About Rod Blum
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I was born and raised in Dubuque. My father quit school in the 10th grade, and lied about his age so he could join the Navy to fight in World War II. After the war he worked as a laborer at Dubuque’s meat packing plant.
My mother also quit school in the 10th grade to marry my father before he shipped out. With 4 boys in the house, she had to clean other people’s houses to buy groceries. Mom just turned 82 last month and is 100% dependent on Social Security and Medicare. Needless to say those programs are very important to her.
We didn’t have much money. When I begged my parents for something, most of the time the answer was “N…O….we can’t afford it”. I didn’t like to hear that answer but my parents knew they couldn’t spend more than they made. If my parents, with their 10th grade educations, could figure that out . . . WHY CAN’T WASHINGTON POLITICIANS?
Like so many other people in this great country, I worked to pay my way through college, earned a Masters Degree in Business, landed a job in the computer industry and started working on my own version of the American Dream.
I was one of the owners of a software company that grew from 5 to 325 employees in just five years. Our payroll grew from about $100,000 a year to over $10,000,000 a year. That company went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange. As the Chief Executive Officer, I was honored to receive an Iowa Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Today I am an owner of Digital Canal Software, based in Dubuque. We develop and design and sell software for the Home Building and Structural Engineering markets worldwide.
• I’ve met a payroll every week for 21 YEARS.
• I’ve balanced a budget for 21 YEARS.
• I’ve created jobs in the private sector.
• I’ve taken risks - and sometimes failed. But I’ve NEVER expected a government bailout.
• I’ve had to deal, EVERY DAY, with the burdens that Washington DC puts on business.
I’m also a real estate developer. I’ve experienced, FIRSTHAND, the frustration dealing with government agencies, such as the E.P.A. Recently my development partnership was looking at developing 100 acres of land and building around 250 homes on that land – a total investment of over $50 million. Things were going fine until the government entered the picture. We were faced with Endangered Plant Studies, Endangered Species Studies, and Indian Artifact Studies.
But the straw that broke the camel’s back was a Wetlands Mitigation Study. A small valley – that we wanted to fill in - was classified as a “wetlands” because when it rained, the valley collected water and had water runoff. We were told that we had to purchase “offsetting man-made wetlands” in Council Bluffs Iowa. Needless to say our $50 million investment ended up being ZERO.
I was also a boys basketball coach at Dubuque Senior High School. I always taught my players that SUCCESS was a 3-legged stool – one leg was HARD WORK, the second leg was PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY and the third leg was BELIEF IN YOURSELF. I am praying that “hard work”, “personal responsibility” and “belief in the individual” are going to make a comeback in Washington DC November of next year!
I’m also a student pilot and have written a conservative political newspaper column for the Telegraph Herald over the last ten years. So my conservative stands on the issues are well documented.
And most importantly I am a husband to Karen, and a father to Trevor, Taylor, Tanner and Sophie, a stepfather to Autumn, and surrogate father to Malcolm, a former basketball player of mine from Chicago, who was orphaned at the age of 19.
I believe everyone here would agree: FAMILY is the backbone of our society. And it’s the breakdown of the family that is contributing to many of our problems in America.
Overall, I’m just an average American who:
• loves this country
I’m just an average American who:
• believes in American exceptionlism
I’m just an average American who:
• has faith in the American people
I’m just an average American who:
• believes America has lost sight of those principles that made this country great