Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Veteran Iowa journalist Chuck Offenburger, formerly with The Des Moines Register and now managing his own Web site, has publicly endorsed Ames businessman Matt Randall in the race to lead the Republican Party of Iowa.
It’s a good field of candidates for the chairperson position, but I think there’s a clear choice here. I believe the person who can best lead the party rebuilding and unification that needs to happen across Iowa; who can lead the way in candidate identification and development; who can be the most effective fundraiser; who can articulate Republican philosophy in a broad compelling way, and the person who can get the Iowa GOP back to winning ways again, is Ames businessman Matt Randall.
Randall, 33, is the youngest person in the race. But instead of being a disadvantage for him, Offenburger said his age merely allows him to be his own man.
Randall said he thinks his not having been allied with any particular candidate or group in the party could be an asset in his efforts to unify Republicans. Or, as he put it rather bluntly, “I haven’t been anybody’s boy, and I don’t come with an any hidden agenda.”
Offenburger said he knows his party needs a “wholesale rebuilding” after two straight election defeats, and his hope is that leadership will see Randall for what he is — “a key player in the future of not only the Republican Party but also the state of Iowa.”
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