William Meyers: Independent Democrat for Congress

I would like to see William Meyers run for Congress as an Independent Democrat.

William supported Barack Obama and Becky Greenwald, who did everything she could to shut William out of certain counties, supported Hillary Clinton. 

 Clearly, Becky thought this should have just been handed to her.  Sounds a lot like the Clinton mentality.

 Hear me loud and clear: unless William Meyers runs an independent bid, I'll be voting for Tom Latham.  He's a nice guy and I know what I'm voting for.

 Becky just won't fill out Project Vote Smart and she's trying to hide – very Clintonlike. 

 It's William Meyers or Tom Latham.  I hope William gives us the good news soon.

About the Author(s)

Bill Spencer

  • If you think that Tom Latham

    who votes with the GOP leadership 100 percent of the time, would represent you better than Becky Greenwald, then you don’t have a very good understanding of the differences between Democrats and Republicans.

    Your support for Obama seems to have been driven by personality and buzzwords rather than by substantive issues.

    Latham and the rest of the GOP caucus will try to undermine Obama’s efforts to pass his agenda through Congress.

    • How about Americans

      I think it is about time that we stop thinking like this.

      …differences between Democrats and Republicans.

       

      It is long over do that we put party differnces aside and do what is correct and beneficial for the People.  

      We as Democrats won’t accomplish this, nor will the Republicans, we need to do it TOGETHER. Until that time comes around, America will just be a shell of it’s former self.

      Maybe what America needs is more Independt thinking people in congress. With more Independt politicans we could get the country back on track, as they wouldn’t be worrying about what their “party” thinks, but what the the people want and need.

      • Independently minded vs. Independent of organization

        There is a huge difference between people who are independently minded and aligned with an organization and those who completely bereft of an organization to work with and support them.  Those who are independently minded can do a great deal for the voters while those who are completely independent usually find a great deal of obstacles in their path and don’t have the resources to get much accomplished.

        Furthermore, there is a huge difference between a candidate who is independent from the beginning, and one who is only independent of party once the voters of a party reject him.  

        I would see Mr. Meyers completely differently if he had started early to start his own organization which would allow him to take on Latham in November, and never attempted to seek out the nomination of the Democrats.  However, now there will be a perception that he is simply a “sore loser” and that perception will be nearly impossible for him to overcome.

        If his reasoning for running as an independent is that he thinks the party is flawed and treated him unfairly, he should seriously consider finding ways to fix it and then make another run in the future.  Honestly, he’ll gain a lot more respect and, therefore, influence the next time around if he shows that he’s a level-headed guy who is more concerned about making change than just getting himself elected.

        • I DON'T SEE HIM

          …as a sore loser, but someone who is driven and committed to seeing a goal that he set for himself obtained.  

          If you see that as being a sore loser then that is your choice. I see it differntly.  

          In being elected he would make a change.  He would not be enfluenced by lobbyist, and parties, but by the people he represents back in his home state.  

          • It's not you or I that matters in this case...

            it’s a majority of voters.  If a large enough portion of the voters see him as a sore loser, that’s all that counts.  It’s a very real possibility that they will have that perception if he runs as an independent.  If, on the other hand, he accepts defeat and moves on to make changes, waiting to run for another office in the future, no one will see him as a sore loser.  In fact, he’ll also gain the respect of many for making a good decision.

            So, the real question is, do you think it’s worth it for someone to provoke a label that will stick with him for decades?  Or do you think it’s a better idea to just wait until another opportunity to win a race presents itself, with nothing lost but a bit of time?

  • Prove it.

    I have seen absolutely zero evidence that Becky Greenwald “did everything she could to shut William out of certain counties.”  Also, I see absolutely zero evidence that William filled out the Project Vote Smart questionnaire under the guidelines.  Project Vote Smart has said that he refused to do so.

    Until you can prove either of these allegations, I would suggest you stop repeating them.  They only detract from your case.  If you really think that William Meyers should run as an independent, explain what he has to offer rather than continuing to tear down the Democratic nominee.  The perceived faults of one candidate aren’t automatically the strengths of another.

  • Greenwald

    It doesn’t matter who Greenwald supported in the caucus. If she gets to congress she will vote with Obama most of the time. For that matter, so will Clinton. There isn’t any point in putting either of them down.  

  • I know how you feel.

    As a Clinton supporter, I know how you feel being disappointed that your candidate didn’t get “the nod”.  It makes you want to clench your fists in frustration and grab everyone on the street and ask them why the H— they didn’t vote your way.  I fought very hard for Senator Clinton with phone calls, letters and many, many debates with other democrats.

