Iowa Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Dave Muhlbauer is accusing Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn of failing to properly vet his running mate.
During a Thursday, Sept. 10, news conference, Muhlbauer called Lahn's selection of Derek Wulf as his running mate "disqualifying." He cited a Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office criminal investigation into Wulf.
The Des Moines Register on Sept. 4 reported that a sheriff's detective said the agency was investigating Wulf, though sheriff's officials declined to comment on what they were looking into.
A spokesperson for Lahn's campaign told the Register that Lahn did not know about the investigation before choosing Wulf as his running mate in June.
But a month before that selection, Webster City-based WCF Financial Bank sued Wulf for unpaid debts. In the lawsuit, an attorney for the bank referenced a "pending criminal investigation" in Black Hawk County "concerning the disposition of WCF's collateral."
WCF is one of eight plaintiffs that have sued Wulf or his company, Shallow Creek Land & Livestock, since 2023, alleging he failed to make promised payments. The plaintiffs include a pair of contract growers in Eldora who said Wulf didn't pay them what they were owed and ignored calls and text messages.
"Farmers cannot trust Zach Lahn when he chooses a running mate that jeopardizes their farm operation and left them out to dry," Muhlbauer said.
His comments were the first from him or his running mate, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, since the Register's article about the lawsuits and criminal investigation involving Wulf.
Dan Capodilupo, a spokesperson for Lahn's campaign, said in an email that the allegations against Wulf are "categorically false."
He also called Muhlbauer "a serial polluter," a reference to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' 2009, 2014 and 2015 investigations into complaints about water discharge on Muhlbauer's family's farm. The last investigation resulted in a $7,000 penalty.
Muhlbauer has said he assisted his late father on the farm at the time and took over the corn, soybean, alfalfa, cattle and hog operation in 2020. Since then, the DNR's records do not show any violations.
Wulf "refinancing his farm does not disqualify him from public office, and pretending otherwise is ridiculous," Capodilupo said.
Wulf didn't respond to an email seeking comment after the news conference late Thursday afternoon.
Capodilupo previously told the Register that farmers and others who criticized Wulf to the newspaper were "disgruntled former employees or contractors, each of whom had a serious employment or contractual dispute with Derek, including documented failures to perform their duties."
On Sept. 1, a judge granted WCF's request for a receiver to take over Wulf's farm. According to court documents, Wulf owes the bank about $3.9 million, including accrued interest.
"Why didn't Lahn know this?" Muhlbauer said in Thursday's news conference, referencing Lahn's practice of splitting time between Iowa and Kansas. "If he was in Iowa full time, he should have. And if he's going to fumble the football on something like this, what else is he going to do in leadership as a governor?"
Tyler Jett is an investigative reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected], 515-284-8215, or on X at @LetsJett. He also accepts encrypted messages at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Sand's running mate says criminal probe should disqualify Derek Wulf