US Dept of Agriculture isn’t just about farms with Cindy Axne

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Cindy Axne: People are really interested in seeing how their food is raised and grown. and people want things that are clean.

I’ve worked in state government, was a congresswoman and now in federal government, I would tell you the one thing that we need to do is we need to connect more.

Good governance starts with honesty. Good governance starts with the ability to work with others. Good governance is about coordinating all entities and stakeholders who are involved, and who would feel the impact of something in discussions to move the needle forward.

I once had a woman say to me who was a friend of mine, Cindy, do you do all this stuff that everybody knows needs to get done, but we just don’t want to do it? And I said to her, and it’s exhausting.

David Martin: Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m your host, Dave Martin. So think about this. These are just some issues that one particular government agency is working on housing, broadband access, food security, summer food programs, renewable energy, battling climate change, and managing the U.S. Forest Service. This is just some of the work handled by. Well, you probably didn’t guess.

It’s the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA is actually the agency closest to more Americans because they have offices in every single state. And on this episode of The Good Government Show, I’m talking with Cindy, actually, she’s the senior advisor for rural Delivery, engagement and prospect for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a former two term congresswoman from Iowa.

She now heads an outreach program for the USDA. She told me a few things I didn’t know, like that. The USDA Rural Housing Program helps get people into a house of their own. We also talked about a program that feeds some 22 million, mostly kids food during the summer. That’s in the summer. There’s no free school lunch option.

And we talked a little bit about her growing up and working on a farm. Makes sense. She’s from Iowa and now she’s an agriculture. So get ready to hear about the U.S. Department of Agriculture that’s coming up on the Good Government show.

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Welcome to the Good Government show. We have as our guest today. Cindy Axne, and she has a former two time member of Congress from her home state of Iowa and her current title, I want to make sure I get this right is Senior Advisor for Rural Delivery, Engagement and Prosperity. Do I have that right?

Cindy Axne: That’s correct.

David Martin: Welcome to the show.

Cindy Axne: Glad to be here.

David Martin: Well, we’re glad to have you. So you have a rather August title? senior advisor for rural delivery, engagement and prosperity. What does that mean?

Cindy Axne: Well, David, I come from, five generations of farm families in southern Iowa. and what it means is there’s a need to ensure that rural communities across this country, have a voice, have someone that will help engage with them to make sure that the services that they receive, boost opportunities for them and their families and put more money in their pockets.

but also to ensure that the way that we’re getting things done, for rural America, creates, more trust. I think, with, with government, more, more of an understanding that we’re here literally to ensure that there’s success in their own communities. And when I took this role, I had them add the word prosperity because coming from, a farm family in a rural community, I know that prosperity is difficult to reach in rural America, and that policies can absolutely impact opportunities for those entire communities because they’re very much based on agriculture at some level or another.

And so you.

David Martin: Have to get up early and feed the chickens and the cows. I mean.

Cindy Axne: well, listen, I didn’t grow up on my grandparents farm except for summers. And yes, in the summers I did. Right. Okay. and on weekends, when we would go down there, but, you know.

David Martin: So you work the farm?

Cindy Axne: I work the farm. Okay. even on my dad’s side of the family, his parents, came up from the farm. and still bought a plot of land on the south side of town. dressed chickens that they had to go down to farm, get them dressed. The chickens, they had a big, like, five acre plot where they grew, vegetables and fruit, and then they deliver that around town.

So I’ve been around urban farming and rural farming my entire life.

David Martin: Okay, so you’re a natural to be in agriculture.

Cindy Axne: you there’s a lot of Iowans, it seems, working out here at the USDA.

David Martin: Okay, well, that makes sense. They probably don’t come from Brooklyn. No, no. Okay.

Cindy Axne: Not so.

David Martin: Much. So what do you say? You know, I’ve read a little bit about, agriculture. you know, it seems like you guys, give away a lot of money to help people, on small farms, on large farms. And then it looks like you’re involved in housing as well. energy, other things. Is that. Is that all accurate?

Cindy Axne: Well, the USDA, it was the first department, that was ever created. It was created by Abraham Lincoln, and it’s called the People’s Department because it really is the closest to the people in this country. I can’t think of a department that is closer. We we protect America’s natural resources. Rural Americans do that. we create the food supply for, this country and many other countries and assist with trade.

so much of what this department does is integral to everybody’s lives in this country. so, yeah, we do we do a lot. And it started with Abraham Lincoln saying, I’m going to name this for what this is. And we’re we’re the only department on the entire National Mall, just so you know. And we have a garden out here.

It’s a it really visually expresses the importance of what this department, the United States Department of Agriculture and all of the things that it does, exactly what you said from forestry, which a lot of people don’t really associate with us. you know, to housing and economic development and childcare centers, etc., in our rural, rural America, all of those things come through us.

when, when Congress passes legislation, that deals with these issues. And so we are close to America in every way possible.

