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.
Rep. Dawn Pettengill’s (District 39) recent defection to the House Minority Party gave the Republicans more than just another seat, it gave them a return on their $144,340 investment. The House Democrats still hold a 53-47 majority edge, but House Minority Leader Christopher Rants expressed his satisfaction about Pettengill’s switch:
“Does this make it, perhaps, a little bit easier” for Republicans? “Yes,” Rants said. “Does that mean Democrats are going to have to work a little bit, particularly on procedure motions? Yes they will.”
In the 2006 battle for control of the Iowa House, the Republicans targeted Pettengill’s incumbency, which was considered a “competitive seat” in a study conducted by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance. The Republican Party nominated Connie Jaobsen to challenge Pettengill and helped finance her bid by contributing $144,340 to her campaign. Jacobsen’s campaign wasted no time spending money on advertising, the majority of which was doled out to RPI (Republican Party of Iowa) in Des Moines to pay for advertising and marketing. On the 24th of July, “Friends for Jacobsen” spent $55,800 on TV ad buys. Pettengill’s bid for re-election didn’t feel the pressure until just before the election, when her campaign solicited money form the Iowa Democratic Party and received $35,000 on 10/31 — $30,000 of which was spent on TV ads (Rindy Media; Austin,Texas) the very same day. Pettengill’s last-minute blitz of TV ads may have paid off, for she held on to her seat, winning by 1,606 votes over her competitor (6,365 votes for Pettengill, 4,759 for Jacobsen).
Over a quarter of a million dollars ($259,814) was raised to win the 39th district seat, which garnered 11,114 votes for both parties combined. That’s a total of $23.78 per vote. Although, when considering the amount of money contributed by the two parties, how much of this dollar amount can be attributed to the constituents of the 39th district (Benton and Iowa counties)?
When Pettengill announced her defection to the GOP, she cited serving her constituents as the main reason:”Representing my district is more important to me than that,” Pettengill said. “I don’t really care about minority or majority, I just want to do what they want me to do.”
Given Pettengill’s defection, coupled with the amount of outside money spent by both parties on this election, voters of Benton and Iowa Counties may begin questioning who’s representing whom in the their district?
Meanwhile, the Iowa Democratic Party may be asking the very same question.
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