Tom Vilsack says U.S. Rep. Steve King’s often provocative comments are more than embarrassing for Iowa.

The former Iowa governor says King is clearly more interested in being a conservative showman with clever soundbites for the media mill than a workhorse sweating in the daily grind for Iowans.

“I think Congressman King has crossed that line,” Vilsack said. “And that means the people in the Fifth District don’t have the kind of representation they deserve. I think he has advocated his own personal agenda at the expense of the people.”

Vilsack, a two-term Democrat, analyzed the race Sunday night in an interview during a fundraiser in Carroll at Crossroads Bistro for King’s opponent, Rob Hubler of Council Bluffs, a former submariner in the U.S. Navy and retired Presbyterian minister.

Of the 44 bills King, a Republican from Kiron, has sponsored in three terms, he has been successful with one — getting Christmas recognized as being important to Christians, The Sioux City Journal reported in a recent exhaustive piece examining King’s effectiveness in Congress.

Effective members of Congress can point to larger accomplishments, Vilsack said.

“I know when he ran for office he was very intent on an expansion of highways and improving highways,” Vilsack said. “I’ve seen other members of Congress within the state of Iowa be able to secure demonstration monies to by 10 miles at a time expand Highway 34 for example into a four-lane highway.”

In the priority debate raging between U.S. Highway 20 and U.S. Highway 30 — with 30 having more traffic and the clear lead in economic development in its corridor — King has proven to be an advocate for 20 at the expense of 30.

The cost for expanding U.S. 20 from two to four lanes over 90 miles from Moorland to Moville is estimated to cost $520 million, and King has specified his $35 million is for portions west of U.S. Highway 71 in Woodbury, Ida and Sac counties, The Sioux City Journal reported.

“It’s a given that Highway 20 will be completed all the way to Sioux City,” King told The Sioux City Journal. “I believe I have given every effort to keep my word on those two (infrastructure) things. Both of those things will get done.”

King told The Journal that as he’s served in Congress, he’s broadened the infrastructure funding list to Interstate 29 interchanges in Council Bluffs and Sioux City, along with the Outer Drive expansion in Sioux City.

In the current campaign season, King is part of a group of Republicans seeking to turn the gas-price issue in the GOP’s favor by casting the debate in terms of more drilling.

Vilsack said Iowans won’t buy the King argument.

“We don’t have an energy policy, and Congressman King has to accept some of the responsibility for that because he was in the majority for a considerable period with a Republican president,” Vilsack said.

Vilsack noted that 15 of the 23 oil-producing nations have maxed out and that developing countries have an increasing appetite for petroleum.

“This is not a winner for the country,” Vilsack said. “We should be moving away from oil.”