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In endorsing her for the Republican nomination, the ''[[Des Moines Register]]'' stated: "Ernst is a smart, well-prepared candidate who can wrestle with the details of public policy from a conservative perspective without seeming inflexible."<ref name=DesMoinesEditorial/>
In endorsing her for the Republican nomination, the ''[[Des Moines Register]]'' stated: "Ernst is a smart, well-prepared candidate who can wrestle with the details of public policy from a conservative perspective without seeming inflexible."<ref name=DesMoinesEditorial/>

On June 16, at a panel titled "The Senate: A Window of Policy Opportunity for Principled Leaders," Ernst credited [[Americans for Prosperity]], a [[Koch brothers]] PAC for her raising trajectory as a viable candidate. Ernst said, “I was not known at that time. A little-known state senator from a very rural part of Iowa, known through my National Guard service and some circles in Iowa. But the exposure to this group and to this network and the opportunity to meet so many of you, that really started my trajectory."<ref name=HuffPo.KochRetreat>{{cite web|title=At Koch Retreat, Top GOP Senate Candidates Credited Koch Network For Their Rise Sam Stein|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/26/koch-brothers-ernst-cotton-gardner_n_5718773.html|publisher=The Huffington Post|accessdate=27 August 2014}}</ref>


==Personal life==
==Personal life==

Revision as of 18:43, 27 August 2014

Joni Ernst
Member of the Iowa Senate
from the 12th district
Assumed office
January 5, 2011
Preceded byKim Reynolds
Personal details
Born
Joni Kay Culver

(1970-07-01) July 1, 1970 (age 53)
Red Oak, Iowa, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseGail Ernst
Alma materIowa State University
Columbus State University
WebsiteCampaign website

Joni Ernst (born July 1, 1970, Red Oak, Iowa) is an American politician who serves as a Republican member of the Iowa Senate and as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard. She is the Republican nominee for the United States Senate election in Iowa in the 2014.[1]

Early life and career

Joni Kay Culver Ernst is the daughter of Richard and Marilyn Culver (now divorced).[2] Born and raised in Montgomery County, Iowa, she was valedictorian of her class at Stanton High School.[3] Ernst earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University and a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbus College.[3][4]

Military career

Ernst has served a combined 21 years in the United States Army Reserves and the Iowa Army National Guard. She spent 14 months mobilized and overseas in Kuwait from 2003-2004 as a company commander at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom.[4][5][6] Her unit was responsible for running logistical convoys in Kuwait and into southern Iraq. A Lieutenant Colonel, Ernst currently commands the largest battalion in the Iowa Army National Guard.[7][8]

Iowa State Senate

Ernst was elected the Montgomery County Auditor in 2004 and re-elected in 2008.[4][9]

Ernst was elected to the Iowa State Senate in a special election in 2011 and re-elected in 2012. She represents District 12, which serves the southwest part of the state.[5][6][10][11]

Committees

Ernst serves on the following Iowa State Senate committees:[12]

  • Education (Ranking Member)
  • Appropriations
  • Health and Human Services
  • Rules and Administration
  • Veterans Affairs

Political positions

Health care

Ernst supports replacing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with "free market alternatives".[13]

Rights of gun owners

Ernst has expressed her support for allowing law-abiding citizens to "freely carry" weapons but abide by rules against carrying in public buildings like schools.[13] In February 2013, Ernst co-sponsored a resolution addressing “the Iowa General Assembly's refusal to recognize or support any statutes, presidential directives, or other regulations and proclamations which conflict with the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and which are expressly preempted by the rulings of the United States Supreme Court”.[14][15] She has also received an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association for her support of gun-rights issues.[16]

Federal regulation

Ernst has expressed her opposition to cap-and-trade and federal involvement in education.[13] In March 2011, Ernst co-sponsored another resolution, urging “nullification” of EPA rules "relating to national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants for reciprocating internal combustion engines."[14][17]

Nullification and states' rights

In January 2011, Ernst co-sponsored a resolution claiming Iowa's sovereignty over mandates imposed by the federal government that "are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment."[14][18]

In a September 2013 forum held by the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, Ernst said Congress shouldn't bother to pass laws "that the states would consider nullifying”, referring to what she describes as "200-plus years of federal legislators going against the Tenth Amendment's states' rights."[19] According to an article published by the UPI, Supreme Court case law has determined that the Constitution forbids nullification, and interprets the Tenth Amendment as a basic statement, and not a prohibition against the federal government from passing additional laws not already enumerated in the Constitution, and stated that Ernst "may wish to brush up on her high school civics."[19]

