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Ernst campaign asks why Greenfield ‘scrubbed’ job experience from website
James Q. Lynch
Jul. 27, 2020 8:15 am
CEDAR RAPIDS - Iowa Republicans and Sen. Joni Ernst's campaign have been painting Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield as unfriendly to small business.
Now Ernst's campaign is asking why references to Greenfield's business experience have been scrubbed from her campaign website.
'Why is Greenfield hiding from her record?” the Ernst campaign asks in a digital ad launching today.
This spring, Greenfield's website biography prominently included her experience with Rottlund Homes 'where she rose quickly through the ranks and soon moved to Des Moines to lead the company's Iowa Division,” and then became president of Colby Interests, 'one of Des Moines' oldest family-held real estate and development companies.”
However, now there's no mention of those work experiences on the website. According to her 'about” page, Greenfield 'worked as an urban planner and has worked in real estate and development in Iowa.”
The omission is part of a pattern of Greenfield attempting to deceive Iowans, according to the Ernst campaign.
'While Theresa Greenfield continues misleading Iowans, new details reveal that the Des Moines real estate executive is attempting to hide her troubling business record by scrubbing her campaign website,” said campaign spokesman Brendan Conley.
Her record at those companies was an issue in the five-way Democratic primary earlier this year.
Contrasting his record with Greenfield's, Des Moines businessman Eddie Mauro said that 'when times got tough, the company she helped lead, Rottlund Homes ... laid-off workers and shortchanged contractors. And her next job at Colby, instead of fighting for small business owners she attempted to evict them to make way for big business.”
'Whether it's personally signing notices to kick Iowa small businesses to the curb, or working as a top executive at a business that used toxic Chinese drywall, Theresa Greenfield knows her failed business record is problematic,” Conley said. 'Scrubbing details from her campaign's website won't hide the fact that she prioritizes her own personal gain ahead of Iowans.”
There's no attempt to hide anything, according to campaign spokesman Sam Newton, who said Greenfield will use her experience 'running a successful small business” to put Iowans first.
'With less than 100 days until the election, the fact that Sen. Joni Ernst is resorting to these types of false attacks in the middle of a major health and economic crisis is desperate and out of touch,” he said.
Ernst's bid for re-election is rated a 'tossup” by election analysts. In a series of polls, Greenfield holds a lead that is within the margin of error.
Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com