But he said it is not for lack of signed petitions.  Those, he said, he “surrendered” to “Democratic leaders.”

Nor is it for lack of interest.  In a statement sent yesterday afternoon, Meyers noted his intention to stay “very much in this race.”

Why he surrendered his nomination papers to Democratic leaders remains unclear, and Meyers was unwilling to reveal the identities of the recipients of the nomination papers when asked. His statement implied that the recipients had broken a promise to him.

Here is the full text of Meyers’s press release:

DEMOCRATS BREAK PROMISE TO 4TH DISTRICT CANDIDATE

Meyers Surrenders Nomination Papers to Democratic Leaders

“I’m not on the ballot, but I am very much in this race.” Said William J. Meyers, an Independent candidate for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District. Earlier this week, Meyers surrendered his required signature petitions for ballot access to Democratic leaders. In previous public announcements, Meyers said the only reason he was running on an independent ticket was to make a stance on party policies, which needed to be “set in stone” in the form of rules that could be strictly enforced.

Meyers, a former Marine Corps Terrorism expert, is outraged by the party’s actions, “I just wanted to ensure that future candidates did not have doors closed to them as I had on me. This is a mass movement, which needs to be accepting to all comers. Now, the minute I surrendered my petitions, they closed the doors again. I had a feeling they would do this, but trusted a certain individual. Democrats had a real opportunity to establish something real and lasting, but once again they shoot themselves in the foot. I will continue my mission into November……..people have asked why I didn’t attempt to change the rules from the inside, well….sometimes you stroke a donkey and give it a treat, but then there are times like this when you have to grab it by the tail and give it a hard kick in the rear end.” Meyers is without enough time to obtain signatures again, so is asking supporters to use the write in option on November’s ballots. That is unless, of course, Democratic leaders deliver his nomination papers to the Secretary of State for him.

Meyers is also leading the fight against Iowa’s newly enacted smoking ban, as he recently launched a new website, REPEALTHESMOKINGBAN.ORG, which has become the focus point for citizens infuriated by the ban.

Undeterred, Meyers also recently launched a new campaign Web site that features Whitesnake’s seminal 1980s rock anthem, “Here I Go Again (On My Own).”

4th District independent candidate for U.S. Congress William Meyers

The site, RepealTheSmokingBan.org, officially went live earlier today. Meyers said he is currently operating it on his own but hopes in the coming days to contact interested parties who are working to overturn the ban to see if they would be interested in utilizing the site to unify the movement on a statewide basis.

“I want to donate the site to groups trying to get this terrible law overturned,” Meyers said. “This site can help form a statewide coalition to make that a reality.”

Meyers said he first became interested in the idea when he was running in the Democratic primary for the 4^th District U.S. Congressional seat. The site, however, is completely separate from his independent run for Congress, Meyers said, though he hopes he can use the experience he has gained during the campaign to benefit the anti-ban movement.

“I’m willing to do what I can, whether that is helping with research for a future lawsuit, assist in online networking or just out talking to people and letting them know why this ban is a bad idea.”

One section of the site, entitled “The Nannies,” lists every legislator who voted in favor of the smoking ban, along with contact information. A “Nanny,” according to the site, is anyone who “thinks they should be able to tell other adults how to live. The militantly anti-anything-else-they-see-someone-else-enjoying.”

Many Democrats were already upset with Meyers, fearing his independent run for Congress could siphon votes away from Democratic nominee Becky Greenwald and tip the race to Republican incumbent Tom Latham. In designing a Web site aimed directly at a bill Democratic legislators and Democratic Gov. Chet Culver advocated,he runs the risk of further alienating the Democratic establishment.

“I think this shows my willingness to reach across the aisle and speak out on an issue I believe in,” he said. “I was embarrassed to call myself a Democrat when my party pushed through the smoking ban, and I think it will hurt them and any Republican who voted for it this fall.”

This morning Meyers met for coffee with Tom Harrington of the central committee. Meyers said at the meeting he was offered a spot on the central committee if he agreed to end his independent run. Harrington said no such offer was made, only the suggestion “from one Democrat to another” that if Meyers felt wronged in the primary process,  it would be easy for him to join the central committee and try to change things.

“I was not there as a representative of the Democratic Party,” Harrington said. “And I certainly didn’t make any formal offer. I read on blogs and in the newspaper that he felt he was treated unfairly in the primary, and I wanted to see what his issues were.”

Meyers said that while there was no “formal offer,” it was clear why Harrington was there.

“He was there to discourage me from running as an independent,” he said. “It was pretty clear. I told him I wasn’t interested in what he had to offer, and the meeting ended very cordially.”

District central committee members are elected by county central committees, so Harrington is not in a position to offer a seat since elections took place at county conventions earlier this year. But Harrington said there are seats that were left unfilled, and he mentioned to Meyers it would be pretty easy for him to get on the committee.

Meyers, a former anti-terrorist specialist for the Marines, told the Iowa Independent on June 5 that county Democratic Party leaders improperly shut him out of key meetings and prevented him from obtaining information critical to his primary campaign. He said Democratic chairmen or their staff in Warren, Dallas, Kossuth and Webster counties failed to provide information such as lists of county activists. He also said he was not invited to some meetings at which some of his three opponents spoke to party activists.

It was for those reasons he decided to run, Meyers said, and those issues would not be solved simply by his joining the central committee.

“If I end my campaign, I lose all my leverage to change things,” he said. “There is a lot of behind-the-scenes baloney that goes on, and I am very skeptical of the people in power of the state party right now.”

The first day Meyers can file to run as an independent candidate is July 28. He attained the 300 signatures needed to file before the primary vote even took place. He said he anticipates that this won’t be the last contact the Iowa Democratic Party has with him to try to get him to drop his campaign, but unlessparty members are serious about instituting rule changes to stop what he sees as “good old boy” politics, he will follow through with his independent run into November.

Meyers also said he has heard from nine people looking for help to file as no-party candidates to run in legislative races this fall against incumbent Democrats who supported the state’s smoking ban, but he would not release their names to Iowa Independent without getting permission from the nine first.

“They turned to me for advice on how to do it,” he said. “It’s very encouraging to get that kind of response.”

Meyers will face off with Latham and Democrat Becky Greenwald this fall.

Kim Pieper, spokeswoman for the Greenwald campaign, directed questions to the Iowa Democratic Party. Brooke Borkenhagen, the state party’s press secretary, said that while they respect Meyers’ right to run for office, Democrats in the 4th District spoke loudly on primary night.

“[Greenwald] received more than 50 percent of the vote in a four-way race,” Borkenhagen said. “The party is very much united behind her.”

Gordon Fischer, former chair of the Iowa Democratic Party who did not endorse any candidates in the 4th District primary, said it is true that the chairperson of a county Democratic Party can decide who speaks at meetings, which means Meyers could have been shut out of certain counties.

“But I have never heard of something like that happening,” Fischer said. “County chairs are always very open, and even if they aren’t, a vote by the county central committee would override them and allow a person to speak.”

Democrats have high hopes of defeating Latham in the 4th District, and the timing seemed to be right. Most observers believe this will be another big year for Democrats around the country, and for the first time since district lines were redrawn after the 2000 census, registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in the 4th District.

The other incumbents in Iowa, Reps. Leonard Boswell, Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack, along with Sen. Tom Harkin, appear to be relatively safe this fall, so the state and national party was very interested in the 4th District.

“I don’t think his Independent run is going to have much impact,” Fischer said. “I think a lot of the people who supported him in the primary will support the Democratic nominee, so him being in the race won’t make a lot of difference.”

Before the primary, observers were quick to point out how important it would be for Democrats to unify around the nominee in order to send a message to the national party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that this was a swing district. Latham has served six terms in Congress, winning in recent years with around 60 percent of the vote.

Whether Meyers’ Independent run will affect the DCCC perception of the race remains to be seen, but most don’t seem worried.

“I presume very few voters in the district [outside of where he lives] know him now or ever will,” said John Norris, chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board and the 2002 Democratic nominee in the 4th Congressional District who endorsed Greenwald. “That generally means he pulls votes that would otherwise be anti-Latham votes, but if Greenwald’s campaign is strong, and I presume she will run a solid if not very good campaign, she will not be hurt very much by Meyers.”

Kevin Miskell, who came in fourth in Tuesday’s primary, said the race to defeat Latham is not going to be easy, but he, too, doubts that Meyers will have much of an impact.

“But if he goes out and tries to play the role of the spoiler, I think it’s going to damage his reputation and his future in politics,” he said.

Fischer said he hopes Meyers will reconsider.

“I’d hope he’d respect the will of the voters,” he said. 

Meyers said he began gathering the 300 signatures he needed to get his name on the ballot for the general election before the primary took place.

"We already have the signatures we need, and we're just waiting for the filing period to begin to file them," Meyers said in an interview with the Iowa Independent. "There is still time for the [Democratic] Party to talk me out of it, but I don't think that's likely."

Screenshot of Meyers' Web site, www.meyersforhouse.com, which has been converted to reflect his Independent affiliation.

He blamed behind-the-scenes moves by officials with local chapters of the Democratic Party who supported Greenwald for driving him to make this decision. He said local county officials, including Greenwald, who serves as chair of the Dallas County Democratic Party, denied him access to the local chapter's central committees, damaging his campaign in Dallas, Warren and Webster counties, to name a few.

