DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst’s re-election campaign released a new digital ad on Monday in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race. The ad calls out Ernst’s Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield for scrubbing her website’s bio page references to her employment with Rottlund Homes and Colby Interests.
Watch:
In December, Greenfield’s bio page on her campaign website included details about her time at Rottlund Homes and Colby Interests. It read, “Theresa worked as an urban planner and then joined Rottlund Homes, where she rose quickly through the ranks and soon moved to Des Moines to lead the company’s Iowa Division. Today, she serves as President of Colby Interests, one of Des Moines’ oldest family-held real estate and development companies.”
HerĀ bio page nowĀ reads, “Theresa worked as an urban planner and has worked in real estate and development in Iowa.”
Several small business owners criticized Greenfield’s record as president of Colby Interests for evicting small businesses to make way for a multinational corporation.
A KCRG TV fact check of a National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) ad attacking Greenfield’s record with Rottlund Homes as “mostly true.”
They noted that Rottlund Homes, where Greenfield served as the CEO of their Iowa division, went bankrupt and faced lawsuits claiming that the business owed $29 million, but that it was during a recession. They also stated that the company had been sued 60 times since 1995, but she did not join the company until 2005. Rottlund Homes in Iowa was sued ten times while she served as the division CEO.
“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. Scrubbing details from her campaign’s website won’t hide the fact that she prioritizes her own personal gain ahead of Iowans. Why is Greenfield hiding from her record?” Brendan Conley, communications director for Team Joni, said in a released statement.
Spokespeople for the Iowa GOP and NRSC weighed in as well.
“The evidence speaks for itself: Theresa Greenfield is engaged in a cover-up because she doesn’t want Iowans to know about her deeply troubling business record,” said Aaron Britt Communications Director for the Republican Party of Iowa. “This scheme to cover-up her past will catch up to her. The more they get to know about her, the more Iowans know they can’t trust Two-Faced Theresa.”
“Iowans know that Greenfield has a record of misleading voters to further her own political agenda,” said NRSC Press Secretary Nathan Brand. “Whether it’s trying to mislead voters about her reliance on corporate campaign cash, or trying to erase her problematic business career, Greenfield needs to come clean as to why she is attempting to hide her record from Hawkeye State voters. Iowans simply can’t trust Greenfield’s unprepared, inaccessible, and misleading campaign.”