Chris Rants: We know Terry Branstad "all too well"
December 15, 2009
Gubernatorial candidate Terry Branstad is campaigning in Chris Rants hometown of Sioux City today. But, Rants, a Republican and the former Iowa House Speaker who has represented Sioux City in the Legislature for 15 years, doesn't believe that candidate Terry Branstad has the right record to lead Iowa.
In fact, Rants has been the leader lately in making the case that Taxin' Terry isn't a good match for the Republican Party base in Iowa. And that's not good news for party unity.
After hearing Terry Branstad claim to be a fiscal conservative, Rants lashed out at Branstad:
"It was Terry Branstad wielding the veto pen when he gutted our education reform legislation because Republicans wouldn't go along with all the spending he wanted. It is Terry Branstad's signature on the largest tax increase in Iowa history."
Branstad's record shows that he raised sales tax by 67%, raised the gas tax, and even proposed increasing taxes on social security benefits.(1)
After Rants and others criticized Taxin' Terry's record, Branstad complained that his party had been "joined" by a "confrontational right."(2)
Rants fired back:
"Opposing the Branstad tax and spend record doesn't make someone a member of the 'confrontational right,' it just makes them a fiscal conservative."
Bob Vander Plaats, another candidate for governor from Sioux City, penned a letter to Branstad, writing that conservatives should "be confrontational, very confrontational if necessary, to see that their leaders do what is right."
Gubernatorial candidate Terry Branstad may not 'do right' by his party's base in the eyes of Chris Rants or Bob Vander Plaats, but we can all agree as Governor, Terry Branstad has proven he won't do right by Iowans.
Sources
(1) http://www.iowaknowsbetter.com/facts/terry-branstad
(2) http://www.iowaknowsbetter.com/news/rants-says-branstad-signed-the-largest-tax-increase-in-iowa-history-