BREAKING: “Pipeline Exec Accused of Buying Influence is Now Bankrolling Hinson”
Iowa Starting Line: “Bruce Rastetter’s Carbon Capture Pipeline Company Got the Power to Seize Iowa Farmland by Eminent Domain. Now He’s Raising Money for Ashley Hinson’s Senate Campaign”
Iowa Starting Line: “Hinson Faced Criticism Over Her Rastetter Ties During Her Own Primary This Year, When Jim Carlin Argued One of Her Biggest Donors Was ‘the Man Who Leads That Charge to Take Away Private Property Rights of Iowa’s Farmers’”
DES MOINES – A breaking report from Iowa Starting Line has uncovered an Ashley Hinson campaign fundraiser hosted by “GOP megadonor” and “kingmaker” Bruce Rastetter, the founder of Summit Agricultural Group, which has “spent years fighting” to rip away land from Iowans to build their pipeline.
Rastetter and fellow Summit exec Justin Kirchoff have given “nearly $60,000 to Hinson’s campaign committees since 2019.” Hinson’s former Republican Senate opponent Jim Carlin previously called out Hinson for taking campaign money from “the man who leads the charge to take away private property rights of Iowa’s farmers.”
Missed the report? See below for more key highlights:
Iowa Starting Line: Pipeline exec accused of buying influence is now bankrolling Hinson
- Bruce Rastetter has spent years fighting to build a carbon capture pipeline across Iowa farmland, using the government’s power of eminent domain if landowners won’t sell. Documents obtained by Iowa Starting Line show he’s also throwing his weight behind US Rep. Ashley Hinson in her bid for Iowa’s competitive US Senate seat.
- Rastetter is the founder of Summit Agricultural Group and is a longtime GOP megadonor known in Iowa political circles as the “kingmaker.” He and Summit CEO Justin Kirchhoff are also listed as hosts of an Aug. 5 fundraiser for Hinson’s campaign. The invitation offers “sponsor opportunities” ranging from a $500 “believer” tier to $2,000 to join the host committee.
- Rastetter and Kirchhoff have long been supporters of Hinson. Together, the pair has contributed nearly $60,000 to Hinson’s campaign committees since 2019.
- While Rastetter’s carbon capture pipeline project has been stymied by grassroots opposition, the project could still find purchase under a regulatory process that keeps bending in Summit’s favor.
- A March 2023 Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll found 78% of Iowans — including 72% of Republicans — opposed letting companies use eminent domain for pipelines. It’s one of the few issues in Iowa politics that cuts across party lines.
- “What we need in Washington DC is someone able to listen to our communities, our neighbors, our land, and our rights. It’s very troublesome that Ashley Hinson is accepting money from someone turning the gears to condemn the land with eminent domain,” Wiskus said. “Bruce Rastetter is the number-one force condemning private land for his own profit. “
- Rastetter’s money and influence have already drawn accusations of buying access.
- Hinson faced criticism over her Rastetter ties during her own primary this year, when opponent Jim Carlin argued one of her biggest donors was “the man who leads that charge to take away private property rights of Iowa’s farmers.”
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