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.
Des Moines-based American Future Fund is attacking a Republican running for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky, launching a TV ad accusing candidate Rand Paul of not standing up for “real Kentucky values.”
“The people of Kentucky want to know when they are going back to work,” said AFF spokesman Nick Ryan. “With unemployment at an all time high, Kentuckians are looking for real solutions to Kentucky’s economic future not deafening silence on that issue from their leaders.”
Rand Paul
American Future Fund bills itself as an advocate for “conservative, free market ideals.” Because the organization is registered with the Internal Revenue Services as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, it does not have to reveal its contributors. A 2008 Iowa Independent investigation found the group has deep roots in both state and national Republican politics.
Most of the group’s leaders have close ties to the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Terry Branstad (and previously the 2008 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney). Among the group’s national leaders are two media consultants who played key roles in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads in 2004 and the Willie Horton ad in 1988, both of which helped defeat Democratic presidential candidates.
In 2008, the group spent millions on ads attacking Democrats in Senate campaigns around the country. Last year, the group focused its efforts on ousting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and attacking health care reform legislation. Earlier this year, AFF ran ads in the Massachusetts Senate race, and according to a study by by Wellesley College researchers, they also used “Twitter Bombs” to attack the Democrat in that race.
Rand Paul, son of Texas GOP congressman and former presidential hopeful Ron Paul, is running in the Republican primary for Senate in the Bluegrass State. He’s considered the frontrunner in the race against Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson.
Grayson has received support from the state’s senior senator, Mitch McConnell, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
Paul has been endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and Kentucky’s junior senator, Jim Bunning, who decided not to seek re-election this year.
Here is the ad AFF is launching in Kentucky:
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