Clarence Hoffman has been the Iowa State Representative from the 55th District, a sort of dog-legged shape district that stretches across southern Woodbury, all of Ida, the western half of Crawford and the northeast corner of Monona counties. He has served in the Iowa House of Representatives since 1998.Hoffman received his BS from South Dakota State University and taught high school for a while before starting the Hoffman Agency in Charter Oak. He has since built his business into a successful independent insurance brokerage with offices all over western Iowa.
Hoffman currently serves on several committees in the Iowa House - the Commerce committee; and the Local Government committee, He is the ranking member of the Economic Growth committee. He also serves on the Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee.
Anyone who knows him knows that it has been important to him to advocate for the economic development of western and rural Iowa.
I went to college with sons John and Louis. When I first met him, he enthusiastically talked about the importance of supporting local businesses, and the importance for anyone in business to show care and concern for their customers. Looking out for others will is always in your best interest. People will support you, if you support them.
That must have left an impression on me, because I remember it almost twenty years later. I think it may be part of what made me interested in reading Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale even though I wasn’t in business or sales.
We consider Clarence and his wife Lynn dear family friends. They were an important part of our church and the community back when they lived in Charter Oak. Especially when we were in college, I watched them sacrifice to invest in lives of a number of young people.
It will be obvious to regular readers of this column, that I lean well to the left of Clarence on many political issues, but it has been my experience that unlike many of his colleagues (in both parties) Clarence has always striven to serve with both intelligence and integrity.
His support of the continuation (not addition) of the one cent sales tax for schools, even in the face of pressure from his own party is just one example of his intelligence and his integrity. His desire that the revenues of that tax be shared on a per student basis with rural schools and not just hoarded by the regions with a larger tax base is an even greater example of his integrity.
Frankly, wish that his Dad would run for Congress and unseat his fellow Republican Steve King. But you can't always get what you want.
So, as he finishes his final term I wanted to recognize him and thank him for his character and service to our district. There's a reason he's run unopposed for so many years, and it's not because the Dems can't field a candidate, nor is it because the district is just so overwhelmingly Republican (although, let’s face it, those have probably helped) – No, it's because people know Clarence and they trust Clarence. They know him because he goes out of his way to get to know them and be available and approachable, which has gone a long way in building trust with them too.
Whoever succeeds him would do well to follow his example. He’s leaving some mighty big shoes to fill.
No comments:
Post a Comment