Culver, Branstad campaigns spar over decades-old pay raises

While American and French tennis players rested before resuming a 10-plus hour match at Wimbledon, the Culver and Branstad campaigns volleyed shots over decades-old pay raises.

A day after Gov. Chet Culver's re-election campaign lobbed an ad attacking former Gov. Terry Branstad for his eight pay raises in 16 years as governor, the four-term Republican's campaign cried “Fault.” It claimed the documents the Culver campaign used to support its attack actually said the governor didn't seek the raise. It said the headline on the Des Moines Register article cited by the Culver campaign was” Branstad wants no raise, might veto others' raises.

“Double fault,” the Culver campaign responded, pointing out the Branstad campaign was reading the wrong 27-year-old newspaper story.

However, despite the fact the governor's salary increased from $60,000 in 1984 $105,090 in 1998 – Branstad's tenure, the issue isn't Branstad's decades-old pay raises, Culver spokeswoman Ali Glisson said.

“It's about whose side each of the candidates is on,” she said. “While other Iowans were sacrificing during tough economic times, Terry Branstad took a pay raise.”

Culver, she said, took a pay cut when state revenues weren't sufficient to fund his budget. When he ordered a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut last year, it applied to his $130,000-a-year salary, too.

The issue also raises trust concerns, Glisson continued.

“Branstad mislead Iowans in December of 1982 saying that he might veto the pay raise when just a short time later he gave himself a pay raise,” she said. “His campaign has also sent out misinformation about this issue which shows that people cannot trust his campaign to tell the truth. 

And it's important to remind Iowa voters of Branstad's decades-old record “so that they can make a judgment about what he would do if he was elected again.”

The debate is about the record, responded Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht.

"The results are what ultimately matters, and they are clear," he said. "Gov. Branstad was instrumental in putting Iowans to work, leaving the state with a record-low 2.5 percent unemployment rate.

"While today's Iowa is facing a one-billion-dollar budget gap, Gov. Branstad left the state with a $900 million surplus," Albrecht said. "If the Culver campaign would like us to continue highlighting these facts, we are happy to oblige."