Announces candidacy for Iowa House

Lowell Engle of Harpers Ferry has announced his candidacy for the District 56 seat in the Iowa House of Representatives. Engle becomes the second area Republican candidate seeking election to the District 56 office, as he joins Kristi Hager of Dorchester in seeking the Republican bid to run against District 56 incumbent Patti Ruff of McGregor in November of this year.
“I have been asked by many of my loyal followers to run again for the 56th District House seat in November,” Engle said of running for the District 56 seat for the second time after having done so in 2014. “I am not running against Kristi Hager, whom I consider a good friend. However, the party must choose the most viable candidate to run against Patti Ruff.”
Born in Hampton, graduating from Tripoli High School and boasting an extensive list of postsecondary education, Engle retired five years ago from a 50-year career as an Intelligence analyst in service to the United States. From early tenures with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Army Intelligence, through more than 25 years working with the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense in nine different foreign countries, Engle has lived or worked in more than 46 different countries throughout his entire career. After initially retiring in 1991 and moving to Harpers Ferry to build his own home, Engle soon became a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency as an Intelligence Analyst/Liaison Specialist, a position he held for another 20 years, mostly in Latin America, until retiring for good in December of 2011.
Engle’s extensive tenure garnered him an equally extensive list of honors and achievements, including several Outstanding Service Award honorings by foreign militaries and a Letter of Commendation from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1957. “I was the team leader on three hostage cases involving Americans in South America,” Engle said of his career highlights. "The first involved 72 hostages in Lima, Peru between December 1996 and April 1997. The second, in the jungles of Ecuador in 2000, involved two American oil field workers, and the third, in the jungles of Colombia, involved three American hostages from February 2003 until July 2008 (an effort that resulted in a special commendation from the CIA and from the American Embassy in Bogota, Colombia). In each case the team I led provided the intelligence and helped formulate successful planning that led to the release of the hostages.”
In his retirement, Engle said he enjoys hunting on his 180-acre tree farm, fishing, singing in the choir and wood carving. He has owned his tree farm since 1972, having planted more than 14,000 seedlings on the property. He is also a life member of the NRA, The American Legion and a Fourth Degree Knight of the Knights of Columbus. “I am a Constitutional Conservative and a fiscal conservative and believe in small government that spends within its means,” Engle explained.
Engle says one of the most significant reasons he has chosen to run again is because he is “fed up” with being represented by legislators whose primary allegiance is to their political party and not to the constituents who voted them into the State House. “The incumbent voted against the 10 percent increase in the gas tax which is now providing much needed funding - over $750,000 annually - to each county in our district,” Engle reasoned about the seat he is vying for. "Her voting record of the past three years shows that had the bills she voted for following her party line been passed, the budget for Iowa would have increased by almost $1.5 billion. I am sure that the majority of voters in the district do not want to see that kind of an increase in spending, which we eventually have to pay for.”
Engle further explained his frustrations with the current political system. “I am also fed up with politicians who will say and do anything, no matter how false or misleading, to win an election or for some personal gain,” he said. "And finally, I am fed up with the amount of money that flows into the campaigns. It would be nice if money could be eliminated from the election equation and the winner be chosen on the basis of accomplishments and leadership ability.”
Education continues to be one the biggest issues looming within the State Legislature, and Engle shared his view in regard to that prominent matter. “I have learned that the biggest issue continues to be funding for education,” he remarked. "I know that the way funds are distributed to the schools needs to be revised. We in the rural areas spend a disproportionate amount on transportation and I believe that issue has to be settled in Des Moines. The other driving issue in the education field is how to retain STEM teachers who are being wooed away from the education field by private industry. Maybe there will have to be special consideration given for an increase in pay for those who teach those critical fields. Maybe it is time for private industry to step up and provide grants to all schools to encourage STEM teachers to stay in the education field.”
Engle furthered his views on funding for education. “I plan to search all corners for monies that might be available for education,” he explained. “I am willing to look at every budget item to see if some monies could be taken from every sector and funneled into education. I worked in the Federal Government for many years and I know that all budgets are bloated by at least five percent. I would like to know why Iowa has one government employee for every 52 residents while Minnesota and Wisconsin, respectively, have one for every 72 and 73. Someone must explain to me why we need so many more government employees per capita than our neighbors. Let’s look at the possibility of reducing staff of the Department of Education by five or ten percent and send that savings directly to the schools.”
Along with a decrease in funding measures, Engle also notes a decrease in educational achievement that concerns him. “When I was in school in Iowa we were always the number-one state in the country in student achievement test scores,” he shared. "That was before the Federal Department of Education and the Iowa Department of Education were formed. Now we are somewhere in the middle of the pack in that same category. How has the Department of Education helped Iowa schools?”
Engle says he will also be “pushing for veterans issues,” hoping that the current bill concerning veterans before the legislature passes. He further admits that he does "not know what all the other major issues are that face this district. I intend to learn. I will be campaigning the same way I did in the last election - going door-to-door and speaking directly to the voters. I am hoping to arrange a series of town hall meetings so I can meet more people from the farm areas and learn what their concerns are. I intend to convince the majority that I am the best candidate to serve the 56th District.”