DES MOINES, IOWA | November 1, 2014 -  "Three years after former Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass announced 'We have a system problem that we need to address,' Iowa's education system still needs reform," says Jonathan Narcisse.

[Below these comments is the November 1, 2011 news release issued by the Iowa Department of Education.]

Narcisse, is running for governor on the Iowa Party ticket and has been a long time observer and critic of Iowa's education system. He has called for the end of over $500 million of annual funding for public school students that do not exist.  While on the Des Moines School Board, he exposed the lack of transparency and accuracy in drop out and graduation statistical reporting.  And, his "Restoring Iowa's World Class Education System" white-paper includes a state education funding mechanism that follows the teacher and empowers families to take responsibility for their children's futures.  Click here to download white paper.

"Jason Glass was one of the few 'merit' hires in the most recent Branstad administration," says Narcisse referring to the national search conducted to find the top educator in America. "Three  years ago today, he issued a call to action in light of Iowa's massive stagnation, and he cited the fact that white kids were falling behind kids nationally, too."

Less than two years after this call to action, Jason Glass left his position as Education Director to be a superintendent of schools in Colorado.  "Jason Glass told the truth and he was shown the door for his honesty," says Narcisse. "No education chief leaves the state that has the school house on it's quarter to be a superintendent by choice," says Narcissse.
In an open letter to Iowa Educators, Narcisse outlined the top three reasons to vote for him and summarized Restoring Iowa's World Class Education System under ten categories:

1. Opting out of No Child Left Behind
2. Ending Common Core
3. Restoring True Local Control
4. Shifting from Age Grade Progression to Skill Based Progression
5. Restoring Balance Shifting the Focus From Funding High Priced Bureaucrats to Investing in Principals and Teachers As Instructional Leaders
6. Investing in Vocational and Technical Education
7. Expanding to K-14 and then Front Loading
8. Funding Should Reach The Classroom, Not Just the District Level
9. End The Over-Building Boom!
10. Provide No Cost College Education in Exchange for Community Service, and a Residency Commitment

Iowa Department of Education News Release
For Immediate Release
Nov. 1, 2011
For More Information:
Staci Hupp
Director Glass: Iowa's NAEP results are a call to action
Des Moines, IA - The nation's students took significant strides on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, while Iowa's results show a continued pattern of stagnation, Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass said today.
"I had hoped that today's results would show the tide is turning in Iowa - that the state had begun accelerating and improving on these key measures," Glass said. "Unfortunately, that's not the case."
NAEP, known as the nation's report card, is the only state-by-state comparison of student progress. Assessments are administered to a sampling of students periodically in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography and U.S. history.
Today's NAEP results cover mathematics and reading for grades 4 and 8. The nation's results show substantial gains in those key measures from 2009 to 2011. The long-term trend for Iowa shows a troubling pattern of students falling to the middle of the pack across the board, from disadvantaged and minority students to white, relatively affluent students, since the early 1990s.
White students, who make up about 80 percent of Iowa's student population, have fallen behind their white peers nationally. This problem persists across the assessed grade levels and content areas.
"No single demographic group is to blame for our relative stagnation," Glass said. "We have a system problem that we need to address."
Findings from today's 2011 NAEP results include :
·         Iowa's average score in fourth-grade reading (221) is lower than the state's score in 1992 (225) and is unchanged from the state's score in 2009 (221).
·         Iowa has posted a two-point gain in eighth-grade mathematics since 1992, the smallest increase in the country. The largest gains have been made in North Carolina (28 points) and in Texas and Massachusetts (26 points).
·         Iowa's white students rank in the bottom 10 percent of states and jurisdictions nationally in eighth-grade reading and in the bottom 25 percent in fourth-grade reading, fourth-grade math and eighth-grade math.
·         The gap in achievement between students in Iowa with and without disabilities is among the worst in the nation.
The 2011 NAEP results represent a call to action. On Oct. 3, the Branstad-Reynolds administration and Director Glass introduced a bold set of reforms to improve Iowa's education system. The education blueprint focused on great teachers and leaders, high expectations for students with fair measures, and rekindling a spirit of innovation in schools.
Assessments on NAEP are administered to about 3,000 students in 100 schools in Iowa and other states for each grade and subject - a large enough sample to draw valid inferences about Iowa's population in comparison to other states.
"We should never over-rely on any standardized measure to tell us the complete story of the quality of a school system, but NAEP gives us the best state-to-state comparison information available," Glass said. "When we have several years of data consistently pointing in the same direction, we must take note and act on results."
NAEP 2011 results can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/.

