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.
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Bob Vander Plaats is the only Republican gubernatorial candidate who has not responded to a loyalty pledge passed by the Linn County Republican Central Committee last week.
Linn County Republicans sent the pledge, which asks candidates to promise to support the party’s eventual nominee, to all four gubernatorial candidates. Former Gov. Terry Branstad and state Reps. Chris Rants and Rod Roberts have reportedly agreed. Vander Plaats remains the lone hold out.
Republcan Bob Vander Plaats (photo by Jason Hancock/Iowa Independent).
The resolution was a reaction to the the politically influential Christian group Iowa Family Policy Center endorsing Vander Plaats in the GOP primary and promising to sit out the general election if the party nominated Branstad. Response to the anti-endorsement of Branstad was quick, with many Republicans fearing the move could splinter the party and guarantee Democratic Gov. Chet Culver a second term in office.
Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson, who has formally endorsed Branstad’s campaign for a fifth term as governor, said the conservatives who push this strategy are a “jihadist sleeper cell of so-called GOP leaders” that is “refusing to work towards post-primary unity.” He formally introduced the loyalty resolution at his county’s central committee meeting last week.
David Chung, a member of the Linn County Central Committee who opposed the resolution, said on his blog that Vander Plaats’ campaign has promised to issue a press release clarifying their position soon.
It puts Vander Plaats in an interesting position. If he agrees to the pledge, he runs the danger of alienating some of his strongest and most vocal supporters who have said that they will not support Branstad even if he wins the primary. On the other hand if he does not agree to the pledge he runs the risk of alienating others in the party who consider all four of our candidates to be a better choice than re-electing Chet Culver. People seem to forget that in 2006, Vander Plaats played the good party soldier and suspended his campaign to run on a Nussle/Vander Plaats ticket. It will be interesting to see what he does this time.
Vander Plaats’ campaign manager has repeatedly refuse to rule out a third-party run for governor should he lose in the June GOP primary, first in a statement to The Des Moines Register then again to The Iowa Independent.
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