Agenda 21

An article in Yahoo News reported that at a January 2014 GOP forum in Montgomery County, Iowa, Ernst warned that Agenda 21, the U.N.'s 1992 voluntary action plan for sustainable development, could force Iowa farmers off their land, dictate what cities Iowans must live in, and control how Iowa citizens travel from place to place, stating that “The United Nations has imposed this upon us, and as a U.S. senator, I would say, ‘No more. No more Agenda 21.’ Community planning — to the effect that it is implementing eminent domain and taking away property rights away from individuals — I don’t agree with that. And especially in a place such as Iowa, where we rely heavily upon our agricultural community, our rural communities. We don’t want to see things like eminent domain come into play."[20]

Taxes

During the 2013 legislative session, Ernst worked on legislation which reduced property taxes in Iowa.[21] She supports a "fairer, flatter, and simpler" federal tax code.[13]

Federal budget

In a May 2014 interview with The Des Moines Register, Ernst expressed her support for a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget, as well as a reduction in spending on entitlement programs and discretionary spending.[13] She has also expressed support for a partial privatization of Social Security accounts for young workers.[22] According to The Des Moines Register: "On the federal budget deficit, for example, she readily concedes that cutting federal discretionary spending won't be nearly enough and that the biggest savings must come from Medicare and Medicaid".[23]

Foreign policy

Regarding the Iraq War and weapons of mass destruction, Ernst stated: "We don't know that there were weapons on the ground when we went in, however, I do have reason to believe there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. That was the intelligence that was operated on. I have reason to believe there was weapons of mass destruction. My husband served in Saudi Arabia as an Army Central Command sergeant major for a year and that's a hot-button topic in that area."[13] After criticism from Iowa Democrats and some commentators,[24][25][26] Ernst then issued a clarifying statement in which she stated that she did not mean to suggest that Iraq had WMD at the time of invasion, but rather that Iraq had had WMDs in their past which they used, and that her point was that "we don't know exactly what happened to those weapons".[27]

When asked whether she supports the limited airstrikes conducted in Iraq in August 2014, Ernst said: "What I can say is what I would have supported is leaving additional troops in Iraq longer and perhaps we wouldn't have this situation today".[28]

Farm Bill, Clean Water Act

In a Republican primary debate in May 2014, Ernst said she would have voted against the 2014 U.S. Farm Bill and stated her view that the Clean Water Act is damaging for business.[22]

Social issues

Ernst has said she believes same-sex marriage is a "state issue" and has expressed her support for a federal constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage.[29] She co-sponsored a failed bill to amend the Iowa constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage in the state.[30][22] These views have been described as "self-contradictory" by The Huffington Post.[29] Ernst is pro-life and believes life begins at conception.[31]

Minimum wage

Ernst has stated that she opposes a federal minimum wage and that the minimum wage should be set at the state level. She opposed a state-level minimum wage increase.[22] In response to a report by the Congressional Budget Office report of January 2014 which projected that increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would cost 500,000 jobs, but would lift 900,000 people out of poverty, Ernst stated that "government and government-mandated wage increases are not the solution — especially when doing so comes at the expense of the jobs of hard working Americans."[32]

2014 U.S. Senate election

Main article: United States Senate election in Iowa, 2014

In July 2013, Ernst announced that she would seek the Senate seat held by retiring Democratic Senator Tom Harkin. If elected, she would be the first woman from Iowa elected to either house of Congress.[33][34]

Ernst received the endorsement of Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds in October 2013.[35] She has also been endorsed by 23 current and former state legislators.[36] In March the Ernst campaign was endorsed by Mitt Romney, a former Governor of Massachusetts and then by Sarah Palin, a former Governor of Alaska.[37] In May 2014, Ernst was endorsed by the US Chamber of Commerce.[22][38][39][40][41][42]

Ernst received widespread attention for a campaign advert she released in March 2014 where she employed a tongue-in-cheek comparison between her experience castrating pigs and her ability to cut "pork" in Congress.[43][44] Many found the ad to be humorous[45][46] and it was spoofed by late-night comedians including Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert,[47][48] while some found it to be in bad taste.[24][49] Before the ad aired, Ernst had struggled in fundraising,[50][51] and two polls of the Republican primary taken in February 2014 had shown her in second place, several points behind opponent Mark Jacobs.[52][53] After it aired, a Suffolk University poll in early April showed her with a narrow lead and a Loras College poll showed her essentially tied with Jacobs.[24][54][55][56] By May, she was being described by the media as the "strong front-runner".[22]