    But, Senator Obama has been gracious in his victory, and I will now support him along side Senator Clinton. In all honesty, it will take a little time for me to grieve and lick my wounds before I work up a lot of enthusiasm, but I’m committed to join the fight to take back our government.  That is what Democracy asks of me.

    Democracy asks two things of you:

    1) As an Obama supporter, you represent the winning candidate.  You stand nothing to gain, and a lot  to lose, by berating Clinton supporters.  Be nice to us Clinton people whom you will need to win in November.

    2) As a Democrat who presumably does not want to support the party responsible for American concentration camps, sanctioned torture and warrantless wire tapping, please consider supporting Greenwald who now represents the party opposed to such things.

    I admired Mr. Meyers’ military career and the guts he showed throwing his hat in the ring.  This will be the second time I’ve said so.  Now I will closely watch Mr. Meyers’ actions and see how he conducts himself, and how he leads his supporters in the aftermath of the election.

  • one more point

    If Ed Fallon had not refused to endorse the Democratic nominee for president in 2000, he might have won his race yesterday.

    William Meyers has worked hard and built up a base of supporters who could help him if he runs for office again.

    However, he would destroy any future as a Democratic candidate if he runs as an independent for Congress this year.

  • Flipped

    His site is already flipped

    http://meyersforhouse.com/  

    • Wow.

      I hope he changes his mind fast, otherwise the “shut out” he received from the mainstream will be nothing compared to what he’ll see in the next few months.  A lot of average people who want Latham defeated, including some of his former supporters, will consider this a slap in the face.  And I’m writing this as someone who strongly supports third parties.

      William might still have a future in politics now, but if he keeps this up, he’ll be flushing that future down the toilet.  The game may be frustrating, but even people who break the rules, like Ed Fallon, know that the rules are there for a reason.

      Mr. Meyers, if you read this, please, take a week to relax and recuperate and figure out where your talents can be used most effectively.  U.S. Rep. for the 4th District is not the only place to push for the changes you want to see.

      • He has every right to run in our system of democracy

        I am still undecided on if this would hurt the party if Meyers jumped in but there is one thing that I must say to anyone who scolds him for even thinking of it – How dare you!  And who the heck are you to tell a man who served our nation what he can and can’t or should and shouldn’t do?  That is the true slap in the face in my opinion.

             

        • I didn't "dare" to do anything.

          I never tried to tell him what he can or can’t do.  I’m not going to stop him.  But, I am trying to tell him and anyone else who listens that an independent run is a terrible idea and will cause him and others much more heartache in the long run.  

          Like I said, I strongly believe that third parties should be a part of our system.  However, I don’t support every candidate who runs in a third party, even if I agree with their views, when I think it runs counter to seeing my goals realized.  

          I’m glad that Mr. Meyers had the guts to run and I’ll be happy to see what he can do in the future to make change as he wants to do.  But running as an independent candidate in this race will not get him elected.

          The fact is, the voters had their choice, in our system of democracy, and they did not choose Mr. Meyers.  I’m happy to give him my condolences.  But no one, including Mr. Meyers, can change the fact that they did not choose him.  If he is smart, he will learn from his loss and maybe he can run again in the future, or work outside of traditional politics as a change agent.

          Running as an independent, and showing a total disregard for the process that all the candidates just went through, will not win him this election nor any election in the future.

          Like I said before, just relax, lick your wounds, and figure out how you can be most effective now.

        • he has a right to run

          but if he does, he will render himself irrelevant to Democratic Party politics in this state for the rest of his life.

          If he would like to hold elective office someday, he should not run for Congress as an independent this year. That would be a mistake he could never undo.

          Just because he has right to do it doesn’t make it a wise decision.

  • Political Excommunication

    I don’t think Meyers should run as an independent, I would urge him not to, but it’s a free country and a free political system and he can do what he likes.

    But he should full well understand that running as an independent now severs any and every tie he has to the Democratic party. If he does this, he won’t be able to run for any office above dog catcher under our party banner.

    • this is YOUR party?

      when did the Democratic party become yours American007?

      Why does William running for Congress as an Independt, scare or anger you and so many other people here?  

      Is it because he is a raw rookie in the party/politics? Is it because he is a Vet? because he is Young? Smart? A free thinker? INDEPENDT

      I think William did an EXCELLENT job during the primary. Heck he beat a long time veteran of elections in Kevin Miskell.

