‘No doubt’ Branstad will serve out full term, top aide says

CEDAR RAPIDS - Gov. Terry Branstad will serve out the three years remaining in his sixth term, one of his long-time aides predicted Friday, but said it's too early to know whether the longest-serving governor in American history will run for a seventh term.

'Emphatically, no question, no doubt,” Department of Management Director David Roederer said when asked if Branstad would complete his term that ends in January 2019.

'I don't even have an ounce of me that says he will not fill out his term. He will complete this term, no question about that,” Roederer, Branstad's former chief of staff, said during taping of Iowa Press that will be broadcast the weekend of Dec. 25.

'Now, whether or not he runs next term, I don't think he has even thought about that,” he added.

There long has been speculation that once Branstad broke New York Gov. George Clinton's record of 7,641 days as governor he would step down and turn the reins over the Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds. Branstad has made no secret of the fact that he would like to see her succeed him and break the glass ceiling in the governor's office.

However, Branstad's inclusion of Reynolds in his public appearances more frequently than he included previous lieutenant governor's shouldn't be read as an indication the governor is planning an early exit, University of Northern Iowa political science professor Chris Larimer said.

It may be that Branstad is trying to prepare her for the job is she chooses to run for governor in 2018, he said.

'I think it may just be simply the case of recognition on the part of Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds that if she would want to run for the top position she's going to have to be familiar with every part of Iowa,” said Larimer who has researched and written about Iowa's governors.” And so I think it may just be that the expectations of the governor's office are starting to spill over into the lieutenant governor's office.”

The discussion of the Branstad legacy by Roederer, Larimer and former Branstad press secretary Tim Albrecht can be seen at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 25 and noon Dec. 27 on Iowa Public Television, at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 26 on IPTV World and online now at www.IPTV.org.