Chet Culver (D)

Former Governor of Iowa (2007-2011)

(governor.iowa.gov)

Why He Matters

Culver, a Democrat and former high-school teacher, ran for governor in 2006 on the unusual agenda of making Iowa the "energy capital of the world." Whoever holds the top job in Iowa, traditionally the first state to vote in presidential elections, immediately becomes a national political power-broker. Culver went after the job in 2006 pledging to spend $100 million to develop an alternative-energy industry in Iowa beyond corn-based ethanol and promoted it as a way to create thousands of jobs and boost the state's economy.

Halfway through his first term, Culver has made good on that promise, winning legislative approval for the four-year Iowa Power Fund program and so far investing $35 million and creating 2,300 jobs for projects ranging from manufacturing wind turbines to producing methane gas from cow manure.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Secretary of state (1998-2006); high school teacher (1995-1998); environmental and consumer advocate, Iowa Attorney General's office (1991-1995)
Birthday: Jan. 25, 1966
Hometown: Washington, D.C.; West Des Moines, Iowa
Alma Mater: B.A., Virginia Tech, 1988; M.A., Drake University, 1994

Spouse: Mariclare Culver
State: Office of The Governor and Lt. Governor,State Capitol, Des Moines, IA 50319Phone: 1-515-281-5211
Email
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Path to Power

Chester John Culver likes to brag that he is the only governor of his generation to have taught in the public schools before entering office. But his political roots run deeper than the four years he spent teaching high school.

The youngest child of former U.S. Sen. John Culver (D-Iowa) was born in Washington in 1966, the year after his father was first elected to the U.S. House. His dad served in the House until 1974 when he won election to the U.S. Senate, but served only one term in the upper chamber before being defeated by the Republican who still holds that seat, Iowa's senior senator, Charles E. Grassley.

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Chet Culver attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, returning in 2009 on the 25th anniversary of his graduation to deliver the school's commencement address. Culver excelled at football and basketball in high school, two sports he would later coach at Iowa high schools, and won a football scholarship to Virginia Tech.

Political Career

After graduating in 1988, Culver returned to work in Iowa Democratic politics. He served as a field director for Bonnie Campbell's campaign for attorney general before taking a job in Campbell's office as an environmental and consumer advocate. When Culver ran for governor more than a decade later, Campbell co-chaired his campaign and led his transition team.

In 1994, Culver returned to school at Drake University in Des Moines to get a master's degree in teaching and began teaching government and history at Roosevelt High School and Hoover High School in the city before returning to politics in 1998.

Culver won election as Iowa's secretary of state at age 32, the youngest person in the nation at the time to hold the job. He cruised to re-election in 2002.

As secretary of state, Culver created the Iowa Student Political Awareness Club, a non-partisan statewide student organization dedicated to increasing civic and community participation among Iowa's young people. He also angered state Republicans in 2004 when he waited several days before declaring President George W. Bush the winner in Iowa's presidential balloting.

Culver later faced harsh criticism for distributing voter information in four foreign languages while he was secretary of state. Just a week before Culver was sworn in as governor in 2007, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who is considering opposing Culver in 2010, charged that Culver had violated the state's English-only law, which requires all government proceedings to be conducted in English. Culver's office dismissed the charges, and was backed by the state's attorney general, citing election laws that require the secretary of state to assist all voters in registering and voting.

2006 Gubernatorial Race

Culver was still serving as secretary of state, overseeing Iowa's elections, when he ran for governor in 2006. He won a three-way Democratic primary with 39 percent of the vote and challenged then-Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) in the general election.

Culver tied Nussle to the unpopular President George W. Bush, the burgeoning federal deficit and other perceived ills in Washington, D.C., during the campaign.

Culver beat Nussle 54 to 44 percent, marking the first time in more than 40 years that Democrats controlled both the governor's office and the state legislature. Culver's wife, Mari, cut a campaign ad, urging voters to support her "big lug" husband who she said had his father's "big heart and a stubborn independent streak."

The 2009 economy forced Culver, like other governors, to examine ways to cover budget deficits. But Culver so far has rejected the idea of raising taxes on items like gasoline, and disputes Republican claims that the state needs to take more drastic actions, including layoffs and program cuts, to keep its fiscal house in order.

2008 Iowa Flood

But Culver faced his greatest leadership challenge when in July 2008 Iowa's rain-swollen rivers crested their banks and wiped out roads, bridges, businesses and flooded about 4,000 homes. Damage estimates in Cedar Rapids alone topped $1 billion.

Culver appointed a special commission to oversee the rebuilding effort and a year after the flood, the fourth-worst natural disaster in U.S. history, more than $3 billion, most of it federal funds, had been allocated to rebuild the state. Yet, with less than $700 million of those funds already spent, Culver and other state officials remained critical of the federal funding effort, saying the pace of spending was too slow.

The Issues

Culver has been a progressive governor in a largely conservative state, successfully pushing the Democratic state legislature to support increased pay for teachers, a higher state minimum wage and funding for embryonic stem-cell research, among other things.

In 2007, Culver also pushed for an anti-bullying law in the state's public schools. That same year, Culver won approval for a $1-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax, which he promoted as a health-care issue, and in 2008 signed into law a smoking ban that his wife was caught violating seven months later. Mari Culver was spotted smoking a cigarette in the passenger seat of an SUV driven by a state trooper in November 2008. She issued a statement apologizing and saying it wouldn't happen again. Her office had no comment on whether she would be fined.

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Culver's signature issue is alternative energy, which he campaigned on and the topic that President Barack Obama asked him to address in a speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Since 2007, Iowa has received proposals from companies for about 200 energy projects totaling about $400 million - or more than four times the money Culver has allocated.

Same-Sex Marriage

In April 2009, Iowa became the rural Midwest's first battleground on same-sex marriage after the state Supreme Court struck down the state's decade-long ban on such unions.

Opponents of same-sex marriage immediately sought to reverse the court's ruling by amending the state's constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to the union of a man and a woman, but Culver opposed that move. In a carefully balanced statement, Culver said it is a "tenet of my personal faith" that marriage be restricted to heterosexual couples. And because the court decision doesn't require churches to recognize or perform same-sex marriages, a constitutional amendment would only codify a provision the court ruled was "unlawful and discriminatory," he said.

Culver said his "focus and energies lie" with trying to create jobs, not wrangling with a divisive social issue already decided by the courts. He is playing down the likelihood of a re-election bid dominated by same-sex marriage controversy, saying "it has not risen to the level where I think it's going to be a major political issue."

Health Care

In February 2008, Culver proposed requiring health-insurance companies to allow children up to age 25 to remain on their parents' policy; cap rate increases in long-term care insurance at 12 percent a year; force insurers to cover pre-existing conditions and drop required waiting periods when someone switches from group insurance to an individual policy.

Embryonic Stem-Cell Research

In February 2007, Culver won legislative approval to lift the state's five-year-old ban on embryonic stem- cell research.

The ban had been enacted in 2002 by former Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) about the time the George W. Bush administration announced that it would bar federal funding for such research on the grounds that destroying an embryo for stem cells was the same as taking a human life.. Vilsack later supported repealing the ban.

The Network

The veteran Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R) is the man who dethroned Culver's dad, ex-Sen. John Culver (D), in 1980.

But he's been supportive of Culver's top legislative priority, the creation of new alternative energy sources in Iowa. Grassley was among the Senate Agriculture Committee members who supported adding money for Iowa energy production to the 2007 farm bill. Despite persistent rumors that Grassley may retire from the Senate and run against Culver in 2010, Grassley stayed in Washington.

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