State Sen. Tom Vilsack, D-Mt. Pleasant, said Friday he is “very concerned about the state of children in this state.”

Vilsack, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the Iowa gubernatorial race, stopped by Room 234 of the Memorial Union for a brown-bag luncheon with about 15 Iowa State students.

While introducing himself, Vilsack alluded to his childhood as an orphan in his pledge to make Iowa the “finest place in all the world to raise a child” — a radical mission, he said, in a state where one of six children live in poverty.

He described his family as having “a lot of tough times,” with alcoholism and drug abuse leading to his parents’ separation. He said homes such as his, where children are not protected by basic health care insurance, are the “breeding ground for trouble.”

A bill in the Iowa Legislature this year would have provided $2 million to fully fund a program for at-risk children, but it was defeated. Vilsack blamed the Republicans, who control both the Iowa Senate and House.

“If you don’t help these kids now, you will be paying for them later,” he said, accusing GOP legislators of hoarding a $250 million budget surplus.

Vilsack even attributed the start of his career in public service to his children. In 1986, after the mayor of Mt. Pleasant and two council members were killed by a disgruntled citizen, Vilsack agreed to step in as mayor, despite his children’s uneasiness.

“I didn’t want my kids to grow up thinking that public service was hurtful,” he said.

Vilsack went on to serve four terms as mayor, and has been a member of the Iowa Senate since 1992. He also practices law in Mt. Pleasant with his father-in-law.

After Vilsack said he would put an emphasis on “giving [students] an option of living in this state” following college graduation because there are “exciting things to do in [Iowa],” one student asked him how he planned to provide the jobs that would be needed.

“We have to create a different kind of economic development strategy,” he said.

The Branstad administration has handed out grants and loans to prospective companies, but Vilsack said this policy has only led to a proliferation of low-paying jobs.

Instead, he said the state should be analyzed and divided into “economic regions.” Then, already existing — and succeeding — companies in each section would be given aid to encourage expansion.

Vilsack also answered a question about the controversy over conglomerated hog farms, calling it a “very complex issue.”

He said he does not favor local control (giving individual counties the freedom to set standards) because air and groundwater are not contained by county lines.

Vilsack said he prefers “minimum protections for everyone” and proposed giving state government the power to shut down repeat offenders, a punishment they are not currently allowed to use.

There are 26,000 hog producers in Iowa, many of whom are “good, decent, hard-working people,” Vilsack said.

He pledged to help improve the quality of those operations by offering certification and continuing education classes and providing information on cutting-edge agricultural research.

Vilsack challenged the students in attendance to each register 10 Democrats, saying it would have a “profound impact on the system.”

He said the rest of the country watches Iowa because of its first-in-the-nation presidential caucus.

“It is really, really important to be involved,” he said. “The decisions we’re making today will have more of an impact on your life than on mine.”