KAREN FESLER BLOG: 12 years in the making
n 1998, Governor Terry Branstad (R-IA) did not run for an unprecedented fifth term as Iowa’s governor. He announced that he would retire from politics and enter the private sector to spend more time with his family.
Fast forward to 2010, at the Hamburg Inn, in Iowa City, IA. Candidate Terry Branstad (R-IA) met with about 75 enthusiastic supporters to talk about 12 years as a college professor, financial advisor, University president, and most proudly, grandfather as he made a stop on his Iowa Comeback Tour in the bluest county in the state of Iowa. I was pleased to welcome Terry Branstad back today and was happy to hear of his plans to help to revive my adopted state.
Iowa is in serious trouble. Our tax revenues are dwindling. Unemployment is at a 20 year high. Our young people are graduating from college and leaving this state for higher paying jobs and more opportunities in other areas. Small businesses are being closed because the high tax burdens imposed by one of the highest property tax rate states in the US.
When Gov. Branstad left office in 1998, unemployment in Iowa was at 2.8%, the farm economy had recovered from the disaster of the 1980s and there was a $500 million surplus. In the convening years, of Democratic leadership (?) from both the Governor’s office and the state legislature there is a $1 billion budget short fall, a 10% across the board cut by the current governor has negatively affected public and higher education, public safety, and mental health in this state. Teachers are being laid off, the number of state troopers today is equal to that of 1959, while the cost of government make-work programs such as Vision Iowa and I-Jobs has bloated the state budget…read the full post HERE!