Ron Paul's Man in Iowa - Inside the feud that's tearing apart the state's GOP

[jct74]

Ron Paul's Man in Iowa

Inside the feud that's tearing apart the state's GOP

http://images.politico.com/global/2013/11/22/131122_robinson_spikerronpaul1.jpg


By CRAIG ROBINSON
November 22, 2013

When the email landed in my inbox late last week, forwarded by a friend in Iowa Republican circles, the subject line—Whose side are you on?—caught my attention. “You guys see this?” my friend wrote at the top. “They must be getting scared.”

The message itself was a battle cry issued by the libertarian wing of our state GOP. “The Republican Party, forged in the fire of the American Civil War, is embroiled in a civil war of its own,” it declared. “Conservatives and liberty activists across Iowa must come together and fight to hold our ground.”

The message was signed by Joel Kurtinitis, a member of the Republican Party of Iowa’s State Central Committee, and sent by Liberty Iowa, a libertarian PAC. But I saw A.J. Spiker’s fingerprints all over it.

For more than a year, my Republican friends and the party activists I’ve known for years have been complaining with increasing intensity about Spiker, a 34-year-old realtor and former Ron Paul aide who is the unlikely chair of the Iowa Republican Party. It’s been a crazy kind of war, complete with Facebook unfriending, rumors and name-calling. Now, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad’s political team is finally gearing up to try to get rid of Spiker. At the governor’s big birthday bash with special guest Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Saturday night, Branstad’s reelection campaign team asked donors to sign up to serve as delegates at the county, district and state conventions so they can take back the party leadership.

Judging from Kurtinitis’s email last week, Spiker and his allies know the fight is coming. “They’re going to show up to the caucuses and conventions, and run you out of the party,” the email warns in a bold font. It accuses the party establishment of championing “liberal policies” and engineering “sellouts.”

“But grassroots conservatives were watching,” it says. “And now we are fighting back.”

...

read more:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/11/ron-pauls-man-in-iowa-aj-spiker-100214.html

[jct74]

about the author:


Craig Robinson is founder and editor-in-chief of the Iowa Republican. He served as political director of the Republican Party of Iowa during the 2008 caucuses and worked on the 2000 caucus campaign of businessman Steve Forbes.

[Dianne]

We have to work to rid our Congress of McConnell, McCain, Graham, that nut King from New York and countless other pretent GOP'ers in the Congress. They are absolutely destroying the country; as they cut deals with Reid and O'Horror.

[Bastiat's The Law]

Craig is an establishment hack.

[CPUd]

Seems like they are running people out of the party in a lot of the states from the 2012 season.

[RonZeplin]

Republican Gov. Terry Branstad

special guest Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)

It seems that Ryan and Branstad are announcing their retirement from politics. Good news for America.

[brandon]

This was really a fascinating article. Thanks for posting. My first thoughts are that Spiker and crew may need to work a little harder to relate to the old guard or at least get along with them. Then I saw the following:


Still, five county GOP organizations—including the two largest—called for his resignation

Sounds pretty bad until I looked it up and found there are 99 counties in the state. 5% county disapproval doesn't seem to bad.

All in all I still know nothing about this state's politics, but feel much much more willing to send Spiker's team a donation after reading:


The Facebook wars had gotten even zanier in September when Spiker urged Republicans to “NOT give in to any illegal searches of your car,”

[ctiger2]

This Robinson guy has no idea what's really going on.

He also forgets to mention that it was Ron Paul who actually won the Iowa caucus.

Hey Craig, you either want more authoritarian fascist govt OR you want liberty. Get a f 'n clue.

[fr33]

He's basically saying, "Get out of our way and give us more Romneys, McCains, and Christies!"

[cornell]

If Spiker gets re-elected, how can any Republican candidate other than Rand Paul—or someone else like him—trust that he’s going to get a fair shake with our state party, the party that, after all, is charged with setting up the first-in-the-nation caucuses and counting the votes? And if you can’t trust the process, why bother to show up?

Wow, all of a sudden they're concerned about everyone getting a "fair shake"? Please do us a favor and don't show up!

[Anti-Neocon]

If Spiker is showing poor management skills (I'm not saying he is; I'm not in Iowa), they've got every reason to be upset. Not everyone is as good of diplomat/politician as Rand, and if we want to take over the party, we've got to show that we are savvy when we're making the decisions. Just as much as we hated seeing the disrespectful Romney thugs ram through their agenda at the RNC, we've got to be respectful to the old timers in the GOP and make them feel like they are welcome, rather than calling them fascist, etc.

[Mr.NoSmile]

If Spiker is showing poor management skills (I'm not saying he is; I'm not in Iowa), they've got every reason to be upset. Not everyone is as good of diplomat/politician as Rand, and if we want to take over the party, we've got to show that we are savvy when we're making the decisions. Just as much as we hated seeing the disrespectful Romney thugs ram through their agenda at the RNC, we've got to be respectful to the old timers in the GOP and make them feel like they are welcome, rather than calling them fascist, etc.

Just as respectful as they were? Trying to open the tent hasn't exactly been met with open arms.

[Bastiat's The Law]

If Spiker is showing poor management skills (I'm not saying he is; I'm not in Iowa), they've got every reason to be upset. Not everyone is as good of diplomat/politician as Rand, and if we want to take over the party, we've got to show that we are savvy when we're making the decisions. Just as much as we hated seeing the disrespectful Romney thugs ram through their agenda at the RNC, we've got to be respectful to the old timers in the GOP and make them feel like they are welcome, rather than calling them fascist, etc.

They're just trying to smear AJ, its the only tactic they can employ, just like the democrats.

[Barrex]

I understand that people dont want to criticize libertarian in power but if he is operating in minus and losing money month after month it is alarming.

[Anti-Neocon]

They're just trying to smear AJ, its the only tactic they can employ, just like the democrats.
Is that really what they're doing? If you're in charge of a party apparatus and give off the impression that you don't care about the success of the party, then you have to be ready for the blowback. When the establishment GOP refuses to put anything behind our candidates who have won their respective primaries, we feel anger and indignation. Rightly so.

I understand that people dont want to criticize libertarian in power but if he is operating in minus and losing money month after month it is alarming.
Exactly.

[fr33]

I understand that people dont want to criticize libertarian in power but if he is operating in minus and losing money month after month it is alarming.

It's expected. The liberty wing of the GOP raises money from us broke-asses. The other wing raises money from corporatist lobbyists who expect such investments to profit them from pork barrel deals.

[Anti-Neocon]

I am anti-partisan. I think political parties operate like criminal organizations.

But that's our best path forward at this point, and our guys gotta do the best job they can acting as criminal bosses, if we want to hold our position.

[fr33]

I am anti-partisan. I think political parties operate like criminal organizations.

But that's our best path forward at this point, and our guys gotta do the best job they can acting as criminal bosses, if we want to hold our position.

Then they sacrifice on principles and accomplish nothing. It was principles that got Spiker elected. Not money.

As for the complaints that he's not raising enough money... It's IOWA FFS!

The Modus Operandi is; Pay us with tax dollars to grow federally mandated fuel.

Replace the title of the OP with this and it fits quite well:


Iowans worry about ethanol’s lost political clout (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/iowans-worry-about-ethanols-lost-political-clout/2013/11/24/f34b7dc8-552c-11e3-bdbf-097ab2a3dc2b_story.html)

http://i40.tinypic.com/n4xt0p.jpg

ALTOONA, Iowa — For decades, presidential candidates’ chances in Iowa were wounded if not doomed unless they backed federal support for ethanol, a boon to the state’s corn-growing economy.

That rule of politics collapsed resoundingly in the 2012 campaign when five of the six top Republican candidates said it was time for such intervention in the private market to end.

Now, Iowa’s senior political leaders are pondering how to shore up political support for the corn-based fuel at a time when its economic and environmental benefits are under attack .

The latest blow came this month, when the Obama administration proposed cutting the required amount of ethanol in the nation’s fuel supply for the first time since Congress established a standard in 2007.

The state’s leading Republicans and Democrats hope they can still use Iowa’s political importance as a swing-voting state and as the site of the first presidential nominating contest to get candidates to support keeping the requirement, or at least part of it, in place.

But the case has become a tough sell for Republicans as the party has moved to the right and become increasingly hostile to government programs and directives.

Even among Democrats, concern has grown about ethanol’s role in rising food prices and in cultivation of land that had been used for conservation.

The recent boom in domestic oil production has also made ethanol less prized as a U.S.-produced fuel that limits dependence on foreign oil. The grain alcohol burns cleaner than gasoline but produces less energy.

“I think there are some that feel it’s potentially safer now to be lukewarm at least, or not supportive of it,” said Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, a Republican. “I think it’s yet to be seen if that’s a smart political position.”

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said he hopes to thwart the administration’s proposal in Congress if it survives the 60-day comment period.

Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad planned to press his fellow GOP governors, especially those with possible presidential aspirations, to be mindful of the ethanol industry’s economic importance. He met with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at a governors’ association meeting in Arizona this week. On Tuesday, Branstad launched a Website for people to leave comments for the EPA.

For politicians eying the White House, “Whoever comes here better understand the importance of renewable fuels, or they are going to have hell to pay in rural Iowa,” Branstad said in a recent interview.

The federal government began actively supporting ethanol, which is made by fermenting and distilling corn, about 40 years ago when petroleum prices spiked and anti-air pollution efforts were ramping up. Refineries initially were given a tax credit to produce the grain alcohol and Congress later required oil companies to blend it in their gasoline.

In Iowa, the nation’s leading corn producer, about 45 percent of its crop went into ethanol last year. The state has 42 ethanol plants that produced 3.8 billion gallons.

Branstad said cutting the federal requirement would lower corn prices that have already fallen this year because of an unexpectedly robust harvest.

“They’re making a huge mistake,” Branstad said at the governors conference this week. “And they’re going to drive corn below the cost of production.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack of Iowa City said a loss of federal support would be “a devastating decision for Iowa’s farmers, rural communities and economy.”

If the federal mandate was reduced or ended, ethanol producers would rely on the handful of states with their own ethanol fuel standards, and on exports which accounted for about 1 billion gallons last year. The proposed change would likely hurt smaller producers more than powerhouses like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill.

Ethanol supporters insist the federal requirement is still justified even though the U.S. reliance on foreign oil is dropping, and for the first time in two decades, the U.S. produces more crude oil than it imports.

“We use 10-percent of ethanol in the gasoline in our cars. Do you want to import another 10 percent of oil” Grassley told the AP. “No, you don’t.”

While oil companies are pushing to escape the ethanol mandate, environmental groups are growing concerned about the impact of increased corn production. Farmers planted 15 million more acres of corn last year than a decade ago, according to an Associated Press analysis, taking land out of conservation use and applying more pesticides and herbicides.

Years ago, “there was a strong argument for encouraging the use of available resources like corn, for ethanol. Those days have passed,” Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a statement.

In a sign of ethanol’s eroding political support, the winner of the 2012 Iowa caucuses, Rick Santorum, called during his campaign for phasing out the federal mandate.

The prospects for support in the possible 2016 presidential field are uncertain. About a week ago, Branstad brought up ethanol support privately with 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan before the Wisconsin representative headlined a Branstad campaign fundraiser.

Ryan declined to comment publicly on the EPA’s ethanol proposal. A spokeswoman for Christie also declined to comment on Christie’s position. Among possible Democratic candidates, neither Clinton nor Vice President Joe Biden has commented publicly about the issue recently.

Some question whether the economic impact on Iowa would be as dire as its political leaders suggest.

Only about 2,000 people work full time in the industry nationwide, said Iowa State University economist Dave Swenson, adding, “Worldwide demand for corn is still very strong.”

[Barrex]

It's expected. The liberty wing of the GOP raises money from us broke-asses. The other wing raises money from corporatist lobbyists who expect such investments to profit them from pork barrel deals.

I am not sure I understand that logic. If it is expected that GOP loses money if libertarian is in charge what is expected to follow? Bankruptcy?

[fr33]

I am not sure I understand that logic. If it is expected that GOP loses money if libertarian is in charge what is expected to follow? Bankruptcy?

I'm not saying it should be expected that they go bankrupt or be in debt but it should be expected that they don't raise as much money as the establishment.

[Matt Collins]

I understand that people dont want to criticize libertarian in power but if he is operating in minus and losing money month after month it is alarming.
That's because the establishment has quit donating to the IAGOP now that their people no longer run the show.

[Bastiat's The Law]

That's because the establishment has quit donating to the IAGOP now that their people no longer run the show.

Precisely.

[Mr.NoSmile]

Which, if that's true, ought to be made aware, so it doesn't seem as if it's entirely Spiker's fault. Though I don't know his management skills, his attempts to reach across the aisle, and so on. Though when you're being ridiculed, more often than not, those aren't the people where you should say 'Yes, let us come together.'

[LibertyEagle]

I don't know. Didn't Spiker use Iowa GOP money to fund one of Ron Paul's get togethers in Texas? And I'm pretty sure I've noticed him donating Iowa GOP money to candidates outside of Iowa. I wondered about him doing that when he did it, because I would think that would upset a lot of Iowans. To be honest, I wouldn't blame them.

[Brian4Liberty]

about the author:


They're just trying to smear AJ, its the only tactic they can employ, just like the democrats.

Yes, this is biased reporting.