The firm hand hits rough seas

Chet Culver popped to mind last week, for some reason.

Maybe it's because the current governor who unseated Culver in 2010 by highlighting the Democrat's chronic spasms of mismanagement, while promising a firmer hand on the tiller, just had a very Culverian week.

We found out, thanks to a report from the state auditor, that a former attorney in Gov. Terry Branstad's Department of Administrative services was underqualified for his job and overpaid more than $22,000. Ryan Lamb didn't record vacation days, nor did he have a resume on file. He was promoted anyway. This is the same administration that demanded the resignation of a highly qualified workers' compensation commissioner to please its business allies.

Lamb left in 2014 to work for Weitz Co., a division of Orascom. That's the company that brought a fertilizer plant to Lee County with help from a pile of government incentives.

Speaking of incentives, also last week, the governor's Economic Development Authority signed off on a $4.75 million package of incentives for Kraft Heinz, which is downsizing more than 900 jobs in Davenport. Yes, you read that right, the company is cutting jobs, not creating them.

The multi-billion-dollar food giant is replacing a large factory that employed 1,400 with a smaller facility that will employ 475. Total state and local incentives could top $20 million, or more than $43,000 for every job the company says it will retain. Just when you think the big money economic development game can't get any more shameless, it kicks into a whole new gear.

Also in the fast lane is the governor's ceaseless drive to hand Iowa's Medicaid health insurance program for the poor and elderly over to private companies, a decision he made earlier this year with no legislative or significant stakeholder input. Nor did he campaign on privatization in 2014.

On Sunday The Des Moines Register detailed how claims from managed care organizations taking over the program, pointing to big savings and care improvement in other states, couldn't be verified. The newspaper tried, but apparently, the Iowa Department of Human Services didn't bother to check them out.

On Friday, at long last, federal officials expressed 'significant concerns” about the state's readiness to hand over a program serving 560,000 Iowans to managed care outfits on Jan. 1. Recipients, providers and families have been expressing their fears and anxieties in meetings across Iowa. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services still must sign off on privatization.

The Iowa Hospital Association, among the most vocal critics of the plan, is asking a Polk County judge to intervene and apply the brakes.

Culver, to be fair, never tried to unilaterally hand a $4.2 billion state program over to a handful of companies, some employing friends of the administration who apparently kept in touch even during the bidding process. The governor has yet to explain fully to Iowans why privatization is needed, beyond a mantra of 'modernization.” The $51 million in savings it is supposed to achieve in its first six months can't be quantified. He hasn't said how, exactly, the program will be better, and as The Register reported, claims that have been made can't be confirmed.

Voters take a dim view of this stuff. A Public Policy Polling survey released last week found the governor's job approval at 38 percent. That's 30 points behind Iowa Football Coach Kirk Ferentz, who is having a much better year.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com