MASON CITY – Cerro Gordo county attorney Carlyle Dalen will run for re-election this fall – but he may have competition from a man advocating for stronger prosecution of sex assault crimes.
Democrats say Carlyle Dalen “is running for re-election as County Attorney. He has served as such since January 1, 2011.” He reportedly already has submitted his official election papers. They describe Dalen as “another regular meeting attendee with interesting updates and another shining example of selfless commitment to work that can often be thankless.”
A Democratic challenger is unlikely to step forward against Dalen for the June 5 primaries. However, a possible conservative challenger is being called upon to enter the November 6 general election.
Gabriel Haugland, a combat Veteran of Afghanistan, and current JAG officer in the Iowa National Guard, tells NIT he has interest in the job after folks on social media drafted him to get involved. Some in the community began to advocate for a strong prosecutor to take the reigns at the courthouse after the debacle that led to accused child molester Tawny Symonds walking free. Citizens questioned why the combination of a liberal judge in Rustin Davenport and the prosecutorial work of Dalen’s office could let Symonds off with mere probation and a suspended sentence after she allegedly molested a 2-year-old girl at her daycare.
“I am humbled by the broad encouragement I have received to run for county attorney thus far, Mr. Haugland tells NIT.
Some citizens feel Mr. Haugland would offer the strong prosecution of heinous crimes that may be lacking at this time.
“While I am disappointed that Mr. Dalen has suddenly become a diehard Democrat for purposes of keeping his high-paying job, I am more concerned about the sexual predators who have received weak plea deals from his office lately. It’s time for law and order to return to our county,” Mr. Haugland told NIT.
“Perhaps Mr. Dalen should spend more time convicting criminals than caucusing with the Democrats,” he offered.
For the last two years he has represented victims of sexual assault in the military. He is married to the former Carolyn (Nicholas) Haugland, a native of Clear Lake. They have lived in Cerro Gordo county with their two young children since Gabe returned from Afghanistan in 2011.
Haugland is a wack job. His approach is so immature and predictable. Stop ragging on Dalen and tell us what you’ve done. You’ve already insulted domestic violence survivors. ( I see you’ve corrected your FB page) Shouldn’t you have known this with your vast experience with domestic assault? He needs to man up and get on this site, identify himself and face questions. Otherwise, go back to living off your wife.
Yes he is. A very good, sharp tool and that is just what is needed.
How rich can you get – extremists at the far right – well then – communist chinese Anti Americans on the left and a proven fact. fbi/department of justice and even federal judges along with the crooked obama are going to have their sorry azz day in court and hopefully a prison sentence. GO NUNES?GRASSLEY !
Vote for Gabe and put the criminals behind bars where they belong.
Its fair to debate and have discussion on whether or not Mr. Dalen should be re-elected; however, calling Dalen a “diehard Democrat” makes Haugland easily sound like a partisan also.
I also saw the comments by Gabriel Haugland responding to North Iowa Today facebook page commenters (no matter how crazy the commenters are or not) as unprofessional and immature (and I noticed some of Gabriel’s comments were later deleted but I have screenshoted them to share with others). I currently question whether Mr. Haugland has the maturity and experience to run a extremely busy county office with a huge staff that does a lot more than prosecute sex crimes. He has 1 year experience in a county attorneys office as an assistant attorney but I wished he had a significant amount more even though he has JAG and military experience (which I have full respect towards him for).
Hopefully, other potential county attorney candidates rise up besides Dalen and Haugland.
Way too alt-right. Part of what is wrong with this country. Tied to extremists at the top of the County Republicans. Not a good fit for this part of the country. He would be a better fit in the South. Money and status are his only qualifications. Which is the only thing that matters to this brand of Reps. I don’t believe with that above it all attitude, that he could be fair and unbiased, especially to those of lower incomes.
Exactly
Haugland is a far right religious extremist & gets his money from his wife’s side of the family.
That aside, look at his experience & credentials or lack thereof.
Virtually all of his praticing of law is in the Military service (just check out his Linkedin site).
He has almost no civilian law experience.
Military law & Civilian law are two totally different things.
Back to his Linkedin, other than the National Guard time he has not held any one job for any length of time.
But he does like to serve on Foundtions….wink-wink.
Well, now, THAT’S interesting information! No attorney experience in the civilian world?? He wouldn’t fit in a CA office in a million years!!
It’s not necessarily that Carlyle is so liberal it’s just that he is lazy. O wait same thing
Take the conservative/veteran – has common sense and duty.
I will vote Haugland to begin to try to change what is wrong at the courthouse and next I will vote out Rustin Davenport.
It isn’t just the Symonds case. It is all the slaps on the wrist for repeat offenders. They are lazy and don’t want to take the time to prosecute, so they offer a plea deal which all guilty people will take. Time to get rid of this guy and get someone in there that will do their job.
For all you 2nd Amendment buffs out there…I wonder why no one seems to give a hoot that Judge James Drew is against the 2nd Amendment and against private citizens owning firearms? People seem to attack Davenport quite a bit, but leave Drew unscathed. Check into his record. Poke around. He doesn’t want you to own guns. That’s a fact.
How about offering up some proof to substantiate your comments? I have known Judge Drew, for some time now and not once have I ever heard him say or indicate he is “against the 2nd Amendment and against private citizens owning firearms.”
His judicial records are sealed, but he constsntly denies people their right to own firearms. He cannot disclose this to you even if you asked, but he knows it’s true. His NRA grade should be an F. Madon City needs to vote him off the bench.
I worked in law enforcement and can remember when going to court the attorney would have you come 15 min before the case and sit down with you and discuss the case as to your testimony. Now they just go in empty handed and try and win a case. Judge Grupp when she was a attorney for the C.A. was great at this. Doesn’t happen any more
time for new blood, been way to many slaps on the wrists out of the county attorneys office. I have worked behind the scenes and have observed many deals between the C.A. and defendants attorney that have been struck before even entering the court room. don’t know haugland but maybe some military blood would change things
It’s too much weight for any one person to bear. This is a matter of a design flaw in the architecture of the justice system, and inserting Gabe Haugland over Carlyle Dalen, or Steven Tynen, or any other county attorney or lawyer won’t fix what’s actually wrong. Every decision to prosecute should rest on a grand jury panel of 100 randomly selected citizens. No voire doire. Who you draw is who you get. Everyone, regardless of status. If you are 21 or older, you determine justice, not one or two men.
you got my vote Gabe,
Symonds case was prosecuted by the state attorney generals office not the county attorney. Way to many plea deals though.
The case was not prosecuted at all. The Cerro Gordo county attorney offered the plea deal after the state AG was brought in to prosecute it. When asked for comment about why, Dalen was “unavailable for comment.”
Why steal Obama’s campaign artwork Gabe? Are you intentionall mocking Obama to feed Trump’s base, or are you just unoriginal? Or maybe you actualy like Obama…which is it?
Why would you ask something like that? What are you trying to prove? Exactly what is your point?