Branstad camp: Democrats were behind attacks

DES MOINES -- Former Gov. Terry Branstad's campaign manager said Thursday federal disclosure reports told him what he already knew – that Democrats were behind an effort to sour GOP conservative primary voters in Iowa against Branstad with claims he was too liberal.

“We were right all along,” said Jeff Boeyink, who pointed to IRS disclosure reports indicating that the group Iowans for Responsible Government was led by former Iowa Democratic Party chairman Rob Tully and the $782,500 raised by the group came entirely from the Democratic Governors Association. “We have reached a new low in Iowa politics.”

The 527 group spent more than $767,000 last spring on television advertisements and mailers that attempted to tie Branstad and President Barack Obama on the health care issue and featured a Mount Rushmore-style scene with a message claiming Branstad had a 16-year record of “liberal” government that “would make Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi proud” that targeted GOP voters in Iowa's June 8 primary.

Branstad, a four-term governor from 1983 to 1999 seeking the GOP nomination for a fifth term in November, emerged victorious in last month's balloting with 50 percent of the Republican vote, while challengers Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City tallied about 41 percent and state Rep. Rod Roberts of Carroll had about 9 percent. The win sets Branstad up for a Nov. 2 showdown with Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, who also has received $1.25 million in DGA contributions.

“A shadowy, out-of-state-funded group attempted to infiltrate the Republican primary for governor with distortions and smear tactics,” said Boeyink, who likened the situation to “Illinois-style politics” in calling on Culver and his campaign to apologize to Iowans. “This is wrong and, despite their best efforts, Iowa voters were smarter than this and chose Terry Branstad as the Republican nominee.”

Officials with the Culver-Judge campaign were not available for comment.

Ali Glisson, communications director for the Culver/Judge campaign, countered that Branstad's camp was attempting to distract voters from his record by claiming the Culver/Judge campaign coordinated with Iowans for a Responsible Government when the 527 group was an independent organization.

“We did not coordinate with them,” Glisson said. She noted that a former Branstad deputy campaign manager now is president of the Iowa Progress Project, which she described as a 501c4 groups that “appears for the sole purpose of attacking Gov. Culver,”

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