A big Republican donor has withdrawn his support from one G-O-P candidate for governor, while two of the Democrats running for governor are quibbling over competing campaign donations. William Krause, a West Des Moines Republican who owns the Kum & Go chain of convenience stores, and his son, the chain’s C-E-O, have given Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle thousands of dollars.
But Nussle won’t be getting any more from the Krauses because of Nussle’s call for pulling all Iowa Lottery “TouchPlay” machines. Kum & Go has about two-hundred of the machines in their stores today and the Krauses say Nussle’s anti-TouchPlay stand has “destroyed” their confidence in him as a candidate. The other G-O-P candidate in the race holds the same view on TouchPlay.
Among the Democrats running for governor, Michael Blouin says Chet Culver should return the 40-thousand dollars he received from a Texas man convicted of insider trading. Scott Ginsburg was fined a million dollars by the feds, too. Matt Paul, Blouin’s campaign manager, says Culver should return the “tainted” Ginsburg money. “Iowa has a history of clean and fair elections…this $40,000 that he accepted from Mr. Ginsburg should be returned,” Paul says.
But Culver campaign officials say Ginsburg, who is a native of Sioux City, is a long-time family friend of Culvers who admitted he made a mistake and has moved on. The Culver camp, meanwhile, is suggesting Blouin should not have accepted money from a New York man whose company was fined by the feds for contacts with the Chinese.