# # #

DES MOINES, IOWA | MARCH 15, 2014 -  At 12:31 p.m. today Sarah G. Reisetter, Director of Elections for the Iowa Secretary of State sent an email stating her office was rejecting enough submitted petitions to disqualify Jonathan Ray Narcisse's nomination for the June 3rd Democratic primary race for Iowa Governor.

On Friday Narcisse submitted more than 4,500 signatures from more than 50 counties. The submissions exceeded the minimum 4,113 aggregate signatures and at least 1% of the 2012 voting body in at least ten counties, required by state election code. Based on the signatures requirements Narcisse readily qualified for the ballot. 
However, based on a purported technicality, Reisetter tossed out entire counties. For example students on the Ames campus secured Narcisse 386 Story County signatures on Story County nomination petition sheets. Reisetter only counted 79 of those signatures disenfranchising the 307 Story County residents who did sign the petitions.
"Over the years I have gotten used to political tactics to undermine our civic activisim. In 2005 when I made it clear I was going to run for school board polling sites were reduced from 107 precincts to 23 pods. In 2010 after securing signatures to get on the ballot the rules were changed and we had just days to start over and secure the signature required. But we did it," stated Narcisse.
Iowans from at least ten counties in sufficient numbers and well over the 4,113 Iowans required, want Narcisse on the ballot.  "Regardless of the motivation, this attempt to invoke a technicality to keep me off the ballot is a gross act of political disenfranchisement and we plan to fight it at every turn.  We will fight this on behalf of those Iowans who clearly expressed they want a choice for Democratic governor on the ballot June 3rd."
Contact Jonathan Narcisse at 515-770-1218 or info@narcisseforgovernor.com for more information.

Iowans are a good, decent and honorable people. They work hard and will sacrifice for their friends, their neighbors or when leadership asks them to give more.

Unfortunately, the political classes from both parties have exploited Iowans' goodness.
Iowans are more vulnerable now than ever before. The guardians of state, our legislators and the governor, have not protected our working families, our taxpayers, our children. Instead government, at the state and local levels, has become a trough from which special and vested interests feed – while the rest of us pay for it.

Our families, our taxpayers, and our children need a champion in government.

I understand working Iowans' pains and passions. As a child of working class America, as a former co-chair of the Polk County Democratic Party, as a former Chair of a State Commission, and as a former Des Moines School Board Director, I have fought for working class Iowans. And, I want to continue to protect our families and our children.

The 2014 gubernatorial debate cannot be reduced to speeding troopers driving the governor and tired party clichés like "let's raise taxes." It must be about real solutions to Iowa's challenges based on the hard data and the hard truths facing our state.

On January 3, 1993, Iowans woke up to Terry Branstad as Governor, Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin as our U.S. Senators and Jim Leach, Jim Nussle, Dave Nagle, Neal Smith, Jim Ross Lightfoot, and Fred Grandy as Iowa's U.S. House Representatives delegation.

On January 3, 2013, Iowans, exactly 20 years to the date, went to bed with Terry Branstad as Governor, Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin as our U.S. Senators and Bruce Braley, David Loebsack, Tom Latham and Steve King as Iowa's U.S House Representatives delegation.

