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.
Voters will get a replay of the wild and contentious race for state House District 84, as Republican Ross Paustian will once again challenge Democratic Rep. Elesha Gayman, according to Quad-City Times reporter Ed Tibbetts.
On Election Night, Paustian looked victorious, with early returns showing him with a narrow lead over Gayman. But when absentee ballots were counted, Gayman overcame that deficit and held on to her seat by a comfortable 800-vote margin.
The campaign took a nasty turn in its final days, with Gayman running an ad accusing Paustian of being sentenced to jail in 1993 for failing to pay child support. Paustian immediately condemned the ad as “an outright lie.”
Republicans responded with a mailer against Gayman that featured pigs on the cover with the text “These little piggies went to Des Moines.”
The race also promises to be expensive. While reports filed with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board prior to Election Day show Paustian only spent $27,000, he received $209,152 in in-kind contributions from the Republican Party of Iowa for advertising. Gayman spent nearly $20,000 but received almost $280,000 from the Iowa Democratic Party.
Gayman won the district, which consists of west Davenport and Scott County, by scoring a 273-vote upset against Jim Van Fossen in 2006.
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