The Republican candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are accusing Democratic rival Chet Culver of being part of a “cover-up” of the scandal at a central Iowa job training agency. G-O-P lieutenant governor candidate Bob Vander Plaats (PLAHTZ) says there’s a lack of “integrity” among Democrats on the controversy surrounding the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium where three top managers were paid lavish salaries and bonuses. “Our opponent supports the cover up and the secrecy and the greed of the current administration and what we’re watching down in Des Moines today,” Vander Plaats says.
Vander Plaats, a former teacher and coach who’s a business consultant today, says government should be “transparent” and there should be accountability measures in place. Nussle says Democrats in Des Moines have been stonewalling and are reluctant to release all the details about the scandal. “In Jim Nussle’s administration I’m going to know first and foremost that this isn’t my money, it’s your money as taxpayers and we ought to treat it that way,” Nussle says.
Nussle opponent Chet Culver, who is currently Iowa’s Secretary of State, has proposed a series of ethics reforms and promised to have “zero tolerance” for corruption at any level of government if he’s elected governor. Culver had also called for the resignation of a Des Moines City Councilman at the center of the job training controversy who resigned last week. Both Culver and Nussle pledge to end the practice of giving bonuses to state workers.