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.
As Faith in America begins its ad campaign in Ames to challenge discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, it comes to a state with likely allies. Last week, by a vote of 59 to 37, the Iowa House passed a civil rights bill, according to the Des Moines Register, that “would make it illegal to discriminate in employment, public accommodation, credit, housing and education based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”
In a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Democrat from Des Moines, praised the bill’s passage and explained how he successfully maneuvered around Republican House Minority Leader Christopher Rants.
The Iowa Senate had passed the civil rights bill in late March, but the bill was stalled in the House. “We did not have the votes to pass it in our caucus,” McCarthy said. “There were not 51 votes. There were 50 votes in our caucus. That’s what caused a delay.” The Democratic leadership had gone over the numbers again and again. While there were no more Democrats who would support the bill, McCarthy said he knew of Republicans who wanted to pass it. Rants, however, threatened a lockdown of his caucus—refusing to let members support it against their will. “I confirmed that assertion with a few of his members,” McCarthy said.
Despite their uncertainty, Democrats brought the bill to the floor. “It was one of those rare occurrences when we decided to bring up a vote and we didn’t know if it would pass,” McCarthy said. But he also had a trick up his sleeve—a procedural move called “Call of the House,” which forced all of the representatives to be present and vote for or against the legislation. “I wanted to prevent two or three Republicans from taking a walk,” he said. “Stay there and put up your vote.”
The tactic worked. After a couple Republicans voted for the bill, and passage became clear, even more supported it; nine Republicans voted in favor, while three Democrats voted against it. McCarthy said he thinks the move took Rants off guard: “I don’t think he was expecting that.” Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat, will likely sign the bill into law in the coming days or weeks.
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