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Justin Brady: I’m Justin Brady. And how is it that governor season is already here? We have people throwing in their hat left and right, maybe not left and right, but we do have a few people that are interested in that job. A job I, don’t know if you could, I don’t know how much you’d have to pay me. I don’t think I’d ever wanna do that job. It’s a very tough job. And one of the recent people who threw their hat in the ring is Adam Steen, the former Iowa Department of Admin Services. Appointed five years ago by Governor Reynolds herself. Welcome to the

Adam Steen: Absolutely. Justin, thank you so much for having me here.

Justin Brady: you being here. Adam, like I said, welcome to the studio. You’re the faith guy in your own words. Absolutely. And the. We’re in this interesting, we’re gonna talk a lot about this during the interview, but and we’re also gonna give you an open thing at the end to talk about some of the issues you wanna make sure to get in there. But as the faith guy, we’ve never, I think in our country’s history, been put in a position where this is now in conflict with law, and we’ll get into more of that. But if your faith and your morality disagree with like constituent values, what happens like a governor is a big job. So what would happen in that case?

Adam Steen: That is probably the hardest question I’ve gotten so far in the last week I’ve been doing this. so to unpack that a little bit, and I may, we may go back and forth on this, but at the end of the day, I believe that America is a church plant. it happened with the Mayflower Compact. and through you can see where faith is absolutely intertwined with every, single thing that we do. So I don’t necessarily believe that faith, should be separated from, government. It shouldn’t be separated from community. It shouldn’t be separated from operations of, the state operations at the end of the day. I may actually disagree with, any sort of separation, between the two. So I think it’s absolutely intertwined. It’s the foundation of who I am as a person. It’s how I make my decisions. I don’t force it on anyone. those that have interacted with me that may not have a faith component to their life, would probably likely say, yeah, no. We know he is a faith guy, but we like him. We’ll follow him. We’ll do what he asks because we know he is got our best interest at heart. So I don’t necessarily think it needs to be separate. I think people maybe should take a look at, viewing it from a different lens. At the end of the day,

Justin Brady: and this isn’t a trick question at all, I’m, we’re gonna ask about the satanist suing you About the drag show at the capitol. trans Rights Life beginning at conception. These are issues you’re on the record about already. But I think when people here, I’m a faith guy, I’m going to, you mentioned, you’re a Jesus follower. And So when people hear that and they think, okay, you’re gonna legislate that way, A hey, at least he’s being honest and upfront and direct about it. But also, b, how? how do you hold that view and then also say, you’re not gonna force me to do. certain things. I think that would be the concern that non Jesus followers would have.

Adam Steen: yeah. Yeah. I think probably what most people would say, think do whatever. what would Jesus do was a sort of popular bracelet saying years ago. Now

Justin Brady: had one. of

Adam Steen: even the faith community, people will say, oh, you can’t have that.’cause it was, it’s saying this. So there’s always. Jesus’ name creates division. Yeah. And at the end of the day, Jesus didn’t force anybody to follow him. God is not forcing anybody to follow him. But we are called as Christians, as believers to, seek to be like Jesus. And one of the things that I think, gets overlooked in this conversation is, we’re supposed to love our neighbor as ourself and, To legislate as Jesus would legislate. He, bifurcated, give to Caesar what Caesars and give to God, what’s God, what, is God? I think for people to say, you’re gonna legislate like Jesus would, Okay. What do you mean by that? I have my perspective. what is your perspective? So I think, it creates potential for conversation. The challenge is when, folks don’t want to have that conversation. They decide to sling stones or whatever it is with their keyboards. I have to be comfortable with that because, that’s just the way the battle sometimes is fought. But at the end of the day, I’m not gonna shy away from it. I’m not gonna force it on anybody. Again, I. I’ve led a team that not everybody was a Christian, but they knew how I led, they knew how I made decisions, and, we developed an amazing team. We did amazing things for the state that I could go into. But at the end of the day, not a single one of them. Would say, oh, he forced us to do this or forced us to do that. They appreciated my leadership style because that’s who I am. I care about people. I love people. I love this community. I love this state. I love my family. And so I’m gonna lead the way I lead. And I can tell you right now, it’s a leadership style that is respected, and it’s a leadership style that works. So

Justin Brady: So there were two issues you’ve brought up During your position in the Reynolds administration, one was, there was the Satanist display. And you were like, you put the kibosh on that. And then there was also a, some people wanted to do a drag show in the capitol. And you put the kibosh on that. And so from a legis, from a lawmaker standpoint, what is the guidance? like how do you decide what is endorsed in the capitol or. From the state. Yeah. And what is not?

