Monday, April 09, 2007
Governor Culver Statement On Regent Nominees
(Des Moines) Below is a statement from Governor Chet Culver on recent comments made by Sen. Mary Lundby on Governor Culver’s four nominees to the Board of Regents:
STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR CHET CULVER:
“I am disappointed with Republican Sen. Lundby’s insistence on playing political games with the Board of Regents. Our Regents Institutions have been through enough and they deserve better than being a political football in a partisan game. I nominated two Republicans and two Democrats. We need to get these four extremely qualified Regent nominees confirmed so they can move forward with finding a new president of the University of Iowa.
“According to Iowa law, Regent nominees ‘shall be selected from the state at large solely with regard to their qualifications and the fitness to discharge the duties of the office.’ Immediately after I nominated these four individuals, Sen. Lundby praised the nominees calling them ‘qualified’ and saying ‘they look like outstanding Iowans.’ She was right, they are qualified, outstanding Iowans and I stand by them 100 percent.
“The campaign is over, and Iowans are tired of these political games. I commend Republicans for working with us to increase the minimum wage, lift the ban on stem cell research and save lives by increasing the tobacco tax by one dollar. I am optimistic they will put partisanship aside to confirm these four capable and committed Iowans to the Board of Regents as soon as possible.”