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Public servant
Political science graduate Stan Thompson receives first alumni award
from department.
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Stan Thompson had it figured it out he thought.
He had spent most of the waking hours over the past nine months campaigning
for seat in the United States Congress. He had shaken hands of constituents
by the thousands, given countless interviews to the media and rode in
virtually every parade in small town central Iowa.
"I had been spending the last nine months of my life putting everything
into the campaign and I figured despite all that effort, many voters didn't
really make up their mind until the weekend before," the 1982 political
science graduate said. "I was telling this to a colleague in Washington,
D.C., and he said 'No many don't decide who to vote for until they're
in the voting booth.'
"You spend all that time and effort and think you've run a good campaign,
and there are still people that don't recognize you or even your name."
Thompson has experienced this, having twice been the Republican nominee
for a Congressional seat in Iowa. The Des Moines attorney, who was named
the inaugural recipient of the Department of Political Science's Alumni
Achievement Award, ran both times against Congressmen Leonard Boswell,
losing narrowly each time.
Despite those setbacks, Thompson has not regrets about his journey into
politics.
"It's a process I enjoyed enough to do it twice," he said. "Politics
is something that has always interested me. When you practice law you
can have an impact on public policy.
But you can have an even greater impact on public policy in politics."
That's why Thompson sought public office – the chance to impact public
policy and make Iowa a better place.
"I felt I could improve this state through public policies,"
he said. "I thought we had that opportunity." The first time
around Thompson lacked the name recognition necessary to defeat an incumbent.
When he ran against Boswell again in 2004, he picked up the endorsement
of the Des Moines Register, something that he is proud enough of to display
a copy of the editorial on his law office wall.
The endorsement and tracking polls had Thompson thinking he could pull
off the upset. The Congressional newspaper, Roll Call, even predicted
Thompson would be one of two unexpected winners on Election Day.
When the votes were counted however Thompson joined the many challengers
who failed to unseat the incumbent (only 3 Congressional incumbents lost
their race in 2004).
"You're so tired at the end of the race that I equate it to waiting
for a jury to come back – you just want to hear the verdict," he
said. "I had done my work and I just needed some closure."
Part of the closure included spending the final dollars from his campaign.
By law Thompson could give that money to his national party or to a 501-C3
corporation, which he did in contributing to the Department of Political
Science for faculty enhancement purposes.
Just because he lost two campaigns doesn't mean that Thompson has given
up on public service. He was recently appointed to the Iowa Department
of Economic Development's Small Business Council. And he just completed
a six-year term on the ISU Alumni Association's Board of Directors, serving
as president for one year.
After nine months on the campaign trail, Thompson is back to practicing
law at the Des Moines law firm of Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors and Roberts.
There he specializes in construction and business law with a smaller focus
on anti-trust and trade regulations.
"For the time being I plan to devote my energies to the practice
of law," he said.
Stan Thompson
Political Science Today
Fall 2005
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