Today, Rob Sand proved his critics right: he really is just a self-promoting hack.
Or he’s incredibly incompetent.
Or both? Yeah, definitely both.
This morning, the State Auditor issued a “special investigation” claiming that Gov. Reynolds broke Iowa’s self-promotion law by appearing in a public service announcement—alongside Secretary Vilsack, Carson King, and Dan Gable—at the height of the pandemic.
You read that right: Rob Sand claimed it is illegal for a sitting governor to use state funds to address the public in a time of emergency.
If that seems wrong, that’s because it is. Both legally and as a matter of common sense.
As the Governor explained in a response to Sand’s report, the very beginning of Iowa’s self-promotion statute says that it does not apply in times of emergency—which makes all the sense in the world. During an emergency is exactly when we would want the governor to use resources to address the public.
But Sand cut that emergency section out of his report, meaning that he pretended it didn’t exist. He didn’t mention it. Not once.
Sand, a lawyer who regularly brags about getting into Harvard, either didn’t read the self-promotion statute or is using his office to engage in a blatant political attack against his political opponent.
Or both?
Iowa Field Report confirmed also that, before the Governor appeared in the PSA, her office and Public Health sought guidance from the Attorney General’s Office and Mike Marshall at the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. Both the AG’s office and Marshall agreed with the Governor’s interpretation—which is pretty obvious from the words of the statute.
.@RobSandIA failed so badly at his attempted political hit against @KimReynoldsIA that he is now resorting to “auditing” what her office calls a statute. This guy is on full tilt. https://t.co/04PIkoV9Cu pic.twitter.com/L1pDKGQoYb
— Iowa Field Report.com (@IAFieldReport) June 3, 2021
So let’s call this for what it is. Sand was using his office—with our tax dollars—to do a political hit on the Governor, based upon her appearing in an ad campaign to tell the public to wear a mask and socially distance. And in the process, he completely screwed up the law.
It doesn’t really get much worse, especially if your whole schtick is to pretend that you’re a non-partisan technocrat who is just doing his job.
What a joke. Thanks for proving it, Rob.
