Zach Lahn, the Republican Party’s candidate for governor — says if elected he’d try to steer as much state business to Iowa companies as possible. During an appearance this weekend on “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS, Lahn was asked about the long term computer services contract Governor Reynolds recently signed with two multinational corporations, Amazon and Cognizant.
Lahn says he believes the private sector is better than government at handling a lot of things — including computer system storage and IT services.
Lahn says that approach would provide long term opportunities for Iowans to be employed, rather than outsourcing the work out of state or out of country. Lahn raised concerns about Cognizant right after Reynolds announced the deal, citing the company’s employment of H1B Visa holders.
In June, Reynolds announced she’d signed a decade-long contract to have Amazon and Cognizant manage the computers and digital data in state government. After Lahn and others raised questions about out-sourcing IT services, Reynolds announced Cognizant has promised to offer jobs to the state employees who have been providing those services in state government. Last week, Trump Administration officials announced an investigation of alleged fraud linked to federal visa programs and a top Labor Department official has indicated India-based Cognizant is among the companies under scrutiny.
