21st Century Freedom State PAC
Iowa Office: Aurora Business Park, Building 13, Urbandale (Gov. Pataki opened on Sept. 29, 2006)

Chairman

State Senator Stew Iverson

(announced June 14, 2006; part of initial leadership team)  Represents Senate District 5, which includes the counties of Story, Hamilton, Wright and part of Webster.  Iverson was elected Senate Majority Leader in 1996 and served through April 2006; he announced in June 2006 that he will not be seeking re-election.  Iverson is a farmer and resides in Clarion (Wright County).  Elected to the Iowa Senate in 1994; elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1989.  Served fifteen years on the Dows Community School Board.  Served in the United States Marine Corps as budget chief of the First Marine Division.  B.A. in accounting from Buena Vista College; attended Ellsworth Junior College.
 

Co-Chair

Former State Rep. Steve Sukup

(announced Sept. 26, 2006)  Co-owner of Sukup Manufacturing Co., a family-owned agricultural business in Sheffield started by Eugene Sukup in 1963.  Candidate for the 2002 Republican gubernatorial nomination; gained 64,490 votes, finishing second to Doug Gross in the June 2002 primary.  Served in the Iowa House starting in 1994 and finishing as speaker pro tem.  From Daugherty in North Central Iowa.
 
 

Executive Director

Craig Schoenfeld

(announced Sept. 26, 2006, resigned in Nov. 2006 following the mid-term elections)  Attorney and lobbyist at Wasker Dorr Wimmer & Marcouiller, P.C. in West Des Moines.  Managed Rep. Greg Ganske's 2002 campaign for Senate through late 2001.  Communications director for the Iowa Republican Party.  Political director of Iowa Victory 2000.  Political director of Iowa Victory 2000.  Caucus planning director on Bush's 2000 Iowa caucus campaign (starting Sept. 1999 worked in tandem with the campaign's field operations, preparing county and precinct leaders and supporters for the intricacies of the Iowa caucus process).  Director of communications for the Iowa House Republican Caucus 1999-2000.  Analyst/legal counsel to the House Republican Caucus from 1994-98.  M.A. and J.D. from Drake University, 1994.  B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 1991.
 

Operations Director

Noreen F. Bush

(announced Sept. 26, 2006)  Experience in government and with Iowa Victory '04.  J.D. from Drake University Law School, 2006.  B.A. from Mount Mercy College, 2003.
 

Senior Political Advisor

Ed Failor, Jr.

(announced June 14, 2006; part of initial leadership team; left Pataki's team Nov. 21, 2006 following the mid-term elections)  Executive Vice President of Iowans for Tax Relief.  During the 2004 presidential campaign Failor served as executive director of Iowa Victory 2004, helping Bush to carry the battleground state.
 

Diane Crookham-Johnson

(announced June 14, 2006 as Executive Director; now Executive Director of the national PAC's finance committee)  Vice President for Administration of Musco Lighting Corp. of Oskaloosa; finance roles on a number of Iowa campaigns.  Appointed chair of the Republican Party of Iowa's Victory Fund in June 2005.  Finance chair for the Republican Party of Iowa, 2002-05.  Finance chair for Doug Gross' gubernatorial campaign in 2002.
 

Loras Schulte

(announced June 14, 2006; part of intial leadership team; left Pataki's team Nov. 21, 2006 following the mid-term elections) Chairman of the Benton County Republican Party and a member of the State Central Committee of the Iowa Republican Party.  Managed Gary Bauer's Iowa caucus campaign in 1999-2000 and Pat Buchanan's Iowa caucus campaign in 1995-96.  He resides in Norway (Benton County) and works as a computer consultant.
 

Jo Ellen Hill

(announced June 14, 2006; part of initial leadership team)  Managed Mark Leonard's campaign for Secretary of Agriculture in the June 2006 Republican primary.  Regional chair for Bush-Cheney '04.  Member of the Polk County Republican Central Committee and Executive Committee.  Campaign co-chair for the Iowa Federation of Republican Women.

Grassroots Advisory Team
On September 26, 2006 Pataki announced a Grassroots Advisory Team comprising 14 county chairs "named to help the Governor's get out the vote effort for Republicans."
 

Note: Gov. Pataki announced the initial Iowa leadership team for his 21st Century Freedom PAC on June 14, 2006, in advance of the Iowa Republican state convention:  State Sen. Stew Iverson (Chairman), Ed Failor, Jr. (Senior Political Advisor), Diane Crookham-Johnson (Executive Director), Loras Schulte and JoEllen Hill.  As reported by the Hotline, Schulte subsequently sent out an e-mail stating that his "involvement in the PAC is not an endorsement of the Governor for President but it does reflect how seriously I take the job of helping to fund our 2006 candidates for the State House..."

Schoenfield, Failor and Schulte left Pataki's team in November 2006 following the mid-term elections.  Erik Helland also left.  Helland, of Des Moines, did some political consulting for the PAC (the FEC reports show first payment on Oct. 12, 2005, payments totaling $6,000 through the end of the year and another $7,500 by mid-2006).
 
 
 

Copyright © 2006  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action