National Governor’s Association meeting comes to Des Moines

Des Moines, Iowa will host the National Governor’s Association meeting in July of 2005. Governor Tom Vilsack says by that time, he’ll likely be the nation’s senior democratic governor, and that may be one reason Iowa was selected as host.Vilsack says in the 100 year history of the N-G-A, Iowa has never hosted the group’s annual meeting. Vilsack expects up to 45 governors to attend, with an entourage of staff, media and families that’ll number about 15-hundred. Vilsack says it’s a wonderful opportunity for an area that’s seen so much improvement to showcase itself. The new Iowa Events Center and Des Moines Library should be done, and the Science Center of Iowa nearly ready for visits, and Vilsack says he can’t wait to “show off” the state to the visitors. Vilsack says Iowa is responsible for transportation, security and entertainment for the event, and will have to raise about two million dollars from private sources to pay for that. The National Governors Association executive committee is the group which made the decision to come to Iowa, and Vilsack says the committee members were given samples of Iowa pork and beef as part of the lobbying effort. Vilsack says he’ll highlight the state’s key industries during the N-G-A event, and expects business executives from across the country to come to Iowa to try to lobby the governors.