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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.
Republicans and Democrats are scrambling to find prospects this week to run for the Statehouse seat being vacated by GOP gubernatorial candidate Rod Roberts.
State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll (file photo)
Roberts said an interview that he was officially out of the race for the House District 51 seat he’s held a stranglehold on for a decade. He’s now completely focused on the Republican primary for governor and a series of debates set to begin April 7 in Sioux City. Roberts is also scheduled to be the guest on public television’s “Iowa Press” on April 16.
“I’m all in,” Roberts said. “The risk is well worth the taking.”
Roberts is the least known of the three candidates now seeking the Republican nomination for a run at Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.
Former Gov. Terry Branstad served in that capacity for four terms, and Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats is a leading conservative and was the party’s 2006 candidate for lieutenant governor. Roberts also has the smallest geographic base from which to launch his campaign, and he trails Branstad and Vander Plaats in fundraising.
All of that said, Roberts, who has been traveling the state since last summer, said there’s a hungering among GOP primary voters for a third option, a new voice.
“You’re 52 years old and the opportunity comes along,” Roberts said. “There are just too many interesting dynamics among the electorate to rule out a surprise candidate doing well.”
With Roberts out the big local political question remains: Who will run to succeed Roberts, a highly popular legislator?
One Republican, 41-year-old Joel Pawletzki of Carroll, an employee at Graddy’s tomato operation and a hospital dietician worker, has indicated an intention to run as a Republican for the House seat. But local Republican leaders say they are talking to possible other candidates as well.
“We’ve been meeting with them for the last several nights,” said Craig Williams of Manning, the Carroll County Republican Party’s chairman.
Williams, an ag-businessman who has long been active in GOP politics, has considered running himself but ruled it out.
“The timing is not right,” he said, citing business commitments.
Williams sees 2010 as a big year for Republicans, and wants to make sure a Republican is along for the ride in House District 51 which includes all of Carroll County and parts of Crawford County and Sac County.
“It’s a Republican season,” Williams said. “I think the momentum is on our side at the moment.”
At the same time, registered Democratic voters far out-number Republicans in Carroll County — the dominant geography in the district.
“Do I think it’s a safe Republican seat? Of course not,” Williams said.
As of March 1, there were 5,114 Democrats and 3,092 Republicans. Independents accounted for 6,608 registered voters in the county.
“I know the state Democratic Party is calling around,” said Carroll County Auditor Joan Schettler, a Democrat.
She added, speaking of both parties, “If someone’s interested in that seat, boy, this is the year to go after it.”
Time is running short for those who may want to make the move.
The filing deadline for state candidates is this Friday with the Secretary of State’s Office.
Candidates for a House seat need 50 signatures.
If no one emerges on the ballot the GOP could convene a convention and nominate a candidate there to run in November.
Theoretically, if the GOP could keep other candidates off the Republican ballot, and Roberts loses his gubernatorial primary bid, the party could appoint him for a House re-election bid after the June 8 primary.
“They would have to make sure there was no Republican candidate,” Schettler said.
But Roberts said he has no interest in such maneuvering on his behalf.
“I can’t do both,” Roberts said. “I’ve got to choose one or the other.”
Roberts has talked to potential candidates for the House seat as well. He didn’t reveal the identities of those people in the interview.
One local Republican, Carroll County Supervisor Mark Beardmore, has said he will not be a candidate for the seat.
“It’s humbling and pleasing to be thought of even in the same breath and same sentence as Rod Roberts,” Beardmore said.
But Beardmore said he made a commitment to do the job of supervisor and won’t seek the House seat now.
“I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” Beardmore said.
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