Pictured: Fred Hubbell speaks to voters Sunday at a meet-and-greet event in Carroll
Iowa Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate, Fred Hubbell, claims he saw no financial gain and there was no conflict of interest in voting for a $9 million grant awarded to the Nevada DuPont Pioneer cellulosic plant. In 2007, Hubbell was appointed chair of the Iowa Power Fund and was one of 11 voting members who unanimously approved the grant in 2010. Iowa Republicans, including Gov. Kim Reynolds, criticized the vote after it was revealed he was a DuPont Pioneer stockholder at the time and did not recuse himself from participating. Hubbell says he did not support the project for personal gain and had previously divulged any potential conflict of interest.
According to Hubbell, Republican complaints are insincere and says Reynolds is the one with a record of failing to disclose financial ties to a private firm, ABC Virtual, a software development company headquartered in West Des Moines.
Hubbell adds that then Lt. Gov. Reynolds and Gov. Terry Branstad had nothing but praise for the project when they first took office, but she has since reversed her position on the Iowa Power Fund.
Hubbell says there are no instances where he benefited directly from his service as chair of the Iowa Power Fund or his brief stint as interim director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development in 2009. Late last month, Hubbell released a three-page summary of his 2017 tax returns showing a household income of more than $3 million, but it did not disclose details on the source of nearly $2.5 million of that income. Hubbell declined to provide additional documents and says he is staying in line with many former Iowa governors.
Republicans are questioning whether or not there are more instances where Hubbell’s personal interests conflicted with his position on various boards and committees and challenged Hubbell to provide evidence of his claim by matching Reynolds in releasing the past 10 years of tax returns.
