Dems Attack Branstad Openness Idea Despite Their Own Dismal Record

The once and perhaps future Gov. Terry Branstad met with The Des Moines Register's editorial board Tuesday. He proposed creating a division within the attorney general's office to enforce open meetings/records laws.

From The Register:

Republican candidate for governor Terry Branstad proposed Tuesday to create a division in the state attorney general's office to investigate complaints about possible violations of open-records and open- meetings laws.

Branstad, in a meeting with the editorial board of The Des Moines Register, said allegations of government scandal and mismanagement have contributed to a loss of public trust in state government. The proposed division would use the attorney general's existing staff.

"This is not Illinois," said Branstad, Iowa's governor from 1983 to 1999. "Iowa has always had a tradition and history of open, honest and clean government. And now we've had a series of things that really throw that into question."

I commend Branstad for having an actual idea on this issue. Unlike his primary opponent Bob Vander Plaats, who had this to say:

"That's always the first place we go: Expand government, create a new division," Vander Plaats said. "What I don't want to do is have us expanding government to deal with issues of government."

Uh huh. Maybe that made more sense in the original Dutch.

I have three problems, however, with Branstad's idea.

First, the attorney general's office has done a less-than-stellar  job over the years on open meetings/records cases. There's been a lot of wrist-slapping and head-patting by Tom Miller, who often takes the side of poor local officials who just don't understand why taxpayers footing the bills should know what's happening.

Second, it perpetuates the notion that these issues have to be solved in the  judicial system. A city council can break the rules, take a vote and go on its way. Citizens have to slog through court to hold them to task.

Third, if this is such a great idea, why didn't Branstad do it during the 16 years he was governor?

Democrats criticized Branstad:

DES MOINES, IA – Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan released the statement below following Terry Branstad's comments regarding open records and transparency in state government to the Des Moines Register editorial board this morning.

"Branstad should be familiar with self-dealing cronies after his own Chief of Staff Doug Gross made millions lobbying the state government. Or maybe Branstad's memory isn't serving him well anymore; he 'forgot' about ever discussing the Clarinda prison project with Gross.

"Branstad's administration was one of the most cozy, back-scratching operations in the history of state government. His appointees mirrored his donor list.

"The last thing state government needs is a whole new raft of lawyers reviewing documents. Spending scarce state resources on a new legal bureaucracy flies in the face of Branstad's pledge to trim the size of government. Put simply, it's a cheap campaign ploy that sounds good in a press release but won't work to fool Iowans. Branstad should know better."

Actually, Iowans should know better than to listen to Democrats talk about openness issues. And we don't have to look back to the 90s to find their shameful record.

Good legislation that would have created an independent open meetings/records enforcement panel was shelved for three years while Democrats ruled the Statehouse. It would have allowed any citizen to file a complaint, for free, to hold local elected officials accountable.

Democratic leaders said repeatedly that nobody cared about openness, except of course for the Iowa League of Cities and the now-infamous Iowa Association of School Boards. They lobbied hard against the bill, using taxpayer money, and Dems, especially in the Iowa House, were all to eager to help.

Branstad's right, this isn't Illinois. That state actually strengthened its openness laws last year, while Iowa's General Assembly sat on its hands.

As top Iowa Democrats see it, the last thing government needs is to give more power to individuals to stand up against officials who play it fast and loose and secret. Kiernan, as Branstad has been fond of saying lately, should look it up.