Voters in Butler County should check the public record of Greg Barnett’s last campaign for District One Supervisor in 2016 with the Iowa Ethics &Campaign Disclosure Board which requires candidates receiving or expending over $1,000.00 to record their donations and expenditures.  Barnett’s entire campaign cost $2,000.00 and it was 100% financed by a single special interest.

Bill Croell of New Hampton donated a $2,000.00 check dated 9-6-2016 to Barnett’s campaign.  William Croell is the Secretary and Director of Croell, Inc. an Iowa corporation registered in New Hampton.   Their corporate website says they have provided Redi-Mix, paving, asphalt, seal coating, gravel, and sand since 1968.  They do business in 120 locations in 7 states including Greene, Parkersburg, and Clarksville in Butler County.

It is against the law for a corporation to contribute to a political candidate in Iowa.  Without a financial investigation, it would be impossible to determine if Bill Croell was reimbursed by his family corporation by bonus or expense account, or indeed, how many supervisors in how many counties they help finance.  If he acted as a strawman and it was a pass-through transaction, it was clearly a violation of law.

In any event, having his entire campaign financed by a road construction company when his job on the Board of Supervisors is to vote on construction contracts is a blatant conflict of interest that should be obvious even to the most ethically challenged.

The standard that we used to hold public officials accountable for was that even the appearance of impropriety should be avoided.   I am confident that is the standard that Teresa Negen would uphold if elected Supervisor in Butler County District One (Clarksville and Shell Rock Precincts).

David Mansheim
Parkersburg, IA