Beyond all the magazine articles, media reports, chamber and political propaganda, this 1.5 million population stagnation, resulting in the loss of two Congressional seats and two electoral votes, speaks to the need for not just meaningful conversations, but timely, relevant and impactful action.

Iowa is in trouble and those most able to speak to the challenges we face, from both parties, have failed.

So, I am forming an exploratory committee for a possible candidacy in the Democratic Gubernatorial Primary, which occurs on June 3, 2014.



Branstad 2.0 Fail
Four years ago Terry Branstad returned to Iowa politics making four promises to the voters of this state:
He'd create 200,000 jobs
He'd raise personal family income by 20%
He'd cut government by 15%
He'd make Iowa's public education system world class, once again

He has not kept those promises. More important, the day he uttered them we knew he would not, we knew he could not keep his promises.

Poverty, especially in our urban and rural areas is higher than ever before. State government spending, based on his administration's data, is greater than during the Culver years. And education in Iowa, evidenced again by his administration's data, is in worse condition than any point in recent history.

Governor Branstad had an opportunity to set things right following the debacle of the Culver years.

And he has done a better job than Gov. Culver.

Unfortunately candidate Branstad over promised and Gov. Branstad has under delivered.

Governor Branstad had an opportunity to restore integrity to governance. Instead too many of his key department, board and commission appointments went to his contributors and supporters rather than those best qualified to serve Iowans.

Governor Branstad has ignored much of the waste, inefficiency and cronyism within state government. And, he has ignored much of the waste, inefficiency and cronyism within Iowa's county, municipal and school district bureaucracies.

Governor Branstad has ignored his administration's hard data regarding staggering urban and rural poverty. More than 70% of the families with children in the Des Moines School District cannot feed them. And these numbers are not too far behind in several rural communities like Washington, Iowa, where approximately 70% of the families with children in those schools cannot feed them either. According to the Branstad Administration's data, approximately one million or 30% of Iowans are now clients of DHS. Those are non-duplicated numbers.

Governor Branstad has ignored the hard data regarding the disparity of justice between those "afflicted with affluenza" and those lacking the means to access equity in the courts.

Justice in Iowa should not be based on the size of your wallet. Yet, an objective analysis shows that Iowa's judicial system, like that in Texas, determines both the crime and punishment based on personal means and social status.

Governor Branstad has ignored the hard data regarding the explosion of urban violence in Des Moines, Waterloo, Davenport, etc...and the contributing factors that suggest the problem will get worse before it gets better.

Governor Branstad has ignored his own administration's data and warnings regarding the devastating consequences of not opting out of No Child Left Behind and as a result Iowa's public education system is in serious trouble.

His own former Chief of Education, Jason Glass, issued an ominous warning November 1, 2011, regarding the dire condition of education in Iowa. Gov. Branstad failed to act upon the warnings, Jason Glass is gone, and the precipitous decline in achievement in Iowa, based on his administration's data, has accelerated.

Yet, Governor Branstad's administration does not stand alone as the culprit.

Democrats have controlled the Iowa Senate during his administration as they did during a portion of the disastrous Culver Administration.

They have co-signed his major policies, co-signed his appointments and co-signed his practices as they did the major policies, appointments and practices of the failed Culver Administration.

While styles and rhetoric have been different, Democrats in the Senate own a full and vested share of Branstad 2.0 Fail just as they owned a full and vested share of Gov. Culver's failed administration.

Instead of fighting to protect Iowans from an administration weighted to the affluent and blind to working class Iowans, Senate Democrats personally prospered, some becoming very wealthy, while they collaborated in the unrelenting assault on working class Iowans and the most vulnerable first during the Culver years and now during the Branstad years.



I am a Democrat

Most of my life I've been a Democrat. I can't say in recent years I've been a proud member of the Iowa Democratic Party.

A wealthy, powerful and out-of-touch cabal transformed the party I was elected an officer of as a 20 year from a champion of the people, justice, fairness and opportunity into a lobbying firm for vested, powerful and special interests and their agendas.

