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.
An Iowa Bystander commentary has called for the ouster of the top official at the Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans, citing concerns with his leadership and role in the commission spending $75,000 on a disparity study in Davenport.
The commentary’s headline read “Time for a change: Fire Abraham Funchess.” It slammed the commission’s division administrator for his “lack of leadership” in the commission’s Ongoing Covenant with Black Iowa (OCBI), which is a five-year project to improve the lives of blacks in 10 cities. The article stated Funchess is “one of the nicest people you’ll meet in Iowa” but stated he isn’t qualified to do his job and lacks the leadership skills necessary to lead the OCBI effort and the commission.The June 23 “official Iowa Bystander Commentary” also attacked Funchess for “taking credit” for the study and criticized the commission for using its meager budget on the study. Funchess could not be reached for comment.
Michael Blackwell, chairman of the commission, called the commentary a “personality assassination.” He said the criticism is not constructive.
“I think it’s just grasping on their part to try to substantiate their position that Abraham should go,” Blackwell said. “They don’t really have just grounds for saying that. I don’t believe they know exactly really what Abraham has been trying to do. The OCBI is a constructive endeavor.”
He and Funchess are “about trying to improve the lives of black Iowans,” he said.
The commission has experienced problems, including a delay in hiring project coordinators, communication issues, low public attendance at an annual summit, past difficulties in securing a quorum for meetings and budget snafus, according to those interviewed by Iowa Independent. However, no one said Funchess should be fired.
Commissioner Redmond Jones said commissioners earlier this year evaluated Funchess’ performance during an executive session. The commissioners came out “in support of the job the division administrator has done,” Jones said.
“I can say that I have not heard criticism from a citizen that reflected [a call to fire him],” Jones said.
Walter Reed, director of the Iowa Department of Human Rights and Funchess’ supervisor, said the commission has improved the job it’s doing of developing the plan, which focuses on improving education, youth, economic development, political involvement, spirituality, justice issues, housing and health care in 10 cities.
Reed, who said he was not contacted by the Bystander for the commentary, said Funchess, as a gubernatorial appointee, works at the will of Gov. Chet Culver. He said there has been no reaction from the governor’s office.
The decisions of whether Funchess should be fired “are not mine. How it should be addressed is up to the governor,” Reed said.
Reed said he firmly believes in the OCBI initiative’s work, but there have been some challenges.
“There have been some significant delays in getting our internal organizational structure together,” he said. “That said, I think we’re short of where we should be in terms of organization and our ability to gather input from local communities.”
He also said there have been “modest” improvements in the profile of the commission across the state.
“It’s not where we want it to be. It’s not where it probably should be, but
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