Brent Rastetter gave $31,000 to the Branstad for Governor campaign. The owner of a multimillion dollar firm that constructs factory farms was rewarded by our governor with an appointment to the Environmental Protection Commission, whose duty is to protect Iowa’s environment.
In June Rastetter voted to discard rules to bring Iowa into compliance with the Federal Clean Water Act. This vote was in his interest as a builder of confinement agriculture buildings rather than assuring Iowa citizens clean drinking water.
The Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement filed a complaint against Rastetter with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board who listened to arguments, discussed the situation in closed session and then voted to disallow the complaint, ruling that Rastetter did not profit specifically from his vote.
Rastetter’s vote allowed more confinement agriculture buildings to be built. It follows that his vote opened more business opportunities for him. Thus Rastetter was remunerated as a result of his vote. It was clearly a conflict of interest.
The board did not consider the profit he made because of his vote in June and it should reconsider its action and ask Rastetter to resign from the Environmental Protection Commission.
— Jim Riggs, Urbandale