Hatch says he won’t be negative, but will criticize Branstad policies

DES MOINES - Republican Gov. Terry Branstad is trying to 'pull the wool over Iowans' eyes” by claiming to run a positive campaign while GOP surrogates make negative, false attacks designed to divert attention away from problems dogging his administration, his Democratic rival said Friday.

Des Moines Democrat Jack Hatch, a state senator who is challenging Branstad's re-election bid for a sixth term, said Branstad is being 'disingenuous” with his strategy to air positive TV spots under his campaign's banner while raising money for the Republican Governors Association to run negative TV ads with dark images of Hatch and posing questions about conflicts of interest and tax returns.

'He's manufacturing issues,” said Hatch, who accused Branstad of using a two-track campaign strategy with a GOP group of which he is a member as a way to deflect the focus away from allegations of 'abuse of power” and 'incompetence” that have cropped up during the past four years and the unfulfilled campaign promises of job and income growth he made four years ago.

'There's no separation there. This governor knows exactly what he's doing and he's doing it purposefully, and it's a hallmark of his administration's hypocrisy that is flowing into the hypocrisy of his campaign ads,” said Hatch, who spent Thursday contrasting his job growth plan with Branstad's record.

The Democratic challenger said he would not engage in negative campaigning, but does plan to highlight scandals that have dogged the Branstad administration and point up shortcomings of Branstad policies that he believes have hurt the state in pushing for a new direction to empower communities to create jobs locally and control their own destinies.

'The use and abuse of his authority is clearly an issue in this campaign, and I think that he's going to be accountable for it,” Hatch told about 40 neighborhood activists at a breakfast meeting at a Des Moines coffee shop.

'We're just going to tell the truth,” the Democratic challenger added. 'He may call it negative because I'm criticizing him.”

During his weekly news conference on Monday, Branstad said he has received accolades during his campaign stops about his campaign ads and noted that Illinois residents who see his spots in border TV markets have expressed interest in contracting with the Iowa governor to manage their state because of the good things he's done for Iowa the past four years.

'I can tell that both the lieutenant governor and I have gotten extraordinarily positive comments about the ads that we have on the television, about how positive they are and they're factual and point out the progress that we've made and how hard we're working to grow the Iowa economy and bring good jobs here, reform education and how we've gotten the state's financial house in order,” Branstad said.

Hatch noted that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a potential 2016 presidential candidate and leader of the Republican Governors Association, will be in Iowa in two weeks to raise money in Waukee for the RGA - which is funding the anti-Hatch ads - and to speak at a fundraising dinner for Branstad in Davenport.

During events in Des Moines, Ames and Newton Thursday, Hatch and his running mate Monica Vernon of Cedar Rapids touted their 'Iowa 2020 Plan” to create more jobs in Iowa in contrast to what he called Branstad's 'hollow” claims of job growth that have fallen below the promised 200,000 based on net gains.

Hatch and Vernon highlighted their private-sector business backgrounds as 'problem solvers” and contrasted that with Branstad's role as the state's CEO.

'We have a governor who is head of a company he doesn't like, employees he doesn't respect, customers he doesn't want to serve, and an enterprise he doesn't want to lead,” Hatch said. 'That is why we are in this mess because he doesn't see the opportunities of the state government helping not only the people but the enterprises, the governments that can help us move forward.”

In response to Hatch's claims, Tommy Schultz, communications director for the Branstad-Reynolds campaign, issued a statement saying Branstad and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, continue to focus on a positive agenda for building Iowa's future with more jobs, growing family incomes, better schools and lower taxes.

Their record, he said, includes enactment of the largest tax cut in state history, transformational education reform, $8.8 billion in capital investments, a near 30 percent drop in unemployment, and more than 130,000 jobs created - a number that Hatch continues is about 72,000 if lost jobs are subtracted.

'If Jack Hatch is so concerned about questions regarding his past, he should stop being disingenuous and make good on his campaign's initial promise to show Iowans more than one single year of his tax returns. What is Jack Hatch hiding?” Schultz said in his statement.

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