She's been hammering Braley for missing committee hearings while campaigning. Ernst missed votes in campaign year

Iowa GOP Senate candidate Joni Ernst has been hammering Democrat Bruce Braley for missing votes and committee hearings on Capitol Hill while he was out campaigning.

Yet Ernst missed nearly 40 percent of the votes in the Iowa state Senate during 2014, as well as large number of committee meetings for the panels she serves on, state records show.


Ernst has also attended only a fraction of the meetings of the Iowa boards and commissions she has been appointed to since taking office in 2010.

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Ernst is seeking the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin. The 44-year-old Ernst, a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard, is locked in a tough contest with Braley, with Ernst having a small lead in most polls. A GOP win in Iowa could help cement a Republican takeover of the Senate, so everything to do with the race is under a national microscope.

Ernst has repeatedly slammed Braley for missing some Veterans’ Affairs committee hearings in 2011-12, an attack that Braley has been forced to counter. Concerned Veterans for America, a Koch Brothers-affiliated group, has run a TV ad in Iowa pounding Braley over the issue.

Braley’s campaign has said he was attending other committee hearings or did attend key Veterans' Affairs subcommittee hearings.

Ernst’s challengers in the GOP primary hit her repeatedly for missing votes and committee meetings this year, but it wasn’t enough to derail her successful drive for the Republican nomination.

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But her failure to take part in the state boards and commissions — after seeking these appointments to buttress her political resume — could hurt Ernst.

For instance, Ernst was appointed to the Iowa Council on Educator Development in August 2013. She missed two of the council’s sessions in October and November, and, by January, was no longer listed as a member of the organization.

The Iowa Republican was named to the Governmental Public Health Advisory Council in early 2011. However, Ernst has apparently not attended any of the group’s 18 meetings since then, according to its attendance records.

Similarly, Ernst was tabbed for the Mental Health and Disability Services Commission in January 2013. However, she not attended any of the 20 commission meetings since that time.

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And Ernst took part in only two of the 32 sessions of the Statewide Interoperable Communications System Board since 2011.

An Ernst spokeswoman rejected any comparison with Braley’s record. Gretchen Hamel noted that Ernst missed only 123 of 1180 votes of the Iowa Senate during her four years of service, and some of those missed votes came because of Ernst’s National Guard duties.

“Joni Ernst has a great attendance record, making almost 90 percent of the votes during her time in the state Senate while also serving her nation in the Iowa Army National Guard,” Hamel said in a statement. “In comparison, Congressman Braley skipped 75 percent of the hearings while he was on the Veterans Affairs committee.”

Of the 123 missed state Senate votes by Ernst, 103 came this year, during her Senate campaign.

Ernst was also absent for 38 out of 65 meetings this year for the Iowa Senate committees she serves on, state legislative records show.

Hamel noted that some of the absences were because Ernst was involved in National Guard duties.

Hamel added that Ernst’s campaign spent “endless hours litigating” this issue during the Republican primary, which Ernst won easily.