Statehouse policymakers will likely meet again this week to try to find a deal that would validate the state “Iowa Values Fund” grants which have been given 36 businesses. Republican legislators last week abandoned their demand that Democrat Governor Tom Vilsack accept across-the-board income tax cuts. Last Thursday, House Republicans then Senate Republicans offered two separate alternatives for Vilsack to consider, although a spokesman for Vilsack said the governor will only consider a single G-O-P alternative, not two. That angered Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson of Dows. Iverson says “at some point in time the governor has to be willing to compromise” but Iverson says Vilsack has been unwilling to do that. Iverson says the speculation that Vilsack might be named John Kerry’s runningmate was “a huge issue on the governor’s plate” and since that is now resolved, Iverson says he hopes Vilsack can concentrate on compromising with republican legislators.Iverson says he’s “hopeful that the governor will concentrate” because up ’til now the governor has made demands without making any concessions. Iverson says it’s only right that Vilsack move a little since “he’s the one that put us into this mess” by making illegal item vetoes that wound up felling the entire economic stimulus package. House Speaker Christopher Rants, a republican from Sioux City, saysRepublicans have offered to give a little — now it’s Vilsack’s turn. Rants says republicans are “willing to shelve” across-the-board income tax cuts, but they won’t back away from reforms that help firms that’re trying to do business in Iowa today. Governor Vilsack was on vacation at the Jersey shore last week. Lawmakers say they want to meet face-to-face with him this week, but nothing has been scheduled yet.
