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.
The American Future Fund, an Iowa-based non-profit that advocates nationally for conservative policies, is focusing its gaze on U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
The group has launched a Web site, Watchin’ Reid, with the goal of ousting the senator from his seat in 2010.
AFF’s spokesman, Tim Albrecht, told The Washington, D.C., Examiner that the site will highlight Reid’s public gaffes and “demonstrate that he’s taking the Senate down a much more liberal path that does not line up with the rest of the country.”
American Future Fund spent about $10 million targeting Democratic Senate candidates across the country during the 2008 election cycle, with limited success. Because it is organized as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, it does not have to disclose its donors and is not subject to oversight by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).
Its political action committee (PAC), which is officially operating the Reid Web site since nonprofits are barred from directly advocating for or against a candidate, had a little more than $1,000 cash on hand and $2,000 in debts as of Jan. 1, according to documents filed with the FEC. During the 2008 cycle, the PAC never raised more than a few thousand dollars.
An Iowa Independent investigation last year found that the group is led by a cadre of of influential Iowa Republicans as well as media consultants who played key roles in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads in 2004 and the Willie Horton ad in 1988. The group is also mainly comprised of former aides to Mitt Romney’s failed presidential campaign.
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