Ned Chiodo, a Democrat who won a seat in the Iowa House as a write-in candidate and became a Polk County political institution, died Sept. 4 in West Des Moines. He was 83.
Frank Chiodo, one of Ned Chiodo’s sons who later became a state representative and a lobbyist, said his father “put family and service above all else.”
“I’m going to remember my dad as somebody who put his family, his friends and his community above all,” he said. “Every morning he got up, those three things were a priority and his goal was by the end of the day to make sure those three things were a little better than they were when he started.”
State Rep. Ned Chiodo is seen in the Iowa House.
After running unsuccessfully for the Iowa House twice in the early 1970s, Ned Chiodo had decided against a third campaign. But when the incumbent representative died in office, Chiodo mounted a write-in campaign to represent the south side of Des Moines.
“In 1976 he launched a campaign as a write-in and was the first one in history in the state of Iowa to get elected to a major office as a write-in candidate,” Frank Chiodo said.
Part of the campaign’s strategy involved pioneering absentee voting, since they knew they would face long odds on Election Day, Frank Chiodo said.
“We didn’t know what we were doing,” said Mike Mauro, a longtime friend of Chiodo’s who later served as Polk County auditor and Iowa secretary of state. “Sometimes that’s the best way to do something. You don’t know how hard it is.”
Chiodo served in the Iowa House from 1977-85, eventually rising to chair the Commerce Committee, where he oversaw legislation on insurance, banking and gambling.
Some of Ned Chiodo’s supporters stand by a car with a sign supporting his write-in candidacy for Iowa state representative in this June 8, 1976 file photo.
He was close friends with Speaker Don Avenson, Frank Chiodo said.
“Those two met all the time trying to figure out what to do, how to do it and really, really were successful in moving the state forward,” he said.
He left the Iowa House to run for Polk County auditor, where he introduced electronic voting machines that scanned voters’ ballots, replacing the old punch system.
Polk County Auditor Ned Chiodo holds a sample ballot next to one of the county’s new voting machines on March 5, 1986.
After serving as auditor, Chiodo formed his own lobbying firm, Personal Representatives, Inc.
Scott Newhard, a lobbyist who consulted with the firm, called Chiodo “the most effective lobbyist” at the Iowa Capitol during his time there.
“He had a very unique ability to manage a difficult, challenging public policy issue on behalf of a client and figure out a way to actually make it happen,” Newhard said. “Figure out a way to make it a good case before legislators.”
In other words, he said, “if Ned was representing you, you had a good chance of getting your way. If Ned was against you, your case was probably hopeless.”
Chiodo was also an avid golfer and he ran four Des Moines’ golf courses for years. Frank Chiodo said part of his father’s motivation was giving opportunities to young kids who wouldn’t otherwise have the means to get into the sport.
Ned Chiodo
Chiodo’s house became a Democratic caucus mainstay
Chiodo and his friends, including Mauro, helped build “la macchina,” which means “the machine” in Italian, Frank Chiodo said. The group became very effective at turning out Democratic votes on Des Moines’ south side.
Because of that, Frank Chiodo said he remembers regular visits from Democratic presidential candidates at their home over the years.
It started when Ned Chiodo helped show around “this peanut farmer from Georgia” when he was running for president in 1976, Frank Chiodo said.
Jimmy Carter during the run-up to the 1976 Iowa caucuses
Later, when Carter was in the White House and getting ready to run for reelection, Frank Chiodo recalled a phone call they got at the house. His brother picked up the phone and their father asked who it was.
“And my brother says, it’s some lady saying the president of the United States wants to talk to you,” he said. “My dad shot up out of his chair and it was Jimmy Carter.”
Carter invited Ned Chiodo, Mike Mauro and others to the White House to discuss his reelection bid.
“Fast forward a couple weeks, the phone rings again,” Frank Chiodo said. “Dad, telephone.’ ‘Who is it?’ ‘Some guy named Ted Kennedy.’ So next thing you know Ted Kennedy shows up at our house.”
Ned Chiodo kept his word and supported Carter in the 1980 primary, but it was the beginning of a long string of presidential candidates who made sure to visit him when they traveled to Iowa, including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, John Edwards and Barack Obama.
Democratic legislative candidate Ned Chiodo is seen on July 21, 1972
“If you were going to run for president in Iowa you contacted them and their organization,” Frank Chiodo said. “Because it was a bunch of families that represented the south side that came together to support their community. And you really couldn’t win on the south side or garner any significant support on the south side without these guys.”
Newhard said he was watching TV the night of the 2004 caucuses and spotted Chiodo onstage with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean when the candidate gave his infamous “Dean scream” that some have credited with helping derail his candidacy after his third-place finish in Iowa.
“I called him on his cell phone,” Newhard said. “I said, ‘What in the world is going on with that?’ He said, ‘I don’t know but my dreams of being Postmaster General just faded from my eyes.'”
Bonnie Campbell, a former Iowa attorney general, said she and her husband were close friends with the Chiodos for many years.
“They just became part of our family, or we became part of theirs,” she said. “I don’t know the best way to state it.”
She remembers frequent dinners where the conversation always turned to politics.
“He was lightning smart,” she said of Chiodo. “And if there happened to be some issue that was particularly sensitive that I could talk about, his insights were always valuable.”
Mauro said he’ll miss getting calls from Chiodo after the Cy-Hawk game.
“Ned was a big Iowa State fan and I was a big Iowa fan,” he said. “I missed that call this Saturday because every time Iowa State won a game, I’d get that call from Ned and the first thing he’d come out with, he’d say, ‘How about them Cyclones?'”
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ned Chiodo, Polk County political mainstay, dies at 83
