"Governor's Decision, The - Gov. Robert Ray, Robert D. Ray"; Robert D. Ray

I'm going to write a special report on Sunday for playback on Monday 222 eighty two. The following program is made possible in part by a grant from friends of IPB. The following program is a public affairs special report. The Iowa public. Want testing network. The morning ritual began as usual last Thursday and. ROBERT RAY finished reading the paper in the front seat of the governor's chauffeur driven limousine stepped out.

And walked through the private entrance to his office where he would tell reporters that after 14 years time that the ritual would end in 1983. He wants a change. I will not seek the governorship in 1982. The governor's decision its impact on Iowa government and politics. Here is Dean board. Good evening. In that single sentence a move from governor to lame duck a move that will have widespread impact across Iowa's political and governmental landscape. As governor for example his personal political persuasive powers were seen by many as the only things that could un stymie his legislative agenda and provide enough money for the Iowa government to absorb at least some of the financial challenges imposed by last year's federal budget cuts. As a lame duck he's perceived by some political analysts at least as unable to accomplish what he's charged to do as a caretaker

almost watching over but not necessarily any more influencing Iowa's political and legislative processes. His allies are now scrambling to find a way to fill those shoes and his partisan opponents are trying to do the same thing in the clash between them is likely to produce a political donnybrook that impedes progress instead of promoting it. The reason hardball politics no longer will Iowa politicians have to reckon as Rene de Rosa reports with a political presence that has shaped this state since 1968. He won his first election in 1968 on a song or rather with a song that created a winning image that stayed with him for 14 years. And you. Did. In order Brandenburg Jim and Gerry Fitzgerald were all defeated courtesy perhaps of their own campaigns which often attacked for being a

manager instead of a leader and which gave her a sizeable Democratic votes courtesy also of Ray's immense personal popularity that helped create in Iowa the perception that somehow this politician was above the political fray even though he wasn't. His popularity was enough to discourage direct challenges from the conservatives in his own party. Except for one his former lieutenant governor and now Senator Roger. Popularity did not seem to transfer to former commerce commissioner more of an Austrian whom the governor quietly assisted during his campaign against Jepson in 1988. Tom stoner when the governor endorsed and actively campaigned for the former Republican state chairman Steve Roberts who was dumped by his party Central Committee last year. Even so the public perception was that RE him self remained by the defeats of the US. His success in distancing himself from the defeat it helped give him staying power and helped him stay in office.

Where his tenure if nothing else made him a prominent figure among the nation's governors and where his ideas about assuming responsibility for some Indo-Chinese refugees for example gave him national exposure of an obligation a moral obligation. And. We could do more. Where he got the most exposure almost it will hit home where he set the agenda for the operation of state government for well over a decade often building on the bases stablished by his predecessor Harold Hughes. There was no overnight revolution only moderate management. The strength of this country the strength of our federal system. Is the strength of the states. I see especially three major areas that demand your attention during this session. They have a commonality all deal with the wise use and attention to that which we turn our resources. And that means no increase in sales tax and

no increase in income tax. First for our homeowners renters and landlords. Repeal of the sales tax collected on energy utility bills a 17 million dollar savings to help our Iowans fight inflation. In addition accelerated energy conservation and development of solar energy. Second. For our Iowa workers new incentives for industry to expand job opportunities. And at the same time overhaul of inequitable unemployment compensation laws. Third for Iowa communities urban revitalization to offer a sound basis for reinvestment in older neighborhoods. Fourth for Iowa taxpayers plan specific recommendations to make government more efficient and more effective. We can excel with action this year to further save I was precious

soil. And I ask you to support a robust effort for soil conservation. When families and farmers and business people are wrestling with inflation recession and high interest rates and when some people are not even working. State government should not go to those very people and ask to raise a major tax. That was 13 years now. Ray has befuddled his opponents with a politician's ability to come up with the right idea at the right time and for his ability to outlast those who felt his decisions like the 50 million dollar state tax rebate in the 1978 campaign were wrong. Democrats have also complained that Ray's right ideas were there like the five cent deposit on bottles and cans and the removal of the state sales tax on food and drugs. No matter in the public's mind many of those ideas became the government's And by inference the governors. After all. When you're governor for 14 years the two are sometimes hard to

separate. The art is that Ray himself likes societies his achievements during his tenure include this school foundation formula the removal of school funding sources from property taxes dealing with campus riots at the state's universities a decade ago establishing a mechanism to deal with the country's energy shortage. Just a few years back and also finding a way to Maddy's the state's economy through a recession the governor calls those challenges and he feels that the current proposals to give the states more responsibility over federal programs. The president's new federalism would be challenging too. So why did he not take up the challenge on Friday before he left for Washington for a meeting of the National Governors Conference. He talked about his reasons with Dan Miller. I would also like to spend more time with my family. Times change people grow older they look for different things to do. Those are the words to explain why he's getting out. It was a

