Culver praises Iowa’s resiliency during economic crisis

DES MOINES — Gov. Chet Culver Tuesday morning delivered a Condition of the State address in which he carefully couched Iowa’s position as “resilient” amid a global economic downturn.

Gov. Chet Culver delivering his Condition of the State address Tuesday morning.

It was a speech that fit the times: somber, serious, long on details and devoid of the purple prose and dreamy but usually unachievable visions so often floated in these forums.

The governor provided a numbers and economics speech, running much like a steady if not dispassionate PowerPoint presentation from a CEO.

There were no even glancing references to the social issues many of the Democratic governor’s would-be opponents are seeking to make centerpieces of their bids for Terrace Hill.

Right after the speech, GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats’ campaign manager Eric Woolson said in an interview that Culver’s remarks were those of a man playing defense, not offense.

“It was much more of a housekeeping speech,” Woolson said.

Woolson, who served as Gov. Terry Branstad’s communications director in the 1990s, helped craft several Condition of the State speeches. He said Culver’s failed to lay out any big visions.

“It was kind of a departure from what we typically see,” Woolson said.

Two of Culver’s potential challengers were in the audience as legislators — State Rep. Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, and State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll.

Iowa Public Television cameras zoomed to a smirking Rants when Culver suggested moving monies from the Road Use Tax Fund to pay for troopers. The two have been at odds on the issue.

“I respectfully ask you to explore every option available, including transferring money from the road fund to ensure we adequately fund the Iowa State Patrol and the Department of Public Safety,” Culver said. “We’ve done it before, and we can do it again.”

City officials in Iowa, who are seeing their RUT funds depleted and are looking at alternative streams to make up the difference, are furious over this proposal.

Culver made the biggest news in his speech in announcing his intention to rescue allowable growth funding for K-12 schools from the budget axe. But first he wants to districts to make some moves of their own.

“I am asking you to pass legislation that requires school districts to spend down a portion of their cash reserves instead of shifting the burden to local property taxpayers,” Culver said.

Then, he added: “As governor, and as a former teacher, my commitment to education transcends even our most difficult budget challenges. So, my budget fully funds two per cent allowable growth for our public schools. And, on top of that, I will be asking you to dedicate at least 100 million dollars from the reserves to restore some of the recent cuts.  This will be a real shot in the arm for some of our schools, especially in rural districts, which are already cash-strapped, with depleted reserves.”

In the western Iowa city of Carroll, schools superintendent Rob Cordes was just beginning to digest that information.

“It certainly is better than the allowable growth going negative,” Cordes said. “To keep the 2 percent is good news.”

Culver also used the speech to double-down on the tying of his political fortunes to the gaming industry-financed bonding plan known as I-JOBS.

The governor said more than 1,400 jobs have been approved with $530 million invested statewide.

The governor noted some big business moves recently with Google in Council Bluffs, Aviva in West Des Moines and IBM in Dubuque.

He also took the extraordinary step of singling out union leaders for recognition for what Culver said was their willingness to negotiate with the state’s interests in mind. Doesn’t hurt to get some points from the central and eastern Iowa labor blocks that will be crucial to his re-election this coming fall.