My party has forsaken its principles and allowed justice to fall by the way side; allowed an assault on our once great public education system; and joined in the breaking of basic promises to those we ought to have protected instead.

I am a child of working class America. I understand the impact labor had on my life. It meant my father could put food on the table, pay his bills, and yet earn enough that my mother was a part of my life growing up.

He was able to earn a living working 40 hours per week, coach little league and serve as the President of the Callanan Junior High School PTA because of labor.

And his involvement in education inspired my concerns about it.

As a Democrat I understand that those individuals who taught our children, who ran into burning buildings without hesitation, who patrolled our streets and made them safe need us to protect them in the twilight of their lives.

Public pensions in Iowa are now in peril and IPERS is in grave danger due to the mismanagement of indifferent politicians and bureaucrats, from both parties, who grew their personal and political fortunes, while neglecting the promises we made to the men and women who served our state and our citizens honorably.

I do not know all the answers to this complex problem but I know that day one, as governor, I would pull together those best able to fix this problem and fix it.

And fix it responsibly!

Leaders from both parties have advocated raising taxes, especially the gas tax.

Such a tax increase would be devastating to Iowans struggling to make it to work, struggling to get their children to childcare and after school activities, struggling to put food on the table without the assistance of government, struggling to survive paycheck to paycheck.

Instead of discounting taxes for working Iowans in these harsh economic times, which is what we should be doing, leaders from both parties want to further strip working Iowans of the means to care for themselves and their families.

Recently I had a conversation with an elected Democratic official who said: "I want to take care of people."

I responded: "I don't, I want to empower Iowans to take care of themselves and their families."

Long overdue in our state is action to move Iowans from dependency to self-sufficiency. Long overdue is the call for the restoration of personal responsibility and dignity.

Pets, children, the gravely ill, lacking the ability to provide for themselves are cared for - not able bodied adults. We absolutely need to show compassion for those in a hard way yet that compassion should not look like it does now. Poverty exploitation in Iowa has grown into a more lucrative industry than pornography in America, and it has fostered a perpetual dependency.

So-called compassion resulting in bad public policy neither helps the poor or protects taxpayers.

For example, politicians from both parties have defended the decision not to require identification in order to use Food Stamp cards even while those same politicians require a receipt to return an empty five gallon jug of water.

They have argued such a law would hurt the poor.

The truth is by not requiring identification to use a Food Stamp card we not only allow massive fraud and corruption to thrive but we make taxpayers and the government a major funder of the purchase of alcohol, tobacco, gambling and illegal drugs by those we claim we are helping.

These acquisitions not only contribute to poorer health for the poor, resulting in increased costs for line items such as Medicaid, but in the case of illegal drugs taxpayers and the government are financing the single most powerful agent leading to the destruction of poor families in Iowa, out of control urban violence and the escalation of costs related to incarceration.

But that's what happens when out of touch politicians make easy and ill-informed public policy decisions.

Leaders from both parties own a full share in this taxpayer financed havoc and devastation.

Iowans do not want or need a hand out - they need a hand up.

The time has come for fiscally responsible and sound decisions to be made in reducing the excess, waste and inefficiencies of state and local government. By all accounts government at the state and local level is bloated, wasteful, inefficient and often ineffective.

By restoring integrity to governance in this state we not only end the need for painful regressive tax hikes but we are then able to return money to Iowans they and their families will then use to grow our state's economy versus giving it to bureaucrats, developers, contractors, contributors and cronies who have squandered the public treasure.



Lessons Learned

Four years ago I made the decision to not primary Gov. Chet Culver, a man I endorsed and worked to elect governor in 2006 and Secretary of State in 2002 and 1998.

Instead I ran as an independent. I was well intentioned, but naïve.

I should have stayed and fought to rescue my party. I both regret that decision and have learned from it.

Nevertheless, I gained a mastery of what ails Iowa, and still possess the solutions to cure her acquired during my first gubernatorial bid.