David Martin: You mentioned something about the fact that USDA buys fire trucks. Can you explain that? I wouldn’t associate fire trucks with USDA.

Cindy Axne: Right. Well, so we have, our rural business cooperative service, which really is about the economic engine of rural America, partners with, communities across the country to ensure that they’ve got the opportunities there that are more readily available, honestly, in urban areas because there’s more funding. and so one of our opportunities through grants is, is, you know, for, for firefighters to be able to have a new truck or, you know, there’s many things that can be done.

It could be an ambulance for, you know, those responders, could be, you know, something for, another, important community entity there, like a library. So we are we have a lot of work that we do with some of. I would wager that what people really associate local communities with, which is, you know, your police force, your fire, firefighters, your libraries, all of those things that are so important to keeping communities growing safe and intact.

We have grants for those, to make sure that those communities can actually serve the people that live there.

David Martin: You talk about grants. one of the things I noticed in a little research I did, you have a program for loans for beginning farmers and ranchers. So you’re helping people start farms?

Cindy Axne: Yeah. Listen, we are doing a lot to make sure that America has opportunity across the board for our farmers.

David Martin: Are there less farms and less farmers? Correct.

Cindy Axne: Oh, my goodness, there are. There are so many less farms to the tens of thousands of farms that.

David Martin: Go into politics. Instead of staying on the farm.

Cindy Axne: what I hear said.

David Martin: Yes, you you went into politics, you got off the farm. But there are guys farms. So I guess we need programs to encourage more people to get into it. Are they? Is it working?

Cindy Axne: Oh, it is working. And it’s not just a matter, really, David, of having less farms. It’s a matter of the fact that the farms that we have, in many cases, have had to become so big to work within the big four packers or within the big, you know, the the contracted market. Yeah. and what that is done because that takes a lot of upfront cost to do that.

You’ve got to be a bigger farm to be able to be a part of that system. It’s really eliminated opportunity for people to jump in. We have young farmers who would love people, who would love to be, have a little plot of land and farm in the way that they would like to farm, whether it’s organic food, whether it’s, you know, nuts and berries in California, whatever it is.

or whether it is a new product, right. In a row crop state, like in the Midwest. And so the problem is getting in is really tough because the system’s currently set up not for people to be able to enter this, like many other industries, that you can jump in with a business license and, you know, hang out your shingle.

This is not one of those. It takes a lot of, funding to be able to get your product to market. and.

David Martin: I would imagine time I mean, if you’re if you’re growing your, you can’t just, you know, turn it around tomorrow.

Cindy Axne: Well, that’s right. And, you know, corn I could go all day on four.

David Martin: And that’s why I picked the Iowa corn.

Cindy Axne: apples. Well, you’re.

David Martin: From Oregon, Amy.

Cindy Axne: And corn is used for, you know, so many things, whether it’s, you know, obviously feeding folks, for silage for, saos, you know, which is a huge part of our trade opportunities that we have in this country, whether it’s for biofuels. so, yeah, that’s a what I’m saying that you just heard me right there.

We’re already talking about markets that are already established. So for folks to get into those, it’s tough. And I’ll be honest, a lot of young farmers want to get into different things. These days. And I love it. And I’m excited about what young people are bringing to the table. And this is also for organic and urban farming as well.

David Martin: Does that filter down to the local farmers market you see on the corner of any big city?

Cindy Axne: It does filter down the local farmer’s market, and you may have.

David Martin: So we can thank the USDA for the for the farmer’s market on Sunday morning in the in your neighborhood.

Cindy Axne: Well, listen, I mean, you know, there’s a lot of people to thank for that. Yes. The USDA, is certainly a part of that. And I would tell you that they’re we’re really working on enhancing organic opportunities for people across the country, because if you if you do a poll, people are really interested in seeing how their, food is raised and grown.

and people want things that are clean, organic baby food. if you look at polling for that, that, one of my a rep recently did who’s on ag committee, and it just shows that, no matter your socioeconomic status, your parents are buying that because they know it’s important for their kids to eat healthy. We’re this is what we’re in the business of, David.

We’re in the business of a healthy America, lowering the cost of food for people across the country, making sure that our supply chains are resilient. So we aren’t so dependent on, others for the things that we need. and that’s what we’re in the business of here, in America. And I would also tell you that USDA is in the business of addressing climate change.

And so all the for the folks who are listening out there that are feeling the impact of those in their communities. We’re doing a lot to make sure that we don’t just address that through practices, related to agriculture, but through opportunities, for farmers to actually capitalize, and new markets within the climate, industry itself, which is out there right now.

