WVIK is including our entire conversation with Josué Rodriguez for voters.
A transcript of WVIK's interview was edited for clarity.
Rodriguez: My name is Josué Rodriguez. And I'm running for House District 97 in Davenport, Iowa. The Iowa State Legislator. I'm actually 37 years old.
WVIK: Alright. Thank you so much Josué Rodriguez for taking the time out of your day today and speaking with WVIK.
Rodriguez: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you so much for the invitation.
WVIK: And can you kind of tell me, kind of summarize your background of why you wanted to run for the Iowa Statehouse 97th District seat?
Rodriguez: Well, absolutely. I actually come from Queens, New York. I actually grew up to first generation immigrants here in New York and I'm actually a second generation immigrant. And America has been a great place. It's been a great place to have the American dream and succeed. And actually the state of Iowa has given me that opportunity. A couple of years ago we were able to purchase our first home. We have a wonderful family. And so I want to be able to preserve this dream as a second generation immigrant that I've got to experience. And so when I see things that are going on around the country, things that are happening in our state, it got me concerned. I said I have two wonderful children, a six year old, a two year old. A wife, two dogs. (laughs) We want to make sure that we have a country and a state that is a blessing or that benefits everyone in that state.
WVIK: And what were you doing prior in Davenport before deciding to run?
Rodriguez: So prior to being in Davenport, moving to Davenport, I actually went back to college. I actually graduated with a bachelor's degree from Life Pacific University. And the focus on that was ministry, but also organizational leadership. And that's what I've applied here for the last several years. I've been a pastor here in the local community, serving the community for well over six years now. Became director of ministries at our church as well. So that means that we oversee age range ministries as well as our local food pantry as well. And so we serve our community in many different ways.
WVIK: And what are the top issues that voters have been bringing to your attention whenever you go out for rallies or community forums? What's kind of been top of mind for them?
Rodriguez: I think one of the issues that is going on is the economy. I think that's on everybody's mind right now. That's definitely on my mind. When I go to the grocery store and I'm paying for the price of milk or eggs and we can see a substantial increase in these goods, I think that's definitely on the top of people's mind. What's going on with inflation has severely affected us when it comes to paying our insurance, our cars. I mean our cars. The average rate for a car now is almost $1,000. That to me is insane. The price of vehicles have gone up. The price of housing has gone up as well. And this affects people's budgets, which means that they don't have as much income then to spend on goods that they just want for fun. And so that affects our economy as a whole. It affects our jobs. It unfortunately creates people losing their jobs I think as well. Well, not I think. I know so. And we can think of local businesses around here that have cut substantial jobs.
WVIK: And what ideas do you have to help with the housing issue within Davenport and the fact that, as you mentioned, families are struggling paying their bills and affording rents and utilities?
Rodriguez: Absolutely. So I think this is great because in the state of Iowa, it is led by Republican legislation, conservative. And they've been conservative fiscally as well. It's one of the states that is actually fiscally responsible and has a surplus in finances. So I think this is very good and it helps. And recently, the state of Iowa. The state of Iowa got rated number one again for housing and housing for millennials. It's actually doing very, very good. And so if we keep going in this format, passing legislation that continues to improve this, I think it's best. I think that the people that are having difficulty with housing are folks that are passing policies. For example, I can think of New York City, where I come from, Chicago, policies that are beginning to house illegal immigrants that are causing a severe shortage of housing for even American citizens.
WVIK: Well, here in the Quad Cities, I know we have a very large immigrant population, refugee population. In Davenport, I was just speaking to the Quad Cities Tenant Alliance. They estimate around 37,000 renters are within Davenport. I know not all of those would be your potential constituents if you were elected. But you mentioned Iowa has a surplus. Are you suggesting some of those funds could be used for programs to help with housing within Davenport?
Rodriguez: Yeah, I think so, not just within Davenport, but within the state, right, because it affects the whole state as a whole. So absolutely, I'm in favor of anything that's going to help produce more housing within the state, within the city of Davenport, that is beneficial to us all, right? The shortage of supply of housing will increase the value of homes. So anything that will help builders, anything that will help create more housing, I think will be beneficial, right? Supply and demand is a real thing. And we're seeing that happen.
WVIK: And well, do you have any like restrictions on like housing policies or is there any policy that you're not for that if it were brought up in the Iowa Statehouse, you'd be like, no, I wouldn't support this when it comes to housing policies?
Rodriguez: I think I would be open to all policies. But as they begin to explain kind of the details of those policies, it's unfair for me to say right now, no, we're not in favor of that if I haven't actually heard the policies. I think that's really important here. As I'm running, I'm kind of just tired of the politics as usual. And I think that makes me a little bit different, right? I'm not a politician. I'm a dad who's gotten tired of seeing what's going on. And so I want to hear both sides. If the Democrat Party has a good plan, well, let's work and make this plan work from both sides of Iowa. If the Republican Party has a good plan, let's go with that. Why does it have to be, oh, that's a good plan, but it came from the Democrats, so we're not going to support that or vice versa. It came from the Republicans. So we're not going to support that. I think the idea here is what is a good plan that is good for our district, that is good for the state of Iowa, and let's work together to actually do what is beneficial for all of us here in this state.
