Dan Dolan announces run for Congress

Dan Dolan is a Republican candidate for Iowa?s second U.S. congressional district, a seat currently held by Democrat Dave Loebsack. Dolan lives in Muscatine, which he has called home for the past 25 years. He grew up in the Bronx, as did his wife, Celeste.

?We started going out when we were 15 years old,? Dolan said. ?When she and her father came here for a job in Muscatine, I chased her here. There were people who said it wouldn?t work, but I?ve got five kids to prove it did.?

Dolan works as a land developer and manages home construction. He previously worked in petroleum exploration for a decade.

?I worked in the Rocky Mountains and in off-shore exploration around the world,? he said. ?I?ve worked in the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, the Gulf Coast, Brazil and off the East Coast.?

Dolan said that both his experience in the housing industry and in energy have shaped his political views.

?The last housing crisis was during the farm crisis of the 1980s,? he said. ?The way we got out of that was by people buying houses, fixing them up and selling them.?

Dolan claims that the government is making this process too difficult today.

?This time, we?ve limited access to capital through increased oversight and regulation,? he said. ?The pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. The regulators are breathing down the bankers? necks.?

Dolan said that rolling back regulations is one of his priorities.

?To me, one of the major problems is onerous government,? he said. ?The present administration thinks they can create jobs through regulations, mandates, and increased reporting requirements. I believe the exact opposite. We need to get out of the way and let small businesses grow. Small businesses are the engine of growth. They?re the ones that do the majority of the hiring. Increased regulation isn?t what a small business needs.?

Dolan said the U.S. needs a national energy policy. He said he wants to reduce the amount of foreign oil consumed in the U.S. He said he feels uneasy about purchasing oil from countries such as Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.

?I spent 10 years in petroleum exploration,? he said. ?I know we have the technology, the resources, the equipment, the manpower and the reserves of both petroleum and natural gas. What we have is a crisis of will. We won?t utilize our own resources.?

Dolan said it was a mistake for President Barack Obama to ban drilling in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from April to July 2010.

?I believe that was the worst course he could have followed,? he said. ?We?ll buy oil from Mexico and Venezuela, who drill in the Gulf of Mexico. Cuba did not get the memo. Cuba is going to have Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian contractors drilling 65 miles from Key West. In effect, they will become the stewards of our gulf water quality.?

Dolan said the U.S. should also rely more on natural gas and ethanol. He said he likes the fact that there is a push toward using cellulosic ethanol, which uses things such as paper waste, wood chips and switchgrass. At the same time, Dolan said it is time to eliminate the subsidies for ethanol.

?I want the industry to stand on its own,? he said. ?We?ve taken it out of the cradle. We?ve got to throw it out of the nest. I think it will fly.?