David Martin: I want to go back a little bit to food just for another moment before we go away from it. let’s talk about food security, nutrition security. How is the USDA helping those issues?

Cindy Axne: First and foremost, we are bringing processing capabilities back to local and regional levels. If if folks don’t know, let’s talk about your meat. Your meats really controlled by the four big packers. Right. And there’s a whole contracted chain, that goes from the Packer all the way down to the farmer and then to the fertilizer that’s even put on the land, for, the silage that’s used for some for the for the hogs, etc..

And so we’ve got a system here that doesn’t allow anybody to get really get in, really controls the what farmers get as far as the pricing. And we’re and we’re done with that because that is contributing to this lack of opportunity for farmers to be in the market. And when we do that, we consolidate, which is what’s happened, our food system, into a handful of big players.

When that happens, people don’t have as much choice in the store. People’s prices are more controlled as opposed to being able to find better opportunities for their pocketbook. The choices of the products that they get are more controlled. So we’re opening this all up. We’re seeing places like, different.

David Martin: Does I mean, finding new, new places, new markets or new growers or new developers? How does that work?

Cindy Axne: It’s it’s working with new develop. New. What what with folks who are out there already doing it, right? two things expanding. If they’ve got a small processing capability, but it’s most likely bringing it into the community because that’s the problem. We just don’t have them anymore. I mean, I told you where I grew up, that town is called Milo.

Iowa is where my grandparents farm is. And Milo, Iowa was one of the only places during Covid, where there was processing capability for farmers to take their products, and get their beef processed or their, whatever. And so that place, it was, it was it had so much business, it didn’t even know what to do because, you may remember at the time, the big four Packers were literally, you know, they were shutting down.

There was Covid on the lines. we were destroying, killing animals. they used, you know, different words for that. But because the supply chain wasn’t allowing that product to get down to the individual, we ended up killing animals. We ended up having people die on the floors of of meatpacking plants. It’s time that we switch this out, right?

And that we bring things back to the communities. And what this does, folks, this isn’t just about rural. This is about putting money in everybody’s pocket and choice in the grocery store.

David Martin: Talk about choice. I read about a summer program. It’s called the summer electronic budget Transfer that, gives families, money in the summer for kids. Can you explain what this is all about and how this program came to be?

Cindy Axne: Yeah. Well, it’s important that our kids continue to get the food that they need over summer. And as you know, we have programs throughout the school year for kids to get food, breakfast in the morning, lunch while they’re at school, etc. many times taking home a backpack of food over the weekend, all of that. But when this.

David Martin: All of a sudden summer hits and there there’s no.

Cindy Axne: There’s no more school. And so we want to make sure that those kids are fed. Listen, every single data point shows that when children are fed, they learn better, they live healthier lives, they succeed more in life. And so we’ve got to support our kids all throughout the year. And I’ll be honest, it’s painful for me to see states that are not accepting this money because it to make a, a political statement.

This is these are our children. I passed out food during Covid. It love Joy elementary School where I grew up on the south side of Des Moines. There was not one break in the cars that came by to pick up the food. My son was there with me. And to see these entire families who literally would not have made it through the week without a program like that.

And now knowing some of these families are going to go hungry across the country, this is not who we should be. and so we continue to try and push these out there, but there’s only so much that we can do. We can have the programs. We can’t force states to take them.

David Martin: I just want to check with you. It’s what I read is this, feeds 21 million kids in 34 states, and it looks like the payout is like $2.5 billion in this, summer electronic budget transfer program. That’s on. Right.

Cindy Axne: Well, that sounds about right. And per kid, that’s pretty inexpensive, right?

David Martin: But it’s fresh fruit and vegetables and, fresh food for the summer for kids who don’t don’t have it. Right.

Cindy Axne: Well, that’s right. And and I can tell you from, my years in Congress and speaking to far too many parents, some of the things that we did to extend opportunities for families like child tax credits and things like this. I’ve heard people say this is a difference from me being able to give, you know, to give my kid a bag of chips or fresh oranges and boy, what a difference that makes in their lives.

Because fresh food sometimes costs more, right? it’s cheaper sometimes to get the crappy processed food that isn’t good for your health. And look, we all like that. I like it too. I sit down with my candys at night and a bag of popcorn most of the time. Okay. but but what’s.

David Martin: Better than a fresh peach in the summer, right?

Cindy Axne: That’s right. Oh, tell me about that.

David Martin: Yes. you mentioned something earlier before we we started recording here. The USDA is starting a push to grow our own fertilizer in this country. Tell me why that’s important.

Cindy Axne: So. So once again, during Covid and as as a result of coming out of Covid, we had massive supply chain disruptions. And one of the issues was related to fertilizer. And fertilizer just went through the roof as far as pricing was concerned. And it’s basically because we don’t produce enough here, right? so we’re reliant on other countries.

