King: Rastetter may cost Republicans Iowa Senate

By MATTHEW REZAB
m.rezab@beeherald.com

Iowa 4th District U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, says Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter and political operative Nick Ryan could have “guaranteed a Republican majority in the Iowa Senate” had they focused their money and attention on state races instead of backing King’s primary challenger, Iowa Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City.

“If Bruce Rastetter and Nick Ryan had set about recruiting state Senate candidates and supporting them with the time and the money they’ve spent combing through their Rolodex to find somebody who’d take the bait to run against me, they could guarantee a Republican majority in the Iowa Senate. I mean that sincerely, they could have guaranteed it,” King said in an interview last week with The Jefferson Herald. “Their names have not come up enough in this campaign.”

King went on to say that Bertrand was not the pair’s first choice to challenge him and accused Rastetter of investing in foreign ethanol in direct competition with Iowa’s interests.

“Bruce Rastetter, who styles himself as the lead voice on renewable fuels in the state of Iowa, has souped up his hundreds of millions of dollars and rolled them down into an investment in Brazil to build an ethanol plant that’s government subsidized down there to compete against Iowa ethanol,” King said. “He is the billionaire wannabe behind the recruitment of Rick Bertrand, who hasn’t, by the way, answered the question on how it makes him feel that he was at least eighth on the list of Bruce Rastetter and dark-money hatchet man Nick Ryan.”

Bertrand, a two-term senator from Iowa’s 7th District, has charged that King is too focused on foreign policy and national issues, and not putting the interests of the district first. He has also promoted 10-year term limits and says he’ll serve no more than two terms if elected.

“I’m still waiting for even one specific to come out of my opponent, even one,” King said. “He says that he’s concerned about all these things yet he’s never contacted me throughout any of his time in office or any of his time as a constituent of mine. He hasn’t been interested enough to write a single letter or make a phone call to his congressman.”

In the Republican presidential campaign, King endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who opposes the Renewable Fuel Standard and dropped out of the race last month. Bertrand has hit King with criticisms of not backing the Iowa ethanol industry.

“Some in the industry spent a lot of money to attack Ted Cruz, and in the end it hurt, not helped, the renewable-fuels industry in this state,” King said. “I think they should not have taken that stand. I think it was a mistake for them to make the issue as big as they did in the presidential race, and furthermore I think it’s important for people to ask Rick Bertrand why he endorsed (former Texas Gov.) Rick Perry, the most anti-renewable-fuels candidate for president Iowa has ever seen.”

King has not endorsed probable Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but says he’d support the businessman despite insults Trump leveled toward King in the past. Trump has been quoted calling King a “low-life congressman who is laughed at by almost everyone in D.C.” and has said King is “dishonest and disloyal.”

“I would just say about the name-calling that came from Trump, that’s not what he was saying when he was seeking my endorsement,” King said.

Bertrand says King has embarrassed the state and the district with outlandish statements and being more concerned with being famous than legislating.

He claims he’ll bring a respectability and likability back to the district when he takes office, but King has garnered the endorsements of some of Iowa’s most prominent lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and state Sen. Mark Segebart of Vail.

“Most of those high-profile endorsements are not endorsements I’ve solicited,” King said. “They’re people that I’ve worked with for years. We know each other. We are friends, and we work for the best benefit of the people in this state and country.

“I think it’s interesting that the argument that’s made by my opponent that he’ll be more likable and respectable, how is that the majority of state office-holders in our district support me?”