Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Archives for Terry Branstad

Senator Ernst says President Trump is listening to concerns about trade negotiations

By

Senator Ernst, Ambassador Branstad and Senator Grassley.

Senator Joni Ernst and the rest of the Iowa Congressional Delegation recently sent a letter to President Donald Trump expressing concern about the impact of trade negotiations on farmers in the state.

Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says process for handling trade issues isn’t exactly the way she would do it — but she says she the president does listen. “This president is very, very open and accessible, and more so than the last administration where we had even Democrats, some of my colleagues have stated they had very little if any interaction with the president,” Ernst says.

Ernst says she favors a more linear approach to handling the trade issues. “He is juggling a number of trade deals right now, which makes it very complicated,” Ernst says. “Of course I would prefer that he take up a trade deal, we get that deal done and we move on to the next.” She says in her talks with the president he has expressed confidence he can get the North American Free Trade Deal done by this fall.

Ernst says the president says Canada has been the problem in NAFTA, so they’ve encouraged the president to do a bilateral deal with Mexico while continuing to work on Canada. “Trade is so important for us, so while we have all these trade deals up in the air, we need to have some level of optimism moving forward that these deals are going to get done. So, I want to see action on it. I want to see that we do have NAFTA done,” Ernst says.

Ernst says they continue to remind the president of the concerns of farmers. “I know they are juggling a lot right now — it’s probably not the preferable way for Joni Ernst — but if we can get these deals done, I think our farmers will be doing well,” according to Ernst. “But I am extremely concerned in the short term on what it’s going to do to our markets.”

Ernst and Senator Chuck Grassley recently met with Terry Branstad, who is the former Iowa governor and now Ambassador to China to discuss trade with that country. “The ambassador did give us good feedback. I won’t discuss it openly today because of course we have a number of ongoing issues with China,” Ernst says. She says they also talked with Branstad about North Korea and while they have trade issues with China — China is important in helping to ensure the de-nuclearization of North Korea.

(Photo courtesy of Senator Grassley’s office)

 

Branstad says the potential is great if trade issues with China settled

By

Former Governor Terry Branstad. (file photo)

Former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad says the Trump administration will continue to stand firm on trade issues with China, despite the impact the dispute is having on agriculture.

“If we get this resolved, the potential here is great,” Branstad says. The 71-year-old Branstad, who became the U.S. Ambassador to China just over one year ago, says it’s critical for farmers in Iowa and across the U.S. to have free and open trade with China.

“Nearly 1.4 billion people, a growing middle class with income going up an average of 6.75 percent a year…this is a significant market,” Branstad says. Branstad says the trade potential with China is huge because it can’t produce all the food and protein it needs to meet the needs of its middle class and Chinese consumers like the quality of U.S. food.

“They recognize they can’t produce enough soybeans or some of these other agriculture items that they need on their own,” Branstad says. China buys about 60-percent of all the soybeans traded in the world and Iowa is among the top soybean-producing states in the U.S.

But, Branstad says China has to change to avoid a trade war with the U.S. He says the Trump administration is not willing to accept only a few changes in China’s policies while the trade deficit grows larger and the stealing of intellectual property gets worse – and, Branstad says, China knows it.

 

Iowa Democrats, Republicans to hold state conventions Saturday

By

Democrats and Republicans will hold their state conventions in Des Moines tomorrow.

Democrats will gather in downtown Des Moines and Fred Hubbell — the party’s nominee for governor –will reveal who he’s chosen as a running mate.

“Of course, our focus as been on the primary. We had to win the primary before we had the opportunity to choose a lieutenant governor,” Hubbell said last Friday on Iowa Public Television, “and we will choose a very talented, capable person to be our lieutenant governor.”

Speculation has centered on a few names, including two women who are state senators. Since 1990, every Democrat and Republican nominated to run for governor has opted for “gender balance” at the top of the ticket. Hubbell said he’s had one major consideration.

“Pick a person who is very talented, very experienced,” Hubbell said on IPTV last Friday, “and, if something were to happen to me as governor, could step in and do a great job.”

Republicans are holding their state convention across town, on the state fairgrounds. The GOP delegates will formally nominate Adam Gregg as their party’s lieutenant governor candidate. Governor Kim Reynolds announced he’d be her running mate and governing partner in May of last year, the day after she took over from departing Governor Terry Branstad.

An amendment to Iowa’s Constitution changed the process of electing lieutenant governors in 1990. Below is the list of Democrats and Republicans who’ve run together as a team since then.

1990:

Republican gubernatorial nominee Terry Branstad, the incumbent and eventual winner in 1990, chose state Senator Joy Corning of Cedar Falls, as his running mate. This was the first election in which the new state constitutional amendment took effect, so candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in Iowa ran as a team — just as the president and vice president do.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Don Avenson chose Jo Ann Zimmerman as his running mate. Zimmerman, the first woman elected as lieutenant governor, was also the state’s last independently elected lieutenant governor. Zimmerman, a nurse from Waukee, ended her campaign for governor before the primary and became half of the “A to Z” ticket.

1994:

Republican Terry Branstad successfully ran for a fourth term as governor and Joy Corning was again his running mate.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bonnie Campbell chose Leonard Boswell, a military veteran and state senator from Davis City, as her running mate. Boswell ran for congress in 1996 and served in the U.S. House until  January of 2013.

1998:

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Vilsack and the winner of the 1998 election chose Sally Pederson as his running mate. Pederson, a Vinton native, was the former food editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, a former Meredith Corporation executive and she was active in civic organizations in the Des Moines area. Pederson later served as chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party.

Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Ross Lightfoot chose Almo Hawkins of Des Moines as his running mate and she became the first African American nominated by a major party for statewide office when delegates at the 1998 state convention ratified Lightfoot’s choice. Hawkins, a former reporter for KCCI television in Des Moines, had worked in state government.

2002:

Democrat Tom Vilsack successfully ran for reelection and Sally Pederson was again his lieutenant governor running mate.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Gross chose Debi Durham of Sioux City as his running mate. Durham was the head of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce. She is currently head of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, a position she’s held since January of 2011.

2006:

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chet Culver and the winner of the 2006 election chose Patty Judge as his running mate. Judge, a former state senator from Albia who had served two terms as Iowa’s first female secretary of agriculture, ended her own campaign for governor before the primary to become Culver’s running mate.

Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Nussle chose Bob Vander Plaats as his running mate. Vander Plaats had run unsuccessfully for governor in 2002 and was running again in 2006, but ended his own campaign to become Nussle’s lieutenant governor running mate. (Vander Plaats ran a third time for governor in 2010, losing to Terry Branstad. See more below.) Vander Plaats is now president and CEO of The Family Leader.

2010:

Republican Terry Branstad successfully ran for a fifth term as governor, selecting state Senator Kim Reynolds of Osceola as his running mate. Reynolds had competition for the slot on the ticket at the GOP’s state convention that year, though. Bob Vander Plaats, who finished second to Branstad in the primary, was nominated at the convention by state Representative Dwayne Alons of Hull to be Branstad’s running mate. Congressman Steve King nominated Reynolds. Reynolds won the most votes from delegates, securing the lieutenant governor slot on the GOP’s 2010 ticket.

Democratic Governor Chet Culver and Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge sought reelection in 2010.

2014:

Republican Terry Branstad won a sixth term as governor with Kim Reynolds as his lieutenant governor running mate.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jack Hatch chose Cedar Rapids City Councilwoman Monica Vernon as his running mate. Vernon had just finished second in the Democratic Party’s primary in the first congressional district. Hatch announced Vernon as his pick a few days after the primary, before the state convention, at a union hall in Cedar Rapids.

 

 

 

 

Hubbell backs 3/8ths percent increase in sales tax, for water improvement

By

Fred Hubbell

Fred Hubbell, the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, backs an increase in the state sales tax to finance water quality projects around the state.

The money would flow into a special state trust fund Iowa voters approved eight years ago, but state lawmakers have never approved the three-eights-of-a-cent sales tax increase that would plug money into the account. Hubbell says that increase could be phased in over three years.

