• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / News / Branstad says his Civil Rights director has turned the agency around

Branstad says his Civil Rights director has turned the agency around

February 20, 2012 By O. Kay Henderson

Governor Terry Branstad says the Iowa Civil Rights Commission was “a total mess” when he became governor again in 2011.

“You had people in that agency who were literally not investigating cases and spending all their time doing personal email on state computers,” Branstad says. “You had people in that agency, supposed to be investigating civil rights complaints, that had nasty nicknames for all of their co-workers.”

Three employees were fired last summer for sending vulgar emails. One of the workers sent an average of 75 personal emails per day, but completed just one state civil rights investigation during a four-month period.

Branstad’s comments come as the NAACP charges that the agency over the past 15 years has had a dismal record of reviewing complaints of discrimination. In January of 2010 Branstad appointed a civil rights attorney who also had experience as a military lawyer to lead the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.

“She’s a done a great job and I guess I think, if you want to look back the last 10 years, I admit it was a disaster. It was a mess,” Branstad says. “She’s dramatically turned things around and I think if you look prospectively forward I think you’re going to see much different results from the Civil Rights Commission under her leadership.”

According to an NAACP analysis, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission found just one percent of complaints alleging discrimination in the areas of education, credit applications and employment reached “probable cause” status for future action. The 15-year period covered the final part of Branstad’s third term as governor and the beginning of his fifth term in 2010. The two terms of Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack and single, four-year term of Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat, are also included in that time period.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Chet Culver, Democratic Party, Employment and Labor, Republican Party, Terry Branstad, Tom Vilsack

Featured Stories

Final employee who was there at the launch of the Iowa Lottery to retire

No more USPS mail in Iowa prisons; inmates to get copies of mail

State officials warn of influx of fake prescription drugs laced with fentanyl

‘Brain-eating amoeba’ discovered in Taylor County lake

Cedar Rapids therapist’s relationship with student leads to years in prison

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Hutchinson calls Iowa State a perfect fit

Northern Iowa’s Farley touts new practice facility

First minor league game gets things started tonight at Field of Dreams site

Knoxville set to host sprint car racing’s biggest event

Iowa State basketball builds on its identity

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC