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.
Former Gov. Terry Branstad is building a statewide organization to run for Iowa governor again, even if he won’t admit it for personal, professional, or political reasons.
Two developments today warrant some explication:
1. Political operatives don’t give up cushy jobs to work for a candidate who isn’t going to run for anything.
Republican Party of Iowa Executive Director Jeff Boeyink stepped down from his position today to work for Branstad’s campaign committee. The primary is less than a year away, so he wouldn’t have made this decision if Branstad was really still in the “exploratory” phase of his campaign. Any candidate that does not make a decision to run soon will miss the boat, and Boeyink would almost certainly have gotten assurances from Branstad before sailing into uncharted waters for the former governor.
Boeyink’s move also means that Branstad has alreaady raised enough money to pay his salary, which would be fairly significant, for at least a few months.
2. Calling yourself “NextGen PAC” doesn’t necessarily mean you represent a new generation of anything.
After the Draft Branstad PAC, which was actually a 527 group, was forced to shut down when Branstad filed papers to become a candidate for governor, 63-year-old former state Rep. Sandy Greiner announced the creation of a new committee called “NextGen PAC,” presumably to continue advocating (indirectly) for Branstad, who was first elected governor 27 years ago.
Many political committees have Orwellian names, but this one is a whopper. Do Greiner and Branstad really represent the GOP’s next generation of leaders? Who comprises the current generation of the GOP? Or the immediate past generation?
The new name clearly reflects a bit of conventional political wisdom: Turn your weaknesses into strengths before opponents have a chance to exploit them. If nothing else, this indicates that consultants and political professionals, not grassroots activists, are probably pulling the levers behind the scenes.
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