Gov. Reynolds appoints former Republican candidate to regents

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday reappointed two regents charged with governing Iowa’s public universities and named one new appointee to the nine-member board — former Republican congressional candidate Robert Cramer.

Cramer, who serves as president and chief administrative officer of road construction company Cramer & Associates in Grimes, in 2014 ran to represent Iowa’s third congressional district in the U.S. House. He lost the Republican nomination to David Young, who served in the U.S. House from 2015 to 2019 and now serves in the Iowa House of Representatives.

Cramer, if confirmed, would replace Nancy Boettger on the Board of Regents — shifting its gender balance to five men and four women. Boettger is among three regents with terms expiring in April — including Nancy Dunkel and Sherry Bates, both of whom were reappointed Friday.

Bates’ appointment is her third, after former Gov. Terry Branstad chose her to fill the unexpired term of Nicole Carroll in 2014 and reappointed her to serve a full six-year term in 2017, when both Dunkel and Boettger were appointed to their first terms.

Dunkel’s reappointment keeps her as the sole Democrat on the board, which Iowa law mandates must have both gender and political balance. Bates is among three registered as independents — including the board’s student representative.

In replacing Republican member Boettger, Cramer’s appointment maintains the board’s Republican stronghold at five members, including board President Michael Richards and members Greta Rouse, David Barker, and JC Risewick.

All five have made political donations to Reynolds and Republicans in recent years, including Barker, who’s given nearly $350,000 in monetary and in-kind contributions like flights to Republicans since 2019; Risewick, who over the past two years has given $59,517 in cash and plane flights to Reynolds; and Richards, who since 2019 has donated $31,552 to Reynolds and other Republicans, according to the state’s campaign finance disclosure site.

The newly-appointed Cramer since 2019 has given $37,871.36 to Republicans and Reynolds in cash and in-kind contributions — including more than $27,500 to Reynolds in the fall of 2021.

Reynolds’ regent appointments must be confirmed by two-thirds of the Iowa Senate. Because Risewick was appointed in June when the Legislature was out of session to fill the vacancy of Milt Dakovich — who died in February 2022 of cancer — senators this session will be considering the appointments of Cramer, Bates, Dunkel, and Risewick.

The board’s charge is to enhance “the quality of life for Iowans by maintaining the educational quality, accessibility, and public service activities of Iowa's three public universities — the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa; and two special K-12 entities — the Iowa School for the Deaf and the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired,” according to the board’s website.

The board in September asked lawmakers to up its $575.9 million in education appropriations by nearly $35 million, bringing the total to $610.5 million.

That is the largest funding increase ask in nearly a decade.

Regents are next scheduled to meet April 19 and 20 on the ISU campus. That will mark Boettger’s final meeting, should the governor’s appointments stand.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com