NEWS
2/20/2010 7:00:00 AM
Russ Trimble | Age 37, Legislative analyst, Iowa Senate Republican Caucus
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| Photo by Duane Tinkey |
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BY BUSINESS RECORD STAFF
If there's one quality Russ Trimble has in abundance, it's determination. The odds were against him making the Drake University men's basketball team as a walk-on in 1991 - but he made it. And the odds weren't exactly in his favor when he ran for the West Des Moines City Council last year. But after knocking on 1,400 doors, and then knocking on them again, and then a third time, Trimble won the election.
"I got to meet voters and lose weight at the same time," he said.
It was Trimble's second campaign for the office, and determination wasn't enough the first time around. He ran that time because it was rumored that longtime council member Loretta Sieman planned to step down. She didn't, and easily won re-election.
In 2009, "I didn't expect anybody would remember who I was, but I found that a lot did," said Trimble, a Milwaukee native. Working from a list of active voters, he spent "hundreds of hours" getting to know them and listening to their thoughts about West Des Moines.
He wrote down the issues they raised, and "I plan to address them one by one," he said.
Trimble's full-time job is as a legislative assistant, working with the 18 Republicans in the Iowa Senate. When the Legislature is not in session, he devotes his time to the Government Oversight Committee and other interim committees.
He was part of the 2008 inaugural class of the West Des Moines Leadership Academy, volunteers at his children's schools and served seven years on the West Des Moines Human Services Advisory Board. He participates in YMCA Partnership With Youth and is a patron-level donor to the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines.
Trimble and his wife, Alana, have a daughter, Aaliyah, 4, and three sons: Jaxon, 8; Tyson, 6; and Ryan, 2.
At this early stage of his City Council career, he said, all is well. "I'm having such a great time representing these people and working on city issues," Trimble said. "Had I known it would be this great, I would have knocked on doors a fourth time."
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