Kathleen "Kitty" Rehberg (née Kaesser; born October 16, 1938) is an American politician in the state of

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. A Republican, she served in the

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the Iowa, state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . Each Senat ...

as the representative for the 14th district from 1997 to 2003 and as the representative for the 12th district from 2003 to 2005.

Early life

Rehberg was born on October 16, 1938, in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 137,710 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, second-most populous city in Iowa. The city lies o ...

. Her parents are Nina and Delbert Kaesser. She attended Rowley Consolidated School and Kirkwood Community College. Rehberg was a farmer. She continued to function in that capacity before and after serving as a state senator for the Republican Party in Buchanan County.

Political career

Rehberg was first elected to the

as the representative for the 14th district in the 1996 general election, after successfully beating Democrat Larry Murphy. Rehberg worked to eliminate parts of the inheritance tax and cut income taxes by 10 percent. She was also widely known for encouraging the development of entrepreneurs within her community. This stunt and other beliefs put her at stark odds with some of her party members. "What we all came on is we thought government was too intrusive into our lives and was taking too much of our money -- our hard-earned money," Rehberg said.

References

1938 births Living people Politicians from Cedar Rapids, Iowa Kirkwood Community College alumni Farmers from Iowa Women state legislators in Iowa Republican Party Iowa state senators 20th-century American women farmers 20th-century members of the Iowa General Assembly 21st-century members of the Iowa General Assembly 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women politicians {{Iowa-politician-stub