Top Iowa GOP official takes helm of Branstad committee

A top official in the Republican Party of Iowa has resigned to accept a new position leading the 2010 Terry Branstad Committee.

Lake Mills attorney Richard Schwarm said today that Jeffrey Boeyink has been hired to lead the committee as it continues to explore a possible 2010 GOP gubernatorial bid by former Gov. Terry Branstad.

Boeyink had served as executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa since last February before resigning the post on Monday to accept the new assignment. Before joining the state GOP leadership team, Boeyink served as president of Muscatine-based Iowans for Tax Relief, where he worked for more than two decades.

“This appointment does not signal any change in Terry Branstad's status as a potential gubernatorial candidate,” Schwarm said in a statement. “He continues in his role at Des Moines University and will make his plans known at a future date.”

Schwarm called Boeyink's hire as “the next natural step in our exploratory process” in moving from a volunteer effort to acquiring a professional staff and financial resources that would be need to “take Terry Branstad 2010 to the next level of effectiveness.”

Early this month, Schwarm filed papers to establish a 2010 Branstad exploratory committee. The former governor has indicated he expects to decide this month whether to formally seek the elected position he held for four terms from January 1983 to January 1999.

Currently, six Republicans have expressed interest in challenging first-term incumbent Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in 2010. Culver has indicated he intends to seek re-election but has not made a formal announcement.

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