The Iowa Senate has confirmed a new member to the state board that governs Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I, but not without dissent. Iowa Cubs owner Michael Gartner was confirmed to a seat on the Board of Regents with 39 yes votes, but 10 senators voted no. Senate Co-Leader Stewart Iverson, a republican from Dows, was among them. “We have a number of people in Iowa (who) would better serve in that capacity than he would,” Iverson says. “When Michael Gartner owned the Ames newspaper, he sued Iowa State over the Iowa State Daily,” Iverson says. Iverson also says he was “not impressed” with the way Gartner ran the state “Vision Iowa” board that handed out state grants for huge community projects like the Mississippi River museum in Dubuque and the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Iverson says Gartner refused to implement some of the legislature’s ideas for how the Vision Iowa program should be run, and Iverson accuses Gartner of trying to write his own rules for the program. “I made the statement to him one time that, you know, ‘If you want to write laws, run for the legislature,'” Iverson says. “So I just think Iowa can do better. That’s all.” Senator Mike Connolly, a democrat from Dubuque, was surprised by the 10 negative votes against Gartner. “I thought Michael Gartner would be confirmed by a 100 percent vote of the Senate…because I think he is just an outstanding Iowan. His service on the Vision Iowa board was just exemplary,” Connolly says. The Vision Iowa board leveraged millions of dollars in local investments to match the state grants to cities around the state. “He’ll do a great job on the Board of Regents, will bring his business expertise to the board and I think will serve again with distinction,” Connolly says. Connolly does not see Gartner in the same way Iverson does. Connolly says Gartner is a “brilliant person” who is a decision-maker, offering his business experience to make the state-supported universities more efficient. Governor Vilsack has appointed four other members to the Board, and they must win the backing of two-thirds of the Iowa Senate, too. Among the nominees is Ruth Harkin, the wife of Senator Tom Harkin, and Iverson intends to vote no on her confirmation, too. “Ruth is a very fine individual, but she doesn’t live in Iowa, has not really lived here for 25 years,” Iverson says. He says there are plenty of other people who have been residents of the state who would be worthy of appointment to the Board of Regents. Connolly, though, believes Ruth Harkin will win enough votes in the Senate to take the job. Connolly says Harkin and the rest of the governor’s picks for the Board of Regents are “of the highest caliber.”