Adam Steen: Yeah.

Justin Brady: are you just going to be, we’re not gonna call pick, we’re not gonna pick sides. We’re not gonna choose winners and losers. There’s no drag shows, there’s no satanist displays. There’s also no prayer meetings endorsed. We’re gonna be an objective third party. Or are you gonna pick and choose?

Adam Steen: Yeah. So it’s a very interesting question. Interesting question. And I can give you, I’m gonna give you a long answer to that because there is strict policy that, I’ll say we followed at das because I’ve resigned my position as of the 19th.

Justin Brady: you ran, you Resigned. your position.

Adam Steen: my position. while I was at das, capital Events has a very strict policy that we follow to make sure, that we’re not picking, things that we like versus what others may or may not like. Now, within that policy, the das director has the ability to make a determination. if a couple things, and this is all, would be in the MOU and, also administrative code, the DA director has the ability to say, okay. This is going to disrupt business in the people’s house. I allowed a lot of protesting to happen with inside the Capitol. It’s the people’s house, their tax dollars, pay for the Capitol, and they have the right, to free speech. So I allowed, several protests to take place at the Capitol, because it’s the right thing to do now. I also established the rules during those protests, and I would say, okay, if you guys sus, sustain your volume past X, y, and Z level, I’m gonna give you a warning. and then I’ll give you another warning. And then after that we’re gonna move you, you outta here. we. Not only allowed free speech, but we clarified what the rules were and when they crossed the line in certain situations, I gave the order to have patrol, move them outta the building. So now, within that sort of framework, within that context of free speech and my ability to, one, make determinations based upon my appointed authority. And two, with admin rule to determine one. What’s gonna disrupt business or two, what may be harmful to minors? at the end of the day, I have that authority, that determination, on one end with the drag show, request came in. That was a very simple, from my perspective, something that, I felt would be harmful to minors. I cited administrative code, sent the denial. We’re on down the road on the other end, and I have to be, Very short with this’cause I am in the middle of, a, suit on this. I determined that the, the event that was requested by the Satanic temple would be harmful to minors, hence the denial, in that situation.

Justin Brady: So what you’re saying is, and please push back on this if it’s not correct. But what you’re saying is there is a code, we have rules. If you follow the rules and follow the code, it’s all good. I’m not, I might not agree with you, but it’s all good if you don’t follow the rules and follow the code. We’re not good. And that’s the same principle that you would use if you were in the governor’s

Adam Steen: Yes. Ab absolutely Establish the groundwork, establish the framework, let people know what’s expected. And if you, cross the line, if you don’t do what we agreed upon then, we’re moving on.

Justin Brady: Sure. I think, like I indicated earlier, it used to be, and I’m sure there was a lot of philosophers and religious scholars. that would Probably debate this issue. But it used to be generally, for the most part, I think American politics and I would say Christianity aligned on quite a few things. There are some things they didn’t align on. Like slavery for example, is something they absolutely didn’t align on. But there are a lot of things I think that the Christian Church kind of got comfortable with for a little while. That eh, the government, and we ag agree on these things. But that’s not the case anymore. So like, the trans rights issue is a big one. And the abortion issue is a big one. Specifically on abortion. You’re a life at conception. so would we, what would we see in these two lanes under a governor? Stein?

