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.
President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Eric Holder to serve as U.S. attorney general could “be much more controversial than a new administration ought to try and put forth,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said today.
During a conference call with reporters, Grassley called into question Holder’s involvement with the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich near the end of Bill Clinton’s second term, saying that may be a reason for some in the Senate to vote against him.
“I have vague memories of some of his actions being very, very controversial,” Grassley said, adding: “I don’t remember enough from eight years ago to say how serious that is.”
Hours before leaving office, President Clinton granted Rich a presidential pardon. Since Rich’s former wife and mother of his three children had made large donations to the Democratic Party and the Clinton Library during Clinton’s time in office, Clinton’s critics alleged that Rich’s pardon had been bought.
Holder was the No. 2 official at the Clinton Justice Department at the time of the pardon. According to the Associated Press, Holder told the White House that he was “neutral, leaning toward favorable” for a presidential pardon.
“But if you disregard what I mention, there isn’t any dispute about his talent as a lawyer or his capability as an assistant attorney general or whatever he was in a previous administration,” Grassley said. “So I don’t want to knock his credentials, and I tend to have deference to president on whom they might want to appoint. But if he’s done some things that are strictly political, it might question the judgment he uses and might question the judgment of Obama.”
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