Branstad says Culver should fire state aging director | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register

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Republican candidate for governor Terry Branstad is calling on Gov. Chet Culver to fire the director of the Iowa Department on Aging.

Branstad, who served as governor from 1983 to 1999, said John McCalley's interference with the long-term care ombudsman's duties are cause for dismissal.
He said that when he was governor, he and the director of what was then called the Iowa Department of Elder Affairs had some differences of opinion with Iowa's long-term care ombudsman.

"We didn't always like what the ombudsman did, but we never tried to gag the ombudsman," he said.

Branstad said it shouldn't have taken an order from the U.S. Administration on Aging for McCalley and Culver "to enforce rules that allow our state's long-term care ombudsman to do her job and advocate for senior citizens."
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