Iowa Gov. Branstad urges support for regent nominees

IOWA CITY -- State Board of Regents President Craig Lang said Tuesday he feels "pretty good" about discussions he's had with Iowa senators regarding his reappointment in the week following a Senate hearing where he faced tough questioning about his leadership.

Lang, in Iowa City Tuesday to meet with the University of Iowa Faculty Senate, said he has talked with numerous senators since that March 18 Senate Education Committee hearing. The Brooklyn dairy farmer said he's not sure where he stands in the vote count on his reappointment, but he feels the discussions in recent days have been promising.

"Since that meeting last week, I feel like they have given me a fair hearing, and I think that's important," Lang said. "They haven't ignored me. They have given me the opportunity to meet with them."

Lang has more meetings with Senate Democrats lined up in the coming days, he said. There are 26 Democrats in the Senate and regents nominees need 34 votes to be appointed.

"I feel like I could" have enough votes, Lang said. "But I've had a lot of people saying 'this is going to be really hard,' so how do you gauge that. I don't know."

Gov. Terry Branstad on Tuesday distributed a letter of support for his three Board of Regents nominees to the 50 members of the Senate.

During committee hearings last week, Lang faced questions about the handling of the ill-fated Harkin Institute at Iowa State University, the contract discussion for UI President Sally Mason, and the influence of politics on the board that oversees Iowa's three public universities and two special schools.

When questioned last week's about a key memorandum of understanding that impacted the Harkin Institute controversy, Lang told the legislators he had not read the memo.  On Tuesday, Lang said he did not need to read the document because he'd been briefed on it by ISU President Steven Leath.

"I didn't need to read it, I knew exactly what it said," Lang said. "Steven told me we need changes, we need to move ahead, so that's what I focused on."

Another regents nominee, Robert Cramer, a construction company executive from Grimes, faced opposition during the hearings regarding his socially conservative viewpoints. The Senate Education Committee moved nominees Lang and Cramer to the full Senate "without recommendation," while the committee recommended the third nominee, Webster City physician Subhash Sahai, for individual confirmation.

Branstad on Tuesday restated his full support for all three nominees. He noted Lang has led the regents in successfully restoring funding for the regents system over the last two budgets, and that the board this year approved a tuition freeze, the first in 30 years.

Originally appointed to the board by former Gov. Chet Culver, Lang is a leader of "uncommon character who has been willing to pursue the difficult policy decisions necessary to make our regents institutions among the best in the nation," Branstad said.

"Leaders lead -- and Craig Lang is a leader," the governor said. "Unfortunately, leadership also often comes with a price and much of the criticism Craig has faced during his confirmation process is the direct result of his willingness to make tough choices in pursuit of these numerous positive outcomes."

Branstad said Cramer brings important experience in the construction industry, which will serve the board well as it considers more than $1 billion in new construction in the next five years.

The discussion of Cramer's conservative views in recent weeks "are an unwelcome effort by some to attach an ideological litmus test to the confirmation process that I find more than troublesome," Branstad said. "Our boards and commissions should be populated by individuals with a diversity of backgrounds and beliefs."

All three nominees have important qualities and have "my full and unwavering support," Branstad wrote.

If the Senate doesn't approve the nominees by April 15 they are considered to have failed to win confirmation.