He’s Big, Bad, Black AND REPUBLICAN
When I first heard of Leon Mosley, I thought he was loud and very brash. I certainly didn’t know anything about him. I had just moved to
Iowa in 2001 and didn’t know much about local politics. Leon was in the news a lot around 2002 and not much of it was very nice. I should have known. Although he was a Republican, a lot of the opinion I had formed of the guy was based on what was said about him in the media. I thought “Yeah, he’s a Republican but does he have to be so loud about it?”
It wasn’t until the summer of 2006 when I first met Leon in the flesh. I found myself feeling very small and intimidated by him. He was confident and he had this booming voice. I was afraid to talk to him for fear that my voice would quiver. It certainly wasn’t long before I realized he was a great big teddy bear who was just passionate about his religion and his community.
During the fall of 2006, Leon was not re-elected to the Board of County Supervisors. It was a devastating blow to the Republican Party. But that didn’t stop him. He remained an active in local politics. He was still the co-chair of the State Party. Additionally, he continued working within his community to keep people safe and keep the gang bangers from creating chaos in the streets.
I will never forget his stories about the 2007 Straw Poll. It was a super hot day. I was out of my car for 10 minutes and I was already in a full sweat. I spotted Leon at the Fair Tax speech. I couldn’t miss him. He was wearing his cowboy hat! He was very busy but I did get to talk to him during various times of the day. About a week later at the Central Committee meeting he told us about a guy who asked him who he was and what he was doing at the Straw Poll. He said “I’m Leon Mosley and I’m the co-chair of the Republican Party of Iowa.” The guy, shocked, said “But you can’t. You’re black.” In typical Leon fashion, Leon screamed “Oh, my gosh! I’m black?”
You see, this is the way Leon is. Things could be crappy and the media could be cruel but Leon kept his sense of humor and never waivered on his devotion to God. And for that, I will always hold Leon in the highest regard. That is why we celebrated Leon’s service tonight. We celebrated his dedication to his community and his dedication to the Republican Party. He worked day and night to clean up the streets of Waterloo, he drove all over the state to spread the Republican message and still remained a faithful husband, a loving father and grandfather.
Leon will not be going away any time soon. While he is glad that he no longer has to pull long days or travel across the state, he still plans on working on getting the Republican message out and still plans to help others campaign. The state of Iowa is very lucky to have him and we have all been touched by his kindness. We are all a little better off because of Leon.
We love you Leon!