      We know that he didn’t have the connections some of the others did in the Democratic Party. That may or maynot have been a bad thing.

      I truely believe that “your” party,  found William to be a bit “uncontrollable”. Even though he had the same agenda and platform, I believe the ranking officals in “your” party, thought he might be more of an “independt” mind and would not take to proding or suggestions like Becky would.

      I am anxiously awaiting what this free thinking political up and comer will do next. I am sure whatever it is, he will deffently surprise you and “your” party.

       

      • You clearly misread the comment

        I think it was very obvious that American007 was stating that it was the party in which American007, you, Mr. Meyers, and all of us who call ourselves Democrats are involved.  The commenter was not trying to claim any more ownership over it than any other Democrat.

        I also think your assessment of why William Meyers was not chosen by the voters is completely wrong.  The 87% of the primary voters who chose not to nominate William Meyers did not go into the voting booth thinking “this William Meyers guy just can’t be reigned in by the party leaders, and that scares me.”  And if they did, you can fully expect that they will make the same decision in November.

        Again, if Meyers thinks that the process is unfair, he should do something to change it.  But a run as an independent will not accomplish that goal.  In fact, unfortunately, it is the nature of human beings that they would be more likely to hold a grudge and treat him unfairly if he follows that path.

        • the voters

          never had a chance to think like that, as the ranking officals in the party and the central committees didn’t help spread his word or even help encourage voters like they did with other candidates.

          I was talking the leaders of the party, and not the voters. It is obvious to me that the people that did get to meet and discuss the topics with William did vote for him.

          Williams HARD WORK in going door to door and shaking hands with alot of the citizens in the 4th district will pay off in the future.  They will remember the young Marine Corp Vet  and will not have a chance to get him confused with the “other” Meyer.

          As the common voter, most won’t hold grudges, as after the general election they won’t even remember who ran against the winner in the last primary.  Only the one’s that are serious and in the party at the state or county level might remember…and that isn’t the common voter.  

          • You're still making pretty amazing assumptions

            It is NOT obvious that the people that got to meet and discuss the topics with William Meyers voted for him.  

            I met many people who did meet him and felt that he was not right for the nomination.  In particular, they took umbrage with phrases on his literature like “Not a special interest terrorist on a vanity run” which convinced them that he was not a serious candidate.

            To completely discount those people and claim that anyone who met him would automatically vote for him is a pretty amazing leap.  There will always be good people who disagree with one another, and there will always be good people who meet a candidate and discuss issues with him, but don’t feel that he is the right person.  William Meyers, just like any other candidate in the history of democracy, will not win over every person he meets.  If he could do that, we should have seen him winning over the votes of the 20,000 people he shook hands with, but that clearly didn’t happen.

            The fact is, you can’t blame the party for everything.  But where they may have failed, William Meyers could be doing the “HARD WORK” to fix the party.  I hope he makes the wise decision to change course and do so.

            It’s also pretty insulting that you imply that everyone who voted for Kurt Meyer just got confused and meant to vote for William Meyers.  I know for a fact that is not true.  Every person I met who was confused, I made sure to set straight because I didn’t want them accidentally voting for William Meyers when they intended to vote for Kurt Meyer.  I found that Kurt Meyer had far better name recognition than William Meyers, so it’s far less likely than you imply that the Meyer/Meyers confusion benefited Kurt Meyer in any way.

            And lastly, your assumption that the common voter won’t hold a grudge is a pretty big leap as well.  I would imagine that, in particular, the 34% of voters whose preferred candidate graciously accepted defeat will not be happy if William Meyers decides that the rules don’t apply to him.  And since there is always the distinct possibility, even with the best candidates from outside of the party, that they will be defeated along with the candidate from whom they shifted the most votes, there may be a massive number of voters who will never consider supporting William Meyers at any point in the future.  If the goal is to win an election and not to just win over a group of dedicated fans, an independent run won’t make this happen.

            If, on the other hand, Meyers decides to make the wise decision to contribute to making the system better for all of us and forgoes an independent bid, the voters will see an additional reason to vote for him in the future.  

            • I did not

              say that everyone that he shook hands with or met voted for him.  I did say:

              “Williams HARD WORK in going door to door and shaking hands with alot of the citizens in the 4th district will pay off in the future…”

              But you were to busy trying to think of negetive things to say about William and his campaign to see the word FUTURE. I did say meet and DISCUSS. Do you think every single person he shook hands with, he sat down and discussed the issues with in length…probably not as that would of taken months if not years to do 1-1.  

