Today another volley took place between Governor Chet Culver and former Governor Terry Branstad. James Lynch of The Mason City Globe-Gazette wrote that a 69 word ad by the Branstad campaign elicited a 630 word “fact check” by the Culver/Judge Campaign.
In a 30-second spot entitled "Really," Branstad, Iowa’s governor for 16 years and now seeking a fifth term, responds to Culver’s criticism of his budgeting practices. The ad compares the four-term Republican’s record to Culver’s first-term record. Culver, according to the ad, has "has spent $2.5 billion more than he’s taken in, creating a nearly billion-dollar deficit and forcing a $500 million property tax hike."
Culver’s campaign responded with criticism of the Branstad campaign for failing to include citations in the ad.
"The Branstad campaign is lodging misleading, false attacks on Governor Culver," said Culver/Judge Campaign Manager Donn Stanley. "Their ad has no citations or background to back up their claims. If they were telling the truth about Chet Culver’s record, perhaps they could manage to find citations.
I’d like to see what citations Stanley would cite to actually defend his boss’ record rather than criticize the Branstad campaign for not giving citations.
The Branstad campaign obliged Stanley and said, “ok, we will”:
The Culver-Judge campaign today came out with a request that the Branstad 2010 campaign offer further evidence of Governor Culver’s tax-hiking, deficit-creating budget practices.
This afternoon, Governor Branstad 2010 campaign manager Jeff Boeyink happily accepted their offer.
“I appreciate Governor Culver’s offer for us to continue setting the record straight on his mismanagement of Iowa’s finances,” said Boeyink. “If our ad and release this morning weren’t enough, we’ll continue alerting voters on his reckless and irresponsible governing.”
The Real Facts About Chet Culvers mismanagement of the Iowa state budget:
Spent $2.5 Billion More than he’s taken in
According to State Auditor David Vaudt, during the last four years, Governor Culver has approved budgets wherein true total expenditures exceeded ongoing revenue by nearly $2.5 billion.
Fiscal Year True total expenditures Ongoing Revenues Difference
FY 2008 $6.472 billion $6.090 billion +382 million
FY 2009 $6.456 billion $5.984 billion +472 million
FY 2010 $6.229 billion $5.450 billion +779 million
FY 2011 $6.369 billion $5.614 billion +755 million
Chet Culver can tout our AAA bond rating all he wants. That’s like the guy who has spent everything in the checking account, drained most of the savings account, but says to his wife, “don’t worry”, because we haven’t yet maxed out their credit cards.
Simply put, Chet Culver has never matched state spending with state revenue and the day of reckoning has finally arrived.
Created a Billion dollar DEFICIT
In his analysis of Governor Culver’s most recent budget, State Auditor Vaudt had this to say: “Thanks to this budget, next year’s Legislature again faces a spending gap of nearly $1 billion.” Iowa Politics.com, 4/23/2010.
When anticipated spending exceeds anticipated revenue you have a deficit and the size of the one we are facing next year, thanks to Chet Culver, is nearly $1 billion.
$500 Million Property Tax Increase
Here is what Craig Lang, President of the Iowa Farm Bureau, had to say at the end of the current legislative session about property taxes: “Decisions made over the past three years, such as not fully funding school aid and property tax credits and making across-the-board budget cuts – have the potential to increase property taxes by another half billion dollars…”. Des Moines Register, 3/30/2010.
Oops. It should be hard to believe that Culver just gave the Branstad campaign another shot at his record, but it isn’t. It seems like Governor Culver’s campaign is run just about as well as his administration – setting the standard for incompetence and spending a lot of money in the process.
HT: The BeanWalker