A screenshot from the May 2, 2018 meeting of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors picturing Mark Doland, left, then-Mahaksa County Supervisor and now a candidate for Tama County Supervisor District 4, alongside Oskaloosa News journalist Ken Allsup, right. During their exchange, Allsup asked Doland questions regarding his residency at the time. SCREENSHOT VIA CRI WPU YOUTUBE

TOLEDO – It may be ‘October’ but news that Mark Doland, Republican nominee for Tama County Supervisor District 4, previously resigned from his position as a Mahaska County supervisor will be no ‘surprise’ to many.

In a letter to the editor printing this week (page 4), Tama County Supervisor Bill Faircloth (R-Toledo) – who was barely defeated in the June 7 Republican primary by Doland for the District 4 nomination – addressed the murkiness surrounding Doland’s residency near the end of his tenure as a supervisor in Mahaska County.

“It is time to be clear on some things that were printed before the Primary election,” Faircloth wrote in the Oct. 18 letter before later stating: “I hope people do their research on Mark Doland. He was asked by the press to resign in Mahaska County because he was living in Warren County and being a Supervisor in Mahaska County.”

The series of articles Faircloth refers to in his letter were written by staff at both the Oskaloosa News and The Oskaloosa Herald in the spring of 2018.

An Oskaloosa Herald article dated May 7, 2018, titled ‘Supervisor Mark Doland resigns,’ states that Doland announced his resignation from the board “following allegations he does not currently meet eligibility requirements.” The article further states that during a May 2, 2018, meeting of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors, Doland “was confronted during a time for public comment with allegations that he was no longer eligible to remain on the board due to a change of address. Doland said he was staying with a friend in town (Oskaloosa).”

Mark Doland (R-Toledo).

The same newspaper article also quotes from Doland’s official resignation letter: “As you all know, there has been a dispute brought forth regarding my eligibility to continue to serve as Mahaska County Supervisor. While I remain convinced that I meet all eligibility requirements, I believe it is best to resign my position as of June 5, 2018 to resolve the controversy that has become the focus.”

At the time of Doland’s 2018 resignation, he was listed as a registered voter in Mahaska County, according to the Mahaska County Auditor and per the Oskaloosa Herald.

In a May 2, 2018, article titled ‘Doland Says He Won’t Resign’ by Oskaloosa News, Doland initially fought back against calls for him to step down.

“Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Doland says he won’t resign his position as county supervisor, even after federal documents [bankruptcy court] say he no longer lives in the county,” the article stated. “During Monday’s supervisor meeting, Oskaloosa News asked Doland what his address is. He said he is staying with a friend and county employee Pat Scanlon. Scanlon lives on North Market in Oskaloosa.”

During that meeting, Doland was asked by an Oskaloosa News journalist about “court documents that say he lives in Norwalk, Iowa,” to which Doland is quoted by the newspaper as responding, “Well, it’s not my legal address.”

Supervisor William 'Bill' Faircloth (R-Toledo).

The same article then delved further into Doland’s residency claims at the time:

“In addition to the two previous addresses, Doland filed documents on the sale of home dated April 10, 2018. Doland used 1802 Burlington Road in Oskaloosa as his address of residency. That home at that address has been vacant since Thanksgiving weekend of 2017.”

Oskaloosa’s Park Church of Christ – where Doland worked as a minister during at least part of his time while serving as county supervisor – is listed in online real estate records as being located at 1804 Burlington Road.

Mahaska County

Mahaska County, Iowa, is located in south-southeast Iowa, where it borders six adjacent counties including Jasper, Poweshiek, Keokuk, Wapello, Monroe, and Marion. The county seat of Mahaska is Oskaloosa.

After winning a special election in 2012 for Mahaska County Supervisor, Doland ran in the 2014 general election, according to newspaper reports. At the time of the 2014 election – which Doland won – he was a full-time minister at Park Church of Christ in Oskaloosa and had previously served as chair of the Mahaska County Republican Central Committee. He and his family resided in the church parsonage.

Following Doland’s 2018 resignation from the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors, The Oskaloosa Herald printed Supervisor Chair Henry ‘Willie’ Van Weelden’s reaction to Doland’s resignation. Van Weelden, a Republican who passed away in 2023, was a lifelong resident of Mahaska County and had been a member of the board since 2002.

“It was very evident he was no longer a resident of the county, so that was the right thing to do, as far as I’m concerned, for him to resign,” Van Weelden said as quoted by the newspaper. “You can’t have it both ways. You can’t live in another county and vote in this county, as far as I’m concerned.”

Tama County real estate records indicate that Doland, along with his wife Gwendolyn, currently owns and resides at a home located on H Avenue in rural Toledo Township. The Dolands were deeded the property in 2021.

Endorsement

In the Nov. 5 race for Tama County Supervisor District 4, Doland is running against Democrat Berleen Wobeter of rural Toledo.

As part of his Oct. 18 letter to the editor, Supervisor Bill Faircloth ended his comments by effectively endorsing Wobeter over his fellow Republican.

“I believe Berleen Wobeter is truly the best person for Tama County Supervisor District 4,” Faircloth wrote.

In addition to being a candidate for office in the upcoming election, Doland is also the chair of the Tama County Republican Central Committee.

Mark Doland responds

Doland was contacted by Tama-Grundy Publishing for comment regarding this story. His response is printed in full below:

Oh, the old “October Surprise!”

This is the way that dirty politics work.

Let me get the important part out of the way and respond to the attack. Then I will address the allegations in context.

They are lies. They have no merit.