WVIK: And to kind of change gears here for another issue affecting Iowans. Iowa recently in the legislature passed the six-week abortion ban, and that has been in effect this past summer. Do you support the legislation that is on the books? Do you see any room for improvement?
Rodriguez: So, Iowa's current policy on abortion is that it should be a ban of any cardiac activity is detected, which is not usually six weeks because it's usually 12 weeks. It's based around an external monitor. So I think this is important. We call it, I know the news likes to say a six-week ban, but it's actually the heartbeat bill. And it's the detection of a heartbeat, which is usually around the 12-week, and it's an external monitor, which is done here in the state. And I think it provides the crew. I know it provides a crucial exceptions to protect the health and safety of the mother, which is absolutely important. Will I continue to support and advocate for organizations like Women's Choice? Absolutely. Will I continue to support other organizations that provide vital services? Absolutely. Anything that includes education, healthcare, emotional support for young mothers. All these programs perform critical roles in offering alternatives and assistance to women facing these difficult kind of decisions that happen. And I completely understand that. I think that the legislature should continue to work to expand such programs. And we really need to empower women on that.
WVIK: Well, if a woman finds herself pregnant and she doesn't have the funds to support a child, that's not really an exception to receive an abortion within the state on that alone. Would that be something that would need to be improved or any Iowa policies also to be put forth to help financially for women who are going to be forced to have a child? That they may not have wanted at that point in their life.
Rodriguez: I think you bring up a very good point. And this is what I'm talking about, expanding some of those policies and procedures, ability to provide support around those women. I think taking the life of somebody else because we don't have that in place, I don't think that's justified. And I think as a Republican Party and people in general and legislators, we should focus on doing those things. Let's support our women, our young mothers. Let's support them. Let's give them the ability to raise a family and let it be a blessing. I think it's very important that we value life. Let's get rid of those economic factors that may cause a person to feel that way. And I think that that's a better process or a better move forward than to necessarily say, okay, because we don't have these factors in place, we're going to take a life. I don't think that's appropriate.
WVIK: Well, if the mother herself doesn't want a child, I mean, the state would supersede her decision on that. She'd have to be in the wrong. She doesn't want a kid.
Rodriguez: Again, the state legislator says that at the heartbeat bill, it's within the 12 weeks, she would have made that decision by then. So there is no six-week ban here in the state of Iowa. It is a heartbeat bill.
WVIK: Excuse me, I need to get some of the statistics down, so I apologize for that. But I know a lot of women still are unaware that they are pregnant in between six to 12 weeks, depending. Like every woman is different when it comes to carrying a pregnancy. So just to be able to, like everybody's different, not to have like this big expansive limitation, if you don't want to call it a ban. But, you know, after six weeks, they would be unable to receive an abortion in their personal health care.
Rodriguez: Once again, it is not after six weeks. Once again, we established that it is a heartbeat bill. And the way that that is established here in the state of Iowa is an external monitor that is used to measure whether there's any detection of a heartbeat. And again, that is around the 12th week. Period. Okay. And I agree with you. It is different for every female. But again, the detection of that happens around the 12th week.
WVIK: All right. We'll move on to education for people who have a family and they would like to have their children the best education possible. What policies? I know Iowa has the school voucher program to send using public funds for private education. Is that a policy that you would also approve if you were in the legislature at that time? Do you see any changes that you would like to make to that program or other programs dealing with education within the state?
Rodriguez: Well, one of the first things I want to say is that I support public funding as much as necessary to make it successful for all our students. That's number one. Number two is that it's a school choice program. The parents have a choice here to pick. If their school right now is not functioning and doing well for their child, they have the choice then to decide where to move their child to. In some cases, that may be private schools. And so the state says you pay or you receive $7,800 of taxpayer money for your child's education. You're allowed to take that education savings account and use it to a school that you believe is appropriate for you that is going to benefit your child. I think the key here is if there's something going wrong with our education system, let's try to bring solutions and solve the issues that are going on. I think just throwing money at the problem doesn't solve it. And to my understanding here, as I talked to several legislators, we have a very good funding of our public schools and we continue to increase that public funding to our schools. But the question is, how much is enough and is it being effective? And I think we need to be accountable to the taxpayers that pay for this to say, is this working? And if it's not working, I think it's completely just to say, let's try something different or let's see why it's not working. But just to say a blanket statement, let's throw money at it. It's not the solution.
WVIK: For the private school voucher program for this year, it was, I think, budgeted for around $180 million. But with, I want to say, 33,000 families (Correction: Over 30,000 applications) who have decided to utilize it, it's now about $234 million, higher than what was budgeted. People are concerned that if we keep funding this, it will cause public schools to close down if families move away from that and we're not spending funding or resources to help the public school, which may need these resources. And also, the private school can also deny a student from enrolling. There's no, you know, they, like if it was a public school, it would be against the law. You can't say, no, you can't go to this school, especially if you live within the district. But at a private school, you could do that. Are there ways that you would like to circumvent that, those decisions being made? Or how, what policy would you make sure that, because you mentioned you don't want to throw money at just the issue. What's a better way to make sure that our public schools are succeeding? Instead of kind of leaving, leaving them dry without these resources.
