DES MOINES - The Iowa Senate voted Wednesday to reject Gov. Chet Culver's nomination of Carrie La Seur of Mount Vernon to the Iowa Power Fund Board.

A total of 18 Republicans and two Democrats voted against her reappointment, while 30 majority Democrats backed the governor's nomination. A two-thirds majority of at least 34 affirmative votes are required to win Senate confirmation. Democratic Sens. Tom Rielly of Oskaloosa and Steve Sodders of State Center voted no.

Senate GOP Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton issued a statement following La Seur's failed confirmation, criticizing her as "a driving force behind the Iowa Power Fund Board ignoring legislative intent regarding base-load energy."

"The Legislature's intent through the creation of the Iowa Power Fund Board is to provide assistance and opportunities to grow Iowa's energy economy and create jobs, yet Ms. La Seur has taken an active role in killing the Alliant Energy Marshalltown coal plant," McKinley said in the statement.

"As President of Plains Justice, a Cedar Rapids-based environmental law center, Ms. La Seur has raised money and brought forth litigation intended to stop the construction of that plant as well as others like it," he added. She also was a leading opponent of LS Power's now-defunct proposal to build a coal-fired power plant in Waterloo.

"She has ignored the guidelines and intent outlined by the governor and the Legislature for the Iowa Power Fund and instead pushed the power fund to become a policy making institution instead of its original intent to expand energy production in Iowa," McKinley said in his statement.

Culver pledged this week to a maintain a role in his administration for La Seur.

Contact Rod Boshart at (515) 243-7220 or rod.boshart@gazcomm.com