ChetChase 2010 -- Branstad Interview

ChetChase hit the road Thursday, taking its very life in its hands as it cruised across the frozen tundra.

I sat down with former governor and current Republican candidate for governor Terry Branstad at his Urbandale headquarters.

There was a lot of deja vu.

For one thing, his headquarters is very familiar. And that's because it's in the same offices that were used by 2002 GOP nominee for governor Doug Gross and 2008 presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. They've done a great job of removing any lingering smell of disappointment.

Then there was the uncanny feeling that I've heard this same guy say some of these same things before, somewhere between my 13th birthday and my wedding. I can't be exactly sure.

Here are some excepts from our 57-minute, 30-second conversation, which opened with him telling me that when he was playing high school baseball in Lake Mills, my dad was coaching baseball at Woden-Crystal Lake.

Does this man have a story about every citizen of Iowa?

We talked about a lot of issues. Here are some portions I found interesting.

1. Constitutional Convention/Gay Marriage

I wanted to get a clarification on the constitutional convention issue...

"I'm not advocating that. I'm not advocating that. I was explaining to somebody who said, 'Oh, it takes so long' if you're going to amend the constitution. It's gotta be two general assemblies and a vote of the people. Present leadership says they're not even going to let it be considered, which means you have to wait until 2011.

"I said there is one other opportunity. And that is every 10 years on the ballot there is this constitutional convention. People can vote for that. I don't think it's ever passed. But it's up this year in the general election. If people were to vote for a constitutional convention, any amendments approved by that convention would have to be then submitted to the people for a vote individually.

"I think some of the fear about a convention is it could be runaway convention, they could do a whole lot of things, and not be just limited to one or two issues. But as I understand it, if there were an amendment or multiple amendments approved, they individually would be submitted to the voters to decide."

So is there a point where you go from exploring to advocating?

"I don't think so. For one thing, I'm running for governor. And this is really a, this is something that's up to the voters. And so it's my opinion that you're running to be the chief executive that you need to recognize and respect. That's an important enough job to be the chief executive that you don't need to also try to be the chief of the judiciary and the chief of the legislative branch too.

"I mean, there's obviously a role the governor plays in legislative issues. And I respect and recognize that. But this is an issue that is really a vote issue. And it's really up to the people of Iowa."

"I'm of the opinion that we ought to do what 31 other states have done and submit it to a vote of the people. I think an issue of this magnitude, the people ought to have an opportunity to vote on it."

What is it about gay and lesbian marriage that you're not comfortable with?

"Well, it's got to do with the whole structure of the American society. And, uh, a lot of people say when other ancient societies have gone this direction, it was the beginning of the end of their society. Because, the building blocks of really having stable culture is really having one man, one woman marriage. So I think that is an important part.

"Even children who grow up in a stable relationship where they have both a father and a mother are more likely to succeed, not to say single parents can't raise children that end up being successful, but the, if you look at anything, juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancy, just about any factor, drug abuse whatever, is less likely to occur if you have a stable, what we call normal home situation where you have a father and a mother to nurture the children."

What do you say to a gay couple with a child who wants that same stability?

"I don't have any problem, I just don't think it has to be a marriage. I just don't. I guess my feeling is marriage is an institution that was and has been recognized for generations as a contract between one male and one female. I think it should stay that way.

"I don't have a problem with people that want to live together and raise a child and things like that. In fact, Grace Copley, who was my clerk for years, or my secretary when I was lieutenant governor and governor, she has a son who's gay, and he and his friend have adopted children and are raising the children. And Grace is a very conservative religious woman. It was a very difficult thing for her to deal with when this became the situation. But they did. And she still is not someone who is supportive of gay marriage, but she's certainly supportive of her children and grandchildren.

How about civil union rights? Is that something that you're…take the word marriage out of it?

"Well, I don't think people should be discriminated against. And you know, certainly I recognize the situation as far as the hospital and things like that. I don't have a problem with that."

Have you met with any gay couples to get the other side of the issue?

"Yeah, I have talked with some people yes. And I respect, there's strong opinions on both sides. I have always tried to treat people with respect and dignity, even people who that I disagree with. That's just been my approach. I don't believe in condemning people or calling people names or things like that. In this day and age I'm getting called a lot of names and that kind of stuff. What's kind of interesting in my early years I used to be called a right winger and all this kind of stuff because of my conservative views.”

(Later in the interview, he remarked that a governor is not a "dictator." I asked if that meant a governor can't nullify a supreme court ruling with an executive order)

"The president of the United States can't override a Supreme Court decision on this corporate contribution issue. Obama can't just sign an executive order and say, I'm not going to abide by that."

He can get in their face at the State of the Union...

"That's the bully pulpit. He has that. A governor can do that too. But you can't just sign an executive order and overrule them or put them in their place, It's a separate branch of government.

