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.
While the idea of scrapping the Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) and replacing it with a public-private partnership has merit, there are also concerns that need to be given consideration before moving forward, said state Rep. Linda Upmeyer (R-Garner), who will take over as House Majority Leader in January.
On the campaign trail, Gov.-elect Terry Branstad repeatedly discussed plans to privatize portions of IDED. One of his first appointments to the new administration was Debi Durham, president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, who will lead the new economic development agency.
In an interview with Melissa Maynard of Stateline.org, Upmeyer said the problems associated with illegal spending in the Iowa Film Office should serve as a cautionary tale of what happens when oversight takes a back seat to expediency. Earlier this year, state audits discovered millions of dollars in tax credits were improperly awarded in an attempt to enhance the state’s film industry, and the biggest reason was a lack of oversight.
From Stateline:
Iowa House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer notes that the film incentive program was exempted from usual processes governing tax incentives — including review by a board made up of private-sector leaders—in the hopes of allowing the state to act more quickly when competing against other states for major films. The same desire for quick action is driving the governor’s privatization proposal, and for that reason Upmeyer wants to proceed cautiously. “You would love to have the nimbleness, the flexibility that was clearly being used in the film program, but you’ve got to have some oversight,” she says.
Upmeyer went on to say that many of the functions IDED are already being conducted with a good mix of private-sector input. But with enough planning, the new governor’s idea could work well and give the state the ability to “be nimble without being fraudulent.”
In explaining his plan, Branstad would typically point to Indiana as a success story in implementing a public-private economic development agency. But as Indianapolis, Ind., NBC-affiliate WTHR-TV reported in March, 40 percent of the jobs the state’s public-private agency claimed to create never materialized. The agency also refused to disclose information on jobs or tax credits to the media.
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