Jason Clayworth at the Des Moines Register wrote a great article today showing that Terry Branstad's claims that Governor Culver has been "reckless and irresponsible" are, in fact, false.
Here's an excerpt from Clayworth's article:
Read the rest of the article hereThe number of employees in the executive branch of Iowa's state government has dropped to its lowest level in 16 years.
This adds new talking points to the governor's race debate about which candidate has grown or cut the size of government.
Iowa had 18,444 employees as of June 30, the end of the state's fiscal year, according to data from the state's administrative services department. That's down 2,071 jobs from a year ago and is the lowest level since 1994, five years before former Gov. Terry Branstad left office.However, that count will soon rebound by about 1,000 workers. Culver's Department of Management has authorized filling about half of the 2,067 jobs vacated by employees who accepted early retirement this spring.
TV ads by Branstad, a four-term former governor, have hammered Culver for growing state government in his first term.
A 20-year examination of executive branch employment by The Des Moines Register shows a pattern of jobs shrinking when governors order across-the-board cuts during times of recession, then growing back. The peaks and valleys have been similar under Branstad, a Republican, and his two Democrat successors, Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver.