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.
Bryan Fischer
The political arm of the American Family Association has “invested $200,000″ in the campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices up for a retention vote this fall, according to Bryan Fischer, the group’s director of issue analysis for government and public policy.
However, disclosure reports filed with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board (IECDB) show only $60,000 has been spent thus far by AFA Action Inc. The campaign, dubbed Iowa for Freedom and led by former GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats, is not a separate legal entity but rather a local committee of AFA Action.
Patrick Vaughn, general counsel for American Family Association, said in an e-mail to The Iowa Independent that his group will “be filing requisite disclosures” on the money that is not yet accounted for by the IECDB. Fischer made his comments at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.
“The Supreme Court in Iowa in 2009 imposed same-sex marriage on the Hawkeye State,” Fischer said. “Three of the judges who were a part of that ruling are on the ballot for a retention vote in November. AFA Action has already invested $200,000 in that campaign, because we think that is a campaign we can win.”
Fischer said AFA research shows 28 percent of Iowans will vote “no” on judge retention “as a matter of course.”
“So we don’t have to get from zero to 51 percent, we only have to get from 28 to 51 percent,” he said. “This is the first opportunity that the citizens class has had to strike a blow against judicial activism, and we believe that’s a fight that we can win.”
New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage has also been involved in the campaign, spending $235,000 on a television advertisement earlier this month.
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