In an interview with the Des Moines Register on May 9, 2014, Ernst said she was "extremely offended" by comments made by Republican opponent Mark Jacobs in which she was characterized as AWOL due to missing over 100 votes in the legislative session ending April 7, 2014. Ernst stated: "That term is very degrading in the military. I have never been AWOL".[13] Previously, in an article in The Gazette, Ernst cited her National Guard duty to rebuff criticism about her missing votes,[57] but The Gazette found that only 12 of the 117 missed votes came on days when she was on duty. The other 105 missed votes represented 57 percent of the Iowa Senate votes that session. Ernst's spokesman said that she has had a better than 90 percent voting record during her career in the Senate and that she has not claimed guard service was the only reason she's missed votes this session.[57][58]

In endorsing her for the Republican nomination, the Des Moines Register stated: "Ernst is a smart, well-prepared candidate who can wrestle with the details of public policy from a conservative perspective without seeming inflexible."[23]

Personal life

Ernst resides in Red Oak, Iowa with her husband, Gail, a Command Sergeant Major in the Army Rangers (retired) and their daughter, Libby.[2][11]

Ernst is a member of the Montgomery County Republican Women, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2265 (Life Member), Montgomery County Court of Honor, Altrusa, PEO Chapter HB, National Rifle Association (Lifetime Member) and the Montgomery County Farm Bureau.[11] She is a member of the Mamrelund Lutheran Church (ELCA) of Stanton, Iowa.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ "Joni Ernst wins Iowa GOP U.S. Senate race". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  2. ^ a b pseudonymous (June 16, 2014). "Does Joni Ernst Support Traditional Divorce?". Daily Kos. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  3. ^ a b Gail Ernst (May 16, 1994). "Joni Kay Ernst". Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  4. ^ a b c d "Joni Ernst Announces bid for Kim Reynolds Iowa Senate Seat". The Iowa Republican. Washington Post. November 18, 2010. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  5. ^ a b "The Iowa Legislature: Senator Joni Ernst". Retrieved May 6, 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Joni Ernst: Iowa Senate". Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  7. ^ Jacobs, Jennifer (7-10-2013). "Republican Joni Ernst joins U.S. Senate race". Des Moines Register. Retrieved 14 July 2014. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Jacobs, Jennifer (2014-05-29). "Ernst mobilizes to crash Washington's 'boys club'". Des Moines Register. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  9. ^ "Iowa GOP lawmaker Joni Ernst enters 2014 Senate race". omaha.com. July 10, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  10. ^ "Senator Joni Ernst (IA)". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  11. ^ a b c ABOUT JONI, Joni Ernst for Iowa
  12. ^ "Senator Joni K. Ernst". Iowa Legislature. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g "Joni Ernst: I was 'extremely offended' by AWOL attack". Des Moines Register. May 9, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  14. ^ a b c Bobic, Igor (29 July 2014). "Joni Ernst Has A History Of Advocating Nullification Of Federal Laws". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  15. ^ "Senate Joint Resolution SJR7". The Ioaw Legislature. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  16. ^ "Sirens sound across Iowa as Sarah Palin endorses Joni Ernst". The Des Moines Register. March 26, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  17. ^ "Senate Resolution SR7". The Iowa Legislature. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  18. ^ "Senate Resolution SC3". The Iowa Legislature. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  19. ^ a b Levy, Gabrielle (28 July 2014). "Iowa GOP nominee says states can nullify federal laws". UPI. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  20. ^ Shiner, Meredith. "Will Joni Ernst's flirtations with the political fringe haunt her in November?". Yahoo News. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  21. ^ "Ernst, Payton speak at local GOP meeting". Newton Daily News. November 27, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  22. ^ a b c d e f James Hohmann (May 29, 2014). "Joni Ernst focused on primary in final Iowa debate". Politico. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  23. ^ a b The Register's Editorial: Joni Ernst offers Iowans strong credentials "In the federal budget deficit, for example, she readily concedes that cutting federal discretionary spending won't be nearly enough and that the biggest savings must come from Medicare and Medicaid." Des Moines Register, May 17, 2014
