Senate Democrats say Iowa’s Republican governor has followed the letter, but not the spirit of the law when it comes to appointing new people to the board that governs the three state-supported universities. Senator Bob Dvorsky, a Democrat from Coralville, says the three women Governor Terry Branstad has asked to serve on the Board of Regents have “great resumes” and are likely to be confirmed by senators to serve on the panel.

If, as expected, senators vote to confirm the new members of the Board of Regents, five of the board’s nine members will be registered Republicans, three will be independents and one will be a Democrat.

State law requires Iowa boards and commissions to have both party and gender balance and a spokesman for the governor says the governor’s choices have been made “in accordance with Iowa law.” Dvorsky made his comments Monday as Vermeer C-E-O Mary Andringa, University of Northern Iowa student Rachel Johnson of Sioux City and community activist Patricia Cownie of Des Moines appeared before the Senate Education Committee. The three women are Branstad’s new choices for the board that oversees the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. In 2013 two of the governor’s three choices for the board failed to win senate confirmation.