Bob Dvorsky and Pat Grassley: Senator, House members are contrasting budget gatekeepers

DES MOINES — There are two prominent lightning rods at the Iowa Capitol Building this time of year. They are both appropriations chairmen who hold the purse strings to state government — one in the Iowa House and one in the Iowa Senate, and their jobs are to navigate next fiscal year's $7.351 billion spending plan through a politically divided Statehouse and to Gov. Terry Branstad's desk in a form that eludes his item-veto pen.

The pair — Rep. Pat Grassley and Sen. Bob Dvorsky — probably couldn't be more different.

Grassley, 32, a New Hartford Republican in his fifth House term, farms 1,700 acres and raises feeder cattle in partnership with his dad, Robin, and grandfather and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley — a former Iowa House budget committee leader himself who has mentored his grandson in his fiscally conservative ways.

Dvorsky, 67, a retired community-based corrections executive and former Coralville City Council member, began serving his first legislative term in 1987 when Grassley was three years old. He spent eight years in the Iowa House before moving to the Iowa Senate, where he is midway into his seventh term.

A progressive Democrat representing parts of Cedar and Johnson counties, Dvorsky has been chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee since 2005 — possibly the longest stint for anyone in that position.

'I have no idea if they keep track of that or not,' said Dvorsky, 'but it's a long number.'

By contrast, Grassley has been in his budget-making post for about seven months, being tapped by House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, last September after Rep. Chuck Soderberg, R-LeMars, resigned to take a private-sector job and Grassley moved from ag committee chairman to appropriations.

'At first, my eyes were wide open thinking 'OK, what did I get myself into?' Grassley recalled. 'But I'm really enjoying this, and the transition has been much smoother than even I expected. You can't believe all the friends that I have now.'

Grassley — who was named to the Washington Post's '40 under 40' list of up-and-coming politicians outside of Washington, D.C., in May 2014 — said he called his grandfather for advice when he was offered the new budget-making responsibilities.

'He said, 'You realize it took me 16 years in the Legislature to convince someone to let me be appropriations chair and you've been asked in 10 years, you'd better say yes.' Usually his recommendations aren't quite that blunt, but I think that one I got the message clearly,' he said.

While this year's state budget is tight, and getting tighter as state revenues slip due to economic factors and expanded tax breaks, Grassley said it's hard for him to gauge an historical context given this year is the most hands-on he's been in the appropriations process at the Statehouse.

For Dvorsky, it's a different story. He's been to this dance before, beginning with a two-year stint when the Senate was tied 25-25 and he shared co-chair duties with Red Oak Republican Sen. Jeff Angelo to a period when Democrats enjoyed full control of the Legislature and the governorship and now the split control of Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding sway in the House.

'It's probably easier when you know there isn't a huge amount of money there that people sort of tone down their expectations,' Dvorsky said. 'Well, that wasn't so when we had just taken back the House and Senate and governor. There's a lot of pent-up demand there.'

This year the state has about $176 million in additional money for budgeting, but most is being earmarked for education so other parts of the budget will see status quo or reduced allocations. That means Grassley and Dvorsky likely will dealing with a lot of disappointed lobbyists and interest groups.

'My wife would tell you it's really easy for me to say no when it comes to spending money,' said Grassley. 'That's the part of it that I knew going into it that you've got to be able to prioritize.

'You have a limited amount of resources to work with, and Iowans expect you to pass a budget that fits inside of those,' he said. 'Sometimes that makes us do a better job of budgeting because we should always scrutinize every dollar and I believe, when the budget is tight, everyone does do that.'

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said Dvorsky has proved himself to be a problem solver who listens to people and works well under pressure.

'He's a guy with lots of experience, a talented guy, good team player and a really creative thinker,' Gronstal said. 'He's often the guy who comes up with a way to get something done.'

One of the toughest tasks is convincing other legislators in charge of the various budget subcommittees to lower their expectations in a belt-tightening situation such as in the current session when there's about $23 million to divide among the non-education sectors.

'At least in our caucus, people really care about state government and they really care about services and, if we have to cut some of that or change things, I think that's the toughest part of the job to go in and talk to people who really care about these services to cut budgets and programs,' Dvorsky said.