I believe in and have fought for the best of what being a Democrat has always meant - justice, integrity, accountability, opportunity, dignity and protection of our most vulnerable - our children, our elderly, our mentally ill, our taxpayers.

My record speaks for itself even if my party's leadership has, at times, abandoned these foundational tenets.

I want to take back our party from those that have not fought for justice, that have not sought to end poverty, that have turned a blind eye to Iowa's urban crisis including the explosion of violence and addiction, that have not protected Iowans from the avarice of the political class, that have not fought to end the travesty of a No Child Left Behind that has brutalized our schools, our teachers and our children.

I want to make terms like accountability, integrity and dignity mean something again when an elected leader in the Iowa Democratic party speaks them.

Blue collar Democrats, who I have always done very well with, deserved better from the men and women they elected to protect the public trust, to protect their families and to protect their children.

Iowans deserved better from Democrats in the Senate who sat in the majority but co-signed the devastating policies and practices of first the Culver Administration and now the Branstad Administration.

I have come to know Iowans in all 99 counties. I received support from Iowans in all 99 counties and nearly every precinct in this state.

Iowans are an amazing people.

I believes in us. I understand how much we are able to accomplish and how strong we are when we are united under caring, committed and accountable leadership.

I have proven I can bring Republicans, even from the far right, and Democrats, even from the far left, to the very same table and unite them in action for a common cause just as I brought Jack Hatch, a State Representative and liberal Democrat together with Chuck Larson, Jr., a conservative Republican legislator and Chair of the Republican Party of Iowa together to fight for education reforms I sponsored; just as I brought two very liberal legislators - Deb Berry of Waterloo and Ako Abdul Samad of Des Moines - together with two very conservative legislators - Brad Zaun of Urbandale and Kevin Koester of Ankeny - to advance economic empowerment reforms I sponsored.

Again, and again, and again I've brought sincere Iowans coming from differing ideologies together to focus on solutions. If I run and if I win, I will do it again.

I will especially base my key appointments of both Democrats and Republicans on merit and not cronyism.



Results Matter

I get results!

On September 10, 2007, The day before I was elected to the Des Moines School Board - Iowa's most powerful, entrenched and protected division of local government - a local radio show host made a list of what I said I would get done if I were elected. On July 3, 2009, I went back on that host's show, he produced the list from 2007 and every item on it was checked off.

As the nominee of the Democratic party I will restore the dignity and integrity of my party. I will return us to the core tenets that inspired me to be a Democrat. I will energize the base by focusing on our strengths and our virtues. And, I will defeat Terry Branstad in the arena of ideas and solutions for our state.

The ultimate decision to run for governor will be based on three key factors - FUNDRAISING, early grass roots support, and the ability to WIN the primary.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL I RUN AS AN INDEPENDENT IN 2014!

I will analyze these three factors over the holiday season, including fundraising, although I will not start raising money until after the holiday season ends.

I will then announce my final decision mid-January.

Whether I run or not, however, I will be releasing next month a solution oriented vision of governance in Iowa titled: "Guardian of State."

Former Des Moines School Board Director and 2010 gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Narcisse and his wife, Kerin Narcisse will be guests on "The Katie Show's" annual "Unforgettable Weddings" show to air February 14th - Valentine's Day.

"The Katie Show" hosted by Katie Couric will feature a segment with three couples and their "unforgettable weddings" including a couple's wedding caught in a sandstorm, a couple's wedding ending with the entire wedding party falling into water after the pier crashed during photos, and the Narcisses who were married in a hot air balloon in San Diego prior to the balloon crashing.

After watching the videos and hearing from the newlyweds the all bride audience will select America's most unforgettable wedding.

Jonathan Narcisse served on the Des Moines School Board from 2007-2009 and has been a longtime education and government reform advocate. He finished third out of six candidates in the 2010 gubernatorial contest behind Governor Terry Branstad and Governor Chet Culver earning support in all 99 counties and nearly every Iowa precinct. Narcisse is also Editor-in-Chief of the Iowa Bystander Newspaper founded in 1894.

