Kruse to run for Iowa Senate District 42

Lee County Supervisor Larry Kruse has announced his intentions to run for the newly created Iowa Senate District 42. Kruse said, ?My goal to running for the Iowa Senate would be to build on the successes in Lee County on a statewide basis.?

The newly redrawn senate district includes all of Lee and Henry counties, as well as four townships in eastern Jefferson County and three townships in southern Washington County.

Kruse, 64, was born and raised in Lee County. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1969 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He retired in 2002 after 30 years of experience in the petrochemical industry, working both in the U.S. and internationally. Upon retiring Kruse and his wife, Jean, moved back to southeast Iowa.

In 2004, Kruse began his political career when he was elected to the Lee County Board of Supervisors. He was reelected again in 2008. Additionally, he is a member of the Lee County Farm Bureau and was recently appointed to the Mississippi River Park Commission.

?While I believe I played a significant role in bringing real economic and job creation progress to Lee County during the last seven years, this has truly been a collaborative bi-partisan team effort,? Kruse stated.

While on the Board of Supervisors, Kruse believes there are four major items that he helped pass that will positively impact the future of southeast Iowa. He helped bring the Siemens Wind Power manufacturing company and its nearly 800 jobs to the area.

The remaining three items affect the county?s government. Kruse worked to expand the Lee County Jail, consolidate Lee County?s three dispatch centers to one center to improve efficiency and safety, and consolidation of the two county seats in Lee County, which is estimated to save taxpayers approximately $300,000, according to Kruse?s candidacy announcement.

If elected, Kruse aims to continue his record of bipartisanship in the Iowa Senate, bring jobs to southeast Iowa, further streamline government, work towards reasonable levels of taxation and ensure a government that does not spend more than it takes in.

?In this competitive global economy, we need to have a climate where entrepreneurs, workers and families can succeed and that should be right here in Iowa.

?When you combine a good education system and responsible government with the right policies to create and retain jobs, there is no question we can be successful in keeping Iowans here and bringing back home those who moved away,? said Kruse.