I mean, we need fertilizer for our ag system, and it’s crazy that that we have to rely on other countries to produce that form. So no more. and so we are making these announcements across the country where we’re not just increasing, production capabilities for current fertilizer producers, but developing new opportunities and new, you know, factories to produce our own fertilizer.

What this does is put more money back in the farmers pocket because they can control their costs. Now, they know that, with fertilizer produced here, they they’re going to get a better deal. They’re going to know what their prices. It’s not going to be, so much in flux because we have lack of control over it.

and just like things we had to do during Covid with baby formula. when that we had an issue with air and the president had to tell people to start producing things, we can tell folks, if there’s a downturn in something, you know, they’re part of the American economic system. We say, hey, you need to produce more or whatever.

If we ever get into a thing like we did with Covid again. So we got to start bringing opportunity here to America. It’s it lowers the prices for our farmers, but it’s also a national security issue. And so I think this like so many of the things that we do at USDA, they impact both of those areas, their economic drivers, their supply chain resiliency opportunities.

And they’re also national security protection. this is, that we, we see in America. it’s a really important thing to make sure that we’re, we’re we’re plugging the holes that cause problems for our country.

David Martin: I always sort of thought, and I don’t know, you know, maybe this goes back to TV stereotypes, but I always sort of figured the, you know, the Department of Agriculture was some guy in a rural setting out in an office that would drive around the farms and go, hey, you could get five more acres of corn this season or something like that.

But that’s not true, and it’s just a small part of the picture. it sounds like the USDA is just nationwide at every level. Is that accurate?

Cindy Axne: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That’s right. And and quite honestly, the only, department that has representation in every state is the USDA, every state offices. Yeah. Oh, wow. That’s right. Through the Farm Service agents.

David Martin: That sounds like good government.

Cindy Axne: It is good government. It’s it’s down. It’s local and down to the people, our state directors and the folks that work for them in these offices, are constantly out working with the people on the ground, a meeting with folks to solve problems. and so we were the voice out there, and I’m really proud that we have that position, because somebody has to be out there listening to the people and bringing those issues back, to America.

And I’ll be honest, I think having Secretary Vilsack at the helm here, a guy who I worked for at the state of Iowa when I ran strategy for the state, and then was also my constituent. I know him, very well. This man lives and breathes opportunity for this country, and understands that our role at the USDA is to not just be what most people think of, which is the farming side of things, but to be a key player in changing the trajectory of our economy and also addressing climate issues at the same time, we’re a department that can do both of those and make a huge impact.

David Martin: So now that you’re on the department side, how many times have you said what is wrong with those people in Congress?

Cindy Axne: you know what’s so funny? I see a lot of my friends. I’ve got some great friends here. And, I said, I find myself always saying, well, you know, Congress needs to be doing this, and, you know, so much of it, it it has been really interesting. You know, I know that you’ve got a lot of, local government listeners out there.

I worked in state government, was a congresswoman, and now in federal government, I would tell you, the one thing that we need to do is we need to connect more, across the board in general. And I would say that up and down the block from federal to state to local, from Congress to the executive branch.

David Martin: So how do we do that? What’s your solution?

Cindy Axne: well, first of all, my solution is I, I hope we have I hope that people who run for office that step up are willing to work with other people. I hope that they are interested in finding opportunities for our country as a whole, while they work for their particular constituents. but if we don’t start working together a little bit more, we’re going to continue to see, government that really doesn’t communicate as well as it can if we communicate.

David Martin: Right. So now you’re getting now you’re getting into your philosophy of government, which is perfect, because now we’ve got all that out of the way. It’s time to find out what you really think about government from your from your multiple perspectives. You said you worked in state government. What did you do in state government?

Cindy Axne: Well, I well, I started out as, head of leadership development and training at the state of Iowa. Okay. And, then I moved into, running strategy for the state. I ran things like the state’s energy and environment plan and made Iowa number two and wind production in the country. Texas has overtaken that now, but, still up there in the top three.

and and really worked, I basically work with every state agency to craft strategies, to move us in the right direction. I sat with the cabinet level folks and coordinated things like a good offer, good, good example of what I was talking about for good governance is under Secretary Vilsack. When we when we did work on the office of Energy Independence to to make this wind opportunity.

And he understood fully that this couldn’t just be one office that oversees this. This is a combination of natural resources and Office of Energy Independence utilities, labor, because we didn’t have, you know, we were bringing in people from, Scandinavia to work on the big wind turbines when we didn’t have, you know, we had to work with, community colleges, to bring in programs to train people.

Okay. So this is a really good example.

David Martin: So you’ve got you’ve got a good overview of government at the local level. At the state level. Yeah, at the national level in Congress and now at the Department of Agriculture. So with all that said, from where you said, how do you define good government?

