kflagg4712-omlst

Cornell Fowler, an African American Community Leader and former Campaign Manager for Councilman George Flagg stated in the Des Moines Register on April 18, 2006:

“George literally gave money to every black church in town. He helped pay for black kids to go to college. And he gave his money quietly, without fanfare.”

During his tenure on the City Council, George Flagg mentored mayor Preston Daniels, who is Black, urging him to enter politics.

George Flagg believed that one of the best ways to support the community was to sponsor or financially assist an immigrant family.    

Rhina Canosa, a Des Moines resident, was a recipient of support from George Flagg.                                                                           

“I have known George Flagg since I arrived in this country in January 1981. Our country had exploded in a civil war and my husband, my 13 month-old daughter and I had fled the country in fear for our lives with just two suitcases.

Mr. Flagg was immediately interested in helping in any way he could to help us make a new life in this country. As an attorney he began to use his skills to help us through the asylum process. He was often frustrated at the long and complicated immigration rules presented to people in our situation.

Mr. Flagg was not only generous with his legal assistance but also with his resources. When he realized that we needed a car, he offered to assist us financially. That car helped my husband and I get back and forth to our jobs, needed to help support our small family.

Mr. Flagg was always kind and giving to us. He wanted to learn all that he could about our culture. He liked to celebrate our successes, spend time with us, and learn about our Salvadoran culture.”

In a July 21, 1980 Des Moines Tribune article, Flagg stated, “When you’ve been in all aspects of life, then you get a better idea of what it’s all about,” he said.

Despite the image, Flagg says he hasn’t always been the conservative he is today. When he was 18, and worked up to 80 hours a week in a munitions factory outside Des Moines, he was an assistant union steward, he said.

And during his college days at the University of Iowa, he “was a real radical.”

It seems the barbers back then didn’t want to cut blacks’ hair and “I went six or seven months without a haircut in protest,” Flagg said.

According to Des Moines community leader Lyla Yost, George also helped many other neighborhoods in Des Moines like Riverbend, Drake, Pioneer Columbus and Sherman Hill that also had higher rates of minority population. He supported the Hispanic organization LULAC, for city funding and also gave privately. George supported and voted for additional city funding for neighborhood revitalization for all parts of Des Moines.

Yost was aware of the liquor license controversy that George brought forward at the city council. He was very frustrated that some local businesses represented by the minority community were breaking the law and registering liquor sales under food sales and defrauding food stamp rules and regulations.

Flagg’s intent was misinterpreted.

Yost stated, “George was not a racist…he treated us all equally and with respect with only one requirement: follow all laws and always do your civic duty to improve Des Moines and always vote, no matter your political party affiliation.”

George Flagg’s legacy is defined by bridging divides through quiet philanthropy, passionate advocacy, and genuine cultural exchange, he left a lasting impact on Des Moines.

By LINDSEY A. HENRY

REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Admirers and opponents gathered Monday to bid farewell to a man known for decades as the feistiest voice in town.

Twenty-year Des Moines City Council veteran George Flagg attended his final council meeting.

Council members surprised Flagg with a vote to rename the city’s Valley Drive in his honor. The council voted unanimously to title the street near Water Works Park George Flagg Parkway.

Council members Christine Hensley and Mike McPherson jokingly questioned the cost of the decision, a gentle jab at Flagg’s well-known fiscal conservatism.

“Is this a wise use of taxpayer dollars?” McPherson asked to the amusement of the audience.

Robert Ray, former governor, mayor and Flagg’s opponent in the 1956 Polk County attorney race, spoke of Flagg’s commitment to the city.

“Nobody was too big for him to take on,” Ray said, adding that no resident was too small for him to assist. “He was a nemesis to many on this council year after year after year,” Ray said. “Because someone was challenging us, we were better.”

“He did what he knew was right for his community, even if it wasn’t popular to do so.” -Ralph Moisa Jr. on George Flagg

Flagg was born in Waterloo in 1925 and moved to Des Moines in the 1940s to start a law practice. He lost several elections before winning his at-large council seat in 1980. Flagg earned a reputation as an advocate for the city and someone unafraid to speak out.

As well-wishers filed past him before his final meeting, Flagg paused to tell Public Works Director Bill Stowe about a problem area a constituent had written him about.

Flagg told the council and a packed City Hall that he believed he always had been “willing to do what should be done” for Des Moines. A standing ovation and lengthy applause let him know that those in the audience agreed.

Ralph Moisa Jr. came to say goodbye to a “man of honor.”

“He did what he knew was right for his community, even if it wasn’t popular to do so,” said Moisa, appointed by Flagg to the city’s neighborhood revitalization board.

City leaders will gather Wednesday to honor and roast Flagg at a dinner at the airport Holiday Inn.

Councilman-elect Frank Cownie will replace Flagg in January.

Retiring with distinction: George Flagg stands behind a new street sign that was unveiled Monday by Des Moines Councilwoman Christine Hensley and Mayor Preston Daniels.

George Flagg was best known for his role in Des Moines city government and service as Councilman-at-Large on the Des Moines City Council from 1980 to 2002. As an at-large council member, he represented constituents from all four wards of the city of Des Moines.

Born in Waterloo, Iowa, he grew up in both Illinois and Iowa. He graduated from Boone High School in Boone, Iowa in 1943.

Flagg completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Iowa and went on to attend law school in Iowa City, where he was awarded a law degree in 1949. Upon passing the Bar examination, he was at that time the youngest attorney in Iowa. He began his private law practice in Des Moines in 1950 and later joined the law firm of Powers, Sloane, Jordan and Marks.

His political life took root when he ran for Polk County attorney in 1956. George Flagg was the political conservative in the race. He lost in the primary to fellow Republican Robert D. Ray. Ray then lost in the general election.

“We both ended up in the same place” said Ray, who went on to become Governor of Iowa.

Flagg traveled to 110 countries during his lifetime and to all 50 states. He especially enjoyed meeting with international Sister City delegations who visited Des Moines, and he also represented the city on three Sister City delegation trips to China, France and Mexico.

Flagg’s list of community honors and organizations were many. He served on the Des Moines Plan and Zoning Commission, the Central Advisory Board, the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Budget Committee, and was a charter member of Des Moines Fair Tax Association. He was recognized for his community service by League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Mid-Iowa Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and the Des Moines Police and Firefighters Unions. He also appointed the first Native American to a city board.

In an interview that appeared in the July 21, 1980, edition of the Des Moines Tribune, Flagg recalled his activism at the University of Iowa. The interview occurred just before his election to the Des Moines City Council on August 5, 1980. He cited his boycott of barber shops that would not cut the hair of Black students. Flagg was a member of an Iowa City group called the Social Action Committee, which in 1946 called for the end of racial discrimination by white-owned barber shops.

To honor his service to the community and retirement from the City Council, fellow council members in 2002 unanimously voted in favor of the renaming of Valley Drive between Fleur Drive and Park Avenue to honor George Flagg.