“Many other states in our country have — including Minnesota and Missouri have already done it, years ago, and they’re seeing the benefits from it and we’re not,” Hubbell says, “and if we do that, it’s constitutionally protected.”

That’s because Iowa voters approved a constitutional amendment creating the fund, and specifying what the money may be spent on.

“We voters approved a constitutional amendment with more votes than Governor Branstad got in 2010,” Hubbell says. “People want this because they know that it’s going to improve their parks, their recreation, their ability to hunt and fish and recreate across the state as well as protect the top soil and improve the water quality.”

Hubbell opposes state limits on how much nitrogen and phosphorus may be applied to farm fields or urban yards. Hubbell says he supports the voluntary approach to reducing farm chemical run-off that state officials outlined five years ago, but Hubbell says the water quality funding plan Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed in January doesn’t provide enough state money.

“The Nutrient Reduction Strategy is a good strategy going forward, but come on. It’s a $4.5 billion problem, so we need to put some serious muscle behind it,” Hubbell says, “not just $20 million a year that’s taken out of education and health care.”

Hubbell says Iowa needs a “unified effort” to address water quality concerns.

“We all need clean water and we all need our farms to be successful, so we need to work together,” Hubbell says. “Branstad and Reynolds have not done a good job of trying to bring people together to address this issue. Rather, they’ve tried to make it a fight between urban Iowa and rural Iowa. Rural Iowa needs clean water just like urban Iowa does. Urban Iowa needs farms to be successful just like rural Iowa does.”

Hubbell made his comments this morning during taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program that airs tonight at 7:30.  Video of the program is online now.

Governor Branstad often said while voters in 2010 approved creating a water improvement trust fund, they did not vote to raise the sales tax. A Des Moines Register Iowa Poll conducted this past February found two-thirds of Iowans supported raising the sales tax by one percent to finance initiatives to improve water quality and mental health care options.

Pat Garrett, a campaign spokesman for Governor Reynolds, issued a written statement this afternoon. “Governor Reynolds is proud of the progress made on water quality this year and looks forward to doing more, but she does not support a stand alone tax increase like her opponent does,” Garrett said. “She would only consider it as part of a larger tax reform agreement.”

$7.4 billion state budget, $2 billion in tax cuts clear 2018 Iowa legislature

By

Republican lawmakers passed a more than $2 billion plan to cut taxes over the next six years and they completed work on next year’s $7.4 billion state budget on Saturday. It was the 118th and final day of the 2018 Iowa legislative session.

With Republican Kim Reynolds in the governor’s office and Republicans in the majority in the House and Senate, the GOP controlled the legislature’s agenda. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake praised her GOP colleagues on Saturday.

“You all came together and time after time, you chose real change rather than defending the status quo,” Upmeyer said in a closing speech late Saturday afternoon. “…We stood together for the opportunity to improve the future of Iowa and you can go home to your communities proudly sharing our significant achievements.”

A year ago, in Republicans Governor Terry Branstad’s closing month’s in office, Republican legislators dramatically reduced union bargaining rights for public sector workers and passed a ban on abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. On Friday afternoon, Governor Kim Reynolds signed another bill that will basically ban most abortions in Iowa.

“For me, it’s immoral to stop an innocent, beating heart,” Reynolds said during a bill-signing ceremony in her formal office as protesters shouted outside. “…And, for me, my faith leads me to protect life.”

On Saturday, the Republican-led legislature dropped its plan to block federal funding to Planned Parenthood’s sex education programs for teenagers. The premiere action of the legislature’s last day, though, was passage of a massive tax plan that eventually will cut individual and corporate income taxes by 400-million dollars a year.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity I feel that we have today to ensure a prosperous for the future,” Representative Peter Cownie, a Republican from West Des Moines, said.

Democrats dismissed the GOP’s assertions that tax cuts will stimulate economic growth as make-believe “pixie dust” and Senator Herman Quirmbach of Ames sid there will be a “flood tide of red ink” in the state budget.

“If this bill becomes law it will be the single most fiscally irresponsible bill in Iowa history,” Quirmbach said.

Mark Smith of Marshalltown, the Democratic leader in the Iowa House, faulted Republicans for keeping final details of the tax bill underwraps until the legislature’s closing hours.

