Christie, one of the GOP’s most sought after stars after winning election last year in a blue state, will be in West Des Moines Oct. 4 to campaign for Gov. Terry Branstad. After 12 years out of office, Branstad is challenging first-teem Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.

A Politico report follows an announcement Tuesday that Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is seen as a likely contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, will campaign Oct. 26 for Branstad and GOP candidates. The former Massachusetts governor endorsed Branstad before the former Iowa governor won the June 8 primary – a major step in a comeback effort to reclaim the job he held for four terms from 1983 to 1999.

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Branstad, a former governor, said Gov. Chet Culver has relied on government programs, such as I-JOBS, instead of making the calls and personally visiting various companies to sell Iowa to the private sector.

“There’s an old saying, ‘If you want to make the sell, you’ve got to make the calls,’” Branstad said during a stop in Marshalltown.

Along with him was his running mate, Kim Reynolds, a first-term state senator from southwest Iowa. She also said the state needed a renewed commitment to economic development that was primarily based in the private sector.

“It starts with a leader in the governor’s office that understands economic development,” she said.

Reynolds and Branstad talked about teams of Iowans, and even former Iowans, who they envision as working together to sell the state to others. She said the first goal would be to encourage those individuals who have left Iowa and become successful to return to the state.

If they could not do so, then she said there was still a chance to partner with those former Iowans and use their contacts to get the message out about what a great state Iowa can be for business.

However, Branstad said Iowa cannot be a great state for business as long as there is a governor who is pushing for “jobs-killing” labor bills, such as prevailing wage, fair share and others. The state also needs to begin promoting itself as a right-to-work state.

“We need to create a very positive message,” he said. “The present administration is not promoting Iowa business growth. They are not in touch with, or in tune with, what needs to be done for economic development.”

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Branstad stopped at the Oskaloosa Public Library Tuesday afternoon to explain how he plans to foster job growth to the tune of 200,000 more jobs in the state over the next five years.

“With the unemployment rate being the highest it’s been in 24 years, we’re really focusing on jobs and economic development,” said Branstad. “We have 114,000 people in Iowa out of work today and we have a lot of people over the next few years that are going to be graduating and entering the work force. So we really need to have a chief executive with a hands-on focus on bringing business and jobs to Iowa.”

Branstad, who served as governor throughout the 1980s, said he reduced unemployment in the state during his previous time in that office.

He said that during the Farm Crisis of the 1980s, his administration worked to increase jobs in Iowa each year.

As for the future of Iowa jobs, Branstad said there are a few key measures he plans on taking. First, he said Iowa needs to reduce its corporate income tax from 12 percent to 6 percent. Commercial property taxes must also be slashed to makebusinesses more viable, according to Branstad.

Iowa’s Department of Economic Development is “scandal-ridden” and needs to be “scrapped,” Branstad went on to say. He would like to see it replaced with something that is a partnership between the public and private industries. He said this would attract businesses not operating in Iowa to the state.

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Under Branstad’s plan, called the Iowa Network of Entrepreneurial Transplants, teams made up of economic development professionals and business leaders would reach out to former Iowans in targeted industries including manufacturing, agriculture, biotechnology, insurance and finance.

The goal: Convince former Iowans to return to do business in a state that offers better opportunities, while creating a network that alerts state officials to out-of-state businesses looking for somewhere to expand.

Iowa is among the states with the highest percentages of college graduates who move away after getting their degrees.

“It’s all about selling the merits of expanding business in Iowa and touting the benefits of the state of Iowa, the work ethic, the job training program and the other assets we have to outside companies and entrepreneurs,” Branstad said.

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Stressing the need to market Iowa more aggressively, Branstad says he will form “IGNITE” teams throughout the state, and initiate the Iowa Network of Entrepreneurial Transplants (INET) to identify key former Iowans in targeted businesses and industries around the country and world.

The policy is found here:http://governorbranstad2010.com/assets/ready-to-market.pdf

“Economic development, at its core, is about identifying and creating opportunities and to do that we must aggressively sell our state,” said Branstad. “It is about selling the merits of expanding their business in Iowa to existing in-state employers and touting the benefits of Iowa to prospective out-of-state companies.”

Last week, Gov. Branstad unveiled his plans for a public/private partnership, called the Iowa Partnership for Economic Prosperity (IPEP) to replace the existing Department of Economic Development. Gov. Branstad will use this new public-private partnership to forge teams to visit with employers across Iowa and to sell our state to prospective companies across the country and the world.

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To aggressively market Iowa, Branstad said he would form “IGNITE” teams throughout the state, and initiate an Iowa Network of Entrepreneurial Transplants to identify key former Iowans in targeted businesses and industries around the country and world.

“Economic development, at its core, is about identifying and creating opportunities and to do that we must aggressively sell our state,” Branstad told about two dozen supporters who gathered at Vermeer Corp. for his announcement. “It is about selling the merits of expanding their business in Iowa to existing in-state employers and touting the benefits of Iowa to prospective out-of-state companies.”

