Culver confident in state's job-creation efforts

DES MOINES – Gov. Chet Culver predicted Tuesday that Iowa's job-creation efforts won't “skip a beat” despite three more top-echelon officials leaving the state Department of Economic Development in the wake of the film tax credit scandal.

Culver called his recent choice of Bret Mills to direct DED activities “the right man for the job,” saying Mills brings a great deal of experience to the post which will help the beleaguered state agency to “take it to a new level in terms of job creation.”

“We've got a very capable team, hundreds of employees and we're not going to skip a beat in terms of pushing forward on trying to recruit additional companies to come to Iowa,” Culver told reporters during his weekly Statehouse news conference.

Culver's comments came one day after DED officials confirmed Jeff Rossate, division administrator for business development; Amy Johnson, division coordinator for business development and interim manager of the Iowa Film Office; and Melanie Johnson, the department's general counsel; were no longer working for the agency.

The department's business development division oversees the film office, which has seen turmoil in recent months and is part of a comprehensive state audit and criminal probe launched by the Iowa's attorney general's office.

Culver suspended the film tax credit program last September after revelations surfaced that alleged lax oversight, mismanagement and tax credits being used in the purchase of luxury vehicles and other questionable transactions.

Prosecutors have since brought criminal charges against two filmmakers and Tom Wheeler, the former Film Office manager, who was fired last year. Former DED Director Mike Tramontina and his deputy director, Vince Lintz, both resigned their posts when the scandal began to unfold.

The suspension has since been lifted on tax credit applications for film projects that are under contract or had preliminary commitments with the state, but no new projects are being considered and legislation pending to extend the suspension until July 1, 2011.

During Tuesday's news conference, Culver pointed to Iowa's success last week in saving 1,600 jobs at Whirlpool's Amana plant as evidence the DED is getting the job done despite the internal turmoil and turnover that has dogged the agency in recent months.

“We are fighting as hard as we can every day to create and retain jobs,” the governor said, pointing to 1,500 I-JOBS infrastructure projects, 12,000 federally funded disaster recovery projects and a $160 million prison construction project slated for the Fort Madison area.

 “This spring and this summer we're going to be moving a lot of dirt, creating a lot of good jobs and a lot of economic development at a time when we really need it,” he said.

Culver said the unprecedented economic recession nationally and in Iowa is fueling anxiety and frustration among Iowans – frustration he shares.

The governor flatly dismissed a suggestion the Iowa Democratic Party may want him to step aside given his declining popularity in public opinion polls. “I can't wait to get out there on the trial and take my case to voters,” he said, adding “There's a long time between now and November.”