Team Vander Plaats

Cedar Rapids, Ia. — Terry Branstad would hand Democrats a 16-year record to critique, were he to be the Republicans nominee for governor next year, fellow GOP candidate Bob Vander Plaats said today.

But Vander Plaats also noted aspects of the former governor’s past that some Republican primary voters would see as liabilities, in light of Branstad’s announcement he was actively exploring running for his old office.“It’s part of the primary process, not the art of personal attack but at least full disclosure,” Vander Plaats told The Des Moines Register after an appearance in Cedar Rapids. “We need to vet our opponents.”

Vander Plaats, a Sioux City businessman, unsheathed criticism of Branstad’s past aimed at sowing doubt about his reliability as a Republican with the party’s more conservative primary-voting electorate.

Vander Plaats noted Branstad’s support for Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson for U.S. Senate in 2000. Nelson, who was elected to the Senate, was a former Nebraska governor and longtime personal friend of Branstad. Branstad hosted a fundraiser for Nelson in Des Moines in May, 2000.

“That gives us Harry Reid. That will be an issue,” Vander Plaats said referring to the U.S. Senate majority leader from Nevada.
Vander Plaats also noted Branstad’s naming of Joy Corning, a moderate Republican who supports abortion rights, as his running mate in 1994.

“His choice of a running mate who doesn’t line up with the core values of the Republican Party. That will be an issue,” Vnder Plaats said.