Believe it or not: Terry Branstad called Bill Knapp a few weeks ago and asked if they could meet. Sure, said Knapp, so Branstad went to his office. As starters, says a guy who told Skinny, Democrat Knapp reminded Republican Branstad that he — Knapp — had spent a small fortune over the years trying to get Branstad out of the statehouse and keep him out. Branstad said he was well aware of that.

Then the two talked about economic development and taxes and other issues. Politics wasn’t raised. The meeting went so well that they’ve met at least three more times, this guy tells Skinny. The meetings were probably more substantive than any Knapp ever had with the lethargic Chet Culver, who got big checks from Knapp when he successfully ran for governor in 2005 — and unsuccessfully, against Branstad, in 2009.

Told about the meetings, one Democrat said: “Either Knapp is getting old or Branstad is getting smart.” He quickly added he’d bet on the latter. ...

When Branstad took office 15 months ago, he promised to add 200,000 jobs over five years. At the time, non-farm employment in Iowa totaled 1,488,100. At the end of February, the number was 1,468,400, according to the latest figures from the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. That means he now has to add 219,700 jobs. He has 46 months to go. In case you’re keeping track of campaign promises. ...

It took almost a year, but the Senate last week confirmed the naming of Culver as one of five presidential appointees to the board of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, or “Farmer Mac.” Farmer Mac is a quasi-government agency whose purpose is to help farmers and rural businesses get long-term credit. It’s owned by stockholders, though five farm-credit organizations hold 97 percent of one class of stock and three other financial institutions own 47 percent of the other class. Each class elects five directors, so there are 15 in all. The board meets half a dozen times a year, and with retainers and other fees and stock awards each director takes home around $90,000 a year. …

Des Moines Register stuff:

Item 1. The latest talk is that the newspaper will move its operations to Capital Square, not Ruan 2 (as Realtors speculated to Skinny a couple of weeks ago), says a person who usually knows what’s going on.

Item 2. All told, 11 folks at the newspaper took the early-retirement program, including eight in News. Besides Marc Hansen and Dave Elbert and Tom Witosky — who were mentioned in Skinny last week — those leaving are police reporter Tom Alex, business reporter Joanne Boeckman, reporter Tom Perry, copy editor Dan Carr, editorial page assistant Sandy Walter, and designers Dave Rhein and Jody Horning. Also leaving: Karen Zepeda of the finance department and Ramona Fritz and Janice Karnes of advertising. In all, according to a staff note from Publisher Laura Hollingsworth, the 11 have 433 years of service at the Register.

Item 3. While wishing the retirees well in her note, Hollingsworth noted that there will be a “celebration in their honor” on...Friday the Thirteenth. ...

This just in: A three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld Judge Bob Pratt’s ruling that the way Iowa picks members of the Judicial Nominating Commission is just fine. Four citizens had sued, complaining it’s unconstitutional to allow lawyers — and only lawyers — to choose seven of the 15 members of the commission that compiles the lists of candidates sent to the governor for openings on the state’s highest courts. Lawyers “will be in a better position to evaluate each candidate’s qualifications and determine who has ‘the legal acumen, the intelligence, and the [judicial] temperament to best serve the people of’ Iowa,” the court concluded. A reversal would really have screwed things up. …

It has taken nearly 25 years, but legislators are starting to notice that a big chunk of the money that Iowa students and their parents pay for tuition at the three Regents universities actually is set aside to fund scholarships for other students. The practice started in 1989 and was made official Regents policy in 2004. The policy requires that at least 15 percent of in-state and non-resident tuition be set aside, but in recent years the actual percentage has been 22. This academic year, the total set-aside is around $144 million. The money goes to help especially needy applicants from anywhere or especially smart ones, who get merit aid even if they come from affluent families and even if they’re from some foreign land like Ohio.

In effect, this means that around $1,650 of each Iowa student’s annual tuition of $7,500 is subsidizing some other student.

This seems to irritate several legislators, who don’t think Iowans — the vast majority of whom borrow money to go to college or to send their kids to college — should be forced to finance the education of other students. Republican Scott Raecker, the head of the House Appropriations Committee, wrote a blog about it, and other legislators have spoken up. Last week, Republican Sen. Steve Kettering proposed an amendment to the education bill that would prohibit the universities from peeling off the scholarship money from tuition paid by Iowa residents. The amendment also would force a reduction in resident tuition for next year equal to the amount set aside for aid this year; in other words, it mandates a 22 percent drop in tuition for the coming year, when tuition is scheduled to increase 3.75 percent.

Regents fans and lobbyists hollered when they saw Kettering’s amendment, and later in the week he withdrew it. In return, Regents operatives promised they’d review the policy, one Republican legislator told Skinny. But the issue now is joined, and it’s unlikely to go away. Although it’s been no secret since 1989 — the percentage and number are noted annually at Regents meetings and in documents — few people and fewer reporters had noticed. Now that they’re learning about it, Iowa parents aren’t likely to want to continue to borrow to subsidize the education of kids other than their own, especially kids from well-off families who are enticed to the universities with merit scholarships. So look for a change in policy. Not right away, but before another 25 years pass.

Meantime, one financial executive raised this point when talking about it with Skinny: The subsidy is really a gift to the university, he said, so why can’t a parent take a charitable deduction for it? That will happen the same year that the universities start charging sales tax on those multi-thousand dollar “contributions” required before a person can get a good football ticket — the contribution is really part of the price of the ticket — or when the Internal Revenue Service quits allowing a tax deduction for those so-called contributions.

Perhaps Knapp and Branstad can put this on the agenda for their next get-together. CV