Private Jets Provided by Corporate Donors, Rising Costs of Medicaid, Failing Mental Health Services for Children, Illegally Appointing Judges, Just a Few of Governor Reynolds Headlines From the Week

Governor Reynolds began the week with some disappointing news as she found herself down by five points to Democratic Nominee  Fred Hubbell in the first national poll of the gubernatorial race, and it only got worse from there…

  • The biggest bombshell was uncovered by the AP when it reported that Governor Reynolds accepted a private flight provided by Sedgwick’s CEO Dave North to attend a football game.
  • While Governor Reynolds office claimed there were “bona fide campaign events” during the trip and that going to Tennessee was “an opportunity to get in front of Iowans,” Iowans are quick to remember this isn’t Reynolds’ first experience on a private jet supplied by a corporate donor.
  • On Monday, U.S. News & World Report released its latest rankings for colleges and universities and the University of Iowa and Iowa State University fell 7 and 3 spots respectively. University of Iowa’s president was blunt in his assessment of the cause behind of the slippage: “We want to provide the best possible education we can, but after a generation of disinvestment in our regents institutions, you get what you buy.”
  • Governor Reynolds defended her higher education cuts stating continued tax cuts would free up resources for funding for higher education, making no mention of eliminating the millions in wasteful corporate giveaways she has doled out as governor. With a defense like that, it’s likely this is one U.S. News and World Report headline that Governor Reynolds will not be boasting about at every campaign stop…
  • And it was another week of negative stories for Governor Reynolds’ disastrous Medicaid privatization experiment.  Earlier this week, the Des Moines Register reported that cost per patient will increase 11 percent this year because the state is paying privatized firms more than they were before.
  • The Cedar Rapids Gazette also reported that Iowa Medicaid Enterprises would seek an increase of more than $76 million for fiscal year 2020 and a $69 million increase for fiscal year 2021. The increase is $145 million more than the approved 2019 state allocations.
  • As part of their ongoing series, The Des Moines Register profiled the dire state of mental health services available to Iowa children. A recent report found that 85 of Iowa’s 99 counties had no child or adolescent psychiatrists, forcing many parents to find out of state treatment for their children.
  • Last but certainly not least, this week it was revealed that Governor Reynolds make have broken the law and appointed a judge illegally. According to records, Reynolds did not officially make her selection for a judicial vacancy until four days after her authority to make the appointment.
There seems to be no end in sight as the Reynolds campaign continues to flounder under the added weight of these most recent scandals. The Quad City Times summed it up in their most recent editorial, saying “Gov. Kim Reynolds’s foundering re-election bid needs a reset STAT.” They continued to rake Reynolds over the coals for her mismanagement of Iowa’s privatized Medicaid system and said of Reynolds attacks on her opponent:

“Reynolds’ attempts to paint Democrat Fred Hubbell as some ruthless aristocrat fall somewhere between non-nonsensical and hypocritical on the Continuum of the Absurd. That’s even more obvious in light of Reynolds’ taste for jet-setting with a moneyed donor class who also does business with the state.”

With just seven weeks to election day, things are looking worse and worse for Governor Reynolds and her failing campaign.

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