Bransition Update --Appointments

Terry Branstad has been busy as an elf filling the top posts in his administration, decking the bureaucratic halls with directors and advisers. Festive.

I resisted the urge to blog on every appointment. For one thing, it's sort of tedious and boring. Although that could be used to describe much of my work...

Still, it's good to pay attention, because these are the folks who will be running state agencies. Maybe you've heard of them. They are the vast and complex organizations that suck up your tax dollars like a Dyson before spitting out all the services government provides, from paving roads to inspecting nursing homes to stopping the illicit craigslist bootlegging of Templeton Rye.

And it anyone knows where I can get a bottle...

Where was ? It's true that cubicle-dwelling bureaucrats really run the day-to-day show. But top directors set a course and priorities. They carry the governor's objectives and policies to the bureaucracy. They also have his super secret cell number. Security code: Mustache.

The best ones are deft managers and sticklers for oversight. If they do well, we may never hear of them again. If they screw up, we see their names alongside “federal investigation” or “denies wrongdoing" or "I want to spend more time with my family."

These picks show the direction an administration's going. Branstad's selections suggest that Iowans are getting essentially what they voted for - Republican, conservative, experienced and business-minded.

They also fall into some clear categories:

The Wheel Will not be Reinvented -- Branstad is not packing his team with loose cannons and cage rattlers. His pick of longtime Siouxland Chamber of Commerce leader Debi Durham to lead a remixed economic development agency, for example,  suggests that Branstad wants results but will not be revolutionizing the job-chasing industry. If you like pulling out all governmental stops to create jobs, you like that. If you're sick of using tax bucks and incentives to bribe businesses, you don't.

Terry Hearts Business-- Picking Muscatine lawyer Roger Lande, who chaired the Iowa Association of Business and Industry and whose law firm has had corporate clients, including Monsanto,to lead the Department of Natural Resources, shows pretty clearly that Branstad wants a business-friendly regulatory environment. That's what he campaigned on. Ditto with putting former state Rep. Rod Roberts, one of TB's GOP primary rivals, in charge of Inspections and Appeals.

Putting the Band Back Together-- If there's any surprise, it's how little Branstad has tried to put his old band back together. Perhaps that's because much of the band has retired, but still. Dave Roederer, a former Branstad chief of staff and veteran GOP politics guy, is heading the Bransition and will lead the Department of Management. Former Department of Human Services director Chuck Palmer is returning. Palmer's welcome back gift is a $600 million Medicaid shortfall. A cake would have been fine.

Consolation Prizes-- Branstad is transforming election losers into Bransition winners. Defeated state treasurer hopeful Dave Jamison will lead the Iowa Finance Authority. Mariannette Miller Meeks, who lost two bids for Congress, will lead the Department of Public Health. Triple-M gets the rare opportunity to the the governmental face the next time some dread disease epidemic strikes Iowa. And a report that broke this week says we're not well prepared. Brenna Findley, who lost a bid to become attorney general, will be Branstad's legal counsel. She ripped Attorney General Tom Miller for doing too little on government transparency. I hope she carries that zeal for openness into the governor's office, once the lamestream starts getting all pesky.

Team of Rivals-- Branstad tapped Inspector Roberts, along with retired Brig. Gen. Jodi Tymeson, a Bob Vander Plaats backer, to lead Veterans Affairs. But no job for Vander Plaats, who has a sweet high-paying gig over at the FaMiLy LeadER. Roberts is leading a little 'ol department with hardly nothing to do, except:

The agency is responsible for inspecting, licensing and/or certifying health care providers and suppliers, restaurants and grocery stores, social and charitable gambling operations, hotels and motels, and barber and beauty shops. In addition, DIA staff investigates alleged fraud in the State's public assistance programs and conducts contested case hearings to settle disputes between Iowans and various state government agencies.

It's one of those jobs that, if done right, makes you anonymous, as I metioned above. Roberts has caught flak for being on the board of a Carroll nursing home, but his personality and reputation would seem to indicate he'll be an honest, fair and thoughtful inspector/appealer. I'll feel better going to the beauty shop. I don't know about you.

Culver's Keepers--

Nancy Richardson is staying on at DOT, until Branstad finds a director he wants or the director he wants can start. John Baldwin stays on as director of corrections. He was with the department when Branstad was governor.