Chris (formerly Christopher) Rants has been an outspoken critic of Governor Chet (formerly Chester) Culver’s spending of taxpayer dollars. The Des Moines Register’s Jason Clayworth has a piece in the Sunday paper calling Rants’ money management into question. Rants was the house Republicans’ former majority leader and speaker and helped oversee the House Majority Fund. That fund sent money to efforts to elect Iowa Republicans into the house. But Clayworth’s reporting shows when Rants’ peers booted him out of leadership, he left the fund $200,000 in the red.
Rants didn’t comment for the story, other than a statement issued through a staff member. Will other Republican candidates for governor use this story as a strike against Rants during the campaign? Or is this too “inside baseball-type stuff” for most Iowa voters?
