Forbes, Brown Meet for House District 40 Forum at Chamber Luncheon

Editor's Note: House District 40 candidates John Forbes and Mike Brown discussed a number of issues at a candidate forum on Wednesday afternoon at the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Urbandale Patch will run a series of stories highlighting the candidate's responses and stances to issues.

Guests at Wednesday's Urbandale Chamber of Commerce luncheon got a sneak peek at who could be their next House District 40 representative.

John Forbes, 55, a Democrat and current Urbandale City Councilman, and Mike Brown, 32, an Urbandale Republican, laid out their cases to be the next representative for the city at the statehouse.

Forbes opened the forum describing his background as a pharmacist and small business owner of Medicap Pharmacy, as well as his seven years on the Urbandale City Council.

"My life has been a service to helping people," he said.

Forbes said a big part of his campaign has been door-knocking.

"It can be overbearing," he said of the door-knocking. "But in general, most people are very receptive to you coming to the door."

Through this method, Forbes found what he said are concerns in Urbandale, including education, jobs and the economy.

Brown said his vision for House District 40, should he be elected, is simple.

"I want to build a strong Iowa," he said of improving jobs, the state budget. "Finally, Iowa needs to be back on top with education. I'm an advocate for strong schools."

When it came to the hypothetical question of having additional money for the state of Iowa, Forbes said it should be used for education, while Brown said surplus monies should not be used for salary positions.

"Everything is allocated," Brown said. "It should be itemized."

Forbes said when the state is doing well, extra money should be poured into education.