Braindead denies knowledge of ‘secret payouts’ to employees fired for being Democrats

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Ugh. Our wonderful Governor in action again;

On Monday, Iowa’s Republican lieutenant governor told The Des Moines Register that neither she nor the governor were aware of the secret settlements paid to employees who claim they were fired for being Democrats.

Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds said that she and Gov. Terry Branstad, who is also a Republican, “found it troubling when we learned about the confidentiality clauses and we intend to put together a group that will perform a comprehensive review of the process.”

The “confidentiality clauses” concerned almost $300,000 secretly paid to ex-state workers allegedly fired for complaining about the Republican administration of Terry Branstad’s embrace of cronyism.

“They are like a group of renegades,” Carol Frank, a former construction and design engineer, told The Des Moines Register. “They just didn’t care about anyone else or about rules or law. They were just hiring their friends.”

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1. The DMReg did this?

SHOCKED!

Did they change editors or something? Since they endorsed Rmoney and Braindead, I haven't really paid any attention to them.

Hopefully this will gain traction.

[rurallib]

2. from radioiowa news - Jack Hatch weighs in

March 17, 2014 By O. Kay Henderson

State Senator Jack Hatch — the Democratic candidate for governor — is calling for an investigation of the firing practices of Republican Terry Branstad’s administration. The Des Moines Register has interviewed state workers who say they were fired because they were Democrats and paid a settlement to stay quiet.

“They were managers who were doing their job and they were managers over several administrations and they were doing their work. It is clear from these agreements they were fired. They were given payment to keep quiet,” Hatch says. “Both are illegal and there’s going to have to be some sort of investigation.”

While non-disclosure agreements are common in the private sector, Hatch contends that’s not the case in state government and, according to Hatch, the kind of “political interference” described in these cases is against the law.

“That kind of intimidation by the executive to employees who are managers who are doing their job is a bit frightening, I think,” Hatch says.
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Branstad is making some ugly errors right before the election. However I doubt the press will do much about it - they seem to love or fear him.

ETA - forgot link:
http://www.radioiowa.com/2014/03/17/hatch-says-branstad-has-a-pattern-of-denying-knowledge-of-scandals/

[bullwinkle428]

3. He's learned well from Chris Christie.