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Iowa governor’s aide now says Tupac email not tied to ouster

Jul 18, 2019 | 2:30 PM

IOWA CITY, Iowa — A spokesman for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds now says a mass email praising rapper Tupac Shakur wasn’t the reason Reynolds ousted an agency director.

Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett was asked last week whether the June 14 agency-wide email from Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven was tied to the governor’s request that Foxhoven immediately resign the next work day.

Garrett said only that a “number of factors” prompted the governor’s decision, and that she wanted to take the agency in a new direction.

On Thursday, he told the Des Moines Register that “of course” Foxhoven’s love for the rapper didn’t factor into his dismissal.