'Chaos' a constant in one Iowa Senate district's revolving door campaign

What's going on in Iowa Senate District 15, which has seen a series of Democratic and Republican candidates come and go the past two months?

The revolving door began spinning July 20 when state Sen. Chaz Allen, D-Newton, abruptly quit his re-election campaign citing an unspecified "business opportunity." 

Since then, a second Democrat was nominated and dropped out, and a third Democrat replaced him. The latest Democratic candidate's wife was recently indicted by a federal grand jury, angering local Democrats because the candidate didn't disclose the fact that his wife was under investigation at the time of his August nomination.

On the Republican side, retired telecommunications manager Tim Shay of Newton was nominated in a June primary, but withdrew in response to Allen's departure, suggesting he wanted someone with more resources to run. Two-term state Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Bondurant, replaced him. Republicans consider Nunn, who recently left Iowa for two weeks of military duty,  to be a heavy favorite to win in November.

"This chaos started with the exit of Sen. Chaz Allen," said Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. "The only consistent thing throughout this has been that Zach Nunn is now the candidate and he has been vetted over several election cycles. I am sure glad I am not the Democratic Party chair."

District 15 covers most of Jasper County, including Newton, and parts of eastern Polk County.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price said he's felt that Democrats faced a tough contest in Senate District 15 even before Allen withdrew because President Donald Trump carried the district in the 2016 election. Democrats have traditionally held the seat in the past.

Price said he's not willing to concede that the current Democratic candidate, Dan Nieland of Altoona, will be defeated in November.

Nieland owns a horse stable near Mitchellville and teaches at Des Moines Area Community College. He has previously run twice for the Iowa House and lost both times. He replaced the second Democratic candidate, Taylor Van De Krol, a former Jasper County Democratic Party chair, who left the race citing "personal reasons" less than two weeks after he was nominated.

"You never know until it's over," Price said. "We are living in a very interesting time right now, and I think that people may be looking for someone who is fighting for them. We will see how this race plays out."

Nieland's wife, Leesa Parkhill-Nieland, 47, has been accused of illegally receiving Social Security disability benefits from about December 2012 until April 2018. The indictment, announced Sept. 14 by U.S. Attorney Marc Krickbaum in Des Moines, said Parkhill-Nieland was self-employed through two different businesses and she allegedly failed to disclose that employment in order to continue receiving Social Security payments.

Nieland, 49, who previously served four years as a city council member in St. Charles, Missouri, said in an interview his wife had done nothing wrong.

"I stand behind her 100 percent," Nieland said. He has no plans to drop out.

The news about the criminal indictment of Nieland's spouse stunned Jasper County Democrats, who convened an emergency meeting to discuss what had happened. They voted 11-6 at a second meeting to continue backing his Senate bid and to not ask him to return a campaign donation from local Democrats of $11,500, said Jasper County Democratic Party Chair Michelle Smith of Mingo.

"We had a discussion that the charges are not against the candidate; they are against his wife. You are innocent until proven guilty in this country. He is our candidate. He is on the ballot," Smith said.

Even if some Democrats are unhappy with Nieland because of the charges against his wife, it's too late for a fourth Democrat to enter the race. Iowa candidates have been certified and the withdrawal deadline was Aug. 30. The ballot layout for the Nov. 6 general election is final, said Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the Iowa Secretary of State's office.

Nieland told the Des Moines Register on Thursday that when he was nominated Aug. 22, he was aware his wife was facing questions about Social Security benefits. But he said he thought the matter would be resolved administratively without any consideration of criminal charges.

"I didn't think it was going to blow up into what it has become. If I had thought this was going to become a reality, I wouldn't have wasted (Democrats') time," he said.

Nunn, who is an Iowa National Guard officer, is not campaigning while out of the country on military duty. He has had some problems himself in the past.

Nunn attended Drake University where he graduated magna cum laude with degrees in international relations and law, politics and society. He served on the Student Senate and Student Activities Board.

Nunn said he had his student government voting rights suspended for one meeting his senior year after an investigation discovered he had planted a baby monitor in a desk used by the student body president and others to monitor their conversations.

"It was a mistake," Nunn was quoted as saying in a 2002 Des Moines Register article. "It's something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life and I'm truly sorry."

Nunn was not charged with a crime, and he said he was not removed from the Student Senate or Student Activities Board.

Allen, former Newton mayor, explained in an interview after his departure from the race that his desire to work on a "business opportunity" simply referred to his intention to continue work as a Jasper County economic development official on several projects under consideration.

Van De Krol, who has served as a legislative aide the past three years to state Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, never elaborated on the "personal reasons" behind his decision to withdraw his candidacy.

This story has been revised since it was originally published to include Rep. Zach Nunn's statement to the Des Moines Register regarding the penalty he faced for his role in an electronic eavesdropping incident at Drake University his senior year.