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.
Attacks against the I-JOBS bonding initiative and a proposal to divert portions of the Road Use Tax Fund to pay state troopers by former Gov. Terry Branstad are clear examples of hypocrisy, Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) Chairman Michael Kiernan said Tuesday.
IDP Chairman Michael Kiernan, left, and former Gov. Terry Branstad
“He’s a hypocrite. Period.” Kiernan said. “He’s looking at his own record with rose-colored glasses making calculated, political decisions that will, in his mind, distance himself from his own record and help him win the [Republican gubernatorial] primary.”
Branstad has been highly critical of the $830 million I-JOBS bonding plan, a proposal Democratic Gov. Chet Culver called the centerpiece of his 2009 legislative agenda. At a recent Republican Party of Iowa event, Branstad said “too much debt is bad and those that create it should be thrown out of office.”
The Democrats point out that Branstad used public bonding to fund more than $613 million in projects between 1989 and 1994. Those projects included a state prison at Clarinda ($22.6 million); the Iowa Communications Network ($115 million) and the Underground Storage Tank cleanup program ($141 million). Adjusted for inflation, Branstad’s bonding totals nearly $1 billion.
“Here’s the general rule of thumb for Taxin’ Terry: He was for it before he was against it, and now no one knows what, if anything, he stands for,” Kiernan said. “Branstad criticizing Governor Culver for using bonding to fund I-Jobs after bonding out nearly a billion dollars in state projects himself is hypocritical.”
Branstad has also been critical of a plan announced by Culver to pay state troopers out of the Road Use Tax Fund, which is designated to pay for road construction and maintenance projects. Branstad said the idea was “a bad budget practice that was used in the past, and as governor I put an end to it.”
But one of Branstad’s Republican rivals, state Rep. Chris Rants, said it wasn’t the governor who ended the practice, but the legislature.
“Terry Branstad must have forgotten that in 1985 Gov. Branstad started the practice of funding the Iowa State Patrol from the Road Use Tax Fund. Gov. Branstad used this bad budget practice for 11 years as governor,” Rants said, adding: “The practice didn’t come to an end until my first term in the legislature when people like myself made the tough decisions needed to get Iowa’s fiscal house in order.”
The Sioux City Journal reports Tuesday that Branstad attempted to explain his past use of the Road Use Fund during a campaign stop Monday, saying it was done during the Farm Crisis of the 1980s and was corrected during his administration.
Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht could not be immediately reached for comment.
Follow Jason Hancock on Twitter
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter