Mark Chelgren

Early life

Chelgren was born in Ross, California on January 21, 1968. He grew up in Huntington Beach, and graduated from Huntington Beach High School in 1986. At the start of his career, Chelgren's employment included manager of a Sizzler restaurant in Torrance, California.

Business

In the 1990s, Chelgren relocated to Iowa, and settled in Vinton. The Iowa Senate Republicans organization states that "Senator Chelgren is an entrepreneur with multiple patents, primarily focused in health care". Chelgren has a patent for a wheelchair shock absorber that is assigned to his company FrogLegs Incorporated and has filed for two patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (patent applications #20100123296 and #20140100490). A patent has not been issued for either application.

Education

As of February 2017, Chelgren's Iowa State Legislature biography lists his education as an A.S. at Riverside Community College and says he attended "University of California" [at Riverside]. His Senate biography used to indicate that he "has a degree in business management from Forbco Management school and attended the University of California at Riverside majoring in astro-physics, geo-physics and mathematics."

Chelgren's education became an issue in 2017 when he proposed a bill to quiz prospective university professors on their political affiliation, and enact a percentage system to ensure that Iowa's institutions of higher learning did not hire what he deemed an inappropriately high percentage of Democrats and liberals. In defending his proposed legislation, Chelgren claimed to have witnessed what he termed excessive liberal advocacy among the professors of the college he attended. Subsequent investigation of his educational background called this claim into question. In February 2017, news accounts revealed that Forbco Management was not an accredited school that awarded degrees but was a company "which ran Sizzler restaurants and a few other different restaurants." Chelgren worked for Forbco as an assistant manager at a Sizzler restaurant while a young adult in California and completed the 6-month course as part of his training.

Prior to February 2017, a Republican Party site's biography indicated he attended the University of California, Riverside for three years. When the university's spokesman indicated that he had attended for one school year, 1992 to 1993, Chelgren told NBC that he had attended University of California, Riverside for one year, and had earned an associates degree in science from Riverside Community College after two years of attendance. When asked if he mischaracterized his educational background, Chelgren said, "No, I did not."

Other biographies are also inconsistent on the question of Chelgren's higher education. In the biography on one of his business's websites, FrogLegs Incorporated he claims to have "completed his education in Astro- and Geo-Physics at the University of California in Riverside"."

Chelgren's biography in the Iowa Republican Party's 2014 candidate guide states that "He received his degree in Astro- and Geo-Physics at the University of California in Riverside."

In a biography from a 2015-2016 Iowa Legislature directory, he lists an associate's degree from Riverside Community College and attendance at the University of California. In a 2016 legislative biography published by the Advocacy Cooperative of Des Moines, Chelgren is listed as holding a "Degree in Astrophysics and Geophysics (University of California Riverside)".

Political career

In 2010, Chelgren was elected to the Iowa Senate, defeating incumbent Democrat Keith Kreiman with 9,572 to 9,582 votes. In 2011, Chelgren endorsed Michele Bachmann in the 2012 presidential election.

In 2014, Chelgren was re-elected, defeating Democrat Steve Siegel 10,331 to 9,954 votes.

In 2015, he provoked controversy when he suggested "if an undocumented person who committed a felony is deported and then tries to return to the U.S., he or she should be subject to capital punishment."

In 2016, Chelgren was a U.S. Congressional candidate for Iowa's 2nd District but withdrew in March.

Voters' rights

During the 2017 legislative session, Chelgren voted to shorten both the amount of time one may cast an absentee ballot and the number of days one can vote at satellite polling sites, and he voted to require all voters to present a state-issued ID. Though he voted for the measure, the bill was opposed by the Iowa State Association of Counties, an advocacy group for Iowa's disabled, and Iowa's Department on Aging opposed the bill.

Workers' Rights

During the 2017 legislative session, Chelgren voted for House File 295 which eliminates local control in municipalities that voted to increase their own minimum wage locally. Chelgren's vote will cause the minimum wage to be lowered in four counties which had already voted to raise their minimum wage (Johnson, Linn, Wapello, and Polk). Estimates show that at least 64,300 residents of Iowa will have their wages effectively lowered, including 35,800 to 36,000 in Polk County, 10,100 in Johnson County, and 18,400 in Linn County.

Healthcare

Chelgren voted in support of House File 625, which eliminated the requirement that parents report on their state taxes whether or not they have healthcare for their children. In this bill, Cheldgren also voted to eliminate the requirement that parents apply for healthcare coverage, such as Hawk-i or Medicaid, for their children.

Immigration

Chelgren voted for an amended form of Senate File 481. This bill eliminated elements of local control by requiring a local officer to comply and detain an immigrant who is guilty of three misdemeanors, non-violent felonies, and felonies until ICE arrives. This bill was opposed by a number of organizations in Iowa, including the Iowa Police Chief Association, the Iowa Catholic Conference, the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, the Iowa Coalition against Sexual Assault, and the Iowa State Bar Association.

2015 Public Universities Bill

In 2015, Chelgren proposed a bill to the Iowa Legislature requiring all university professors to teach at least one course each semester, to terminate employment of professors receiving poor course evaluations, and to hold a student vote among the five professors with the worst course evaluations in order to terminate the contract of the professor receiving the fewest votes. In an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education regarding the bill, Chelgren asserted: "When I went to school, the professors who graded the hardest were among my favorite professors, not among my least favorites. The ones who seemed like they were just going through the motions and weren’t actually doing their jobs were the ones that were very frustrating. Instead of me working with that professor, you’d be pushed off to a TA or you’d simply deal with a professor who was so arrogant that you couldn’t actually ask questions without being demeaned in class. You talk about education in general and avoiding bullying issues, but a professor runs their classroom like they’re some kind of dictator."

2017 Public Universities Bill

In 2017, Chegren proposed a bill for public universities to hire the same proportion of Democratic and Republican professors by a margin of 10%. Chelgren aims to counter the overrepresentation of Democrats among academics and encourage "balanced speech" in the classroom. The bill was challenged by the Democratic opposition and the ACLU.