Iowa regents elect Bruce Rastetter as new president

New state Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter said he thinks the idea of partisan rifts between the regents and the Legislature has been overplayed, and he said the board will remain committed to openness under his leadership.

The regents elected Rastetter Wednesday as president during a meeting in Iowa City. Rastetter, of Alden, has been serving as interim president of the board since May 1, after the six-year board term of former president Craig Lang expired.

Rastetter was chosen by unanimous vote, though he abstained and Regent Ruth Harkin was absent. Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Rastetter, a businessman and Republican donor, to the regents in 2011; he will serve as board president through April 30, 2014.

Lang, a Republican farmer from Brooklyn, had another year on his term as president but his reappointment for another six-year term as a regent was not confirmed by the Iowa Senate in April, amid concerns from some Democrats about academic freedom issues.

Rastetter has drawn criticism during his board term from the advocacy group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, who say Rastetter acted unethically in trying to use Iowa State University's involvement to further his company's proposed land deal in Tanzania. The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board last summer discussed an ethics complaint against Rastetter, but dismissed the allegations.

A statement from Iowa CCI Wednesday called Rastetter a "corporate-political kingpin" and said his ability to effectively lead the board is in doubt because "there is not public trust in him to put the common good before corporate profit after months of controversy surrounding him and his predecessor Craig Lang."

Rastetter said the regents will remain committed to transparency, along with other priorities that include replacing tuition set-aside dollars and finding more budget support for the University of Northern Iowa. He also said partisan bickering has not been a problem among the regents, and he doesn't think it's been a problem between the regents and the Legislature, either.

"I think that partisanship has been much overplayed," he said. "I think Craig's priorities were the board's priorities, so they're going to remain the same."

The regents also on Wednesday elected Katie Mulholland as president pro tem, a position Rastetter previously held. Mulholland is a Democrat from Marion who is superintendent of the Linn-Mar School District. She was appointed to the board in 2011.

Wednesday was the first meeting for three new regents: Dr. Subhash Sahai of Webster City; Larry McKibben of Marshalltown; and Milt Dakovich of Waterloo. The appointments of McKibben and Dakovich

were announced by Branstad Tuesday.