Blouin leaves state job, takes Dubuque position

BYLINE: By HENRY C. JACKSON, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: DES MOINES Iowa

Former gubernatorial candidate Mike Blouin is leaving his job as the state's top economic development official to lead the Greater Dubuque Development Corp.

Blouin, 61, will become the organization's president and will share leadership with Rick Dickinson, who is becoming Greater Dubuque Development's executive director. Together, Blouin said, they will launch a more than $1 million campaign aimed at promoting the Dubuque area to national and international audiences.

"We want to bring this city to another level," Blouin said.

City officials were expected to officially announce Blouin's hiring at a press conference Thursday afternoon in Dubuque.

The new job is merely Blouin's latest foray into economic development. He previously served in posts focused on economic development in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines and will finish his tenure as director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development on Friday.

Dubuque will a homecoming of sorts for Blouin, who grew up in Florida and came to the eastern Iowa city as a teenager to attend Loras College. He met his wife, Suzanne, in Dubuque, had both of his children there, and represented the region in the state Legislature and Congress as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

"It's as close to an Iowa hometown as I have ... " Blouin told The Associated Press. "Iowa's become my home and Dubuque is very much the base of all that.

"We've got some pretty deep roots here."

Dickinson said Thursday that he was elated to bring Blouin back to Dubuque. He expects him to start on Jan. 22, about a week after he leaves his state job.

"Wherever he's gone, he's left a wake of success," Dickinson said. "We're just thrilled he's coming home."

Blouin's appointment to Greater Dubuque Development caps a four-year run that saw him appointed as director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development by Gov. Tom Vilsack, launch a failed bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and then return as the agency's director.

When Chet Culver won November's election over Republican nominee Jim Nussle, it was unclear whether he would reappoint Blouin, his former rival.

Under Vilsack, Blouin shepherded the Grow Iowa Values Fund, the governor's signature economic development package. The program provides $728 million in state money over 10 years to new and expanding businesses that have promised to invest in Iowa's infrastructure or create more jobs.