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.
Gov. Chet Culver is once again sparring with the media over open records laws.
The governor has told the Des Moines Register it will be charged $630 for a state lawyer to determine whether e-mails relating to the Atalissa scandal can legally be kept confidential.
The proposed fee of $630 is not for copies of the e-mails. It is just for the cost of having Culver’s staff attorney, James Larew, examine each of 900 e-mails related to Henry’s Turkey Service and the city of Atalissa and then determine whether each e-mail can be kept secret.
The newspaper would have to pay the fee even if Larew ultimately determined that most or all of the records should be kept confidential.
The policy started at the end of the 2008 legislative session. Culver announced that state agencies can charge residents for the time it takes government attorneys to review public documents requested under the state’s open-records laws. That “reasonable” fee is estimated at $25 to $35 an hour.
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has reviewed Culver’s policy and said it is legal.
However, open-record advocates have said they worry the new policy will institute a costly barrier to openness throughout state government. Public records belong to the public, they argue, and Culver should not make it more difficult to get those records.
During his 2006 campaign for governor, and in the wake of the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium (CIETC) pay scandal, Culver stressed the need for strong open-records laws. His inaugural address in January 2007 hailed open government, saying Iowans “are right to demand ethical, accountable and open government.”
Since then, however, Culver has had several run-ins with newspapers requesting information. In August, Culver’s staff refused to release a draft report that outlines Iowa’s housing recommendations after the floods. The reports were withheld because they are drafts, not final documents, the governor’s staff contended, and all were eventually released.
In early December, Culver’s staff refused to release a list of recommended budget cuts given to the governor from state departments. And in January, the governor refused to turn over e-mails surrounding his office’s response to the unexpected death of a resident at a state-run home for the disabled, once again calling them draft documents.
Iowa’s open-records law does not include an exemption for draft documents.
Committees in both chambers of the legislature have approved bills updating and expanding public access to government meetings and records. Senate File 161 creates a five-member board appointed by the governor to oversee enforcement. House Study Bill 234 calls for a 16-member advisory council to serve as a resource for public access.
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