The newly elected president and president pro tem of the Iowa Board of Regents are connected to some of the most significant contributions to Gov. Terry Branstad’s 2010 campaign.

Regents Craig Lang and Bruce Rastetter were elected as president and president pro tem during the board’s telephonic meeting Tuesday.

Rastetter, the CEO and co-founder of Hawkeye Energy Holdings, was named to the board by Gov. Terry Branstad in February 2011. The Ames-based Hawkeye Energy Holdings is one of the nation’s largest ethanol companies. The Iowa State Daily reported Feb. 27, 2011 that Rastetter contributed more than $162,000 to Branstad’s campaign. He was the largest individual contributor to the campaign, falling behind only the Republican Governors Association in money given to Branstad.

Lang’s individual political contribution was much smaller. He donated just $500 to Branstad’s 2010 campaign. Lang is, however, the president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. When Branstad ran for governor in 2010, the third-largest donation from an organization — amounting to more than $53,000 — came from the Iowa Farm Bureau.

Lang and Rastetter were elected following the resignations of Regents David Miles, who was elected president of the board in 2007, and Jack Evans, who was elected president pro tem in 2008. In a letter to his fellow regents, Miles said Branstad had requested his and Evans’ resignations in May. The recommendation that Lang and Rastetter fill the newly vacated leadership positions came from the governor, and it was approved unanimously by the Board of Regents.

Branstad has been accused of employing “petty politics” in his request for Miles’ and Evans’ resignations.

Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, told the Daily Iowan, “To lose that expertise and men of that high caliber makes no sense.”

Tim Albrecht, spokesperson for the governor, said in an email to the Iowa State Daily, “the governor believes it is in the best interest of our Regents institutions to have different leadership in place.”

However, Miles wrote in his letter of resignation, “If our actions sometimes put us at odds with the politics of the moment, that is exactly as it should be.”

In contrast with that of his successor, Miles’ last political contribution was the $100 he gave to Chet Culver’s 1998 campaign for Iowa Secretary of State. Evans contributed $500 to Chet Culver’s fund the year he was elected president pro tem.

Lang and Rastetter will complete the terms vacated by Miles and Evans, which will expire April 30, 2012.