Kerin (Lang) Narcisse is an Iowa native and graduate of Humboldt High School. She is an ordained Presbyterian Pastor and educator. She has been a resident of San Diego, California and has served the last decade as a Chaplain with San Diego Hospice. She also served as a Pastor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and will join Iowa Health System next month as a Hospice Chaplain.

It was always Kerin's dream to get married in a hot air balloon. 

After the friends reconnected late November the six week romance ended with the couple taking their vows in a hot air balloon overlooking the pacific ocean, the sun setting with clouds as their witness.

Following the ceremony the landing went bad with the balloon just missing traffic, buzzing homes and trees, hitting a tree, missing powerlines and the powergrid by about six feet prior to crashing to the earth where they bounced twice and were then dragged into a steel fence and giant thorn bushes. The balloon covered a house and the basket came to rest on a cliff.

Kerin suffered a concussion and the wedding party suffered minor injuries but the near death experience could have been much worse.

Mark Carlile, a resident who observed the crash and assisted the wedding party, alerted the local media. The couple was interviewed at their wedding dinner by local media and within hours video and story went viral being featured on every major news network in the U.S. and media throughout the world.

An Iowa Worth Fighting for was created to serve as a future firewall against entrenched status-quo power following the November 2010 elections. On August 17, 2009, the content of this comprehensive review and recommendations debuted on the Jan Mickelson radio show in Des Moines.

It spoke to some basic principles, and addressed core governing concerns - like government is best that governs least.

But it offered more than platitudes. It offered specifics that included strategies to reorganize, reduce, and re-prioritize state government; to create accountable, efficient local government; to rebuild our economy based on tax reform and citizen - not government - stimulus; to reform our education system; to promote a healthy Iowa the effective way - not through government mandate; to affirm core rights, such as the right to property; to protect Iowa's citizens; to interdict Iowa's severe drug crisis; to reform illegal immigration; and to advance real leadership principles.

On November 2, 2010, the political pendulum reversed course. Republicans again control statehouse politics. It was not even a decade ago they controlled both the House and Senate in Iowa. Which is to say: It was not a decade ago that they fought education reform, welfare reform, and the introduction of sound fiscal and management practices. When Terry Branstad left office, he had a Republican House and Senate. He did not fix welfare, education, our prisons, our courts, taxes, or our economy. While he managed the status quo much better than Governor Chet Culver - thanks to dozens of tax hikes and data manipulations - Branstad and the GOP did not repair, restore, or rebuild Iowa.

Now that he and Republicans have returned to power, simply invoking a term such as "conservative" isn't good enough. This group of statehouse leaders must lead, but to lead they must first have a plan. This means not just an agenda, but a specific vision of how we fix Iowa.

Who: Jonathan Narcisse, Iowa Party Candidate for Governor

What: "When In the Course of Events..."

Why Iowa Needs a Constitutional Convention


Broadcasting Live from Des Moines Amplified's Studios

When: THURSDAY OCT 21st - 1:15 PM  & 9:15 PM

Where: Des Moines Amplified
700 Locust Street - Suite 303 (Skywalk Level)
DesMoines, IA 50309

Watch Live Broadcasts at: www.NarcisseForIowa.com

Public: Invited to be live studio audience

Media: Narcisse available for interviews prior to each broadcast

DES MOINES, IA - THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010 | In the middle of its 99 county tour, the Narcisse For Iowa's Common Sense Express, a wrapped 30' RV, will be in Des Moines all day Thursday. The campaign will be hosting two live webcasts at the state of the art facilities of Des Moines Amplified in downtown. The public is invited to be part of the live studio audience at both the 1:15 pm and the 9:15 pm broadcastings.

