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.
Democrat-turned-independent candidate William Meyers, who hoped to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Latham in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, told the Iowa Independent yesterday that his name would not appear on the ballot this November.
But he said it is not for lack of signed petitions. Those, he said, he “surrendered” to “Democratic leaders.”
Nor is it for lack of interest. In a statement sent yesterday afternoon, Meyers noted his intention to stay “very much in this race.”
Why he surrendered his nomination papers to Democratic leaders remains unclear, and Meyers was unwilling to reveal the identities of the recipients of the nomination papers when asked. His statement implied that the recipients had broken a promise to him.
Here is the full text of Meyers’s press release:
DEMOCRATS BREAK PROMISE TO 4TH DISTRICT CANDIDATE
Meyers Surrenders Nomination Papers to Democratic Leaders
“I’m not on the ballot, but I am very much in this race.” Said William J. Meyers, an Independent candidate for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District. Earlier this week, Meyers surrendered his required signature petitions for ballot access to Democratic leaders. In previous public announcements, Meyers said the only reason he was running on an independent ticket was to make a stance on party policies, which needed to be “set in stone” in the form of rules that could be strictly enforced.
Meyers, a former Marine Corps Terrorism expert, is outraged by the party’s actions, “I just wanted to ensure that future candidates did not have doors closed to them as I had on me. This is a mass movement, which needs to be accepting to all comers. Now, the minute I surrendered my petitions, they closed the doors again. I had a feeling they would do this, but trusted a certain individual. Democrats had a real opportunity to establish something real and lasting, but once again they shoot themselves in the foot. I will continue my mission into November……..people have asked why I didn’t attempt to change the rules from the inside, well….sometimes you stroke a donkey and give it a treat, but then there are times like this when you have to grab it by the tail and give it a hard kick in the rear end.” Meyers is without enough time to obtain signatures again, so is asking supporters to use the write in option on November’s ballots. That is unless, of course, Democratic leaders deliver his nomination papers to the Secretary of State for him.
Meyers is also leading the fight against Iowa’s newly enacted smoking ban, as he recently launched a new website, REPEALTHESMOKINGBAN.ORG, which has become the focus point for citizens infuriated by the ban.
Undeterred, Meyers also recently launched a new campaign Web site that features Whitesnake’s seminal 1980s rock anthem, “Here I Go Again (On My Own).”
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