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.
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement has filed an ethics complaint against State Rep. Dolores Mertz (D-Ottosen) on the grounds that her personal finances are too closely tied to the industry she helps to oversee as chair of the House Agriculture Committee.
Mertz, a rural legislator whose voting record is towards the conservative end of the Democratic spectrum, has family ties to factory farming. According to CCI’s press release:
Rep. Mertz has family ties to the factory farm industry, as her sons Peter and David own a 4,000-head hog factory in southern Kossuth County. They have owned a operated the site for at least ten years and have been cited for five violations in the last five years. She also has financial ties to the industry — Mertz allows her sons to spread factory farm manure on her farmland and rents those acres to them. Mertz counts her farmland as a main source of income.
House Speaker Pat Murphy defended Mertz in a statement issued this afternoon:
“As an Iowa farmer who has spent over two decades in the Iowa House, Rep. Mertz has the experience and knowledge to lead the House Agriculture Committee. She knows the problems faced by Iowa farmers today and understands the agricultural issues facing our state. As chair of the House Agriculture Committee over the last three years, no one can surpass Rep. Mertz’s expertise on agriculture issues.”
Though filing ethics charges is serious, a source in the statehouse tells the Iowa Independent that it is not likely to result in the removal of Mertz from her chair of the Agriculture Committee.
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