Zaun mulling run for Boswell's 3rd CD seat

[ccharles000]

State Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, confirmed for IowaPolitics.com that he's seriously considering a run in the 3rd Congressional District for the right to challenge U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Des Moines, and will make a decision in the next two to three weeks.

"I am taking a serious look at it," said Zaun, 47, a former chamber president who became an Urbandale city councilman and then a mayor before being elected to the Iowa Senate. He can run without risk to his current seat in the Legislature because he isn't up for re-election until 2012.

Should Zaun enter the race, he'd join two other Republican candidates, Clive psychiatrist Pat Bertroche and Dave Funk of Runnells, a former airline pilot, a veteran, consultant and reserve police officer. Mike Mahaffey of Montezuma, an attorney who's a former chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, also said he'll decide by next week whether he will run.

Zaun said Boswell's speaking out against cap-and-trade legislation this past summer but then voting for it concerned him and sparked his interest in a run for Congress.

"I'm frustrated because I think Leonard as well as so many other elected officials in Washington, D.C. don't listen to their constituents and don't represent where their constituents are on issues," Zaun said. "Most elected officials in Washington, D.C. are out of touch with people they represent."

Zaun is vice president of R&R Realty and has not yet formed an exploratory committee for the U.S. House. He said his biggest consideration on whether to run is his family. He and his wife have five kids ages 22, 21, 18, 13 and 11. "I've had long, long conversations with my wife," he said.

http://www.iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=174884