Viewers of today's broadcasts will hear the independent Iowa Party gubernatorial candidate's case for why Iowans should vote "Yes" for the Constitutional Convention question on this year's election ballot.

Drawing on the Declaration of Independence, and echoing the famous phrase, "When in the course of human events..." Narcisse will outline at the 1:15 p.m. broadcast the grave challenges Iowans face from a corrupt and mismanaged state government. At the 9:15 p.m. broadcast, Narcisse will be expanding on his published solutions for Iowa and white boarding his plan for fixing state government.

"Iowans have an opportunity every ten years to implement a Constitutional Convention," says Des Moines native and independent publisher Jonathan Narcisse. "This is an opportunity to repair what we the people of Iowa have allowed to break and in today's broadcasts we will outline how Iowans can do what history has mandated a free people must do in order to restore a sound and honorable government."

This week, Narcisse published his 8 page newspaper Iowa Values: Common Sense Solutions. It can be be viewed online at www.NarcisseForIowa.com

Both broadcasts from the Des Moines Amplified studios will be accessible live and archived at www.NarcisseForIowa.com

The public is welcome to be part of the live studio audience at both broadcasts.

Des Moines Amplified is a cutting edge social networking facility that helps people blend their offline and online worlds together. Over 120 of the most interesting people in Des Moines use the facility in the skywalk above the Greater Des Moines Partnership. More info at http://www.worldwideamplified.com/

Des Moines Radio Appearances Today:

Johnathan Narcisse will be on the following Talk Shows on Thursday October 21st.

10:07 Am Jan Mickelson- http://www.whoradio.com/pages/pp_janmickelson.html

10:30 AM KMA Radio- http://kmaland.com/

2:30Pm The Bradshaw Show on Wow FM - http://www.983wowfm.com/default.asp

Narcisse Background:

Jonathan Narcisse is a former Des Moines School Board member, publisher and editor of multiple publications, radio show host and community advocate. During the early part of the decade he authored a 3,500 page report analyzing the condition of African-Americans in Iowa's 99 counties, and headed statewide health and education initiatives.

In 2009 Narcisse published "An Iowa Worth Fighting For: A Ten Step Vision Plan for 21st Century Governance." Narcisse evaluates the history of state expenditures versus population, reducing state government, corruption and accountability, tax reform, education reform through parental control and academic entrepreneurship, local control and property rights, public safety and drug interdiction and immigration reform.  The full text of this can be found at www.AnIowaWorthFightingFor.com

He has received more than 400 national, state and local honors and awards including recognition from the Bush (Sr.), Clinton and Bush administrations and the Branstad, Vilsack and Culver administrations. He has finished second twice in national chess competitions and is a multiple state champion. He also had a 17-0 record as a semi-pro boxer while living in the Washington, D.C. area.

He has a son, Johnce, and two daughters, 14 year old daughter, Integrity, an 11 year old daughter, Perseverance and three grandchildren.

Narcisse, who lives in Des Moines, will is touring the state for the second time in two years, visiting with grass roots organizations, churches and the media. 

# # #
"None of the Above" Campaign Continues at the State Fair

DES MOINES, IA - Friday, August 13, 2010 - Jonathan Narcisse, an independent candidate for Governor running on the "Iowa Party" ticket submitted nominating petitions containing signatures from nearly 1,900 Iowans from 47 counties and was ballot certified by the Secretary of State's office at close of business August 12, 2010.

The Narcisse For Iowa campaign started collecting signatures in late June following the announcement of Rick Marlar (Washington, IA) as his running mate but discovered last week, on the eve of turning in the signatures, that the Secretary of State's office changed the petition form for the gubernatorial race on their website July 20, 2010. Rather than risk a challenge by using the previously collected signatures, the Narcisse For Iowa campaign started anew. The new signatures, to put an independent on the ballot, were gathered in just over a week.