personal decision not a comment on government. The greatest governor that I have ever asked. For Republican politics or anything else. And it was made in spite of intense lobbying from Iowa Republicans and National Party officials like the vice president and White House chief of staff and the Senate majority leader all of whom looked to Bob to help implement the structural changes in government that are likely to be the cornerstone of the Reagan administration's new federalism I think. The way people contacted me urging me to run. It was a great feeling. I was the right person at this time because of the difficulties that we faced. So I really think if I had been in a campaign it would have worked to my advantage to have had the experience that I've had and people appreciated that. As a matter of fact I would hate to have gone through the last two years having had no experience as

governor. You seem to be saying then that anyone who hasn't been governor who assumes office next time around will find things a little bit difficult. Well I hope by then the economy will turn around. We believe that things will get better hopefully by mid year and by next year the economy should be so that we have some good growth. And there will be something to work with. But don't the kind of cause that you've got suggests that people either at the national level or within state government feel that there really isn't a candidate on the horizon that would be good for their party or good for the kind of Republican philosophy that they want to implement. Doesn't that suggest that. Some people don't feel comfortable with some alternative. I think that's true right now but the candidates have to prove themselves prove to others that they are going to be good leaders substantial individuals that run this state so to speak.

What that means is that they'll have to run the state's legislature. Something Ray says isn't easy because of what he politely calls the diversity of the 150 men and women who work a floor above his office. New governors he says will have to learn about this group as Bob Rice says he did. They'll have to work with it. Learn from it. And teach it in return. As Ray says he also did. And even if they do all of that they won't know if there are true leaders Ray says until they go back to the polls to try it again. You might not know the first year you're in office whether you're a leader or not. But you'll find out the second time that you ask the voters to vote for you. Does that suggest that in the 1970s when Roger Jepson your lieutenant governor was looking over your shoulder and Bob Fulton was out front running against you that was your most severe test of all. Sure I was tested that first time and I was lucky frankly. Some people attribute the great campaign against me but I've

never felt it was that not to take anything away from any candidate but we had Republican governors all through the Midwest and all of them lost. I survived when I was tested a little bit later by a lieutenant governor that wanted to run against me and that I think is what perhaps build my career. I might not have even run that time if it hadn't been for that. But I think that's what gained some strength for me. And people begin to look at me differently than perhaps they had previous to that. The question today is whether people primarily legislators are looking at Wright differently again. As a governor without persuasive powers as a lame duck. Well I suppose I am a lame duck. If you want to define that as a person that won't be here after January of next year. But as far as being able to get things done seems to me it works to my advantage because

they think so often about what they're doing. And how it will affect the governor who is running for re-election. That comes up frequently Well can the governor use that in his campaign because the Democrats and incumbent Republican governors the leader of the Republican Party and they're thinking about that constantly. Now they don't have to think about that. So I think it's going to be easier instead of more difficult. And all of them need to know that. I don't have any reason. Not to do what I think is right regardless of any political implication because I'm not going to be a candidate given that now you don't have the pressure of reelection does that mean we're going to see a different kind of Bob Rae are you going to use the colloquial phrase let your hair down. I don't know. Time will tell but I really don't think so I don't think I'm going to be operating any differently.

Are you going to get mad when you want to as opposed to biding your time. Well I don't think you change your own characteristics that easily or that much. I really don't expect to be any different. If there is a difference it will be that we'll have a little more fun doing this last year. By that I don't mean work less or take our work less seriously but we might find times to do things here with the staff. And some social things that might actually. Truly be fun. That might be some difference because we will make time for those things that we haven't heretofore. You've always been known by the Bob Ray watchers those who look at the tea leaves and those of us who cover you regularly or on occasion as being a very studied man being a measured man. Let's assume for a second that you had run and assume for a second that Harold you were still an IT common street wisdom would be that they were the race would have been tried to have been portrayed as.

As a manager vs. a leader. And that's that's a stylistic not necessarily a philosophical or or issues difference. And yet those who work with you say that that's not an accurate image that they've seen you walk around your office at midnight for example worrying perhaps about one indigent mother but about an entire group or about Title 19 or about Title 20. Do you feel frustrated that the public seems not to have grasped that side of Bob. I guess I never really thought about that. I know that people. Have images in their minds about other people. And they don't all see one person the same way. I know what I do know what I think. I know what my feelings are for people. I don't know how that's perceived. I think if Harold uses been able to run and I had run we would have had a very

exciting campaign. We're two different people. I respect many things he did I think he respects many things I did. This was a time in which I think he saw that he could test the philosophy of. Government and what was going on I saw it as a great opportunity to test it also for I believe truly that we must provide for people that need help but we must also help them and not just find how we can take money from a certain group of people and hand it to others. I believe that we were on the right course at this time. And I think it could have been a good campaign and a good debate. I frankly don't know how. People perceive me I've seen polls over the years and sometimes I understand why people answer the way they do and I guess sometimes I have difficulty in that. But I can tell you Dan that.

