CROKEN ENDORSED BY INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS
Davenport, September 7…. In a news release issued today, Iowa State Representative Ken Croken announced that his bid to become the next mayor of Davenport has been endorsed by the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150. Croken said: “As the son of a union worker, I’ve never forgotten that all I am and all I have is due to the advantages and opportunities afforded to my family by organized labor. Since graduating from law school more than 45 years ago, I have done my best to repay the debt I owe to the trade union movement. And, I am honored that the operating engineers have chosen to put their faith in me.”
Speaking on behalf of the I.U.O.E., Treasurer Marshall Douglas said: “Ken has a long history of working effectively with local trades, in general, and the operators, in particular. During his time at Genesis Health System, he was a point of contact always willing to listen and advise in resolving small issues before they grew large. As a county supervisor, he worked tirelessly with the local building trades to protect ‘Buy American’ mandates; safeguard environmental protections: defend worker safety as well as Davis-Bacon wage rates; and,helped secure millions of dollars of Iowa Quad City construction projects for local workers at prevailing wages. As a state representative in Des Moines, Ken has a strong pro-worker voting record. In short, we recognize Ken as a trusted friend of local working men and women and the Quad City families they support,” Douglas concluded. “We’re with him on election day, November 7.”
Croken is a former Scott County Supervisor and currently represents Iowa House District 97, consisting of much of central and eastern Davenport. He is a lawyer and currently serves as adjunct faculty at St. Ambrose University. Until his retirement in 2017, Croken was the chief marketing and government relations officer at Genesis Health System and is a past member of the Quad City River Bandits baseball club ownership group. Prior to moving to Davenport more than 20 years ago, Croken held a number of executive and managerial positions with organizations, such as Edelman Public Relations Worldwide in New York City; IBM Corporation in Dallas, New York, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.; legal aid organizations in Connecticut and Florida; Save the Children Federation in Connecticut; and, the United States Congress, among others.