The biggest television advertising so far in Iowa’s House 92 race has been incumbent Rep. Ross Paustian’s attack ad on opponent Jennifer Kakert.
Paustian said he stands by the ad created and funded by the state Republican party. The ad criticizes Financial District Properties for habitually late property tax payments on Moline commercial properties.
Kakert is chief financial operator for the firm owned by developer Rodney Blackwell. She said the late payments are entirely legal, and part of an arrangement Blackwell managed with the city of Moline, which was rebating taxes on the Kone headquarters and other development projects.
“It’s his decision how he pays them and if he pays additional interest. That is his choice. There is nothing nefarious or out of the ordinary about this process. The lateness is not due to my mismanagement,” she said.
Paustian also claimed that Blackwell’s firm defaulted on a public-private redevelopment project on Racine, Wis. lakefront. Kakert said that deal was reached before she joined Blackwell’s firm in 2014.
Racine council backed Blackwell’s $4.5 million loan to buy dilapidated properties for redevelopment. When he defaulted in 2016, the city received the property under terms of the agreement.
Paustian dismissed those responses.
“My opponent works for a company that’s had problems paying their property taxes in the past. Since she’s CFO, I question whether she’s qualified to be in the state legislature,” he told The NSP.
Kakert called the ad a distorted distraction.
“He’s an incumbent who’s been in office close to a decade. Doesn’t he have something to run on that’s positive?
More online: Find links with this story at northscottpress.com to the ad, Kakert’s full statement, and the Racine, Wis. Journal’s reporting on the lakefront development projects.