional therapy and medication. This puts a strain on county sheriffs’ budgets statewide for holding and transporting mentally-ill inmates all over the state, taking time away from serious offenders and other important duties back home. One of my goals is to create a task force of law enforcement officials, the state Department of Corrections and mental health experts to find a comprehensive solution to this growing problem. Being able to keep unstable people off the street that may interact with law enforcement, and may pose a problem for their safety and that of the officer(s) that may encounter them, is a critical issue needing immediate attention. I will support the best training for all of our law enforcement officers statewide, particularly our state Troopers, agents, and other state peace officers, and find ways to ensure they have the adequate resources, equipment and staffing to meet the needs of effectively serving the citizens of Iowa. I support the death penalty for anyone convicted of killing a law enforcement officer. While Iowa has not had the death penalty since 1965, I would support federal law changes allowing those charged with killing our law enforcers to be moved to federal prosecution so that a conviction can result in the federal death penalty rather than life in prison without parole under Iowa law. Education – Agriculture – Economy - Environment I believe education is the backbone to a successful society and to a robust economy. We have some of the best and brightest children right here in the Iowa and their success in the classroom will only enhance the opportunities for Iowa to succeed in new and innovative ventures for the future. I know I contribute my own success to the great teachers I was fortunate to have in the Boone Community School system. Teachers are the key to this entire concept and I look forward to hearing from our educators as I travel the state during the campaign in the months ahead. I want to be a governor successful in achieving the best possible educational advantages for our children. I am a strong supporter of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). These are critical curriculum to the success of a student's future. However, the basic models of education such as history, language, writing, social studies and the arts cannot be lost either in their important role in the development of our children as they grow and learn. I also believe strongly that as, historically, a farm state we must encourage agricultural studies as a priority, including agronomy-based studies as well as agri-business. For that reason, STEM should also add an “A” and become STEAM. Full STEAM ahead to ensuring agriculture studies are integral to our solid economic future for Iowa. I am concerned about Iowa’s agricultural economy and I will make it a priority of working with our state’s secretary of agriculture to do what we can to boost the agricultural economy and support Iowa’s farmers. I support Iowa family farm operations 100%. Iowa’s economy and agricultural background are essential to keeping businesses and our younger generations in Iowa. Iowa is so very capable of hosting a wide-array of economic variants. We can sustain a great deal of industrial and technical infrastructure and we must be open to bringing what we can to Iowa to provide good jobs and reinvestment in our infrastructure while raising revenue for our state without raising taxes. It’s all about good bargaining and agreements along the way. I support alternative fuel resources such as wind and solar energy production, as well as ethanol production. I also support the use of fossil fuels that are available in North America and can assist in weening our nation off the dependence of foreign oil as much as we can. I will work hard every day as governor to ensure we are doing everything possible to keep Iowa’s economy strong and make this a state where new ideas come to our state and keep Iowa as a landmark state in the breaking-in of new ideas and technological innovations. Preserving our beautiful land is paramount to our future. I support clean water and air efforts. We can all work together to keep our environment healthy for Iowans and for our flora and fauna. Working hard in this area is a no-brainer and we can do it without being restrictive to businesses and local governments. It takes a comprehensive, yet common sense approach to meet these objectives.	”
—Steven Ray

Elections

2018

See also: Iowa gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018

On July 1, 2017, Ray declared that he would run for governor of Iowa in 2018. He withdrew from the race in February 2018.

See also

• Governor of Iowa
• Iowa gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018
• Iowa gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018 (June 5 Republican primary)

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Governor of Iowa
• Steven Ray for Governor
• Steven Ray for Governor - Facebook
• Steven P. Ray - Twitter
• Steven Ray - LinkedIn