Keith Jones
Occupation: Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors and U.S. Marshals Southern District of Iowa
Email: kj634@hotmail.com
Office Seeking: Iowa House District 20
58 years old. Born and raised in Council Bluffs. Graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School, IWCC and UNO (Accounting). I have two adult sons - the youngest has taught school for Omaha Public Schools for 5 years. The oldest fabricates windows in Omaha. I worked for the City of Council Bluffs for 29 years and retired as a police lieutenant. I've worked part-time for the U.S. Marshals for almost 4 years. I'm currently on the Board of Supervisors for Pottawattamie County.
1. Education. Iowa at one time was #2 in the nation for educational standards. We are now ranked 27th. I would advocate for more early childhood education - specifically in the areas of math and reading. Studies show that if a child can't read by the 3rd grade, the rest of their education will be greatly hampered. I'd institute an educational SWAT team for the bottom 3% of public schools and require high level administrators to perform substitute teaching 4x a school year to maintain a connection to learning. I'll embrace A.I. based learning models and advocate for more Trade / Vocational opportunities in high schools. Finally, I'll allow Iowa junior colleges to offer selected 4 year certifications. I'll also introduce expanded legislation to make minimum public school teachers receive a minimum salary of $60k annually and remove problem students from grade school classrooms to better the learning environment for ordinary students. 2. Public Safety - I'll sponsor a bill to pay volunteer EMTs a $1,200 refundable Iowa tax credit to address the EMT shortage in rual Iowa. I'll introduce another bill to create mandatory minimum sentences for offenders who use motor vehicles to run from police officers. Iowa needs two more state prisons to combat overcrowding and guarantee repeat criminals serve their sentences. I'll increase the Iowa State Patrol's officer strength by 35 troopers to ensure our highways, interstate system and small towns are safer. And I'll try to increase the funding for community mental health centers. |
What should be done to strengthen business climate, grow the workforce, and encourage economic and population growth?
Young families are our workforce and future leaders. To keep them here and attract new ones, we need to better our school systems and offer superior recreational opportunities. In the next 3 weeks, as a member of the Pottawattamie County BOS, I'll recommend creating an exploratory committee to work with the Iowa Bureau of Prisons to apply to build a state prison in our county -outside of the city limits of Council Bluffs. This could potentially employ 300+ workers at over $85k apiece and have a net economic impact for this area of over $90 million for perpetuity.
Government doesn't create jobs, businesses do. Omaha is the 40th U.S. city by population. Council Bluffs isn't in the top 600. Large U.S. businesses are doing extremely well. Omaha, because of it's size, Omaha can draw large businesses. We CAN'T continue to compare ourselves to Omaha. We CAN capture it's workforce though as residents and consumers. We can do this by strengthening our schools, keeping taxes low, having good streets and parks, and reducing regulations. We need to focus on small and medium sized businesses. |
What would you like voters to know about you, beyond your positions on the issues?
I'm a Christian decision maker who has a vested interest in making our area as good as possible. This will take a coordinated effort with a diverse mix of people, community organizations, political viewpoints and local and state governmental intervention. We're right on the cusp of being an amazing community. But it will take focus to better ourselves. Iowa is in very good shape because of good leadership. But just a few bad political cycles can bring a cascade of bad political decisions and policies. My overall goal is to make sure that Iowa never looks anything like California.