"The Secretary of State's office was very gracious and provided our campaign a letter approving use of the old petition forms. I knew, however, our campaign had the organizational strength and human resource power to collect the required signatures and secure support from the number of counties required. The window left open before the filing deadline was never daunting to us. It invigorated our team, especially in light of the skepticism that we could even qualify for the ballot, to begin with. We did it in just over a week. Plus, as a former boxer, I appreciate the value of a tune up and this exercise served as an excellent warm up for our official 99 county campaign," stated Narcisse.

Narcisse, who is seven counties short of completing his second 99 county circuit, has seen a rising tide of grassroots support emerge for his "None of the Above" campaign.

"Entering the contest we had strong support from various constituencies - teachers, labor, pro-family Catholics, and the African American community - on the Democratic side - all groups significantly betrayed by the Culver Administration. We have also enjoyed support from significant numbers of constitutionalist and fiscal and social accountability advocates that have heard my views during weekly radio appearances on KWMT in Fort Dodge, KBBG in Waterloo and WHO Radio, with its statewide audience," stated Narcisse.

"One pleasant surprise has been the number of Vander Plaat supporters breaking our way. They understand, despite the rhetoric of candidate Branstad, that his sixteen years in office make it clear he just doesn't care about their priorities. So I'm seeing a lot of that support pour my way especially from rural communities," stated Narcisse.

"Iowans are not enthusiatic about a sixth Branstad/Culver administration. Despite the two waging the most negative campaign in Iowa's history an honest examination of their records, practices, policies and especially their contributors, confirms the differences between these two men are primarily stylistic not substantive. Neither has offered a concrete plan to address the critical challenges facing our state. If they have I'd love to read it," stated Narcisse.

"As a member of the Des Moines School Board I fought for our children, parents, teachers and taxpayers and spoke truth to power without compromise. Iowans are hungry for that type of open, honest and accessible leadership that will place their needs and the needs of their children and this state above partisan and special interest politics. I bring that to the table," stated Narcisse.

"Our campaign also brings to the table real solutions. As I travel around the state, whether I meet with citizens, civic and political leaders or media I white board solutions. I show how we address the challenges of this state and how to pay for those solutions. In these times Iowans want to hear pragmatic ideas and common sense solutions."

The four pillars of the Narcisse for Iowa governance agenda are consistent with the values and priorities of Iowans:

* Creating accountable, efficient, and transparent government;
* Restoring a "World Class Plus" educational system;
* Rebuilding a low tax, free-market, prosperous state economy;
* Create a healthy Iowa by leading by example to fight lifestyle and obesity induced disease

Jonathan Narcisse is a former Des Moines School Board member, publisher and editor of multiple publications, radio show host and community advocate. During the early part of the decade he authored a 3,500 page report analyzing the condition of African-Americans in Iowa's 99 counties, and headed statewide health and education initiatives.

In 2009 Narcisse published "An Iowa Worth Fighting For: A Ten Step Vision Plan for 21st Century Governance." Narcisse evaluates the history of state expenditures versus population, reducing state government, corruption and accountability, tax reform, education reform through parental control and academic entrepreneurship, local control and property rights, public safety and drug interdiction and immigration reform.  The full text of this can be found at www.AnIowaWorthFightingFor.com

He has received more than 400 national, state and local honors and awards including recognition from the Bush (Sr.), Clinton and Bush administrations and the Branstad, Vilsack and Culver administrations. He has finished second twice in national chess competitions and is a multiple state champion. He also had a 17-0 record as a semi-pro boxer while living in the Washington, D.C. area.

He has a son, Johnce, and two daughters, 14 year old daughter, Integrity, an 11 year old daughter, Perseverance and three grandchildren.

Narcisse, who lives in Des Moines, will spend the next ten days at the Iowa State Fair. Following that he will host "Iowa Issue Forums" throughout the state. Details on Jonathan's grassroots campaign can be found at www.NarcisseForIowa.com.  Media can contact Jonathan directly at 515-770-1218, or at jonathan@narcisseforiowa.com.