Cindy Axne: Tough question. But I would say from my perspective, first and foremost, we need, a good government starts with honesty. Good governance starts with the ability to work with others. Good governance is about coordinating all entities and stakeholders who are involved, and who would feel the impact of something in discussions to move the needle forward. So getting more public involvement and what we do working with local governments to ensure that what we’re putting down there that comes down all the way for them to implement is actually reasonable.

When I was at the National Association of Counties event late last year, that’s what we would hear from local governments, is that they don’t have the structure to put some of the policies in place. That would be good for them, because there’s no funding or people to literally get through the quagmire of paperwork or back and forth tests that need to be done that cost a lot of money and some communities don’t have.

And so we often put things, together via policy in a vacuum without thinking about the people who are on the end user side that need to implement it. And to me, that’s one of the most important things that we should be doing, and we need to figure out a better way to get that done. And we should have congressional offices in their district.

Staffs worked very closely with folks in those local communities to bring that back to the committees of jurisdiction for whatever legislation that it is and point out to them, hey, here’s what I’m hearing from these folks. We need to get this changed. And I’m going to tell you, David, it can work. One of the first bills that I was asked to be on was, from Virginia Fox, and she came up to me in the house.

I was two weeks in. She goes, I heard you’re interested in putting more money in our local communities pockets. And I’m like, I have no idea who you are, but you know, I am. And so I was one of the originals on that bill. That bill was signed into law. It is a piece of legislation that is looking across the entire spectrum of federal government grant processes and creating best practices so that we get to a point where it’s going to be a much simpler version for any department.

Anybody applying for any grant, in any department, having a more streamlined process that everybody can use, it’s going to take a while for us to get there, but we’re starting.

David Martin: Your first bill became a law that’s impressive. That doesn’t always. Yeah. All right. Now that you set that high bar for yourself, how do you judge your success then in delivering good government or, you know, the lack thereof? How do you judge it?

Cindy Axne: I really judge it by the change on the ground in people’s lives, by small business owners who have talked to me saying that this is really changed their opportunity by, you know, conversation. And, for example, with a woman out in the suburbs of Omaha, Nebraska, who got one of these grants and is now able to change her life and the life of many people around her by establishing a little local, little.

She got one of these processing grants, but really, she, you know, it’s it’s because folks who deliver funding to her are deliver meat and things to her to sell in our little shop. that helps them get the product to market. And, and so she’s created a new shop there. Now, multiple farmers are getting more opportunity with a local, place to sell their goods.

She’s also bringing in people as employees. So she’s created jobs. And by the way, you know, she’s, she’s she she’s not a single mom. or and she’s now got an opportunity for herself. So this is what makes me say we’re doing a good, you know, a good job or, a friend of mine who had a rare disease.

and I was able to work on legislation to include that particular disease that wasn’t being researched at National Institutes of Health. And now she’s actually part of a conversation with people, on a team with from the white House where she is able to literally converse with folks. This woman from Iowa who’s got a rare disease. And as part of the conversation, that’s what we should be doing.

Take those folks needs to the table and make sure they’ve got a voice at it.

David Martin: So how should those people who maybe don’t have a voice know if they’re getting good government? And how should they hold you accountable?

Cindy Axne: Well, first and foremost, they should go at they should be work talking with their congressional members. Members of the House are supposed to be the closest representation to the people that they serve. Go to the meetings. Go to the meetings. Force these representatives to answer to the questions that you have. I don’t care what side of the aisle that it’s on.

They you does. They’re supposed to be there representing you. Bring your problems to them. It’s how I listen. I had 11 of my bills passed in two terms. That’s pretty fantastic. I’ll be honest. It’s a.

David Martin: Lot.

Cindy Axne: I was I was listed on the, you know, two terms in a row, the no brainer tax bills that she made into law because I listened to people and found out what their issues were. and so go to these meetings because if folks, if they’re a good representatives will act on that. And if they’re not, you got a chance to find a new one down the road.

and so I would tell people first and foremost do that. Secondly, I would absolutely say, you know, work with folks, at the local level, that are federal represent representatives like we have, in our state offices and ensure that, you know, what opportunities are out there. And, and I would say in general, I hope we can move away from the statement that I hear far too often.

I’m just not into politics. And, boy, I hear, you know, I heard it from my own older son. you know, he votes, but still, he’s just not into politics, right?

David Martin: Right.

Cindy Axne: Folks, this isn’t politics.

David Martin: This is a future governor of Iowa. I’m. I’m sure we’re talking about right.

Cindy Axne: This is our this is our everyday lives. And I hope people understand. Take stop with the phrase and say, I want to get involved in community opportunities because that’s what government should be doing for your community. It should be providing opportunity for you, your family, your neighbors and all of the people that live there. And so look at it that way, change our narrative from this being so politically driven to solving problems and being, being, a part of the community that you’re proud of.

David Martin: So if people feel like you sort of answer this a little bit, if they if they feel like they’re not getting good government, if they feel like, you know, those, they don’t have enough, meetings with their local representatives, what should they do.

Cindy Axne: Right off ads? Number one, make sure that that information gets out into the public. Spread the information as much as you possibly can, get it out into mainstream, I would tell you, because everybody does too much on social right now. And it’s, you know, it’s kind of that’s in a vacuum. but, but make, make hay out of it.

I would also insert, you know, I would, call anybody that you think could help you, you know, with that, I it’s different depending on the issue, that you’re facing. But express those concerns. Bring those up, to the, in those meetings, make those things public. and literally just talk to folks, go to your city council meetings, go to, you know, pay attention to what’s happening in newsletters.

David Martin: But it’s hard, it’s hard, it’s hard, it’s hard and have the time.

Cindy Axne: Listen, I get it, I get it. I once had a woman say to me, who was a friend of mine, Cindy, you do all this stuff that everybody knows needs to get done, but we just don’t want to do it. And I said to her, and it’s exhausting because I’ve done it my entire life, whether I fought a road coming through a state park in where I used to live, or for all day kindergarten in one of the biggest districts in Iowa, or taking it to Congress or now working, you know, for the president at the USDA to make sure that folks across this country understand the good things that are being done,

it’s hard to step up. I get it, it’s time consuming. It takes away from other things, but it’s necessary. This is our democracy is fragile. My goodness, is it fragile? This has been an experiment since this country began, and we’re still in an experiment. Look at the rest of the world. See the see the turmoil that we see in so many places, and realize that we’ve got an opportunity, an advantage here because of the way that we’re structured.

So fight for that, be a part of it. Make sure that your voice is heard. Because if you say you don’t have any, you don’t have any say in this or, or your your vote is worth nothing. or this is political and I don’t want to be a part of it. You’re literally ceding the ground to others to make decisions for your lives.

And as I like to tell young people who say it’s a very good, you know, I don’t want to get involved or whatever, I’m like, well, your landlord’s involved in making sure that rents are, you know, the, you know, car manufacturers are involved in things that, you know, what you’re getting in your car and what you’re paying for.

food lobbyists are out there for everything you’re putting in your mouth. So I think you might want to get engaged. because people are making decisions for you that you don’t think are happening. And they are.

David Martin: That’s a very good point. So you are a for lack of a better word, I’d have to call you a government insider. you’ve worked at the state level, at the federal level, and you’ve had elected office. What would you like people to know about how government works that they don’t know?

Cindy Axne: Yeah. Well, I mean, you can call me that, but I’m born on the outside always. I was, you know, I was I was a dark horse in my race. I was all this stuff, right? I never, I never.

David Martin: But you work in government. You’re you’re on the inside. That’s right. You understand it. You understand how the wheels turn. What would you tell people who doesn’t understand.

Cindy Axne: That I understand it, I keep saying I need to write a book because, it is so important for the people in this country to understand how things are happening. My gosh, just take one minute to to get away from whatever it is, whether, you know, whether it is, a book you’re reading or the Kardashians are watching or whatever the heck you’re doing with your time, say, I’m going to commit 15 minutes, you know, twice a week or whatever, to just get more in tune with how something functions and learn a little bit about it, because it is complicated.

There are decisions that, are being made that people are unaware of. And I got to tell you, I we were joking about this the other day. I’ve been at events were, you know, I’m cutting a ribbon and somebody walks up to me and it’s like, as a congresswoman, great to see you, governor. It’s been a year since I’ve seen you.

And I’m like, oh, okay. You know, where where I’m caught, where called Senator. Where let me let me just tell you, this happens all the time with all the people I know that are in this industry, so to speak. But there is confusion on who does what. there’s confusion about who is responsible for things. There’s confusion on the title you even have and what you do for a job for them.

And that’s incumbent on those folks to start figuring out. I’ll be honest. It’s like, you know, it’s not as if, there’s not information out there for people to learn how this process works. You just got to go find it a little bit. And there are there’s great if you like social media, there’s people out there explaining how to get things done, how government works on social media.

Go listen to that. If you just rather read about it, go find a book on it. Go read a book about the filibuster and how and how it needs to be gotten rid of, because it’s ruining half the opportunity for us to pass good legislation on that. Right?

David Martin: Give, give, give the listeners just sort of one little insider tip about how government works. Here’s what you need to know about how this process works and why things are the way they are.

Cindy Axne: I’m going to start at the beginning because it starts with elections, okay? Our structure allows for a small group of Americans to have an oversize ability to influence what that election looks like down the road.

David Martin: Yep.

Cindy Axne: And we need to put in some other framing, I think, so that those types of decisions don’t just snowball and go down the road. What I want folks to understand is like once something starts, it’s almost impossible for it to, to, to stop. And so you really need to be in at the beginning and you need to be a part of this.

Because whether it’s legislation or whether it is, you know, the election process itself, the structures honestly need to be fixed in many ways. When, when we allowed, for Citizens United, when that was passed, where where corporations or people to and then they could put money into elections. The, our country was really put into a bad position.

It should be done away with. it allows too much funding money to go into our processes. And so much money’s in our entire system, whether it’s on the election side or on the lobbying side. it’s why Americans need to stand up, folks. That’s it. David, let me get to the money in this system needs to get it is controlling more than people think, and they need to put their voices out there, because the only thing people who don’t have the money can do is make sure your voice matters.

And that’s through voting and showing up, to press your elected officials to do the work that they need to do.

David Martin: Good answer. Thank you. So who inspired you to get into politics and to get into government? Who are your hero? Your heroes?

Cindy Axne: So I don’t work that way. I’ve never been like that.

David Martin: I don’t know, hearing.

Cindy Axne: What you’re doing.

David Martin: I don’t know what inspired you.

Cindy Axne: What. What inspired me was, what turned into, a ten mile walk after the 2016 election, I had bronchitis. I thought I was getting a little bit better. I thought I’d go out for two miles because I was. It was just. I needed to get out of the house. Right. I come back ten miles later and said, I just got to step up.

And it really was this idea, David, that I didn’t think my family was being well represented and my community wasn’t with the people that were winning these elections. And I just said, For God’s sake, I’ve done who can do this? Why? Why shouldn’t I just step in? I really just started by going out and saying, I just want to be more involved.

And then somebody who was running for governor, said, Will you go out and speak on my behalf as a surrogate? And I said, sure, because he I worked with him at the DNR. Yeah. And, the next thing I know, I had people waiting in line to talk to me after a speech saying, are you going to run for office?

Because we like what you have to say. So I would just tell people, so you’ve got a passion for something. Stop up, I was inspired.

David Martin: Is there anyone who inspired you?

Cindy Axne: No, I don’t, I that’s not I’m not one of those people. I’m not like I’m, I’m so not like, you know, I don’t bow down to a lot of people, but, I mean, if there’s.

David Martin: Well, it’s not necessarily bow down as opposed to like, oh, I.

Cindy Axne: Know, I guess I’m just not like, I, that’s not who I it’s hard for me to say. I would tell you if there’s anybody that inspired me to know that we can be better as a country. It’s got to be, President Obama. because, listen, that guy, politically, he did do the right thing. He went, in, in Iowa.

He was knocking on doors in the tiniest towns. Right? Right. That guy went out and listened to people, and he went to office.

David Martin: And then there was a Grassley where you go to every county. And I learned that.

Cindy Axne: Yes, Grassley does his 99. Yes. and, he does it every single year. So good for him on that.

David Martin: So when you were growing up, did you want to be president? Did you want to be governor or did you want to be the mayor? Did you have were you president of your high school class? Was politics. Oh, my future.

Cindy Axne: well, no, I listen, I was, I was not I was secretary of my high school class. Okay. I was, I was definitely heavily involved. I look back on this little thing I wrote in fourth grade about, And I said I was going to be. What was it? I was going to cure all diseases and then become a movie star so that, that was my fourth grade.

Me. But now I was an actor.

David Martin: You been on TV, you’re on podcasts. So I guess you’ve had life.

Cindy Axne: no, I studied broadcasting. Good. that’s my undergrad. And then my graduate is in IBM. MBA with a focus in organizational development strategy. All right. so, my whole really, my life has been about process improvement and making things and, and fixing organizations to run better. So I would I don’t need to. I was never in a place where I’ve got to be.

Oh. Some name. I just want to solve problems. They used to joke around at the state of Iowa that my tombstone should read. Should get shit done. because that’s what I like to do.

David Martin: Okay, so, I know you live in Washington now. but you you’re from Iowa? I’ve never been to Iowa. I’m coming out to Iowa. What are we having for dinner? Where are we going? What are we eating? What’s a great local Iowa dish?

Cindy Axne: Well, you know, there’s so many, but of course, I’ve got to go with a pork chop for when we’re known for our pork chops there. Okay. and a really, you know, good piece of corn next to that. Good. so so that’s a classic. But I got to tell you, we’ve got great food across the board, and and, you know, there’s some really good Italian, in, parts of Iowa.

David Martin: I live in Brooklyn. Be careful here. Okay.

Cindy Axne: yeah. Listen, I think you might be impressed with some of the old school Italian that we I come from. I got families from the South Side. We married my my my uncles married a lot of Italian women from the South side. All right. Okay. And there was a lot of, like, you know, the Busiek, Nanos and all those names that had restaurants.

