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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State Rep. Wayne Ford
Former Democratic state Rep. Ed Fallon, filling in for liberal radio host Chris Bradshaw on his afternoon WOW-FM program, said he has heard from numerous sources that Wayne Ford will not seek re-election in Iowa House District 65.
Ford’s retirement would be significant, since it has not been made public and the deadline for candidates to file to run for state offices is Friday at 5 p.m. Fallon said he twice confronted Ford about the accusation but the Des Moines Democrat refused to answer. The problem, Fallon said, is that instead of a “true democratic, small ‘D,’ primary, the party will get to pick the nominee.”
“This is a new and rather sleazy tactic” Fallon said.
Ford did not respond to interview requests from The Iowa Independent.
The district is made up of several neighborhoods in northeast Des Moines and considered one of the safest Democratic seats in the state. Ford has represented HD65 since 1997.
Fallon encouraged listeners to help him find a candidate to run as a Democrat before Friday, saying its the only way to overcome the “clandestine effort” to handpick the Democratic candidate.
“You might consider thinking about who in your area would make a good Democratic candidate for statehouse,” he said. “Because if you don’t, the party will pick the candidate.”
Last month, Fallon announced he was actively trying to recruit a candidate to challenge Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in the June primary.
Ali Glisson, communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party, refuted Fallon’s claims.
“Whatever a member of the legislature decides to do, it is a personal decision that I will not speculate about,” she said. “But, I can assure you that the Iowa Democratic Party is not something out of Bond movie. No ‘cover up’ is going on. We remain confident that the Iowa House will remain under Democratic control.”
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