Tuesday’s announcement by Branstad and running mate, state Sen. Kim Reynolds of Osceola, followed the GOP team’s call last week for a public/private partnership, called the Iowa Partnership for Economic Prosperity, to replace the existing Iowa Department of Economic Development, which he continued to call “dysfunctional and scandal-ridden” on Tuesday.

Branstad, who is seeking to replace first-term Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in the Nov. 2 general election, said the current administration has cut the travel budget for state job recruiters and fails to engage in “hands-on leadership” in actively promoting economic development efforts. He said his approach could save the state money on travel by enlisting private business leaders in recruitment efforts.

The former governor who served from 1983 to 1989 said he would use his proposed new public-private partnership to forge teams to visit with employers across Iowa and to sell the state to prospective companies around the country and the world.

Branstad said his proposed IGNITE teams would be comprised of economic development professionals from around the state teamed with current Iowa employers who are willing to periodically give of their time. The newly instituted Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress would lead and staff the teams and would start with a focus on industries poised for growth in Iowa including advanced manufacturing, value-added agriculture, biotechnology, insurance and financial services that have been the state’s economic development targets for more than a decade.

“I learned a long time ago, if you want to make sales, you better make calls,” Branstad said. “We need a governor who will give a greater priority to job creation.” The GOP candidate has pledged to create 200,000 jobs in the next five years as part of his 2010 campaign platform.

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“Because I’m sick of the mess that Gov. (Chet) Culver has gotten Iowa into,” Branstad told a crowd of about 90 GOP faithfuls during a party fundraiser Saturday night at the Button Factory Woodfire Grille. “He doesn’t listen and he hasn’t chosen good people” to run state agencies.

As evidence, Branstad cited alleged lax oversight of tax credits by the Iowa Film Office and “a hostile work environment where the ombudsman was practically gagged” at the Iowa Department on Aging.

“We know where politics is like that – it’s in Illinois,” he said. “We want to restore honest, open, democratic government in Iowa.”

The Nov. 2 election “represents [Republicans'] best opportunity to regain the Legislature,” he said, a nod to the Republican legislative candidates in the room, including Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, R-Wilton, and Mark Lofgren, who’s challenging Rep. Nathan Reichert, D-Muscatine.

Branstad, who was Iowa’s youngest and longest-serving governor, said he expects to have plenty of Republican company at the capitol next year, including Brenna Findley, the Attorney General candidate who’s running against incumbent Tom Miller; treasurer candidate Dave Jamison, who’s opposing Michael Fitzgerald; Matt Schultz, who’s running for secretary of state against Michael Mauro; as well as GOP incumbents Dave Vaudt, the auditor who’s being challenged by Jon Murphy, and secretary of agriculture Bill Northey, who faces Francis Thicke.

In running mate Sen. Kim Reynolds, R-Osceola, “I think I’ve met my match in energy and enthusiasm,” the 63-year-old Branstad said.

“She’s spending time in Winnebago County tonight where I grew up, getting to know the people there,” he said. “I wanted her to come tonight but I got to come instead and enjoy this view” of the Mississippi River.

Branstad called for a 15-percent reduction in the size of state government, a reduction in taxes on commercial property and a focus on creating more private-sector jobs. Last week he proposed replacing the Iowa Department of Economic Development with a public/private partnership that would streamline and simplify the operation and have an emphasis on customer service.

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Speaking to a group of about 30 supporters at the Junction Cafe, Branstad called IDED “dysfunctional.”

He said he would replace it with a public-private commission, headed by Kim Reynolds, candidate for lieutenant governor, who accompanied him to Manly.

“The commission would be staffed with professionals, not bureaucrats — people with experience in business who know what businesses want and need,” said Branstad.

He said he and Reynolds would each help in recruiting business and industry.

“When I was governor I made cold calls and I visited businesses in hopes of bringing them to Iowa and we were successful several times,” said Branstad.

“There’s an old saying: If you want to make the sale, you better make the call. I intend to do that,” he said.

Branstad said IDED lacks the proper leadership and has too many bureaucrats. “They don’t have professional developers on that board. And they have a whole alphabet soup of state programs.”

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The policy proposal can be found by clicking here.

Branstad says the IDED is dysfunctional and scandal-ridden.

“Our economic development professionals must think and act like customer service representatives who aggressively and proactively solve problems so Iowa can make the ‘sale’ to keep or create jobs,” said Branstad. “By converting IDED into a public-private partnership, the customer service mentality will permeate the system and we can offer prospective investors with a simple and efficient system. With nearly 114,000 Iowans out of work and an unemployment rate at a 24-year high, there is no greater priority for our chief executive than job creation.”

Branstad made the announcement as part of reaching his goal of creating 200,000 new jobs in Iowa. Previously, Branstad has stated that he will cut the corporate income tax in half, and reduce commercial property taxes, to help achieve this goal as well.

The new body will be led by a chief executive officer with a record of real world economic development success, will be governed by an independent board of directors, and chaired by the lieutenant governor.

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