Now the truth. I was a County Supervisor in Mahaska County. I fought against a $60 million airport project (and eventually won). There was one wealthy man who wanted an airport for his planes, he owns Musco Lighting, named Joe Crookham. The project would have taken 800 acres of farm ground out of production. The people of Oskaloosa voted 3-1 against the project. The city council ignored them and started meeting behind closed doors (sound familiar?). I found out what was going on and built a coalition against the airport (Google Mark Doland Taxpayers Against Regional Airport).

Joe has influence over all of the town because he owns just about everything in Oskaloosa.

They have no credibility. They are not interested in reporting the truth. They do not practice journalistic ethics. Asking them to report on me would be like believing the View to report on Donald Trump or Tucker Carlson to report on Kamala Harris.

I had heard that Berleen Wobeter was sharing these lies in April of 2024. I found her number and called her to discuss the facts. She was completely rude and dismissive. She clearly wasn’t interested in hearing the truth. She was more interested in using this lie to try and smear my name in the election.

The context around these allegations is simple. I was serving on the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors. My ex-wife and I separated. She moved to Norwalk with our children. I moved in with Patrick Scanlon in Oskaloosa. I resigned from my job as a minister in Oskaloosa, and had to seek other employment to support my children. I took a job as a Substance Abuse Specialist and commuted back and forth to Des Moines. I continued to serve on all of my Mahaska County Boards with good standing.

The blogger exploited my family’s hardship to run a smear campaign in an effort to try to force me out of office. This was because I was stopping their big project. I didn’t want the news of my separation going public in a way that would hurt my children so I resigned. I waited until after I had recruited another staunch anti-airport advocate and he won his primary for my seat to keep power with the people.

There was a smear campaign using these same lies against me in the Tama County primary. Becky Faircloth was sending private messages (which got back to me quickly).

After I defeated Bill Faircloth in the Republican Primary, he repeated the lie in his statement to the newspaper.

The lie has been circulated around social media.

The bottom line is that Berleen Wobeter knew this was a lie in April and shared it with Becky and Bill Faircloth to use against me. It didn’t work. Berleen is losing this election and now is desperately trying this negative campaigning strategy at the eleventh hour. I realize that the official letter to the editor probably won’t have her name on it. This is part of the strategy to have a third party submit it so there can be no counter. I know that playing dirty politics may work at the national level, but rural Tama County is better than this.

I vowed to run a positive campaign. I will continue to lead with integrity in an effort to show that I can restore the public trust to the office of Tama County Supervisor. I believe that playing these dirty political games should disqualify you from office.

Now I will refocus on my message of creating hope and opportunity by restoring order to the office. We will have transparency. All issues will be discussed in front of the public. We will allow anyone to speak on any topic they choose to in the public comment period. After order is restored, it will be my top priority to address the mental health and substance abuse crisis in Tama County. We have increasing levels of suicidal ideation and completion and very few resources to deploy for relief. I will change that.

God is good all of the time, and all of the time, God is good!

Dear Mark…

After receiving Doland’s response to Supervisor Faircloth’s letter to the editor, the newspaper reached out to Berleen Wobeter for comment. Her response is printed in full below:

Dear Mr. Doland,

Have you ever had that feeling when someone has caught you in a lie and your heart rate suddenly increases, your face gets red from guilt and anger, and your mind races to find a way out? I had none of that when reading your accusations about me! Did you call me in April? Yes? Was it about Mahaska County? No! You wanted to know why I was spreading lies about you having an affair and that that was the cause of your divorce. I responded that I had done no such thing nor would I have reason to care why you were divorcing as that has no legal ramifications. Was I aware of your time in Mahaska County as a supervisor and that you resigned? Yes, because it is no secret which is why someone told me. I asked you about it and you gave me an answer to this day I can’t repeat because it didn’t make sense enough to accurately repeat.

Now let’s talk about me and how I respond to situations. Am I winning or losing this race? I don’t do polling. I don’t know. What I have done is knock on doors with the help of family. We have stopped at 600 houses. I have attended Toledo City Council meetings to listen and learn. I attended in person and Zoom meetings with the new EMS advisory board. I go to every supervisor meeting I can. I have been to a school board meeting. I am working to earn votes by meeting people in my district and it has been a delight. I love the times I get to listen to whatever the person wants to talk about. That also means I or we have had 600 opportunities to spread a bad word about you. I invite you to talk with folks in our district to see if I have done any of that.

Second, when it became clear to me that my winning this race was important to folks, I didn’t call Bill Faircloth to have him write this so called ghost LTE, I called Pete D’Alessandro. Who is that you ask? Pete is a campaign strategist and we have been talking about past voter turnout and numbers. I can give you a copy of the email I sent asking my friend about getting information off the VAN which is all about voter information. We were discussing the possibility of putting out a text to people most likely to vote for me. It was never advised that I write bad things about you even though I have plenty of questions. As I stated in my Q&A for the paper it is better to do your research beforehand rather than regret not doing it later. I was speaking about nefarious companies coming into the county to do business but it could just as well apply to people.

Finally, I addressed the serious questions I have about you with David Turner [Republican nominee for Tama County Supervisor District 2 who is running unopposed] at just this morning’s board meeting. Why David? As I told him, I will never have to serve on a board with you nor say I supported you but he will. I asked him to go outside with me so our conversation would be private. I told David I thought he was an honest person and I didn’t know what to do with my concerns but I would put those concerns at his feet and he could do what he wanted with them and then we went back into the meeting. You can ask David. As I was departing the meeting I concluded my thoughts with David by saying there may be logical explanations for some of my concerns but remember I spoke with Doland first, as one should, and his explanations didn’t make sense. Those explanations didn’t make sense and what you, Mr. Doland are saying now, also makes no sense nor is it valid. And that is what I have to say about that!