“You chose to work behind closed doors with special interests instead,” Smith said late Saturday afternoon in a speech on the House floor. “The Iowans we represent deserve better.”

House Majority Leader Chris Hagenow, a Republican from Windsor Heights, the Republican-led legislature has taken “consequential” actions over the past two years.

“In November, 2016, Iowans entrusted Republicans to lead the House, Senate and the governor’s office,” Hagenow said in a speech on the closing day. “The message the voters sent was clear: they wanted smaller, smarter, more conservative government.”

The debate over that record will now shift out of the statehouse and onto the campaign trail. Voters in November will select 25 senators and 100 state representatives to serve in the legislature for the next two years.

Senators pondering tax rebate ‘fix’ for Knoxville Raceway

By

Senator Bill Dotzler

A “fix it” bill is eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate to help the Knoxville Raceway get the money from a tax break it won in 2014.

The legislature and former Governor Terry Branstad agreed the track should get a rebate on some of the state sales taxes paid on a construction project, plus any sales taxes charged on goods and services sold at the facility. Senator Bill Dotzler, a racing fan from Waterloo who is supporting what he calls a “fix it” bill, said state tax officials failed to create a “Raceway Rebate Fund” for the track.

“It was really a Department of Revenue mix-up,” Dotzler said. “It’s still a mystery, but this bill would allow Knoxville to go back and collect the revenue they already submitted.”

A report from the Legislative Services Agency indicates the Iowa Department of Revenue sent the Knoxville Raceway an $18,012 rebate four years ago, but nothing since then. State officials say the Raceway has failed to designate a construction project that’d be eligible for the rebate. The state has kept more than half a million dollars in sales taxes paid on retail sales at the track the last four years.

A bill that has cleared a senate committee would eventually extend up to $1.8 million in sales tax rebates on items and services sold at the track in Knoxville. Over 200,000 people visit facility each year, but Dotzler said it’s facing competition from a sprint car track in Macon, Illinois co-owned by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.

“The racing industry has gone through some troubled times, in a way, and they want to enhance their fan base, so I’m very supportive of the bill,” Dotzler said. “I think it’s a good bill for Iowa.”

The bill isn’t universally popular, though. Senator Herman Quirmbach of Ames said the state shouldn’t be giving tax breaks to an entertainment business.

“The raceway — everybody tells me how popular it is, how many people come, how successful it is,”Quirmbach said. “All that does is raise a question in my mind: ‘Why do they need a taxpayer subsidy?'”

The Marion County Fair Association owns the Knoxville Raceway. NASCAR owns the Iowa Speedway in Newton. In 2014, Governor Terry Branstad went to the track to sign legislation extending a sales tax rebate to the Speedway.

No more proficiency exams for would-be teachers if House bill becomes law

By

Tom Moore

Republicans in the Iowa House have voted to remove a requirement that college graduates pass an exam before they may be hired as a teacher.

The rule was included in a 2013 education reform plan touted by former Republican Governor Terry Branstad. Republican Representative Tom Moore of Griswold said about 500 people have failed the test and, after spending thousands of dollars on a college degree, they cannot enter the teaching profession.

“It’s a road block for the teacher and the administration that wants to hire them,” Moore said.

Moore, who is a retired teacher, said passing a test doesn’t indicate who’ll be an “excellent teacher” who can command a classroom and connect with students.

“We had high standards before 2013,” Moore said. “Iowa has always been a leader nationally and we didn’t have a darned test to decide whether you were qualified to be a good teacher.”

Moore has a neighbor who got an education degree and a job offer, but failed the test twice.

“I can give you many examples from superintendents and prospective teachers that I’ve spoke with about this,” Moore said, “and it’s simply a barrier.”

Critics say the test shows a prospective teacher is proficient in the subjects they’ll teaching. Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, is a retired teacher who opposed the bill.

“We do not want to see a dumbing down of the profession,” Mascher said. “We have standards in place and we have expectations from our teacher prep programs and we do that because not everyone should teach.”

The test is graded on a curve and 96 percent pass. Representative Art Staed, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, has been a teacher for 40 years.

