With a new General Assembly comes new legislators and I thought I’d take the opportunity to post once a week about some of our new incoming leaders.  In particular, I thought I’d focus on the new “youth movement” that the Iowa House Speaker Pro Tempore Polly Bukta talked about during the opening of the 2007 session:

Today, we celebrate a new youth movement in the House with a record number of eight members who are 30 and under. Think of the energy and fresh ideas these folks are bringing to our assembly!

Today we truly celebrate the fact that the People’s House looks more and more like the PEOPLE we represent.

The first freshman I’m writing about this week is Representative Tyler Olson.  This is from Tyler’s website:

Tyler Olson is serving his first term in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing House District 38 which includes most of southeast and some of northeast Cedar Rapids.  Tyler was elected with 65% of the vote.  He serves on the Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Ethics, Human Resources, and Ways & Means committees.  Tyler also is the Vice-Chair of the Economic Development Joint Appropriation Subcommittee and is on a standing subcommittee of Ways & Means that will review Iowa’s property tax system.

The area that Representative Olson represents was previously held by now Senator Rob Hogg.  Tyler worked incredibly hard and was a fantastic candidate.  This comes from experience:

Tyler is a member of the American Bar Association, Iowa State Bar Association, Linn County Bar Association and serves on the Iowa State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Justice for All Committee. He also serves as Treasurer of the Linn Law Club.

Tyler served as Finance Director for Rob Tully for Congress in Dubuque in the fall of 1998. He also served on the Iowa Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign in Linn County during the 1998 election cycle. Tyler worked as Assistant Finance Director-Washington for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington, D.C. from 1999-2000.

I think that Olson’s success in this district bodes well for the Cedar Rapids corridor.  In particular, I think it’s great that a talented person such as Tyler would choose to serve in the legislature.  One of the big topics that the legislature continues to revisit is the problem of Iowa’s aging population.  Legislator’s like Rep. Olson, Rep. Gayman, and Rep. Andrew Wenthe have an opportunity to show some real leadership and bring some fresh ideas to the table.  I look forward to seeing what legislation they bring forward in the next two years.

Des Moines Register Story

Cedar Rapids Gazette story