Iowa view: It's time for Rastetter to go
The following op-ed by CCI Executive Director Hugh Espey appeared in the August 1, 2012 edition of the Des Moines Register.
Iowa regent, corporate CEO and political kingmaker Bruce Rastetter is clearly on the defensive after Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement members filed a conflict-of-interests complaint against him last month. Otherwise he wouldn’t have spent so much time recently reaching out to media outlets across the state in an attempt to squash the growing public outcry and spin the story back his way.
The only thing Rastetter is proving is that the public must hold him accountable for his continued refusal to come clean about his role in the AgriSol/Iowa State University scandal. It’s time to call him out on his smoke-and-mirror denials and flim-flam excuses.
Iowa CCI members filed a conflict-of-interests complaint against Rastetter because the facts clearly show that he abused his role as a member of the Iowa Board of Regents in an attempt to leverage Iowa State University’s international reputation for a corporate land-grab in Tanzania. The project could net him and other investors hundreds of millions of dollars in profit while displacing up to 160,000 Burundi refugees from their homes.
Rastetter claims AgriSol is no longer interested in the refugee settlements.But his company’s public documents prove otherwise and show that AgriSol is pressuring Tanzania to evict the refugees so the company can set up shop.
The evidence linking Rastetter to the AgriSol/ISU negotiations is shocking and includes a trail of emails and documents detailing his involvement with the project long after he was appointed to the Board of Regents by Gov. Terry Branstad on Feb. 25, 2011.
Rastetter claims he had no “direct involvement” after his term began on May 1, 2011, but the facts show something different. On May 18, a check for $13,379.82 to cover travel expenses for a trip by ISU faculty and students to Tanzania was written from Rastetter’s business account. Emails show he discussed joint AgriSol/ISU funding agreements with ISU Associate Dean David Ackerman in May, June and July.
Rastetter finally disclosed his conflict-of-interests to the Board of Regents on June 17 and ultimately recused himself on Sept. 13. But his recusal came more than six months after he was appointed and four months after his term began. Rastetter’s “too little, too late” half-measures are not nearly good enough.
He should have disclosed his conflict and recused himself prior to beginning his term, not long after the fact and only after he was caught. Top AgriSol executive Eric Peterson continues to sit on the advisory board of ISU’s College of Agriculture. Kevin Kimle, the Rastetter Chair of Agriculture Entrepreneurship at ISU, uses a $1.75 million endowment from Rastetter to push a corporate agenda inside university circles.
Rastetter’s most serious ethics violation may be the financial disclosure form he submitted to the state on April 24, 2012, that lists him as merely a “farmer, self-employed” rather than disclosing the full extent of his many lucrative business interests, corporate ownerships and other investment income.
Rastetter says he may amend the disclosure form. But this concession will not change the fact that he was duty-bound to get it right the first time. He used a public office to pursue private financial gain. This reflects poorly on the state and comes at the loss of public trust in the integrity of state government. The Board of Regents should serve the common good, not corporate greed. It’s time for Rastetter to go.
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