Adam Steen: Yeah. I’ll give you, Two examples. So as far as the, trans rights sort of movement sort of situation, I support what the legislature did, last session. and, I’ll give you an example why, if, we’re talking about freedom,’cause I’ve, had this conversation before. if you take away their rights, you’re, taking away there are situations happening in this country right now where student housing situations are. designed for four females to share a unit of a student housing complex. one male identifies as a female, and there’s an issue with that, because the other three biological females. don’t want to be forced to live in a community house with somebody who identifies a female. It’s a biological male. without that distinction or with the ability, the, for the law to say, Hey, you have to force that person to live in that situation. Where’s the freedom for the three biological females?

Justin Brady: Sure.

Adam Steen: so you’ve got that issue there. The other issue, Dealing with, life at conception. that’s a worldview perspective. And, for someone to say, that, it’s not a life, while it’s in a mother’s womb. Doesn’t make sense to me. but at the end of the day, if we are here to protect life, begins that conception. That’s again, a worldview perspective for me. And, people can agree, disagree with that if they want to, but at the end of the day, that’s, a decision that, you have to stand up, lead and, defend at the end of the

Justin Brady: So this is a decision that you would as governor defend? Yeah. Okay. Just to be clear. so didn’t really mince words on those. at all? I do, really appreciate. how you’re just, there’s not really any secrets

Adam Steen: there, there doesn’t need to be any secrets. at the end of the day, look, So many people try to be coy and try to politicize things, but somebody, so my speech that I gave, the evening of the 19th, I did not ask for any help from any consultants, any, anybody that had to be from my heart. And I’ve talked to people and they said, When you let out and you started saying, I’m the guy, I’m the guy, I’m the guy. This, I have a head in sections. The first section was called in my notes, the countdown. so it was a countdown to this moment. then I led into my, I’m the guy portion of the speech and I’m the faith guy. I’m the Jesus guy. I’m the Make America Great again guy. I’m the America First people first common sense policy guy. I said that because I don’t want anybody to have any sort of. Guess on oh, who it is that I am. Because the internet will try to define you in one way. That’s true. Which is fine. Go ahead and do that. But if you want to hear it from my own lips, I’m gonna tell you this. right outta the gate, I’m gonna take that risk. And I had people saying, ah, it’s kinda risky to do that, but you know what? I don’t care. We’re gonna do it. Everybody knows where I stand, who knows who know me. why not let the rest of the state know me for who I am as well? And I’ll quote the famous line from cars three when, these other cars

Justin Brady: we’re doing

Adam Steen: the other cars are ripping at, ripping on Lightning McQueen saying he is slow. And Smokey said, the truth’s always quicker. the truth is always quicker. Let’s just cut to the chase and, get past it so we can actually do things. That are helpful for families, that are helpful for C communities and helpful for the state.

Justin Brady: no, I appreciate that. One of the things I am a make America great again guy. Now, I, would guess you probably don’t align with every single policy position that Trump has advocated for. I may, Maybe, you would.

Adam Steen: here’s how I’ve responded to that too. He is the leader of this country. He is a stud. If you, again, if you watch the speech,

Justin Brady: Yes, you

Adam Steen: he gets shot in the head, he gets up shrugs off secret service and he says, fight, yeah. Talk about a guy that you could follow into a fight. Now he, as the leader of this country, I’m. Fired up and excited to work alongside him and help him achieve what he’s trying to achieve.’cause I believe we’re gonna see, and I’ve said this before, a golden age of prosperity. And I’m not shying away from that either. let’s go, let’s get it done. Let’s

Justin Brady: to the, Have you talked to the White House on a potential endorsement yet?

Adam Steen: have not. I would love to. I hope to at some point. but no, I have not had a conversation.

Justin Brady: So MAGA and Maha are two issues that obviously very important, but also. Iowa has been thrown right in the middle of a ton of national conversations. Iowans are used to being an afterthought, which, we all think is dumb, but the coasts usually like Iowans. What do they know? But now we’re at the center of a ton of stuff. We’re at the center of wind energy and ethanol subsidies and glyphosate and all

Adam Steen: these issues.

