The three Republican candidates for Governor say the democrat who’s holding the office today has created a budget mess that’ll be hard to clean up. The G-O-P candidates met Sunday afternoon in Ames at a forum sponsored by Iowa College Republicans, and most all their barbs were focused on incumbent democrat Governor Tom Vilsack, who’s calling legislators back into session today, urging them to spend more money. Doug Gross, a lawyer from Des Moines, says Vilsack has failed the test of leadership. Gross says, “When the state budget gets a cold, education gets pneumonia, and we’ve seen that happen over the last two years.” Gross says Vilsack’s management has harmed education in the state.
Steve Sukup, a state lawmaker from Dougherty who’s also a small business owner, says Vilsack’s run the state in the ground. Sukup says he wants to grow Iowa, not government. Bob Vander Plaats, director of a non-profit agency in Sioux City, says Vilsack’s guilty of fiscal mismanagement. He says there are devastating ripple effects from the budget throughout the state.
Last Thursday, Vilsack rejected the charge that he’s a big spender who’s mismanaged the state budget. Vilsack says state spending has increased about four percent in the four years he’s been Governor, and he says that’s the lowest it increase in 30 or 40 years.