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

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, she served in the

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

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 the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

. 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 21st-century American women {{Iowa-politician-stub