Justin Brady: like high fructose corn syrup at the. Maha Movement. So two big ones, wind energy and ethanol subsidies. Where do you fall on those? Because I know that the president is not such a fan of either one of them, but I know that some islands are concerned about that. So do you support wind energy and ethanol subsidies or are you more on the president’s side that’s Hey, Iowa, let the free market talk.

Adam Steen: Yeah, I would. I would fall more on the president’s side, certainly on that. I’m a capitalist at heart. I’m a free market guy at heart. I spent years in the investment banking industry, both as an analyst, in my early career. And then is what I would call a deal flow guy. So I went out, traveled around the state, certain parts of the Midwest, but primarily in Iowa. And I looked for businesses that if, any amount of capital got put into that business that the business would grow, would be able to capitalize on other opportunities and grow. What I didn’t. ever get behind in, in those scenarios, was any business model that required a subsidy for it to sustain? there were some wind deals that we looked at and without X, y, and Z amount of, either some sort of tax credit or tax dollar. It didn’t, it wouldn’t sustain on its own as a business. To me, that was not a viable deal. And that’s something that I would pass on and, we’d go on to the next. So I’m a free market capitalist at heart. and I would love to see businesses, grow through innovation, grow through strategic partnerships, grow through, Joint ventures, either here in the state, with other states or in countries like Israel where they’re doing some amazing thing. Let’s create partnerships, that create innovative businesses that grow because demand wants their product and, or, it solves a problem that everybody wants to be a part of.

Justin Brady: is it fair to say this isn’t now? I don’t, I’m, trying to frame this correctly’cause I don’t even want it to sound like a trick. question’cause It’s absolutely not But is it fair to say that you’re just like, Nope, no subsidies, Iowa, I believe in you and we’re gonna compete in the fair market, but no subsidies?

Adam Steen: Yeah, I think that’s a little bit of a, I’ll just call it a trick question in that too.

Justin Brady: I might

Adam Steen: no, because it’s a hot topic, it’s a hot subject, but at the end of the day, Just by wiping some of that, like just saying, Hey, tomorrow done. I don’t know the downstream impact of that. I’m not. In any way suggesting we just get rid of everything and just hope everybody can survive. It doesn’t make sense to me to, go down that route. But I do think we need to take a look at models, business models that can get rid of a subsidy in order to sustain. I want to give you one example that has nothing to do with business, but it’s got to do, with a friend of mine and this is the Phil, the Phil philosophical perspective that I had, that I have on this, friend of mine. parents were a hundred percent native or are a hundred percent Native American. He’s a hundred percent Native American. he started with nothing, and so he wanted to be a doctor, wanted to be a surgeon. And there were different government. Programs out there that allowed him to, get to a point where he made it through college. get to a point where he made it through med school, get to a point where he’s now an unbelievable surgeon, that’s traveling the country doing all sorts of different things. And so he was able to access, what I would call, I’ll call it a subsidy, if you will, that positioned him to grow and sustain his life in a much bigger and better way. And so they were there for a reason. they helped him get to where he needed to go, and then he moved on and use that. there are things that I think can be used to help support something or help get something going. But at the end of the day, if you’re relying on a subsidy, if you’re relying on something to. Either keep your business afloat or keep your life afloat. You’re relying far too heavily on the government. You’re relying far too heavily on the taxpayer and something’s gotta give there.

Justin Brady: One of the interesting things, within the ethanol conversation is the pipeline. And that’s been like a debate for years at this. point. And of course, governor Reynolds, and you’ve made a statement about this already, that you support her. That’s your job to support her. You’re gonna do that. as governor though, you’re also advocate for property rights. And so you probably know where I’m going with this Which is she vetoed the bill. That would’ve made it harder. This is always really, confusing issue. But basically she vetoed a bill that would’ve made it harder for the pipeline to, for pipeline builders to use eminent domain To take land that they want. And so where do you fall on that side? Are you. No eminent domain for pipeline and that you would’ve signed that? Or are you like, I think I would’ve, I probably would’ve vetoed it as well.’cause this is an important issue. Yeah,

