1391 Jobs Lost – One Person to blame: Governor Chet Culver
- Thursday, October 22, 2009, 4:02
- Iowa, News Center, Top Story
- 1,523 views
- 13 comments
Iowa’s unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent this month. The report from the Iowa Workforce Development office showed that the state lost 1,200 jobs in the month of September. Some might find comfort that the unemployment rate didn’t increase for the first time in 2009. However, the news came on the day when state government agencies announced that 1391 jobs would be eliminated as a result of Governor Culver’s 10 percent across-the-board cuts.
That’s right, more jobs were lost yesterday than were lost in the entire month of September. The hardest areas hit by Culver’s cuts were the Department of Human Service, which cut 228 positions and the Department of Corrections, which cut 777 positions. A large portion of the job cuts could have been prevented had Governor Culver taken recommendations from his department heads and Republican legislators who combined to offer $392 million in proposed cuts and cost saving measures.
We now know that the proposed $392 million in cuts could have prevented most of the jobs eliminations that occurred yesterday. Those proposed savings could have also been used to prevent future tax increases.
For starters, both the Department of Corrections and Department of Human Services could have been spared Culver’s 10 percent cut. That would use up just over $179 million from the savings that Culver’s department heads and Republican legislators had offered. Sparing those departments from Culver’s 10 percent cut would have saved 1005 jobs.
Culver’s 10 percent cut also eliminated more than $238 million in school aid. It has been reported in newspapers all across the state that school districts will be forced to raise local property taxes to make up the difference. This could have been prevented too had Culver followed through on the recommendations presented to him. In fact, Governor Culver and the legislature would have only needed to find an additional $26 million (beyond the previously recommended cuts) to reach the $418 million needed to keep the state’s commitment to school districts and fully fund DHS and the Department of Corrections.
In tough economic times, families and state government have to make tough decisions. Below are some of the Republican proposals that Culver has ignored.
Eliminate phantom full-time employee positions. Savings: $25,000,000
Pay reduction for all state employees and officials. Savings: $72,500,000
Charge state employees a monthly fee for health insurance premiums. Savings: $17,800,000
Sell the vehicle fleet, outsource vehicle leasing. Savings: $34,000,000
Reduce office supplies, service contracts, and equipment purchases. Savings: $10,000,000
Combine all state information technology systems. Savings: $20,000,000
Sell or lease the Iowa Communications Network. Savings: $15,000,000
Reduce funding for library acquisitions at Regents by 50%. Savings: $13,500,000
No DNR land acquisition for FY 2010. Savings: $5,000,000
Freeze out-of-state travel. Savings: $1,500,000
In Governor Culver’s new campaign ad, he says, “Nobody likes to make tough decisions, but as governor, it’s my responsibility. At the end of the ad he utters a similar line, “I chose tough medicine today to build a stronger Iowa tomorrow.” The tough decision would have been to call a special session and find at least $418 million that would have spared 1005 jobs and prevented property taxes from being increased.
We now know that it wouldn’t have really been that difficult of a task. Republicans and Culver’s department heads stepped up and proposed the bulk of the cuts that were needed to prevent the majority of job cuts and the need to increase property taxes. It remains a mystery why Governor Culver discarded their ideas. It’s also a mystery why legislative Democrats have failed to offer any budget cutting recommendations of their own.
Maybe one of the reasons why Culver opted for the across-the-board cuts is because he’s unable to comprehend the mess the state is actually in and doesn’t know how to find ways to lessen the impact of budget cuts. Last week, when Culver announced that he would cut his pay, the media praised him for his symbolic gesture. Now comes word that he screwed that up, too. The Des Moines Register reported last night that Culver only cut his pay by $7,000 or 5.6 percent. The Governor’s office pointed out that pay cuts are not retroactive, so Culver’s pay cut would only be $7,000 instead of $13,000. This is an insignificant gaffe for the Governor, but it’s embarrassing. It highlights the concerns that many Iowans have about Governor Culver. He is incompetent and in over his head.
Iowans understand these are tough economic times, but they also want a competent chief executive. Governor Culver may say the right things in his campaign ads, but his decision to subject all departments to a 10 percent across-the-board cut was just plain lazy. Not only did it cost 1391 people their jobs yesterday, but every school district has been affected, and as a result, property taxes are on their way up. Most of this could have been avoided had Culver listened to his department heads and reached across the aisle to work with Republicans.
Photo by Dave Davidson
About the Author
Craig Robinson has written 700 stories on this site.