"I'm a lawyer, and I did practice law when I was in the Legislature. I used to tell my clients, if we can reach a reasonable settlement, it's probably smart to do that because when you go to trial, sometimes you lose when you think you're going to win and sometimes you win when you think you're going to lose. And I've had that happen to me.

Accepting the outcome is how the system works?

"That's the way the system works. And sometimes you can feel strongly the court's wrong, but that's the way the system works.

"There is a recourse, a constitutional amendment and a vote of the people."

2. The "Confrontational Right"

You've used the term "confrontational right," what did you mean by that?

"I remember the left when I was in college. And I'm starting to see some of that same tendency from the right. This idea that, the name calling, the if you don't agree with me then you're no good and we're going to ridicule you and call you names. I don't agree with that tactic, to that approach. I didn't agree with it when it was done by the left, and there are still radicals on the left who do that kind of stuff. And I had that experience as governor with some of the confrontational left. I was very willing to meet with them and discuss. They didn't want that. They wanted to have a confrontation so they could get on television or on the radio, whatever.

"I like to consider myself a problem solver. And somebody who fixes things. I came in as governor during the farm crisis. I led Iowa through some very stressful times. Made tough decisions. I had people who wanted me to do confrontational things during his farm crisis, like close down all farm credit, which would have gotten us a lot of attention but would have made the situation worse instead of better. Or sign a law making it illegal to sell corn below $4 a bushel. There were things like that that were popular at the time, but they didn't make sense in terms of really solving the problem."

Is one reason you ran, among multiple reasons, is that you're worried the party is slipping into the control of the confrontational right?

"I would say no, It more has to do with the situation in the state."

3. The Internets.

So do you read the blogs?

"Yes. Tim (Albrecht) keeps me pretty well clued in to, this whole social media thing is a new thing and a new development since I was governor before. Our goal is to do a better job than Obama did in communicating and using the social media and Twitter and Facebook and the blogs and all than. Yes I have, I do read some, not all of them, how can you? But yeah, I read some of the blogs."

Even when Tim's not around, when you sit at your computer, do you surf...Google your last name and see what they're writing about you?

"I don't do that. But he (Tim) puts out a summary of what's being written. So I see some of your columns and things like that. I try to keep up with that. I've always been one to read newspapers, but now I'm also into reading blogs and getting that information too. I just think the more information you have, the better informed you are, the better decisions you'll make.

"I'm not afraid to have smarter people than I am working for me."

4. Big Government

(Branstad mentioned his record on fiscal policy and his promise to cut the cost of state government by 15 percent)

If you look at the 16 years...government grew pretty large.

"Well, it grew and it shrunk. I got the state out of the retail liquor business. We used to have state employees that ran liquor stores all over the state of Iowa. It was a very inefficient, very costly program. And also state employees who delivered liquor. We stayed as the wholesaler. We privatized it. We saved a lot of money, made it much more convenient. In fact, some of those years, I loved this, liquor consumption went down and state revenue went up."

"I'm proud of what we did there. I'm proud of the jobs we brought to Iowa."

5. Ethanol Mandate

“Well, I'm a strong supporter of ethanol. And I guess I haven't had a chance to study this yet, but I'd certainly be willing to explore that possibility.

“Iowa has been a real leader in ethanol. I was in the Legislature when we first started to promote and encourage ethanol and renewable fuels and we are the leading producer of ethanol, we are the leading producer of biodiesel. We're No. 2 in wind energy. I think all of that is good.

"We also have ethanol that sells for considerably less than regular gasoline. And what I'm hearing from the counter-side to this is that this is going to drive up the price of gas. I don't know and I haven't had a chance to hear both sides, so I don't really want to start an opinion just pro or con. I would be very interested in exploring it because we're what, 75, 73 percent use of ethanol, Minnesota's at 100 percent. I guess for that reason I'd like to explore it.

“Obviously what would be even bigger would be to raise what they call the blend wall, from 10 percent to 15 percent.”

People also cite the freedom of choice thing

“I understand that. And I think Iowans generally don't like mandates. They prefer freedom of choice. I really want to carefully examine it.”

6. Other Stuff

I asked Branstad how he would cut government. He said he's still looking for ideas but did mention reforming the state's mental health system and rolling back Medicaid, which has been expanded to cover more people, including children. He said state employees should pay for their health insurance like private sector employees.

He also questioned why the state has expanded its public school responsibilities to include early childhood education. When I said data shows that public schools do better when kids come to kindergarten ready to learn, he said Head Start and private preschools can do that, with some help for people who cant afford it.

Cutting Medicaid for kids and preschool programs is not where I'd start trimming government, but what do I know?

Branstad also said he'd attack commercial property tax reform the same way he phased out the property tax in machinery and equipment as governor. He would cut the property tax rate for new business and phase in a lower rate for existing commercial property over time.

The machinery and equipment phase out caused lots of heartburn for local governments in industrial towns like Muscatine. Branstad didn't say how he would avoid woes for local govs that in this case.