Rob Sand rejects the ‘moderate’ label, embraces being ‘independent-minded’

Rob Sand has been described by both friend and foe as a “moderate.” It is a term used by some of his supporters to describe his stances on issues, and it has even been used by opponents as a derogatory. In an interview with Newton News, he firmly rejected the label, describing himself as “independent-minded.”

Admittedly, it was a term I placed upon him, too, when I asked, in a sort of movie trailer-esque way: In a world ruled by political extremes, how can a moderate hope to survive? Despite the tongue-in-cheek manner in which I inquired, Sand answered sincerely. He swiftly dismissed the label I and others placed upon him.

“I reject pretty much all labels, including the word moderate,” he said. “I’m pretty issue-based and I’m independent-minded. I think what we need to do is actually end the system of ‘the lesser of two evils.’ It’s not necessarily so all the answers belong to any one place, it’s just to actually free people up in both parties.”

He suggested doing so would allow Democrats and Republicans to do things the people actually want and put the people in charge of elections.

Sand condemned parties seemingly pulling the strings of elections.

“You have to join a private club in order to participate in elections that your tax dollars pay for,” Sand said. “And we wonder why everything is so partisan.”

Even so, Sand later acknowledged that he is also part of one of those private clubs. He reasoned that until the current political system is changed so that voters do not have to feel like they are picking the lesser of two evils, he has to pick a party to have any chance on the ballot.

“Anyone who has been in the ballot booth as a voter and has looked at a third-party candidate and thought, ‘Well, gee, I’d like to do that but I’d be throwing my vote away,’ could appreciate why a candidate would look at that and say, ‘Well, gee, I’d be throwing my candidacy away,’” Sand said.

Although he is registered as a Democrat, his campaign is already attracting the attention of Republicans and Independents. He welcomed them all at a recent town hall in Newton, and he condemned the political practice of demonizing the other party in order to earn support. People are fed up with it, he said.

“I’m fed up, too,” Sand told Newton News. “And I’ve been fed up.”

Whether someone was a Democrat or a Republican did not mean much to him when he was prosecuting individuals as assistant attorney general, and it hasn’t mattered to him when investigating fraud and government waste as state auditor these past five years either.

“We’ve both criticized Democrats and Republicans in the auditor’s office,” Sand said. “I think a lot of people are sick of politics. And they want someone who is not focused on redder or bluer, but focused on better and truer. And that’s the idea of the campaign.”

When it comes to making Iowa better, Sand suggested Iowa isn’t winning the race in economic growth or personal income growth, but it is winning the race in cancer growth. It is issues like these that are driving his campaign for governor, and that can be supported by anyone “from any part of the political spectrum.”

Sand said voters agree with him that both the Democratic Party and Republican Party “do not solve enough problems to deserve their share of the monopoly.”

Ideally, he would like Iowa’s state government to be as good as Iowans are.

“You walk around the state, no matter where you go, the vast majority of people want to get along, they want to have a good time, they want to do the right thing, they want to be productive members of society, they want to be kind,” Sand said. “Our politics represents those things less and less often.”