Jeff Danielson is a state Senator serving Hudson, Cedar Falls and Waterloo who has been working on commonsense legislation since being elected in 2005. Until a few days ago, I honestly had never heard of him– but I'm new to Iowa and live in Des Moines, so I think I should get a free pass.

For anyone who doesn't know about Danielson, he was born and raised in Iowa, served in the Navy for six years, and has been a firefighter since 1994. While raising a family and working, he used the G.I. Bill to earn a college degree and then eventually got a Masters degree. He also finds time to serve on numerous boards and commissions. He is a former commissioner of the Iowa Department of Transportation Commission and the City of Waterloo's Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission. He currently serves as a board member of the Hawkeye chapter of the American Red Cross, the UNI Leadership Advisory Board and Black Hawk Economic Development, Inc. Danielson took his seat in the Senate in 2005 and is now sitting on the Rebuild Iowa, State Government, Transportation, and Ways and Means committees, as well as the Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

In short, Jeff Danielson is a workhorse for Iowa.

Danielson caught my eye recently after speaking out for the 150,000 Iowa poker players who have been hiding in the shadows due to our antiquated online gaming laws.  The legislation Danielson proposed passed the State Government Committee because it just makes sense — we allow poker in our casinos and tax the proceeds, and yet we have allowed a huge loophole where no online gaming taxes are collected, which supporters say could bring up to $30 million a year.

For some reason, Sen. Jerry Behn (R-Boone) indicated that he may not support the legislation because it is “changing the rules in the middle of the game.” This argument is just plain stupid, and hopefully the other Legislators realize this. Currently, there is no way for Iowa authorities to enforce the current poker ban. When was the last time someone was arrested for this? The current online poker ban is just like the crazy laws in other states that everyone laughs at once a year: the ban in Missouri from driving down the highway with an un-caged bear in your car; the law in Florida which requires you to deposit the same amount of change in a parking meter for an elephant as a regular motor vehicle, the ban in Winona Lake, Wisconsin from eating ice cream at a counter on Sunday; or the ban in Illinois from giving your pets lighted cigars.

It's commonsense to remove one of these crazy laws if it's going to bring even a couple thousand dollars into depleted state coffers—but the fact that there are Republican “budget hawks” waffling on whether to close a multi-million dollar loophole is patently absurd. If I had a cigar, I'd give it to my dog right now in a show of absurd protest.

Soon after realizing that I'm a “Danielson Democrat,” I decided to do a little research to share with the Bleeding Heartlanders why he's a good guy to keep an eye on. I got most of this information from his website, but you can also check him out on Facebook or on Twitter.

• In 2005, Danielson had the foresight to push for the revival of the Iowa Railway Finance Authority, which helped to connect ethanol and biodiesel plants across the state, and laid the groundwork for an expansion of passenger rail lines.
• In 2006, Danielson worked with a bipartisan group of legislators to secure funding for an Iowa veterans history project so that staff from the Grout Museum could interview veterans, especially those who fought in World War II, and record their stories for future generations.  Those stories, now numbering in the thousands, are now being held at both the Grout Museum District and the Library of Congress.
• In 2007, Danielson stood up for transparency by proposing legislation that would establish a reporting system for inaugural contributions and expenses. His proposal also included a donation limit of $25,000.
• During the 2008 election, Danielson once again stood up for transparency by sponsoring legislation to help counties buy optical scanners to ensure that there was a paper trail in our election process. He succinctly described it as, “one person, one vote, one system.” Danielson also supported the commonsense legislation to give Iowa workers the legal right to unpaid time off to go to the presidential caucuses. Now our laws are in line with numerous other states, and we're helping to encourage participation in this important democratic process.
• Also in 2008, Danielson helped win support for a comprehensive searchable database of campaign contributions in Iowa. When the proposal was filed, he said what everyone had been thinking, “This is a long time coming for advocates of open government.” We now have this database.
• In 2009, Danielson stood up for firefighters and police officers who were stricken with cancer by fighting on the Senate floor to get them the benefits they earned.
• Also in 2009, Danielson earned the Friend of Iowa Tourism award for his support of our $6.4 billion industry, which employs nearly 65,000 people statewide.  When he was given the award, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Tourism Office Manager Nancy Landess singled out his work ethic, “Senator Danielson has worked hard to educate himself on tourism-related issues. He always makes himself available for local tourism officials to meet with him on their issues, and he has attended the Travel Federation of Iowa's Legislative Showcase each year since taking office.”
• In 2010, Danielson was recognized for his support of seniors by the International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing. He was given the award for the commonsense legislation he proposed that worked to streamline government to benefit seniors.

If you support the commonsense poker legislation, or any of the items above, consider throwing him $10 bucks or more over at ActBlue. I just did, and it feels good to stand up for an Iowa Legislator who shares my values. I also want to encourage any readers to post a comment explaining who their favorite State Legislator is, and why.

Disclaimer: I do not work for Jeff Danielson, get paid by him, or even live in his district. But I have now contributed to his campaign and plan to support him where possible.