Photo ops won’t clean water

Imagine if we decided elections the same way our Republican overlords have decided Iowa is making progress on cleaning up our polluted water.

Take the race for Iowa secretary of agriculture, for example. On election night, we expect the winner in the contest between incumbent Republican Mike Naig and Democratic candidate Chris Jones to be the guy with the most votes.

But using that fact-based metric isn’t really fair. It could be affected by the weather or goose poop or numerous other factors that make voting data a bad way to judge a candidate’s success.

The winner should be the candidate who has the most photo-ops on farms, looking and pointing at conservation projects. Count up those projects, not votes. Bonus points for the candidate saying repeatedly, in the face of data showing otherwise, that progress is being made on water quality. Confirm it with anecdotal evidence.

So the winner would be Naig. The other guy spouts facts, science and data to show us how Iowa water is so dirty it stinks. He talks about nitrate pollution from farms and how research is linking nitrate exposure in our drinking water to some forms of cancer.

But where are his smiling photo ops? He doesn’t even love ethanol! Fortunately, voters will still pick the winner. And Republicans are as scared of water these days as a cat being lowered into a bathtub. They don’t know what to do now that Iowans care about the issue and want it addressed, for real. Do they know? Is our gig up? Nah, couldn’t be. So, we get “Farm to Faucet,” the last minute, red alert GOP water quality “strategy” cobbled together just before lawmakers headed home for the year. It’s a fig leaf being sold as a three-piece suit. It fires scattershot funding at a bunch of programs and projects, but never tests any of them to see if they work.

TODD DORMAN

It’s one pipe from the farm, one to the faucet and another to your pocket, sucking up your tax dollars.

This past week, Republicans held Farm to Faucet events organized by Naig’s Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Department of Natural Resources. It should be called the “Asleep at the Switch” tour. Naig and Gov. Kim Reynolds joined in.

“In Iowa, we are tackling water quality head-on from both ends of the pipe,” Iowa DNR Director Kayla Lyon said at the event. “And we at the Department of Natural Resources are proud to partner in this water quality conversation and ensuring that Iowans have safe drinking water across the state.”

Was it a hash pipe? Who thinks this is a great strategy? Let’s check Naig’s campaign finance filings.

Fundraising in the secretary of agriculture race is modest compared to gobs of money raised in races for governor and Senate. But smaller numbers can still be revealing.

Naig has received donations of $5,000 or more from more than a dozen contributors. Many are from agricultural corporations, businesses and groups with an economic interest in sustaining the status quo.

During the 2026 election cycle through mid-July, Naig’s largest individual donation, $25,000, came from Jeff Broin, the CEO of POET, the nation’s largest ethanol producer. Jim Dean, CEO of Versova, a big egg cooperative in Sioux Center, contributed $20,205.

There are $10,000 contributions tied to Eichelberger Farms, a pork producer in Wayland; from Nick Bowdish, CEO of EliteOctane, an ethanol producer with a plant near Atlantic; and the Gerald Lynch Revokable Trust, which is tied to Lynch Livestock in Waucoma. Gage Kent, chairman of the board and CEO of Kent Worldwide in Muscatine, maker of products for livestock production, pet care, food service, consumer retail, healthcare, sport drinks, spirits brands and packaging, also donated $10,000.

Absolute Energy PAC, Archer Daniels Midland, Valero Energy and Corteva Agriscience all chipped in thousands of dollars to Naig’s re-election pot. John Bode, president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association, held a fundraiser for Naig.

Heck, the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association PAC held two $1,000-plus steak sandwich fundraisers.

The Republican State Leadership Committee donated $150,000 to Naig’s campaign.

Jones received $16,000 from Tony Singh, who leads the Joyce & Tony Singh Family Foundation, which has provided funds for conservation projects.

Jones received $10,000 from Donna Buell, an attorney from Spirit Lake who previously served on the Sierra Club’s national board. Kirstin Troxel, co-executive director of the Change Happens Foundation, which has funded the Izaak Walton League of America’s Nitrate Watch program, contributed $6,000.

As of mid-July, Naig has more than $672,000 in the bank. Jones has $98,805.74.

Naig’s friends will gladly give more, if needed. In 2018, when it looked like Naig might lose his first ag secretary race to Democrat Tim Gannon, Iowans for Agriculture, a PAC formed by the Iowa Farm Bureau, lit the hog signal. Our guy is in trouble.

Several large agricultural businesses, commodity groups and others made hefty donations to pay for TV commercials touting Naig’s bid.

“Iowa farmers and agribusiness will benefit for years to come if a campaign is successful. True incumbents win most of the time. A one-time investment of corporate funds for this cause could return dividends for a decade or more to come,” Farm Bureau lobbyist Don Petersen said in his fundraising pitch.

So Naig was added to the vast portfolio of stuff they own.

Meanwhile, Jones is out dredging up all the state’s failures to stop nitrate draining from cropland and livestock operations from fouling Iowa’s waterways. What comes from farms is reaching the faucet, and that’s a problem. Jones also blames Democrats who are too timid to take on agricultural interests.

Jones has held 89 public events in 53 cities and towns in 42 counties, so far, according to his campaign. So, he’s out there, telling Iowans what agribusinesses don’t want them to hear. He may not have the money, but he’s got the message.

Iowans seem eager to drink in those facts and all of that data that shows how the status quo is threatening our drinking water, our outdoor recreation and our health. Maybe you’ve heard Iowa has the nation’s second-highest cancer rate. Heaven forbid we might elect leaders who want to know more about links between pollution and the big C.

Jones wants to put Iowa agriculture on a more sustainable and environmentally sound footing as demand for corn shrinks and the government stops propping up the ethanol industry. Farming is going to change, despite the best efforts of friends of Mike.

“So maybe this will be enough for the people in Iowa to vote in their actual self-interest instead of marching to the culture-war cowbells,” Esquire political writer Charles Pierce said in a recent piece on the race.

Admittedly, it won’t make for much of a photo op.

To ddDorman is opinion editor atThe Gazette. Comments: (319) 398-8262; editorial@ thegazette.com

JimWinger, project manager at the Kansas-based consulting and construction firm Black andVeatch, gives a tour of the Central Iowa Water Works Grimes Treatment Facility on July 20 in Grimes.

ERIN MURPHY

/THE GAZETTE