  24. ^ a b c "How Joni Ernst's ad about 'castrating hogs' transformed Iowa's U.S. Senate race". The Washington Post. May 12, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  25. ^ David Weigel (May 12, 2014). "The Iowa Republican Senator-to-Be Who Thinks Iraq Had WMD". Slate. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  26. ^ Cameron Joseph (May 12, 2014). "Iowa Republican still believes Iraq had WMDs". The Hill. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  27. ^ Jennifer Jacobs (May 13, 2014). "Ernst seeks to clarify remark on Iraq WMDs". Des Moines Register. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  28. ^ Zeleny, Jeff. "Joni Ernst, From Obscure Iowa Legislator to Potential Role Model for Future GOP Candidates". ABC News.
  29. ^ a b GOP Senate Candidate Has Self-Contradictory Take On Gay Marriage, Mollie Reilly, The Huffington Post, May 29, 2014
  30. ^ The Iowa Legislature Bill Book
  31. ^ http://www.joniforiowa.com/issues/
  32. ^ Tibbetts, Ed. "Report: Minimum wage boost would cost jobs, lower poverty". The Quad-City Times. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  33. ^ Hayley, Bruce (18 July 2013). "State Sen. Joni Ernst announces run for U.S. Senate in Cedar Rapids". The Gazette. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  34. ^ Fish, Sandra (7/1/14). "Joni Ernst may make history as first Iowa woman to go to Congress". Aljazeera America. Retrieved 3 July 2014. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ Henderson, O. Kay (7 October 2013). "Lieutenant Governor Reynolds endorses Ernst in U.S. Senate race". Radio Iowa. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  36. ^ Endorsement, Joni Ernst for Iowa
  37. ^ Joseph, Cameron. Palin endorses Joni Ernst in Iowa Senate race, Politico, March 26, 2014.
  38. ^ "National business group picks Joni Ernst over GOP rivals in Iowa U.S. Senate race". Des Moines Register. May 13, 2014. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
  39. ^ "Joni Ernst Keeps Up Momentum With Ad Support From Chamber of Commerce". Huffington Post. May 27, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  40. ^ "The magic number for the Republican Party on Tuesday is 35 percent. And Joni Ernst is right there". Washington Post. June 2, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  41. ^ "GOP candidate with both grassroots and establishment backing". CNN. May 27, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  42. ^ "Chamber ads aid momentum for Iowa GOP's Joni Ernst". Washington Post. May 27, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  43. ^ "Iowa Senate Candidate Says Castration Gives Her Conservative Cred". Time. March 25, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  44. ^ "In Politics, Hog Castration Cuts Through The Ad Clutter". NPR. March 28, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  45. ^ "Iowa Senate Candidate Says Castration Gives Her Conservative Cred". Time. March 25, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  46. ^ "How did John Boehner's opponent get his campaign ad to go viral? Humor. (+video)". Christian Science Monitor. April 15, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  47. ^ "Jimmy Fallon cringes at Joni Ernst's hog-castration ad". Des Moines Register. March 25, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
  48. ^ "Colbert: I'm pulling for Joni Ernst 'whole hog, or whatever's left'". Des Moines Register. March 27, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  49. ^ "Joni Ernst 'Castrating Hogs' Ad: Republican Iowa Senate Candidate Stirs Controversy With Offbeat Campaign Spot [VIDEO]". International Business Times. March 25, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  50. ^ "Sarah Palin endorses "hog castrator" Jodi Ernst in Iowa Senate race". CBS News. March 26, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  51. ^ "The Fix's fourth-quarter fundraising winners and losers". CBS News. February 3, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  52. ^ "Sarah Palin endorses 'pork-cutting' Joni Ernst in Iowa". Politico. March 26, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  53. ^ "Ernst Aims to Be Iowa's First Female Senator". RealClearPolitics. March 9, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  54. ^ "Ernst Narrowly Leads GOP Field in Iowa Senate Race". RealClearPolitics. April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  55. ^ "Poll: Joni Ernst Takes Lead in Iowa GOP Senate Primary". Weekly Standard. April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  56. ^ "Jacobs, Ernst tied in inaugural Loras Poll". TH Online. April 14, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  57. ^ a b "Few of Ernst's missed Iowa Senate votes due to National Guard Duty". The Gazette. April 14, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  58. ^ "Iowa Sen. Ernst juggles busy schedule with Senate work". The Gazette. April 1, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Iowa
(Class 2)
2014 		Most recent

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