Understood what some of the problems are that people face. And that's one thing a governor can do that some. More difficult in Washington D.C.. And we struggled to find ways in which we could help people. Never forgetting that that's what these programs are all about. Does it frustrate you when you hear things like starvation budget which was mentioned up here this year in a partisan sort of way. Does it make you mad. I think I understand that. I think I understand where people come from. I always wished. That there would be some way in which we could convey honest to goodness facts. And information. To the news media people and to the people in general. I recognize that's really not possible. You try but you don't succeed at that. A couple of weeks ago you told our network that you believe that your words public service was a place the place that you thought you should make your contribution.

Looking back on it all in the past decade or so just in the past couple of years and these clips that I've called it's easy to see stories about governmental or legislative accomplishments about trade missions of the school foundation formula budget crises railway Finance Authority holding all of that aside from moment. What is it that Ray wants to be remembered for. Rather the best reward I could have people in Iowa. Had. Pride in this state and in themselves. And in answering that type of question the other day I said I thought maybe what I'm most proud of and I can't take credit for that but I was here at that time and part of it is that people now have much more pride in their state. They're proud of their state they're proud to be an Iowan where when I first became governor many people would still hang their heads and sort of and she seemed fashion say

well I'm just from Iowa making people believe that they were ashamed of being from an agricultural state. That's that's exciting to me to see people being proud of a state that has an excellent educational system that. Has natural resources the like of which you can't find anywhere else can produce food like no other place in the world a place where people are friendly where we still have some elbow room and we still have some good values in life. These are things that are so important. To everybody and I just would like to be remembered as being a part of that period of maybe translation and I could name a lot of specifics I guess but I've never really done things thinking how will people view me because of it. I'm like anyone else I like to be appreciated and I like to have people be.

Thankful that we have done something right. But if you do it on the basis of what it means to you I'm afraid you would stumble all over the place. I've never been very anxious to stumble. If somebody. If you had the power to say to people. Remember me in one sentence as governor. What would that do. That's possible. Just remember that I love you. Overnight of course is an eternity in politics and a lot of politicians knowledge forgotten in just that short a period of time. That's because as soon as they get out the focus shifts to those who want to get in. People who want to deal with the issues that is Governor Ray told Dan Miller we can't even imagine today. The list of those who want to do that is growing all of whom see

in Bob Ray's departure an opportunity to advance their own political careers. Who's on first courses now the name of the game and regular I will press panelists Davey Upson of the Des Moines Register and John McCormack of the Harris newspapers are with us to analyze it John. I'll ask you how do you read what the governor did. If you want to get laid get it dad. I know he's already disagreed with that as we heard but I'm I'm struck David I was struck by a couple of things he said. He gave you a few of the other day that he said that he governed with confidence but also with compassion. He said I really worry about how some people are going to make ends meet. Now rightly or wrongly those are not sediments that the majority of people seem to attach to the Reagan administration. And I wonder if he has gotten out now how he did. Because given what's going on less Reaganomics and the rest

it wasn't much fun anymore. Well Mark I think there are a lot of people that wonder that and I hear that from some of his aides very privately and some of the governor's friends that know what's coming. You know government is it was pretty awesome. And you know it's it's a lot of work and time to time to get out. But he certainly hasn't said that in in anything he says that that would be the kind of challenge that would keep him in a race. Mark what do you think might be the effect. No it certainly is a big effect in Iowa politics but how would you summarize what's going to happen now. Well you get all close a logjam has been broken now. And general way. Yeah yeah and hatches the chances now of two groups of the conservative wing of the Republican Party finally to gain the governorship. Had it advances the chances of the Democrats violate again what do we do want them to take advantage of that I don't know David is closer to the time what about the candidates.

