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.
Ben Lange
Ben Lange, the Republican hoping to unseat incumbent 1st District U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, released a web video Thursday attacking his Democratic opponent and distancing himself from attack ads paid for by a nonprofit conservative organization.
Des Moines-based America Future Fund (AFF) released an ad last week alleging Braley supported building an Islamic cultural center two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. Braley said the matter is a local zoning issue and that Congress has no role, but AFF’s ad paints a misleading picture of Braley in support of Muslims building “a mosque at Ground Zero, where Islamic terrorists killed 3,000 Americans. It’s like the Japanese building at Pearl Harbor.”
Braley began airing a radio response ad this week, saying “the folks behind the sleaziest ad in history,” are now backing Lange and lying about Braley’s record. The person who produced the ad for AFF also produced the infamous, racially tinged Willie Horton television ad that helped then-Vice President George H.W. Bush bury Michael Dukakis under charges that he was soft on crime.
In his web video, Lange says the accusations that he’s engaging in “gutter politics” or “taking corporate money” are ridiculous, as he personally has accepted no corporate donations or run any TV ads. He never directly mentions AFF or their efforts to attack Braley, instead attacking the Democrat’s record on the economy and attempting to tie him to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama.
Braley spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki said in a statement to The Iowa Independent, “If Ben Lange wants to put an end to politics as usual, he should call on his special interest allies to end their smear campaign against Bruce Braley.”
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