The chairman of the Iowa Republican Party is accusing Jack Hatch, the Democratic candidate for governor, of killing a bill in the state senate that would have been a hit to Hatch’s bottom line as a real estate developer. Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann says Hatch has been trying to “hide the truth” about his business from Iowans.
“This is just one more example of where his job as state senator has lined his pockets,” Kaufmann says.
In 2013 a Republican in the state senate introduced a bill that would have reduced the fee property developers could claim on tax credits that are issued by the Iowa Finance Authority for low income housing developments. Senator Jake Chapman, a Republican from Adel, says Hatch used his position as chairman of a three-member SUB-committee to kill the bill.
“Hatch, a man who has made millions of dollars from developer fees, killed the bill,” Chapman says. “He stuck it in his desk drawer, never held a (subcommittee) meeting or let it come to a vote because it would have personally cost him millions of dollars if it had passed.”
Chapman says Hatch should have cited a conflict of interest and removed himself from any decision-making on the legislation.
Hatch’s campaign manager accuses Republicans of making a “false attack” against Hatch to divert attention from the two-day hearing a Senate Committee is holding this week to review Branstad Administration management practices. Hatch campaign manager Grant Woodard says it shows Branstad must be “extremely concerned” that Iowans are deciding Hatch is “more competent, honest and informed” than Branstad.
Branstad’s campaign manager sent an email blast to the Branstad supporters, citing the Iowa Republican Party’s allegations and referring to Hatch as a “liberal Des Moines politician” who “owes every Iowan an apology.”