DES MOINES – An Iowa Democrat in the House of Representatives quit his 2-year gig in Des Moines where he made $48K per year to cash in on an appointment to a board of supervisors position to rake in an annual salary of $135K, and the governor has set an election to fill his position in the Legislature.
Governor Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation setting Tuesday, April 29, 2025, as the date for a special election in Iowa House District 78 following the resignation of Iowa State Representative Sami Scheetz (pictured at top after cashing his government-issued check) on April 1, 2025. Sheetz took office in Des Moines on January 1, 2023, and quit on April 1, 2025, after he hit the jackpot and was appointed to the Linn county board of supervisors. His pay will balloon from $48,830.00 to $135,294.43, and he immediately assumed his new role on April 1.
The Linn County Committee of County Officers appointed Sami Scheetz to fill the vacant District 2 seat on the Linn County Board of Supervisors. The vacancy is due to the resignation of Linn County Supervisor Ben Rogers who stepped down from his seat for a position with UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s Foundation, effective April 1, 2025. The unexpired District 2 term runs through December 2026. Scheetz was one of 17 applicants who applied for the appointment.
County supervisors in Iowa are rumored to be notoriously overpaid for attending meetings that sometimes last under 5 minutes, merely to approve manure management plans or perform duties similar to a city council member or a school board member – even as they routinely work full-time jobs after they skip out of the courthouse before 10:30AM.
Iowa Code section 69.14 outlines the authority given to the governor to set a special election.
The proclamation setting the date of the special election can be found online and reads as follows:
SPECIAL ELECTION PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, the Office of State Representative for the Seventy-Eighth (78th) State House District of the Iowa General Assembly, as defined by section 41.1(78) of the 2025 Iowa Code has become vacant by reason of the resignation of Iowa State Representative Sami Scheetz on April 1, 2025.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, KIMBERLY K. REYNOLDS, Governor of the State of Iowa, by the power and authority vested in me by law, do hereby proclaim and direct that a special election to fill said vacancy shall be held within said District on:
TUESDAY, THE TWENTY-NINTH (29TH) DAY OF APRIL, 2025 A.D.
WHEREFORE, all electors within the Seventy-Eighth (78th) State House District will take due notice and the Linn County Commissioner of Elections shall give official notice as provided in section 39.6 of the Iowa Code.