Well you've got I think really two categories of candidates you've got some who are actively considering it and we know that they are and then you've got others who the list of great mentions just goes on and on but you've obviously got the lieutenant governor Terry Branstad who has said he will run. You've got former Lieutenant Governor Arthur knew Carol who may challenge brands not now they're at opposite ends of the Republicans back well that's where most people put them in and then on the Democratic side it was a whole different neutered new set anything yet. No he's not and although he's he's thinking about it he has said he's he's going to consider. He starts a little bit. Well as he was a devotee from nineteen seventy two until 1978 and heave it out of the picture do you think. Well that's something he's having to weigh. Who remembers Arthur knew is a big question in his mind right now. And then the organization of course is there for Branstad but not for new right now I would suppose that's right. Well although some people think that that organization exists for both of them and that they'll have to have to plug into that just one more question about

that organization could be a new step into the organization that has already been established by Governor Gray a lot of it although I don't think Raitt built himself a vast personal organization. There are I think Arthur knew would have to go out and work very hard to to put his own thing together he certainly says that go on the Democrat is that is that a failure or a political failure of the age 10 and 14 years of governing. He seemed not to have built the kind of re organization that could dictate a succession. Well a lot of people say that but the question I have is had the governor done that would that Heir Apparent be around to slit his own throat and stab his mentor in the back. What about the Democratic candidate. Well you've got three who are I'm sorry four who are. Considering a former US attorney Roxanne Conlin and former state Democratic chairman Ed Campbell are both in the race they've announced. Congressman Tom Harkin is thinking about it. So

as Gerry Fitzgerald the party's candidate in one thousand seventy eight. So there's a list of four there and then you've got a whole category of just everybody else you know I mean all the members of Congress all the legislative leaders have been mentioned. People supposed to be talking to them. It hasn't shook down yet and probably won't until the early part of April when when the filing deadline comes and some people have to let you know how much tired and sick. No there isn't. I want to stay with Dave just for a moment and I want to go over to you John and ask about the effect on the state as a whole but you cover the legislature every day. What's the week old a governor a lame duck already. Is that fair to have called him that all. Sure it's because it's accurate. But you know life goes on in the legislature. Life goes on in government and in politics but there are three effects that that has up there that most of us can see and most legislators tell us it happens. One it it stalls his program a bit for a while anyway people back up and re-evaluate what's going on. The governor's people say

that their program is the only ball game in town. And so eventually the legislature wind up passing most of it. The second thing it does is that some new issues are going to reemerge in politics we don't know what they are but certainly the governor has submerged the issue of the death penalty for all these years. Now I'm not saying that that is what I'm saying that that's an example of the kind of thing. This is a little thing. Dean is is the influence of special interest groups are increased is increased because well a lot of candidates looking for campaign contributions just as I was going to ask but not that especially doesn't leave a power vacuum there. Ordinarily those special interest groups might go to the legislature but also with the governor now the governor might not be as effective. So we're going to go it has that effect here. You know I mean it's actually everybody's over exaggerating the lame duck egg and I see interesting commentary on Ray's long tenure I mean after all we always have lame ducks you know have a governor we've ever had at some point was on his way out of office. Regime change that a lot of people thought had been

changed forever. Now suddenly when we find you know governors have always come and gone we just forgot about that doing the law. They did you. Do you see that on Main Street Burlington you know the interesting thing I heard last week right after his announcement was the people asking the question does he really mean it I guess they have a demo hammered out many times and believe it. Dave is it for real if you really get now. Yeah I take him at his word he is and he's not going to run. What the governor what what Bob Ray has his has done in all the time that I've covered him is he always leaves that door open Mac. And because he leaves it open doesn't mean he has a plan to walk through it but he sure left that option open and a lot of people are talking about running for this or that again in the future that all spin off that Matt can ask you suppose that he does mean it. What's his future influence. All I think is his future is about whatever he wants to make it you know of some of his friends hate getting out because he wants more private guy Mitt that's true. You would assume that

he's not going to have to meddle in politics much but I I have a hunch and as David said his options are open and I think we're going to hear of their folly. What about and I will politics how influential can he be and I will politics now just speculating wide open. Well I think he's a senior statesman certainly. And you can have an influence. Quite a bit in terms of commenting on issues he says he'll be around and we just don't know what role that will be. He's talked about federal appointment they've talked about going back to private life as a corporation executive. He's got lots of options. You know what what what an interesting segment. Maybe historians have got that figured out is the way a successful governor because I was secure good state eyeless it's a good state because people like way will govern it. One of the one of the big questions all that remains Dean I think you know I will politics and all over is who is frosty Michel going to interview at the halftime of girls basketball tournament. You both asked me Torkel questions we're going to have to end there because we are at a time that David thank you

very much for adding your perspective tonight to this program. That concludes our public affairs special report of the governor's decision and its influence on Iowa government and politics for Davie Upson and John accordingly. I'm Dean Borg. Good night. But I leave this office in January 1983 I will not be leaving politics nor will I necessarily be leaving government for good. Quite simply don't be surprised if you hear from me from time to time. I am. I am. And. I am. I am. I am. The governor's decision was a public affairs production of the Iowa Public Broadcasting Network which is soley responsible for its content and was made possible in part

by a grant from friends of my PBS. That I am.