Rodriguez: Yeah, I think it's important here. We are not leaving them dry. They're still funding this well north of, I believe, around $500 million still going to a public school. So they're not running dry. I think what we're asking them is to take a look at how you're spending your money. Let's reassess. Let's fix this. If we're spending too much money on directors or top heavy on administration, let's figure this out. I mean, I heard a story. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe this story. One of the administrators was getting paid a little bit north of $300,000 per year. And the days when he was off or took a sick day, she or he took a sick day off, they were getting paid $1,000 a day. Now, there's people in our country, there's people in our state that don't make $1,000 a week. And this person, for not going into work, was making $1,000 a day. That's something that needs to be looked at. We can't just, again, spend the money and say everything is going well. When you have events like this occurring in the state of Iowa, that's not fair.
WVIK: I guess I don't know that one specifically, but would that not be paid sick leave if he was gone for one day and still paid?
Rodriguez: Absolutely. A paid sick leave has nothing to do with it. It's the outrageous amount of funds that are being paid to do a job. Is that appropriate? I think we need to look into that and say, is this appropriate or not? $1,000 a day to take sick leave, which everybody gets sick leave. But is that appropriate for this type of job or what we're going on? We, again, have to be accountable to the taxpayer. Is this an appropriate salary or is this an appropriate amount of money for somebody to receive on a public job? We are accountable to the taxpayers. Once again, I support public education. I support private education. And I support the parents' decision to make the choices that's best for them. And I think that's key. And I'll give you another example. Growing up in New York City, my mother, before there was a school choice program, had to make a decision. Do I go to the high school which has a high gang problem, criminal problem, a lot of drugs in there, or do I go to another high school? And, again, we didn't have the school choice program. And so what my mother decided to do was she moved me out of the state. She moved me to Pennsylvania. And me, as a young age, I'm thinking, this is crazy. This is absurd. But looking back at it at 37 years old, it was the right decision. She protected me from those bad elements. She knew what was right for me. And she put me in school in Pennsylvania. I graduated with my high school degree. I graduated with my bachelor's degree. Pursued a wonderful career now. And now even have the opportunity to run as a state legislator because I want to give the benefit to my community and support my community. I think that's important. That decision came from my mother who knew what was best for me. And what I'm saying here in the state of Iowa is that parents know best for their child and to give the opportunity for them to have a school choice, a school choice program. If your school isn't working for you, if you're concerned about your school, you as a parent have a choice to choose what school works best. When it comes to the other factors, I think we should definitely look into, but there's still protection for our children in private schools. You can't just be turned away for frivolous reasons.
WVIK: Well, they could decide by funding if like somebody's having behavioral issues, they could go, well, we're not going to accept them in this academic period term.
Rodriguez: Absolutely. So here's the thing. I have several teachers who live around me. And that's one of the main concerns going on in public schools. If you have behavioral issues, you're affecting other students. Should that student then be removed so that the other students can learn? What do we do with those behavioral issues going on? Should that one student affect all the students that are going on there from learning? Let's let's tackle that issue. Let's address those issues. My hope is that it isn't removing the student from the public school, but working with the parents, working with the student that create a consensus that says, hey, we need to behave a certain way. The teachers consistently tell me that that's one of the issues going on as they're educating on a given day.
WVIK: And we're running low on time. So at this point, I'll give you the same opportunity (As Rep. Ken Croken). Are there any issues that I may not have asked you about that you think is front in mind, or at least what you would like to tackle if you were elected to the 97th house seat?
Rodriguez: Yeah. So one of the things that I want to continue to do is protect the parental rights of parents. Parents have the best knowledge to know what is best for their children. I strongly believe that. It's been evidenced by my own mother and my own family, the decisions that were made for me. I think parents have the right for their education. For the health care. They form a big part of every child. And it's their right to do what's best for their family. And so I'm going to support that. One of the other things that I want to tackle is the crime in our city here in Davenport and locally. It pains me. It really bothers me of what's going on. And it affects our community. I don't think any child should be killed because of the crime going on. And for foolishness. Look what happened next to the baseball park at midnight where that gentleman, yet we don't even understand why he was murdered. We just know he was murdered. It could have been something foolish. But I don't think any parent should suffer the loss of their children for this foolishness. So I think we need to tackle crime. And one of my goals is to work with local law enforcement and other organizations to begin to tackle even just the root cause of crime. And again, I grew up in public housing. I understand the difficulty of the crimes in the areas. And I've been blessed to be able to get out of there. And if I can work and support and tackle those issues, I want to do that. I want to work and collaborate with our community. And the final thing is, and we talked a little bit about it, I believe, but we want to protect those property rights for Iowans. I think that's something that we can agree with on both sides of the aisle. Let's protect the property rights of Iowans. It's crucial for every Iowan, for every business owner. To know that they have their property rights protected. And that government or anyone can't just take away their property. So I think those things are important to me.
WVIK: All right. Thank you so much, Josué.
Rodriguez: Thank you, Brady.
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