Branstad dismisses concerns about governance of Iowa

DES MOINES — Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday refuted a former aide's claims that his administration has governance issues, saying he has taken swift and decisive action to deal with problems in the face of coordinated 'political attacks' by Democrats hungry to create 2014 campaign issues.

Branstad said he is focused on shutting down a successful 2014 legislative session and dismissed questions raised on statewide television by former Branstad chief of staff Doug Gross whether the governor 'has appropriate control and management of the state government.'

'He has not been on my staff for 25 years and he's clearly out of touch with what's going on in state government today,' Branstad said in a terse during his weekly news conference regarding comments Gross made on Iowa Public Television's 'Iowa Press' show last week. 'He is not knowledgeable about what's going on a day-to-day basis in this office.'

Legislative Democrats have been hammering the governor on a daily basis with floor speeches and committee hearings into allegation that 25 confidential settlements — 10 with lump-sum payments — had been signed with dismissed state workers since Branstad took office in 2011. Other allegations have involved policies at Iowa Workforce Development, the Iowa Veterans Home, the Department of Administrative Services and other state agencies that have drawn fire.

In response to the secret employee settlements, Branstad issued an executive order to bar confidential employee settlements going forward and urged lawmakers to change state law to require more disclosure and government openness.

The GOP-run House passed a bill to accomplish that but majority Democrats in the Senate expanded the measure to provide whistle-blower protections, prohibitions against secret settlements and cronyism, require more government accountability but stopped short of fully disclosing reasons state employees are fired.

Branstad said he supported some of the Senate provisions but told reporters Monday it leaves a 'huge loophole' in not telling Iowans why state employees are terminated and he dismissed as 'baloney' Democrats' contention that doing so would open the state to defamation lawsuits.

'The Senate refused to take that up because the people who are funding their campaigns don't want it. That is partisan politics at its worst,' Branstad told his weekly news conference.

Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, said the provisions Branstad and legislative Republicans are seeking currently are covered under Chapter 20 as an item of collective bargaining and can't be changed. Branstad knows that, he said, but is choosing to play their own politics while being 'defensive and disrespectful' to state employees.

Hatch, Branstad's likely Democratic opponent in the 2014 general election, blamed the governor for bringing a 'culture of abuse of power' that is permeating state government.

'To say he's for openness and transparency and then try to deflect the information away from his own trouble to lawsuits or even the state Senate is an indication that he's very defensive,' Hatch said.

Hatch said he has worked with Gross and found him to be 'a practical politician.' He called Gross' comments 'pretty incredible' and evidence that fellow Republicans are trying to make the governor listen to some good advice.

'For the governor to dismiss it like he hasn't been here for 25 years is a little disingenuous,' Hatch said.

'I think you really do have an abyss of abuse of power that it's hard to get out of,' he added. 'Almost the only way to do that is to clean house everywhere and I don't think this governor is thinking that he should do that. But it's clear that Iowans are questioning his leadership and whether or not he's been here too long.'