Report says Judge paid women employees less than men

DES MOINES - Women in state offices working under Patty Judge, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa, were paid less than men - 88 cents to every dollar - during the years Judge served as state ag secretary and lieutenant governor, according to an analysis of state salary data published Friday by an issues advocacy group.

The analysis was published by Priorities for Iowa, which is headed by Jimmy Centers, a former communications director for Republican Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.

Judge's campaign struck back at what it called 'a smear campaign” and criticized the Senate voting record of her opponent, longtime Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Judge served as ag secretary under former Gov. Tom Vilsack and as lieutenant governor with Gov. Chet Culver, both Democrats.

According to the Priorities for Iowa report - which Centers' group has published online at pattyspaygap.com - women in the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship were paid nearly 15 percent less than men while Judge was ag secretary, and women in the governor's office were paid 8 percent less than men while Judge was lieutenant governor under Culver.

The report accuses Judge of hypocrisy, given many Democrats' calls for laws that would enforce equal pay for women.

'Equal pay for women is a campaign talking point for Patty Judge, but it appears to be just a disingenuous political talking point and nothing else,” Centers said in a news release. 'Despite her campaign rhetoric, Patty Judge's record shows that while she was in office, there was a significant gender pay gap, and women were routinely paid less than their male colleagues.”

Judge's campaign responded by saying the 'smear campaign” was conducted by Grassley's 'special interest friends” and noted state salaries are negotiated, not set by elected officials.

'If that's all they can find is a salary scale that was negotiated between the state and the union without me or anyone from my department at the table, that's pretty light,” Judge said after a campaign event Friday in Manchester.

The Judge campaign also responded by providing what it said were nine examples of Grassley voting against paycheck fairness legislation.

'You know, while Sen. Chuck Grassley has been (in the Senate), he has been consistently voting against things like the Lily Ledbetter law, and that's a more recent and more real issue,” Judge said.