by admin | May 31, 2004 | Politics & Government
Once he became governor, it sometimes seemed as if Tom Vilsack might not survive the experience. Early in his first term, Vilsack traveled to the far east on a trade mission, and wound up in the midst of an earthquake in Taiwan. “I had rosary beads next to my...
by admin | May 31, 2004 | Politics & Government
In January of 1999, Tom Vilsack was sworn in as Iowa’s 40th governor. Republicans Bob Ray and Terry Branstad had been governor for 30 years, and Vilsack offended statehouse democrats and the state workers union that had backed him when he chose to keep many of...
by admin | May 31, 2004 | Politics & Government
1998 was a big year in Iowa politics. Republican Governor Terry Branstad was not seeking re-election after 16 years in the job. Two democrats launched campaigns for governor — Tom Vilsack and Mark McCormick, a Des Moines attorney who had been a justice on...
by admin | May 31, 2004 | News
Tom Vilsack was elected to the state Senate in 1992 and tackled complicated issues, like tinkering with the formula used to calculate how much businesses pay into the state’s unemployment compensation fund. Vilsack tried to find some middle ground in the brewing...
by admin | May 31, 2004 | Politics & Government
If you look at Tom Vilsack’s resume, it looks like a flow chart that a college professor would use to illustrate how to move up the political ranks. Vilsack was elected his town’s mayor three times, then he won a seat in the state legislature which he held...