Craig Robinson serves as the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheIowaRepublican.com. Prior to founding Iowa's largest conservative news site, Robinson served as the Political Director of the Republican Party of Iowa during the 2008 Iowa Caucuses. In that capacity, Robinson planned and organized the largest political event in 2007, the Iowa Straw Poll, in Ames, Iowa. Robinson also organized the 2008 Republican caucuses in Iowa, and was later dispatched to Nevada to help with the caucuses there. Robinson cut his teeth in Iowa politics during the 2000 caucus campaign of businessman Steve Forbes and has been involved with most major campaigns in the state since then. His extensive political background and rolodex give him a unique perspective from which to monitor the political pulse of Iowa.
13 Comments on “1391 Jobs Lost – One Person to blame: Governor Chet Culver”
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Slightly disingenuous m’boy, because in Rethug-dominant cycles the Party of NO is continually wishing for ways to eliminate entirely the Dept of Human Services.
Con Dem,
Didn’t your mommy ever tell you “no” when you were little? As in, “No, ConDem, don’t touch the stove. It’s hot!” or “No, ConDem, don’t wash your hands in the toilet. It’s full of germs!” Often times being told no is for our own good.
Along with the Department of Human Services, let’s eradicate the Department of Education (cough, cough) and the AEA. I’m sure there are plenty more underperforming, tax-swilling entities we can put on the chopping block.
When state government cuts spending, jobs are lost, and it can become a drag on the economy. That’s why Republicans were wrong to demand deep cuts in state spending earlier this year, and why they were wrong to oppose the federal stimulus bill that allowed states to “backfill” part of their budgets. The state job losses would be much worse if we hadn’t had the cushion from the stimulus bill.
As for “one person to blame,” that would be more credible if the national economy were booming and Iowa alone were losing jobs.
DesmoinesDem – You actually believe the in Keynesian economic theory?
DMD,
When people lose their jobs they’ve got a few options. One, go on unemployment right off the bat. Two, look for and find another job or, three, start their own business which will usually create more jobs.
Except for those who are addicted to the government money, i.e., the government employee, people usually figure something out and often times they move up the ladder of success, not down. You can’t just assume that they’ll remain unemployed indefinitely and there is no other way for them to make a living.
Craig?, in response #2 Peggy immediately proved my point.
Way to lay it out Craig!
Con Dem,
The State is not in the business of providing jobs. Not in the constitution. It’s charged by the constitution to provide essential services, not to keep expanding its scope and power and, in turn, refuse to downsize when the economy demands it.
Cutting 777 jobs in the Dept of Corrections? Is anybody left to watch the inmates?!
Any department that can survive that big of an employee cut and still function is a bloated department. They are non-essential state employees, are they not?
peggy, ironically the inmates have been running the asylum for a long time – that’s why we’re in this mess.
The governor can’t just unilaterally cut state employees’ pay. Branstad tried not paying state employees what they were owed, and the result was a costly lawsuit (which the state lost).
Culver is taking the full 10 percent pay cut:
“Culver’s spokesman, Phil Roeder, told the Des Moines Register on Wednesday that in order to make sure the state was consistent in handling the 10 percent pay cuts for the governor and all of his department heads, Chief of Staff John Frew had decided that none of the salary reductions would be applied to wages already earned during the current fiscal year.
Today, Frew issued a statement that said he had erred in handling the governor’s pay in the same manner as the department heads.
“I want to confirm that Gov. Culver will take a 10 percent cut on his entire annual salary this year. His salary, as set by state law, is $130,000 and the 10 percent reduction will be $13,000, which the governor will pay back to the state. This reduction is equal to a 14 percent salary cut over the remaining eight months of the fiscal year.”
Frew added that Culver “made a commitment to a 10 percent cut in his own salary for the entire year, and I inadvertently calculated it the same way as the reductions to department directors.”
Culver’s campaign Web site and the state-run Web site of the governor’s office had indicated that Culver’s pay cut would total $13,000.”
DSDem…. The fact that Chester and his handlers tried to pull this stunt with his own pay….is just a microcosm of the mishandling of the state budget situation that has been ongoing for his entire administration.
The fact that Frew tried making the lame excuse that he did only proves that this administration is completely incompetent and can no longer be trusted to make the responsible decisions that should have been made years ago.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out DsmDem that we have spent FAR more than we have taken in revenue for years now.
This past years state budget was the LARGEST in our state’s history! Tell me DSMDem…was that a prudent course of action to take?
You also talk about how the “stimulus” funds were to “backfill” their budgets.. Wasn’t the purpose of the stimulus was to CREATE jobs and not to be used to pad state budgets??