Adam Steen: Yeah, I understand that question and I’m gonna give you two sides of it. The first one, No one. No one. I know you’re not. I know that’s not a trick question. I know that’s not a trap.’cause that’s the first question I got after my speech, on the night. First question. and I said, what, whatever the quote was, exactly right. I said I, I was supportive of the governor’cause I was at her service. However, I’m a pro rights, or a pro property rights guy. no one. No one really cares about the truth of, or the behind the scenes of the situation of the veto. Like it’s, a trap, it’s a trick, blah, blah, blah. Here’s the deal. This is what I said in Wilton, Iowa. I think it was two days ago, whatever. Today is Monday. It was a couple days ago. Anyway, I said, number one, I can govern on day one. So I’ve been administrating the state for five years, which is highly important to understand is that I could walk in day one and the only thing that I would have to do in order to govern is get my badge back. after I turned that in, I know how to govern the state. I’ve worked with all the agencies. Gimme my badge back, let me buzz in and let’s get to work here. That’s all I have to do in order to be ready to govern. And I said if, and this is what I said down in Wilton, if, If I were your governor, day one, number one, I can govern. And number two, if the legislature brought to me a bill that said, very clearly, we are going to protect private property owners from private, economic development use of imminent domain. We will, again, very simple, we will protect private property owners’ rights from private economic development, imminent domain. I would sign that quicker than I jumped into this race. as governor, I would sign that immediately just to clear the deck, let everybody know where I stand, and then we can move on, and create some good things here for the state.

Justin Brady: Yeah. It’s, it’s pretty clear, and I will say generally people have had a tough time, I don’t know where this comes from, this posted about LinkedIn on this. People have a really tough time understanding how someone could disagree, but also support something else. people have a really tough time understanding conflict and disagreement even in the workplace. So it’s sounding like you have a different opinion, but at the same time you also support the governor. A hundred percent. Which I do think people struggle with, but believe it or not, that’s a reality in this world is disagreeing with people that you’re aligned with sometimes. So I appreciate the direct answer to that.

Adam Steen: now, and, let me, just, and again, it’s a, again, it’s a little more nuance than that. Nuance than that one. If you’re in a leadership position like I was in for many, years, you have to understand, really what does disagreement actually mean as well. I don’t wanna overcomplicate it.’cause again, nobody cares about the detail of. Of that situation. I know a lot of the detail of the situation. So I would even say I didn’t disagree with her decision. Interesting. You know what I’m

Justin Brady: a lot

Adam Steen: There’s a lot there. There’s a lot there. There’s far too much there for in 30 seconds, somebody to say, everything’s a seven to 32nd, clip nowadays. so to understand the nuance of the situation, it’s easy for me to say I didn’t necessarily disagree, with the governor. I support her in her decisions, however. If the legislature made it abundantly clear

Justin Brady: Yeah. Then

Adam Steen: Then I would sign that bill day one as governor.

Justin Brady: that’s also clear. so the Maha movement make America healthy again. Of course. Bobby Kennedy, who is, HHS secretary, one of the things that he’s been vocal about is some of the additives and the unhealthy things in our food. And of course, right again. Iowa has been thrown in the middle of those. Because we happen to have corn. We happen, there happens to be high fructose corn syrup as a thing. And also one of the debates right now is this Bayer bill, They were, glyphosate bill and kind of the shield law. And so where do you fall on that? Would you have, are you like for these shield vs. or are you like, Nope, no protections if you, if it comes out later that your stuff’s causing cancer. You’re gonna face the wrath of the people just anybody else would. Where would you be on something like

Adam Steen: that? I have to lovingly punt on that question. honestly, one thing that, I have to get used to in, in what I’m doing is, being able to say, I’m not an Oracle. I don’t know everything. but what I can say is I’m a fact-based decision maker, which again, no one cares about. and in seven seconds, I don’t know how to describe to somebody. How important it is to gather the facts, figure out how to make a decision based upon the facts, and when you make that decision, how to put a project plan together so that you can get to the end result that you’ve just decided upon. So that right there probably put everybody to sleep. but, the reality is, that, I make decisions based upon facts, either from what I know to be true or people that I trust to tell me that is true. So something like that again. I, lovingly punt because, I have not sat down with anyone to walk me through what their perspective is on that. And I’ll be honest, I’m not a pharmacist. I’m not a, I’m not a whatever you need to be to understand those things, but, I know the people that are, and those are things that, over time here will be parts of my conversations with people to figure out yeah. What the right decision

Justin Brady: But the law, or as I understand it, the let’s suggested legislation. Wasn’t pointing the finger saying they caused cancer or glyphosate causes cancer, or we should ban it. That wasn’t what it was. It was just like later if it turns out that it causes something, it was a shield law. Protecting them from future liabilities. I Is that what you’re punting on or,’cause I’m not saying that they.

Adam Steen: I’m saying I’ve not done the research on the question you’re asking. which again, probably should know all that at this point, but I don’t, and that’s something that, I just have to be okay with.

Justin Brady: Okay. last question, and then I want you to give, kinda why you’re running. obviously we appreciate your time. We want pe you, we want you to be able to talk To the listeners. but the other thing is. That Iowans are concerned about is air and water quality. And so right now, of course, Des Moines Waterworks is, I, think maybe at this point, starting to get ahead of this issue, but nitrates in the water levels are really high. And so would there be any consideration or legislation from a governor? Stein, on water quality.

Adam Steen: Yeah. So I think to jump right in and say there’s gonna be legislation around water, clo water quality would be very, probably inappropriate and, would not be a, wise move because again, I’m a fact ba fact based decision maker, and I wanna make sure that the facts that are being Said, talked about whatever align with reality, align with, with truth. And what I’m doing right now, and a lot of other people are, probably doing the same thing. But literally tomorrow morning, I’m meeting with somebody who has a ton of information and a ton of detail on water quality, and things that we can do or say around that. That might be very helpful from a water quality perspective because you can look at two ends of the spectrum. And you can say, nitrates have been around at. Extremely high levels in water dating back to when the settlers came here because nitrates can come in from organic matter that falls outta the trees, leaves, things like that.

Justin Brady: Hmm.

Adam Steen: to say, it’s this group or that group that’s causing it, it’s nature, a lot of times. And what we need to understand are what the facts are, what the truth is, and then determine how to make sure that, whatever it is that we’re drinking is absolutely safe. Here’s why. And I’m just. Be straight out with you. My dad, three years ago, died of cancer. he was healthy. he walked every single day. and he ended up with what’s, I believe it’s called clear cell kidney cancer. There’s two types of kidney cancer. This one he had, was what I’m understand the more treatable it was eventually gonna get him, but it was too far gone when he got diagnosed. No one knows why he ended up with that cancer. It’s not genetic. is it? Was it from drinking something? Was it from breathing something? Was it just a random act of the Lord that said, Hey, it’s your time. We’re gonna go? I don’t know what it is. but it hits me near and dear to my heart because he was my guy, he was my mentor. He is the guy that would call every day leaving the capitol when I was going home. And, it, it would, it’s very important to me. to understand this cancer issue that we’ve got in the state. not just to maybe honor my father, but I got two boys and I have a wife and I’ve got family and I’ve got friends. And so it’s absolutely critically important, to figure out what the truth is, number one. And once we know the truth, develop whatever solution it is, to fix it, so that we don’t have to worry about this anymore.

Justin Brady: Adam, I appreciate you coming in here. Give the website out and tell people just briefly about why you’re running and why they should vote for you.

Adam Steen: so Adamsteen.com is the website adam steen.com, S-T-E-E-N, and flat out I am running to preserve Iowa’s freedoms and protect Iowa’s future. And, I have spent, Five years running this state. I’ve spent 15 years in the private sector of this state, and, I’m not, only ready to lead, but I’m ready to continue to stand my ground, again, to protect, what it is that we have here in this state to make sure that we live in a free state. and, it’s gonna be beneficial not only for our kids, but for our neighbors kids, our communities, and for our state.

Justin Brady: Adam, thank you so much for coming on the Iowa Podcast. Great to have you here.

Adam Steen: Thank you, Justin. I appreciate it.