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.
Polk County Republican Party Chairman Ted Sporer announced Thursday that he wishes to become the new state chair of the Republican Party of Iowa.
Sporer, who made his announcement during an appearance on Christian conservative radio host Steave Deace’s drive-time radio program on WHO 1040, said the reason he should be RPI chair is because he “understands the disconnect between the state party and the county parties.”
“We don’t get support from the state party or information from the state party,” he said. “In 2002, the counties got money for phone banks. There were no phone banks. There were one or two lonely phone banks funded entirely by the Victory Program out of D.C. To keep doing to same thing over and over again really is insane.”
Current RPI Chair Stewart Iverson announced Thursday that he won’t seek another term. Iverson, a former Senate majority leader, stepped into the position after Sioux City activist Ray Hoffmann resigned shortly after the 2006 election, an election that saw the GOP lose control of both houses of the legislature and the governor’s mansion.
Sporer said his major difference with current leadership is that he wants to fight.
“We need to fight with the Democrats. I want to fight with the Democrats every day,” he said. “I want our party leadership to join me in that.”
The current GOP leadership has led the party to the bottom, he said.
“If 2009 doesn’t look like the bottom has dropped out, I mean if this isn’t truly where you bottom out, what’s it going to look like?” he said. “We have to turn around and start fighting back.”
Sporer said the party must return to its conservative values, from fiscal to social and everywhere in between.
“We were so not conservative in the last election cycle,” he said, adding: “[Republicans] are so afraid of losing power that they pander to the middle instead of running hard and proud as who they are.”
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