Goodrich runs for recorder ‘with an open mind’
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
don.harrold@enterprisepub.com
Lynn Goodrich does not expect to be elected Harrison County recorder, and he says that is not why he is running. “I’m running so people have a choice. It’s more about the people than anything else, ’cause the government is of the people. It’s the people’s government,” Goodrich said. “So if the people have no choice in who they put in there, then it’s not really their government, is it?”
Goodrich, a registered Republican, is running as an independent and said he chose “MAGA” as his designation on the ballot. He said he will take part in a Chamber of Commerce candidate forum Oct. 21, where the recorder candidates will speak first. Election Day is Nov. 3.
Goodrich described the office’s work in brief. “They record marriages, they record deeds and land transfers and all that kind of stuff,” he said.
Goodrich, 61, is a tile setter who works on his own and said he has lived in the county most of his life. “I tile anything and everything. If you can figure it out, I can put it in,” he said. “I put tile in places you probably shouldn’t put tile on.” He said he flunked geometry in school, “because they didn’t make it practical.”
He and his wife, Leana, married in 1991 and have two daughters. The couple stages community musicals, including a summer production of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” this year and a “Charlie Brown Christmas” show planned for December.
Goodrich said he has run for office several times. He said he ran for county auditor two years ago, has run for school board, and ran for school board and city council when he lived in Woodbine. He said his only win has been a seat on the St. John’s Township board of trustees, where he still serves. “Nobody wants that job,” he said. “We meet twice a year for 10 minutes.”
He said he has been involved in the Republican Party since the 1990s and has worked in the caucuses, but has never attended a state convention. “It doesn’t appeal to me because I get sick and tired of listening to politicians flap their gums and do absolutely nothing about what they’re talking about,” he said.
On why he keeps running: “I’m running for this office this year. If I don’t get in, fine. I’ll run for something in two more years ... But I’m giving people an option.” He said more people should run for the same reason. “These jobs are not rocket science. None of them are. And the reason I say that is because if they were, we wouldn’t get to run for them. They would put people in those jobs,” Goodrich said. “Anybody can run ... It’s wide open. And it’s just a popularity contest on who gets in.”
Goodrich traced his outlook to “just life over the last 40 years, I guess.” He added, “I’m a non-conformist, maybe. I don’t know.”
Goodrich said the recorder’s job is an everyday one, and that he would do it if elected. “Absolutely ... I’d do it to the best of my ability,” he said. “It is not rocket science.”
He said he would bring the approach he uses in his trade. “You should always be looking for ways to do it different ... Why do we sit around here saying, ‘Well, it’s always been done that way’? Well, that doesn’t make it right,” Goodrich said. “I do tile for a living, man. I have to look at a room and decide how it’s going to fit in there from just looking at it ... you pull a few measurements, and then you start, and there you go.”
On the two-party system: “I think it stinks. And I don’t like either party ... There’s one party, Democrats and Republicans, and then there’s everybody else.” He said he chose to run as an independent to skip the primary. “That’s why I ran as an independent ... Because our primary system is worthless,” he said. “So I can skip that by running independent.”
He said the “MAGA” label tells voters where he stands. “The reason I put that is because I don’t have to explain to anybody what that means,” Goodrich said. “So you know exactly where I’m coming from when you see that.” He said he supports President Donald Trump and plans to vote for Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn, but does not like Democratic nominee Rob Sand or any of Iowa’s federal candidates from either party.
Goodrich said he has no yard signs, is not spending money on the race and does not ask anyone for a vote. “I’m not spending a dime on this race ... I spent money on the last one,” he said. “I tell people I’m running. I don’t ask for their vote ... Because I don’t feel comfortable saying, ‘Hey, will you vote for me?’ ... If you want to vote for me, you will. If you don’t, you won’t.”
He compared choosing a new candidate to his experience as a boy, when he disliked liver and onions until he tried a friend’s father’s version. “It was the same exact dish, but his was better. I didn’t know that because I hadn’t tried it yet,” he said. He said many people are willing to try something different because they are tired of things staying the way they are.
Goodrich said the outcome does not matter much to him. “If I do [win], I’ll be the most shocked person in the room,” he said. “I’m not expecting to win, so I’m not disappointed if I win or if I lose ... It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just, it doesn’t matter to me that much.” Instead, he said, the point is the choice. “If you hear someone out there complaining about not having a choice ... well, guess what? ... You did. You didn’t take it. That ain’t my problem. That’s a you problem.”
Goodrich summed up how he would approach the job in four words: “With an open mind.” He added, “We should always have different kinds of people.”
