UNDER DEBATE FIRE, BRANSTAD CAN'T RECALL HIS RECORD
In the first GOP debate today, Terry Branstad at last faced attacks from his opponents under the hot television lights. The verdict? Branstad couldn’t recall important pieces of his own record as Governor.“Candidate Branstad appears out of touch and rarely remembers his own record as Governor - unless of course it is to take credit for something good. On gambling, on bonding and on taxes the rule for Terry Branstad is that he was for it before he was against it, and now no one knows what - if anything - he stands for anymore," said Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan.
As Bob Vander Plaats and Rod Roberts took Branstad on repeatedly over passing, and then dramatically expanding, gambling in Iowa and ushering in higher taxes and expanded government, Branstad attacked the current Governor for using public bonding, after himself borrowing more than a billion in today's dollars.
On gambling, Branstad says that an expansion of gambling is bad, but Governor Terry Branstad introduced gambling into Iowa. Bob Vander Plaats decried Branstad for opening 15 casinos, and the reality is that Terry Branstad could care less if gambling expands in Iowa. As Governor, he vetoed a five-year ban on new casinos. (1)
Branstad attacked Governor Culver’s successful I-JOBs program, but the truth is that the Branstad administration also used public bonding, the same kind of debt Branstad now attacks, to fund more than $613 million in projects between 1989 and 1994. Those projects included a state prison at Clarinda ($22.6 million); (2) the Iowa Communications Network ($115 million) (3) and the Underground Storage Tank cleanup program ($141 million). (4)
Branstad even tried to pain himself a tax-cutter, but the truth is that he raised the sales tax on Iowans twice.(5) He raised the gas tax,(6) and even tried to tax social security benefits. (7)
And, it’s still unclear where Branstad stands today on an individual health insurance mandate, but it’s definitely clear that he supported it in 2007.(8)
“He seemed cantankerous in the debate today, and that’s no surprise- his record was truly under attack.”
Sources:
- Telegraph Herald, July 7, 1998
- Des Moines Register, 6/13/04
- Cedar Rapids Gazette, 7/22/94
- Cedar Rapids Gazette, 3/26/93
- http://www.iowa.gov/tax/taxlaw/TaxHistory.html#Sales
- http://www.iowa.gov/tax/taxlaw/TaxHistory.html#Motor
- Des Moines Register, 1/11/84
- Iowa Public Television, 10/22/07