Name carefully

By The Gazette Editorial Board

Names matter, as Gov. Chet Culver and his team are now realizing.

In 2009, Culver called for the creation of a large bonding program to pay for infrastructure projects and repairs across the state. He touted it as economic stimulus and said it would create 21,000 to 30,000 jobs.

The program has not lived up to those rosy projections, and Culver is feeling political heat. But his staff insists that his bonding effort is really more about flood recovery and rebuilding than about creating jobs.

And yet, it's called “I-JOBS.”

“It wasn't very good naming,” conceded Culver spokesman Jim Flansburg. He speculated that the Legislature came up with the now inconvenient moniker. “I think the Legislature had a different idea than the governor.”

It's true that the first time Culver mentioned his idea, in his January 2009 Condition of the State address, he called it the “Rebuild Iowa Investment Bonds.” But the RIIB didn't stick.

On March 12, 2009, it was Culver who unveiled his program as “I-JOBS - The Culver/Judge Iowa Infrastructure Investment Initiative.” Of course, that quickly became just I-JOBS.

The governor faces an uphill struggle to convince voters that I-JOBS shouldn't be judged on jobs. And it's a cautionary tale for the next politician with a big idea. Name it carefully.