Narcisse joins gubernatorial campaign

Jonathan Narcisse, the controversial former Des Moines School Board member and newspaper publisher, officially launched his campaign Saturday to challenge incumbent Gov. Chet Culver in the Democratic primary.

Jonathan Narcisse, right, talks with then candidate Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign (submitted photo).

But even though he’s running in the Democratic primary and worked hard for Culver’s 2006 campaign and Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential bid, Narcisse’s ties to the Democratic Party have always been tenuous at best.

His ideology doesn’t mesh well with the liberal-conservative labels that dominate politics today, a fact Narcisse is always happy to point out. His philosophy is probably best described as an equal mix of religious conservatism and economic populism, something Narcisse said has gotten him warm receptions from Tea Party activists and organized labor — two groups that he thinks could form the base of his constituency.

“When you travel this state you realize that even though Iowans may see different paths to the same destination, we really are focused on the same destination,” he said in an interview with The Iowa Independent. “We want accountable government. We want a prosperous economy. We want equity. We want a great education system. The difficulty has been achieving that. So we end up in these [Democrat and Republican] camps that keep us in constant turmoil while the political class serves the same greedy if not corrupt masters.”

He rails against “corporate welfare” and a bloated bureaucracy that is choking Iowa’s education system. He advocates for a complete overhaul of Iowa’s prison system that stresses rehabilitation and restitution.

But his social conservative credentials are not in doubt. He opposes abortion, believes marriage should be between one man and one woman and thinks the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage was an example of a court overstepping its bounds. Over the years, the newspapers that he has published have always refused money from gambling, liquor, tobacco or “sexually oriented” businesses.

But Narcisse, 46, doesn’t want to get bogged down in the type of divisive politics currently gripping the Republican Party, where candidates have to outdo each other in their opposition to same-sex marriage.

“I want to end the era of single-issue politics. Put marriage, abortion, capital punishment and legalization of marijuana on the ballot,” he said. “Let Iowans decide, and once Iowans decide, it’s over.”

And what if Iowans choose a path he disagrees with?

“If Iowans are making the decision, we live with the outcome and move on,” he said.

And so he begins his journey to knock out a one-term governor he helped get elected. But whether he wins or loses in June, Narcisse will be on the November ballot — either as a Democrat if his challenge is successful or an independent if it is not.

Money and politics

Narcisse has no shortage of big ideas for state government. But the cornerstone, he said, is taking on the powerful and vested interests that have dominated Iowa politics for too long.

“If we end the era of corporate welfare, if we end the era of literally seeing politicians voting monies to their friends and buddies and supporters, we can have small, accountable, transparent government,” he said. “We can have a low-tax, free market economy while also funding things like great education and compassion. It’s not an either or.”

That’s the key, he said, to doing everything else he hopes to do as governor.

“The reason we don’t focus on the issues I talk about is because politicians have been purchased to focus on certain issues,” he said, adding: “We need meaningful campaign finance reform.”

Narcisse said he’ll put his money where his mouth is and refuses to accept donations from out-of-state political action committees. He also promises on day one of his administration to take on powerful interests in state government and work to make the system more fair.

“We must get away from the trickle-down economics that have been advocated by both parties, that have given money to Microsoft and Google hoping that somehow they create money that filters down to the rest of us,” he said. “We must understand that the way to grow Iowa is by letting Iowa stimulate Iowa. High-paying jobs and low working class taxes.”

Narcisse proposes eliminating taxes on any income earned after 40 hours of work in a given week, a proposal he said would benefit those forced to work long hours just to stay afloat. He also wants to lower the regressive sales tax to three percent by 2014 and eliminate many tax subsidies and credits for business.

“Do we really want to tax grandma to death, tax working moms to death, tax the middle class to death while we create all these loopholes for people who can afford lobbyists?” he said. “Think about it, we offered money to Bill Gates and Google… these are billionaires. Meanwhile people working 40, 50, 60 hours a week are taxed to death and are bearing the burden of taxes in this state.”

Education bureaucracy

Narcisse has dedicated more time to education reform than probably any other issue, and it is the area where his campaign’s message goes into the most detail. He said he can demonstrate how the state can afford to pay for a child’s education, from pre-school through college, with the revenues that currently exist. The first step, he says, is dramatically cutting the education bureaucracy.

“We’re spending hundreds of millions to a billion dollars or more lining the pockets of folks who make six or seven figures who could care less about our kids,” he said.

He wants to eliminate superintendents and much of the services that are duplicated district by district across the state. He also wants to eliminate many of the positions in the Department of Education that don’t directly relate to educating students. Then train school boards to do what they should doing, which he says is run a district, and spend most of the money invested in education at the building level and in the classroom.

“This would reduce class sizes and increase teacher pay,” he said. “There is not a teacher in this state who should walk into a building making less than $50,000 to $60,000 a year in our public schools. But we’ve pumped that money into administration. Only a fraction of our education money actually makes it to the classroom.”

There would even be enough money to pay for college tuition for Iowans, but it wouldn’t be free. Students would have to pledge to community service during their summer breaks, and for each year of college the state paid for, they would have to live and work in Iowa after graduation.

Outsider campaign

Whether or not Narcisse is successful during the Democratic primary, he sees it as a chance to build his name recognition and form a statewide network for the fall campaign. He assumes the Republicans will nominate former Gov. Terry Branstad, but will happily take on whomever emerges.

Steve Deace, a controversial Christian radio host who has been friends with Narcisse for many years, said the Branstad-Culver matchup would give Narcisse his best shot at victory.

“That race, based on what we’ve seen from Branstad at this point, would represent the old status quo versus the new status quo, and in this anti-incumbent atmosphere an insurgent candidate like Narcisse, who is very smart about how state government works, could appeal to the disaffected bases on both sides,” he said, adding that Narcisse’s campaign would bring in “minorities and union workers on the left” and “Christian conservatives and small business owners on the right.”

But if Bob Vander Plaats emerges from the GOP primary, Deace said it would be very difficult to dislodge the Christian conservative base from the Republican Party in the fall.

Narcisse admits his campaign is facing long odds. He knows he’ll have to raise millions just to be competitive, and the two-party system makes it difficult for any independent, regardless of political philosophy. But he remains confident and believes Iowans are looking for a new type of leader in 2010, and if nothing else, his campaign will advance ideas that would otherwise be ignored.