Iowa Gov. Chet Culver comes to Washington

    Democrat Chet Culver is running for a second term as governor of Iowa. Culver defeated Republican Jim Nussle to become governor in 2006, and is now facing former governor Terry Branstad in the current race. Culver was in Washington Tuesday afternoon to speak to local voters. He visited several businesses on the square before ending up at the Democratic Party Headquarters, where he spoke to party activists and other guests. 

    Culver spoke mostly about his performance on the economy, remarking that the state has the eighth lowest unemployment in the country.

    ?It?s all about keeping Iowa?s economy moving forward,? he said. ?We?re beating 42 other states. I want to be No. 1. I?m not satisfied that we still have folks who are looking for work.?

    Culver mentioned Iowa Workforce Development as a state agency that has done a great deal to connect previously unemployed Iowans with gainful employment.

    ?We?ve helped 250,000 Iowans in the last four years in services at our Iowa Workforce Development Offices,? he said. ?We?ve placed 100,000 of those Iowans into jobs. I have an outstanding team there. I named the director, Liz Buck, who?s doing great. We won?t quit until everyone looking for a job finds one.?

    Culver said that a recently announced project will help some of those people looking for jobs. He said 600 new jobs would be created because an Amtrak high-speed passenger rail system will be created to run from Chicago to Iowa City, with a stop in the Quad Cities.

    ?We had to compete for that,? said Culver. ?I had to make my case why Iowa deserved that, and we got it done. It?s another example of governing effectively in challenging times.?

    He said the agreement with Amtrak is just the tip of the iceberg.

    ?We?ve reached agreement with seven businesses, which have agreed to create nearly 400 new jobs in Iowa,? said Culver. ?They?re going to invest $70 million in our state.We?re working with 267 other companies, and we?ve reached agreements with those companies for them to create 21,000 new jobs and invest $5.3 billion in our economy. We?re outperforming most of the country.?

    Culver said that under his watch, the state has reached agreements with a number of computer-related corporations such as Google, Microsoft and IBM.

    ?The governor has to be the best salesperson possible,? he continued. ?I?ve gone all over the world. I flew to Pamplona, Spain, to convince Acciona Windpower to move their turbine manufacturing operation to West Branch, and that?s exactly what they did. It?s their first North American plant, and they picked Iowa.?

    He said Iowa is the third-best run state in the country, citing a survey conducted by the website 247wallst.com that looked at factors such as debt per capita, education, health insurance and unemployment. He said that every governor goes through his or her share of problems. Culver noted that he has been governor during the ?worldwide recession,? and the floods of 2008, which he remarked was the worst natural disaster in state history.   

For more, see our Oct. 27 print edition.