Matt McCoy
Democrats in the Iowa Senate say Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s top aides and others in the Department of Administrative Services need to testify before legislators and reveal what they knew and were told about the “hush money” payments to laid off state workers.
Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, said since the now-fired Department of Administrative Services director insists he was misled by his staff, legislators need to find out which staff members were involved.
“If director Carroll was bamboozled by his staff, who was involved in bamboozling director Carroll and who was involved in bamboozling the governor’s secret investigative team?” McCoy said during a speech on the Senate floor.
Branstad asked his three top aides to review the “hush money” allegations published three weeks ago in a Des Moines Register article. Two weeks ago Branstad told reporters his executive team told him there had been no additional cash offers to keep exit settlements secret.
“How in the world did these folks get lied to?” McCoy asked this morning.
McCoy also faulted the governor’s staff for failing to provide legislators with the “basic facts” they gathered about this case and presented to the governor.
“The truth deserves to be aired fully in these matters,” McCoy said.
And McCoy suggested the laid off workers who were telling the truth about the “hush money for silence” deserve an apology from those who accused them of lying.