DES MOINES, IA – Badly lagging behind frontrunners in the GOP race for Governor, Chris Rants is changing tactics, taking his long list of warmed-over, rehashed “ideas” on the road, Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan said Wednesday.

“It’s kind of like the PBS show, ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ except you won’t see any treasures dusted off in this one,” Kiernan said. Rants is set to speak about public safety tonight in Bettendorf. “I don’t know how Chris Rants is getting around the state these days, but I know he’s using a lot of retreads.”

Kiernan pointed to Rants’ website, which features a “99 ideas” section. “Most if not all of these ideas have been around for several years or longer,” Kiernan said. “They are not new, and none of them are original.”

The series of public forums is expected to feature more of the same from Rants, as he uses his experience as a failed GOP minority leader who was dumped from his leadership post after his party lost seats in four straight elections.

A comparison of Rants’ “ideas” versus reality is as follows:

• Rants: First eliminate education programming started in just the last few years – like the pre-school plan that delivers only 10 hours of pre-school at a cost of $53 million to the tax payers.
  Reality: Iowa leads the nation in early childhood education programming, which now reaches more than 13,000 additional children in 53 school districts, in just the last two years. Getting kids ready for kindergarten is an investment in the economy of the future. Rants already fought this battle in the Iowa legislature, and lost.
• Rants: In public employee collective bargaining, require the arbitrator to consider the “ability to pay” of the employer/taxpayer.
  Reality: This failed idea is part of what Terry Branstad tried to do back in 1992 – allow the state to get out from under a contract it had already negotiated with workers. Iowa Supreme Court said ‘no’ and allowed workers to keep the wages they had earned.
• Rants: Impose a $250k cap on medical malpractice non-economic damages.
  Reality: This is a staple of GOP campaigns including Jim Nussle’s failed 2006 campaign. Actually, Iowa medical malpractice insurance premiums are trending downward over the last 10 years.

Source: http://www.rants2010.com/99ideas.aspx