"People will say that I could get a voter list form the secretary of state's office," Meyers said. "But I was denied access to the central committees of certain counties, which cut me off from party activists who could have helped get my name out to voters."

"It was crooked the way the party treated me," he continued.

Meyers said he has no confidence in Greenwald as a candidate in the fall or in Congress if she is elected.

"She doesn't have any real ideas," he said. "She's just saying what she's been told to say by the party, and we are already represented by a rubber stamp. I don't want to elect someone like that again."

Meyers wouldn't comment on what, exactly, the Democratic Party could say between now and July 28 when when the filing period for independent candidates begins, saying only that he would like for Democratic officials to admit that they were wrong in denying him access to county central committees.

Meyers' decision comes on the heels of a Democratic primary in the 3rd Congressional District where party loyalty played a key role. In that race, incumbent Rep. Leonard Boswell made challenger Ed Fallon's support of Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in the 2000 election central to the campaign, calling Fallon's credentials as a Democrat into question.

"I'm part of a new generation of Democrats," Meyers said. "I'm willing to stand up and do what I think is right, so I'm not concerned about my political future. Doing an integrity check on my party is a good thing that will make it stronger in the long term."

Greenwald could not be reached for comment. Several Democratic county chairs named by Meyers did not return phone calls seeking comment.

William Meyers sees himself as the Jimmy Stewart character in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” only in this edition, Mr. Smith is a Marine.

Meyers specialized in counterterrorism in the Marine Corps before sustaining a back injury in a training exercise in 2000. After returning home, Meyers became an activist for veterans’ rights, lobbying the Department of Veterans Affairs for years in hopes of improving care for veterans. Now, the 33-year-old Humboldt native is throwing his hat into the political ring, competing in the four-way Democratic primary to take on incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Latham this fall. Meyers said that while he may not have the money or connections of his opponents, he has experienced firsthand the things they can only talk about: universal health care, living as an immigrant in the United Kingdom and Austria and fighting global terrorism.

So with his wife, Raphaela, by his side, Meyers is taking his story from voter to voter in the hopes that he can pull a June surprise and carry the Democratic banner into November.

Here is where Meyers stands on the issues:

The economy

“My Democratic opponents and Congressman Latham are only proposing temporary fixes for what truly ails our economy. Like a house with a crumbling foundation, you can’t turn to simple fixes to solve the problems. You have to do huge renovations.

“One of the wisest things we can do for our country is invest in our citizens. The next genius who could solve a problem for this world could also be too poor to afford higher education. So I say, in exchange for serving your community and country, the government should pay to send you to college. If you serve in the military, as a police officer, work at a nursing home, work with the park service, any number of ways to serve, you should get compensated by getting to go to college. It’s a way to take care of people from the ground up.”

Health care

“I’ve lived under two [single-payer] health care systems, and they work amazingly. That is the direction we need to take our country in. People will argue that taxes will go up if we do it, but if you subtract what you spend on health insurance now, you’ll see that in reality you save money and ensure everyone is covered.

“This would be a huge gain for lower income folks, for employers, for unions, for everyone. It’s a win-win situation.”

Immigration

“We need stronger enforcement on our immigration laws, because a lack of enforcement has made our nation less secure. Businesses that profit off of what is in essence black market slavery need to be punished in a way that ensures a message is sent that we won’t tolerate it any more. As for the illegal immigrants that are already here, they have committed a crime and should not be rewarded with a special path to residency. A crime is a crime and we should have them return home and go through the proper channels to become citizens.

“I lived as an immigrant in two European countries, and so I have a perspective on this. I had to go through an integration system that, among other things, ensured I could speak the language. These people need the skills to ensure they can fend for themselves in society. That’s the kind of plan I’m proposing, which I think is far more progressive than any of my opponents’ plans.”

The war in Iraq

“I’ve been outspoken in my opposition to this war since before the invasion. I wasn’t a sheep and I won’t be when I’m in Washington.

“The biggest mistake we made was ousting every member of the Baath Party from the Iraqi government. That ensured that 90 percent of the population couldn’t be involved in rebuilding and stabilizing that country. I think that we need to take a serious look at bringing some of those people back in the government to restore stability so we can eventually fall off and withdraw from there.

“I think if we can begin the process of stabilizing Iraq, our troops could be home in five years. My opponents keep saying `swiftly and safely,’ but that is just politics talk or incompetence. It is not going to be easy to get our troops home, but it can be done and it must be done.”

Rep. Tom Latham

“He’s been a rubber stamp for the Bush administration and the Republican Party. He only represents the extreme right wing of the population, not the majority.”