Branstad announcement set for Friday

Former Gov. Terry Branstad is expected to announce Friday he will become a candidate for a fifth term.

Branstad, who has been president of Des Moines University since 2003, will speak to faculty and staff privately before a 1 p.m. news conference at the school's Student Education Center. According to university staff, Branstad will make an announcement related to his future with the university.

It is widely expected the former Republican governor will step down as university president to seek a return to Terrace Hill. When elected in 1982, he was the youngest governor in Iowa history. When he left in 1999, he was Iowa's longest-serving governor.

Although six other Republicans are seeking their party's nomination, Gov. Chet Culver talked Thursday as if he's preparing to face Branstad, who served in the Iowa Legislature and as Gov. Bob Ray's lieutenant governor.

“I welcome him to the race,” Culver said in a meeting with the Des Moines Register Editorial Board when asked about the pending announcement.

In that conversation, Culver was critical of governors who raise taxes, although conceding that tax increases are not always bad policy. Although he signed a $1 increase in the tobacco tax, Culver pledged not to raise taxes during a recession even though “other governors have resorted to those options.”

Later, Culver denied he was referring to Branstad, but went on to say, “Governors have choices. Some choose to raise taxes. I have decided not to raise taxes.”

Branstad supported increases in the state sales tax during his administration, an action that is already drawing fire from his GOP opponents as well as Democrats.

If Branstad joins the campaign, Culver expects a “spirited race” that will give voters a “clear choice.”

Six Republicans already have said they are seeking or thinking about seeking the Republican nomination for the chance to challenge Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.

Earlier this month, Branstad formed an exploratory committee, generally seen as the precursor to a candidate formally entering a race. Jeff Boeyink left his position as executive director of the state GOP to head the committee.

After serving four consecutive terms as governor from 1983 to 1999, Branstad established Branstad and Associates, L.C., located in West Des Moines, and became a partner in the firm of Kaufman, Patee, Branstad & Miller, a public policy firm based in Washington, D.C., with offices in West Des Moines, Denver, Boston, and Las Vegas. For three semesters he was a visiting professor at his alma mater, the University of Iowa, and taught a course on leadership in the public sector through the Henry Tippie College of Business.

A native of Leland in north central Iowa, Branstad earned a law degree from Drake University in 1974 and was a partner in general law practice in Lake Mill from 1974 through 1982.

Branstad and his wife, Chris, who live near Boone, have three grown children and two grandchildren.

For further discussion go to http://thegazette.com/blogs/covering-iowa-politics/ Contact the writer: (319) 398-8375 or at james.lynch@gazcomm.com