So they’re not messing around.

David Martin: All right, is there? Is there a is there a, such thing as an Iowa restaurant in Washington?

Cindy Axne: the I don’t think there is such thing as an Iowa restaurant, you.

David Martin: Know, like a sort of a midwest, you know, farm table kind of place. Nothing.

Cindy Axne: Sure. What’s that? I’m. Listen, I haven’t been, What is there? Farm. There’s something here called farmers frame framers farm or something like that. Yeah. Farmers framing. They sell a lot of things that we would eat, which is, you know how I grew up with my grandma, you know, a big the, you know, the open, you know, mashed potatoes on a piece of bread.

David Martin: Okay.

Cindy Axne: With. Right. You know, pot roast or, roast beef on top of that and gravy.

David Martin: All right. So the name of the show is the Good Government Show. We always like to bring it back to good government. Tell me about a program we haven’t talked about yet at the Department of Agriculture you’re especially proud of that does deliver good government.

Cindy Axne: Let me talk housing.

David Martin: Okay.

Cindy Axne: I want to talk about our housing because they’re in my in my book. There’s, nothing more important than having, the dignity of a home for you and your family. This is a program that we have that has changed the lives of people across this country. By putting a roof over their head. And it’s, you know, it allows folks to get into buying a home that they thought they could never purchase and to give their family that opportunity to grow and possibly have generational wealth as well.

So I would tell you, our rural housing service is one of the programs that I’m really, I’m very fond of. I was also vice chair of the Subcommittee on Health.

David Martin: This is the Department of Agriculture, building or helping people get into homes to housing.

Cindy Axne: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And one of the because one of the other issues is we it’s we struggle in rural America for developers to come out there and provide housing. So by giving the incentive, you know, towards to people to have the funding to do it and working with communities to help, you know, help bring opportunities out there to develop homes or to refurbish or to buy in like a main street.

We’re rebuilding, Main Street America while we’re giving people homes. And so it’s it’s just a great program. And I just think to me, that’s one of the most important things we could be doing across this country is housing people.

David Martin: Well, that is a great program and it’s certainly good to give people a home. Cindy, you are the senior advisor for Rural Delivery, engagement and Prosperity, a former congresswoman. great to have you on. I learned a lot. Thank you.

Cindy Axne: Thank you.

David Martin: Where do you get your news from? Where do you get your state and local government news from? Because that’s getting harder and harder. And it’s essential to stay updated with your community. And it’s becoming increasingly important to know what’s going on in other cities and states, because they’re likely facing challenges that you’re grappling with, too, are you’re going to face eventually.

That’s why we’d like to welcome our new partner, route 50, to the show. Route 50 is a leading online publication covering state and local governments across the country. They’ve written about states protecting themselves against the rise in cyber attacks, counties using AI to better support citizens services, local responses to crumbling infrastructure and extreme weather, and much, much more.

There’s a lot there. It’s a one stop shop for issues affecting state and local governments and their residents. That’s you. That’s all of us. Do yourself a favor and go to route 50.com to see the topics and solutions they cover, and learn what other people in government are doing. They also deliver a daily newsletter called route 50. Today I see it in my inbox every morning.

I check it out and you should too. Thanks again. Route 50. We’re excited to have you on board and being a partner here at the Good Government Show.

What is it the county government does? That’s the question county commissioners get asked the most. And the simple answer is everything on the Good Government show. We’re so lucky to have talked with so many county commissioners and other county officials that have shown us how effective county government is. County government dates back to get this 1634, making it one of the oldest forms of government in the United States.

Think about it. Roads. Highways. Hospitals. Schools. Recycling. Law enforcement. Water. Sewers, and most of the county. Those services are maintained by the county that’s county government. The National Association of Counties represents all 3069 counties across the USA. Naco helps county government work better together through things like sharing best practices. When county government works well, well, that’s just good government.

The Department of Agriculture does a lot more than just help farmers increase their yields. As I found out, they do a lot. And more importantly, they assist not just farmers, but people across the country on things like getting into their own home or starting their own farm. I’m not sure if I’m going to move out west and start a farm, but it’s good to know that USDA is ready to help the next generation of farmers.

Well, that’s our show. Don’t forget to like us in our viewers on all your favorite social media platforms and share us with your friends and listen again for another story about government working for all of us. Thanks for listening. I’m Dave Martin. This is the good government show.

The Good Government show is a Valley Park production. Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, that’s me and David Snyder are the executive producers. Our show is edited and produced by Jason Stershic. Please subscribe then share us and like us and review. That’s the best way to make sure we’re able to keep telling these stories of our government working for all of us.

Then listen to the next episode of The Good Government Show.

**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.