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.
News that Democrats in the House and Senate plan to merge their versions of health care reform legislation in closed-door sessions instead of a formal conference committee has observers on both sides of the aisle upset. It even provoked C-SPAN to send a letter to Democratic leaders last week requesting that the merger be broadcast.
And while President Barack Obama may not agree, candidate Obama made it clear during an Iowa campaign stop in December 2007 that it was behind-closed-doors negotiation that doomed health care reform during the Clinton administration.
During a speech to a crowd in Washington, Iowa, Obama said the Clintons failed at health care reform because “they went about it the wrong way, they went behind closed doors and tried to come up with a plan without even including some members of Congress, including members of their own party.”
He went on to say he would try to work differently: “This is all going to be on C-SPAN, the American people will be watching, so it’s not behind closed doors, it’s open.”
Here is an Iowa Independent video of the speech:
Obama followed up his comments during a debate the next month, where he said he favored “broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are, because part of what we have to do is enlist the American people in this process.”
Blogging at The Des Moines Register, political consultant Graham Gillette, who attended the above speech, called for Obama to apologize for going back on his promise to hold health care negotiations in public.
“We will never know what price we Americans have paid for these closed door meetings, because the President has opted to govern as usual instead of abiding to the lofty promises he made on snowy days when he was a candidate to bring change and openness,” Gillette wrote. “I know it is silly, but as a person who cheered him that cold day in Washington, Iowa and on countless other days and sites across the country when he said he would open the doors to his White House, I kind of feel he owes me a personal apology.”
Follow Jason Hancock on Twitter
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter