Iowa CCI Files Ethics Complaint Against State Representative Dean Fisher

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) filed an ethics complaint on Feb. 28, 2024 against Representative Dean Fisher (R-District 53) with the Chief Clerk of the Iowa House. In the complaint, we claim Rep. Fisher acted unethically with respect to House Ethics Rules by attempting to cash in on private school vouchers through his Tama Toledo Christian School, a private school he founded and now serves as Board President.

“Representative Fisher has clearly violated Iowa’s House Ethics Rules with his private school,” said Barb Kalbach, Iowa CCI Board President and Adair County family farmer. “First he campaigned on private school vouchers. Then he voted for them. And now he’s trying to cash in on them by using over $900,000 in voucher money to operate the school each year. The House Ethics Committee needs to do its job and take action against Fisher for his ethics violations.”

Iowa CCI is calling for the House Ethics Committee to tell Rep. Fisher he cannot discuss, lobby for, or vote on any future legislation that continues or expands voucher benefits. We are also calling on the committee to tell all lawmakers they cannot use voucher money for private schools they are associated with or use voucher money to send their children or grandchildren to a private school.

“The people of Iowa need to be aware of this. This is a big deal and we’re talking about big money going to subsidize this private school,” continued Kalbach. “Fisher’s school would be using almost a million dollars a year here, and he even admits publicly that his private school’s operating budget wouldn’t even be possible without the vouchers he helped lead the charge for.”

As the complaint explains, Governor Kim Reynolds attempted to pass private voucher bills in 2021, 2022, and finally succeeded in 2023 (House File 68) after the unusual move of primarying several Republican legislators. After redistricting in 2022, House District 53 put two Republican legislators against each other – anti-voucher David Maxwell and pro-voucher Dean Fisher. Fisher received Reynolds’ endorsement and won.

“A large majority of Iowans are against Governor Kim Reynolds’s private school vouchers,” Kalbach added. “We know this is just part of the broader plan by Governor Reynolds and her allies to de-fund and dismantle our public schools.”

According to a March 2023 Des Moines Register poll, 62% of Iowans opposed the Reynolds plan for state-funded scholarships for students to attend private schools. The detailed Ethics Complaint, with supporting ethics rules violations and background on the issue is available online HERE.