Iowa officials dispute Kim Weaver's claim that budget cut was 'punishment' for her candidacy

Jason Noble | The Des Moines Register

When she announced her withdrawal from Iowa’s 4th District congressional race Saturday, Democrat Kim Weaver made a stunning allegation: that lawmakers cut funding for the state office where she works in retribution for her candidacy.

State officials on Monday sharply disputed that assertion, claiming that while lawmakers questioned Weaver's ability to juggle a congressional campaign with her professional duties, they did not use the state budget as a weapon against her.

In an interview with The Des Moines Register, Weaver alleged that her supervisor in the state’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman's Office had told her that lawmakers explicitly linked her candidacy with the decision to reduce the office’s budget by $164,000, or about 12 percent.

“She flat-out told me that she was told by a legislator … that the budget cut was a punishment for me running for office again,” Weaver said Saturday.

On Monday, though, Weaver’s boss — Iowa Long-Term Care Ombudsman Deanna Clingan-Fischer — disputed that version of events. State lawmakers also denied that congressional politics figured into the reduction.

In an interview with the Register, Clingan-Fischer said she never told Weaver that the budget cut was tied to her candidacy, and she declined to read into lawmakers’ actions.

Clingan-Fischer said she was told the office’s funding was cut in response to lower-than-expected state revenues and because of a pending application to the federal government that may yield additional federal funding for its operations.

“I cannot say what motive or intent legislators had behind the scenes,” Clingan-Fischer said. “What I do know is that our budget suffered cuts this last session just like a lot of other department and office budgets suffered cuts.”

She added, however, that she fielded multiple questions from lawmakers during the legislative session about how Weaver was balancing her obligations as a state employee with the demands of a congressional campaign.

MORE: Hillary Clinton calls Kim Weaver after she quits race against Steve King

The office also received open-records requests seeking information about Weaver’s employment.

Clingan-Fischer told Weaver about those questions and requests when they arose, she said, but she didn’t suggest they were related to budgeting decisions.

“Whether those questions of me ultimately played into a decision behind closed doors, I cannot even guess at that,” she said. “It would be a pure guess.”

Told of Clingan-Fischer's comments, Weaver on Monday stood by her version of events.

“That’s not what she told me," Weaver said. "That’s not what she told me personally.”

The ombudsman told her about lawmakers' questions about her work in March, Weaver said, and then said the budget cut was a consequence of her candidacy in a phone call in mid-May.

Weaver added that she followed up on that phone call with an email that Clingan-Fischer never responded to. Now she fears she could lose her job over the matter.

The Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman is charged with protecting the health and welfare of Iowans living in long-term care facilities. It investigates complaints and advocates for higher quality in nursing homes and other facilities.

Weaver, of Sheldon, is the local long-term care ombudsman responsible for 13 counties in northwest Iowa.

Lawmakers and the governor’s office on Monday pushed back against Weaver’s allegation.

“That is not true,” said state Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mt. Pleasant and the top House Republican on the Health and Human Services Appropriations subcommittee that crafts the budget that includes the ombudsman’s office. “Whether or not she was running had nothing to do with the decision that we made. Absolutely nothing.”

Heaton said the cut was necessary in a difficult budget year and was made with the hope that the office could recoup some of the lost funds with new federal dollars.

Clingan-Fischer confirmed that the office has submitted an application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for additional federal money to match existing state spending.

Heaton’s Senate counterpart on the subcommittee, Imogene Republican Sen. Mark Costello, said he asked the ombudsman’s office about how Weaver would manage a congressional campaign in addition to her day job.

But he was satisfied with the answer, he said, and saw no connection between her candidacy and the budget cut.

“I don’t think we’re worried enough about her that anybody would care, to be honest with you,” Costello said. “I just can’t imagine anybody would take that into consideration.”

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office likewise pushed back against Weaver’s accusation.

“At no time was Ms. Weaver the subject of, nor mentioned in, budget discussions,” Reynolds administration spokeswoman Brenna Smith said. “All budget decisions are made with taxpayers' best interests in mind.”

The leading Democrats overseeing health and human services spending said they were unaware of any political motivation for the ombudsman's office funding but stressed that as members of the minority party they were virtually shut out of writing the budget.

Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City, said she had “no knowledge” of an effort to cut the office’s funding as political retribution.

Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Ames, said she would be among the last people to learn such a thing.

“I hope it wouldn’t come down to who’s running for office," Heddens said. "That’s not what this is about, this is about providing services to seniors and individuals throughout the state of Iowa.”

The ombudsman’s budget cut was one of several excuses Weaver offered over the weekend in explaining her decision to quit the race.

In a Facebook post, Weaver said she was quitting the race because of harassment and intimidation, including death threats.

She added that the rigors of the campaign would also require her to quit her job, potentially leading to a loss of health insurance, and said her mother’s “ongoing health issues” played into the decision as well.

In her interview with the Register, Weaver emphasized the ongoing harassment as a prime reason for quitting the race. Intimidation against her increased, she said, after the Register reported that she used to be an internet psychic.

When reached Monday, Weaver said she was informed of violent threats made against her but has not seen direct evidence of them.

The threats apparently came from neo-Nazi groups shortly after she announced she was exploring a 2018 candidacy in March, and were relayed to her by a friend in Germany.

Her would-be opponent in the race, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Steve King, weighed in on the matter Sunday, tweeting that he would prefer Weaver remained in the race and suggesting that “Democrats drove her out of the race — not Rs.”

King also said Weaver’s claims of death threats were a “fabrication.”

I wanted #KimWeaver IN the race-not out. Democrats drove her out of the race-not R's. Death threats likely didn't happen but a fabrication. — Steve King (@SteveKingIA) June 4, 2017

Weaver called King's comment an example of “typical male insensitivity."

"What might not intimidate a man would intimidate a single woman living alone in a town where the vast majority of people probably voted against her," she said.