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.
Gov. Chet Culver’s re-election hopes are in “deep trouble,” and he runs a very real risk of being the first Iowa governor since 1962 to be defeated, former Democratic state Rep. Ed Fallon said in an Op-Ed sent to the media Tuesday morning.
Fallon, who lost to Culver in a three-way Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2006, said the public has seen “little to no progress on key front-and-center concerns such as climate change, labor law, campaign finance and the regulation of corporate hog confinements, to name a few.”
Fallon also points to Culver’s response to last year’s floods and the state of the economy as reasons why the public is losing faith in their governor.
Former state Rep. Ed Fallon.
“Culver seems to have forgotten the all-important maxim ‘dance with the one that brought you,’” Fallon writes. “A disturbing number of party activists have told me they’ve been snubbed by the governor, as have many elected officials. While failing to maintain good relations with one’s political base is always a bad idea, snubbing one’s base in advance of re-election is a recipe for political suicide.”
The Des Moines Democrat then explains his own problems getting access to the governor, something he’s talked about before. At the time he made his complaints public, the governor’s staff chalked it up to a case of Fallon trying to land a job in the Culver Administration.
Culver can not expect his party’s base to support him if he continues to ignore their issues, Fallon said.
“Like so many other disgruntled Iowa Democrats, I’m tired of being asked to be a campaign foot soldier only to be ignored – and to have the issues I care about ignored – once the election is over,” he said.
The governor has been taking repeated attacks from Republicans hoping to unseat him next year, and while Fallon’s latest critique represents the most scathing to come from the left it is not the first time Culver has had problems with his party’s base.
In 2008, the governor angered labor unions after he vetoed a bill expanding collective bargaining rights for public-sector employees. At the time, labor leaders called the move an “out-and-out betrayal.” Unions contributed heavily to Culver’s 2006 gubernatorial victory.
The two sides appear to have mended their relationship, though, and during the 2009 legislative session Culver made a public push for passage of several key pieces of labor’s agenda.
Many will see Fallon’s public criticism of the governor as an indicator that he is laying the groundwork for a primary challenge in 2010.
Fallon told the Iowa Independent he will not be a candidate for governor next year.
“In fact, I’d like to be able to actively support [Gov. Culver], like I did in 2006,” Fallon said. “But first, he has to keep his promise to provide leadership on campaign finance reform and controlling urban sprawl, and he and his staff have to be more responsive to the general public.”
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