Feature

Logos photo by Wendy Smith Ann Fairchild, a NIACC student, ran for House District 11 three times and encourages others to get involved.

Fairchild encourages others to run for office too

“It was so sad and upsetting to me when I talked to people who couldn’t pay for needed medications and had to choose between buying prescription drugs and buying food.” - Ann Fairchild

Wendy Smith
Staff Reporter

“If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk and spoons make people fat,” Ann Fairchild, three-time challenger to House Representative District 11, said as she expressed her feelings on the latest gun laws in Iowa.

Fairchild ran for public office the last three elections challenging incumbent Henry Rayhons of Garner. District 11 includes portions of Hancock, Winnebago and Worth counties.

Fairchild currently attends NIACC for business management and medical coding after she was laid off from the Cummins Filtration plant in Lake Mills last year.

The self proclaimed conservative Democrat said she does not plan on running again.

“I am done,” Fairchild said. “Three times is enough.”

This wife, mother of two and grandmother of three said meeting people and hearing their struggles made her continue to run for office.

“It was so sad and upsetting to me when I talked to people who couldn’t pay for needed medications and had to choose between buying prescription drugs and buying food,” Fairchild said.

Fairchild brought a no nonsense approach while running for office.

Kevin Ihrke, Fairchild’s campaign manager, said Fairchild is focused. Ihrke volunteered to run Fairchild’s campaign after hearing her speak at the Wing Ding in Clear Lake IA in 2006.

Ihrke, a 2006 UNI graduate and former NIACC student, said Fairchild doesn’t mix words and is straight and to the point.

“Some people may have found her abrasive, but she spoke from the heart,” Ihrke said. “She knew what it was like to work for a paycheck and cared about the people she was representing.”

Fairchild recommends young people get involved with government and said anyone can do it.

“There are many opportunities for young people in public office,” Fairchild said. “Starting with your local government, talking to your political representatives and know what’s going on is so important for the future of our country.”

Ihrke said young people need to care about what goes on in Washington and in Des Moines because those things do impact all of us.

Reading and becoming familiar with the issues is a first step.