Former assistant U.S. attorney wants seat at Statehouse

MARENGO — Now that his children are grown, Judd Lawler is ready to spend more time serving his community. The Oxford resident is running for State Representative of Iowa District 91 serving Iowa County.

Lawler faces Adam Grier of Williamsburg in the June 4 Republican primary.

“I was born and raised in Iowa,” said Lawler. “I started my schooling in the HLV school district and then graduated from high school in Johnson County.”

Lawler met his wife while attending Yale University. Ericka Lawler is a hand surgeon.

Lawler followed up his history degree with a law degree from Georgetown.

“And I ended up being an assistant United States attorney. I represented taxpayers in the Enron bankruptcy,” said Lawler.

“I prosecuted corrupt Wall Street executives. The big one was … a big company called Adelphia. I think we charged them with over a billion dollars worth of fraud.”

When the Lawlers decided to start a family, they moved to Iowa. “And we’ve been living in this rural area near Windham and Cosgrove for 18 years.” They’ve raised and processed their own meat, chicken, turkeys, ducks and geese, Lawler said.

While his wife launched her career, Lawler stayed home to raise their two children. “I was home schooling my kids for a few years, and my younger one started high school this year; so I wanted to get back into public service, so here I am,” Lawler said.

Working on behalf of taxpayers and fighting financial corruption are still a passion for Lawler, he said. As a State Representative, he’d look out for waste, inefficiency and fraud. “[Taxpayers] deserve to have someone keep an eye on that money,” he said.

“I’m a big lover of the Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights.”

The Fifth Amendment is important now in dealing with CO2 pipelines and eminent domain, Lawler said. Eminent domain can be used for public good, such as putting in an interstate highway, but not for private use. “We can all drive on the highway, but we’re not all shareholders in that pipeline,” Lawler said.

“That’s an issue I hear a lot about as I knock on doors,” said Lawler. “The idea that we have property rights at all is kind of meaningless if the government can do that.”

“I’ve held 15 meetings around the district and knocked on over 1,000 doors,” Lawler said. That’s how he will serve, through hard work and listening to voters, he said.

“I think they want us to work hard and stand up for common sense.”