Culver highlights flood recovery with Gazette Board

Managing Iowa through tough times, including flood recovery efforts, has been the high point of his administration, Gov. Chet Culver said Oct. 5, and seeing recovery through is his motivation for seeking a second term.

“We're almost through the downturn … we're coming out of the recession,” Culver told The Gazette Editorial Board.

“We've had a lot of success despite the challenges,” the first-term Democrat said before ticking off a list of benchmarks, such as the state's AAA bond rating and rankings that suggest Iowa is a well-managed, financially stable place to live, work and invest.

That will only improve because of his aggressive efforts to secure federal funds and leverage public and private funds for flood recovery.

“I get it,” he said about the challenges facing Cedar Rapids and other communities that were damaged by the 2008 floods that caused upwards of $8 billion in damages across the state. “I understand as well as anyone the challenge.”

He promised to lobby the Army Corps of Engineers to be “fair” in designing flood control measures for both side of the Cedar River through Cedar Rapids.

“I can make a difference. Just recently with FEMA I weighed in and we got them to reverse their decision and now we're going to have a new library in Cedar Rapids,” Culver said. “I'll go to the White House if I need to on any one of these issues because I won't be satisfied until Cedar Rapids and these other communities get a fair shake.”

There's more to do, Culver said. He wants to stick around Terrace Hill to see rebuilding and recovery completed “because when we're done, this is going to be incredibly exciting. (Cedar Rapids) is going to be one of the most powerful, thriving economic engines in the Midwest.”

He called flood recovery a defining issue in his race with former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad.

“I've said ‘yes' to your local leaders,” Culver said. “Unlike Terry Branstad, I want to work shoulder-to-shoulder with your local leaders and do whatever we can to help them.”

Another difference is Culver's support for more gaming licenses. Monday, Branstad told the Editorial Board Iowa is “very close to saturation” on gambling opportunities.

Culver called the current process that requires a community to get voter approval and secure financing before applying for a gaming license application unfair and frustrating for communities that have their applications rejected.

“At some time in the near future there has to be a decision made, perhaps the Legislature needs to weigh in or the Racing and Gaming Commission needs to decide that either we're going to have more or we're going to have a moratorium,” Culver said.

The state's financial well-being – he rejects Branstad's argument that the state faces $1 billion deficit – and its ability to respond to the 2008 flooding is a result of his conservative budget management, Culver insisted.

“I've governed and put the budget together very effectively and in a very conservative way,” he said. “That's one reason we've been able to get a AAA bond rating from all three bonding agencies.”

He claimed state government will spend 97 percent of projected revenues this year rather than the 99 percent allowed by state law.

“We're being very conservative,” Culver said.

Looking ahead, he said, the fiscal 2012 budget will be “no more daunting then the previous budget” because the state has $750 million in its ending balance, state government has been reorganized to save $250 million this year, early retirements have cut the state payroll and the Legislature approved steps to allow counties to help collect $500 million in outstanding fines and fees. Plus, revenues are coming in at higher levels than projected.

“You put this all together and we're talking about in excess of $1 billion and we've had 11 months of economic growth,” Culver said.