“It is not too strict a test,” Staed says. “It is a standard that may not be considered too high. As a matter of fact, the standard might be considered too low among many circles.”

The test, he said, ensures teachers are “qualified to face the students” in their classrooms. The bill passed the House on a 55-42 vote. It will next be considered by a senate committee.

Eric Branstad to open PR firm office in Des Moines

By

President Trump and Eric Branstad

The Branstad who ran Donald Trump’s 2016 general election campaign in Iowa has left the Trump Administration and is returning to consulting work.

Eric Branstad is the oldest son of Terry Branstad, the former Iowa governor who Trump named U.S. Ambassador to China. Eric Branstad had been serving as White House liaison to the U.S. Department of Commerce since Trump took office. His wife and children remained in Des Moines.

Branstad left his D.C. job several weeks ago. Branstad is joining Mercury, a “global public strategy firm” that has companies and politicians as well as other countries as clients. Eric Branstad will be a managing director and will open an office for the firm in Des Moines.

Branstad’s move was first reported this morning by Politico Playbook, a daily newsletter. Eric Branstad had worked as a political consultant before he joined the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016.

Legislators explore ‘fix’ for line of succession in Iowa government

By

Governor Kim Reynolds and Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg.

Senate Republicans are crafting a “fix” that would ensure future Iowa governors have the constitutional authority to appoint a lieutenant governor who could also become the state’s chief executive.

After an attorney general’s ruling in May, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds appointed an “acting” lieutenant governor replacement when Terry Branstad resigned and she became governor. A proposed constitutional amendment would make it clear any future lieutenant governor who takes over in the middle of a governor’s term may appoint a lieutenant governor.

“The constitution is there for the people to tell us what we are to do in these situations,” Republican Senator Roby Smith of Davenport said.

Senator Tony Bisignano, a Democrat from Des Moines, said it was a “unique situation” when Branstad resigned in the middle of his term.

“But it doesn’t mean that it can’t happen again and it could happen very soon,” Bisignano said. “If Senator Grassley did not complete his term, Governor Reynolds could appoint herself and if she did that, we would have a lieutenant governor who can’t assume the position of governor at this time.”

In that scenario, Senate President Jack Whitver would be next in what’s called the “line of succession” and he would become governor.

The proposed constitutional amendment has cleared a senate subcommittee. It has at least four more hurdles to clear this year. The proposal would have to win approval from the House and Senate again in 2019 or 2020 before Iowans would be able to vote on the proposed change to the state constitution.

Whitver says ending state’s property tax replacement payment on the table

By

Jack Whitver (file photo)

The president of the Iowa Senate is hinting Republicans are ready to end state payments to cities and counties that were promised to make up for expected lost tax revenue.

The state payments began after the legislature voted in 2013 to roll back commercial property tax rates. Senate President Jack Whitver, a Republican from Ankeny, says $150 million in state tax dollars will be forwarded to cities and counties in the current year — but next year’s payments are up for debate.

“I believe there’s general agreement in the legislature that we don’t want to touch that for the current fiscal year,” Whitver says. “Those cities and counties have already certified their budgets. It would be very difficult for them to go back and change that, but I believe they should be on the table for the next few years.”

The 2013 property tax changes approved by Republican Governor Terry Branstad, the Republican-led Iowa House and Democratically controlled Iowa Senate not only reduced commercial property tax assessments by 10 percent, property taxes for apartments were reduced as well. City officials say the state payments are not compensating for lost tax revenue — and if the state payments end they’ll be forced to cut city services.

Whitver and other Republican leaders argue cities have benefitted from the legislature’s move to reduce property taxes five years ago.

“Many places around the state have seen tremendous growth since then both with assessments and with new buildings and so I believe we should look at phasing that out over time,” Whitver says. “…We obviously don’t want to do something that’s harmful, but ultimately that’s $150 million that we’re paying to the cities and counties that we’d like to phase out. I’d like to phase out.”

In December, Governor Kim Reynolds said she wants to bring city and county officials into the negotiations over if and when the payments from the state end.

Whitver made his comments during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program.