Farewell to Lug

In a week or so, we won't have the Big Lug to kick around anymore.

Gov. Chet Culver leaves office Jan. 14, handing the keys to Terrace Hill back to Terry Branstad, version 5.0. Today, Culver brings his two-day farewell tour to Cedar Rapids. He'll stop at the Blue Strawberry dowtown at 2 p.m.

For all his missteps and misfires, high-speed chases and low-voltage oversight, Culver left a big mark on Cedar Rapids. He enthusiastically Jump-started and I-Jobbed this town. He visited dozens of times. The Paramount Theatre, public library, convention complex, central fire station and other facilities all received lucrative Culver administration love.

He screened our flood video at a Condition of the State address. A stroke of his pen kept the Ellis harbor boathouses floating. His former chief of staff is leading the convention complex project. I'm pretty sure that spot on his bomber jacket is a blob of Kolache filling.

And yet, it was the flood that also exposed Culver's Achilles heels.

Too often, the guy decided it was best and easiest to go it alone. Too often, he decided it was best and easiest to avoid political risks. Both weaknesses were on display when he declined to call a special legislative session in the autumn after the flood. Playing it safe was costly.

But that dead horse has been beaten plenty, especially by me. Time to put down the club.

I was hard on him at times. I criticized him for playing cynical “dodgeball” with so many tough issues, from marriage equity to local control of livestock confinements. I suggested that Democrats would be smart to find a primary challenger. “Apparently there is no Iowa Democrat with the guts or bucks or both to stand up and say, ‘I could do better than this,'?” I wrote. Sorta harsh, I concede. I even wrote a Christmas carol entitled “I Heard the Lug on Christmas Day.” Too much eggnog is my only defense.

But Culver did finally take a solid, admirable stand on same-sex marriage. He expanded access to preschool and, as promised, pushed hard for homegrown energy, even if we never did become the “Silicon Prairie of the Midwest.” He showed real guts when he vetoed a collective bargaining rewrite that tilted the negotiating table too far. He did a tough job at a very tough time. That counts for something, despite the voters' verdict.

Republican leaders who now have a stake in running the place are now saying Iowa is in better shape than a lot of states. That must sound familiar to Culver.

I have a feeling we haven't heard the last of him, although I think it's his wife, Mari, who may be the most electable Culver in the future. She's probably too smart to get into politics. But maybe the Democrats could try a Christie Vilsack-Mari Culver ticket in 2014. The slogan could be something like, “It's our turn. Somebody else can host the (bleep) tea parties.” Think it over.

Comments: (319) 398-8452

todd.dorman@sourcemedia.net