              Also you are assuming that I meant all voters confused Meyer for Meyers, when the reverse was probably true also. Especially in the counties and precincts that their names were together on the ballot.  My precinct they were not together.  From the time Kurt announced his candidacy, there were a lot of insiders worried about such a confusion.  Maybe, some voters were so confused about the Meyer/s confusion they picked one of the other two…could be, but we will never know unless someone wants to go and ask all 20,000 voters.

              As for assuming goes, you are making a huge assumption that ALL the people here in the 4th district will remember him losing for one, and two, running on an Independt ticket for Congress.   My guess (not assumption) is if you would of polled 100 people coming out of the polls this year, you would be lucky to find 15-20 of them remembered Seldon Spencer ran against Latham last election.  

              • You said...

                “It is obvious to me that the people that did get to meet and discuss the topics with William did vote for him.”

                I’m not “busy trying to think of negetive(sic) things to say about William.”  I am telling you what I have heard from other voters who did not and will not vote for Meyers in this election.  This does not take an extraordinary effort or amount of time.  

                I’m not working against Meyers.  The primary is over and it’s not necessary to get into criticisms of the primary campaign. And besides, I respect the fact that he decided to mount a public campaign.  But, I am hoping that he will reconsider running as an independent candidate in this race and I am explaining why I think it would be a mistake.  If he listens and does his best to actually make things better, then I will have an opportunity to work with him instead.

                Also, it’s not necessary for ALL the people here in the 4th to remember him losing and running as an independent for this mistake to affect his entire career in the future.  If enough people remember and hold a grudge, he will have an incredibly difficult time winning elections or even working in politics in the future. 15-20% of the voters are far more than enough to swing an election.

  • wow

    seriously, what did becky do to monroemaggie besides dominate a primary by spending hours calling donors across the state and getting more donors than her 3 opponents combined..  She won it with a great campaign and a lot of hard work.  If she works that hard in the general she can win against latham…

    if meyers runs as an independent the only thing separating him from ed fallon is that fallon had 14 years in the legislature backing up his experience… meyers will never earn a base of democratic support beyond a few hardcore people who already (obviously) have access to the web and an affinity for trash talk.

    becky started her service to our party before william was born, helping elect ruth harkin in story county in 1972

    • good democrats

      There has been a bit of drama. But the nice thing is that the majority of the people on this blog have united behind Becky. The poll is skewed because of sock puppets. However, I think there are only one or two real people backing his independent bid. I do appreciate all of the people who have been able to move beyond the primary and work on beating Latham.  

    • Hard work?

      I was actively involved in our district primary here in the 4th district. Attended many differnt events, and met with 1000’s of differnt people.  

      The only time I ever saw Becky out was at the district convention.  She didn’t show up to any of the dozen or so central committee meetings I was at, or the forums.

      She may have made 1000’s of phone calls, and had lots of volunteer help from the members of all the central committee’s around the district…maybe that is why she didn’t need to meet or convince them…the district was already hers????

      I didn’t hear her knocking on my door, or any others for that matter. Also the robo call I got wasn’t even from her.  

      So please enlighten me…what kind of “hard work” did she do?  hmmmmm go to a house party here or there hosted by the high ranking Democrats who donated lots of time and money on her behalf?  That really doesn’t constitute hard work in my book.  

      • A moot point.

        Even if it wasn’t hard work that won Becky the primary, and I’m not saying it wasn’t, the point is essentially moot.  Hard work doesn’t automatically mean that you deserve the nomination.  A candidate who doesn’t work all that hard, but is right on the issues and finds ways to get things done, would still be better than a hard-working Sisyphus.  It’s at least as important to be efficient and do the right thing as it is to have a good work-ethic.

        • the comment

          was in response to “earl’s” post where he said “…she won it with a great campaign and hard work…”  

          I was just wondering out loud where that hard work was at. If it was such a moot point as you say, why did you not make the same comment on his post.

          If she puts the same kind of effort in that she did in this primary, she will NOT win as there was no effort on her part, just the high ranking Democrats, doing the work for her.

          right on the issues?  she isn’t even close to being right on illegal immigration. This is not the thread for that discussion though.  I just hope she just uses those resources and checks her parties platform before she goes spouting off again on her illegal immigration stance.  

  • Becky

    Since 1976 I have served on the central committee in three different counties in Iowa.  At our caucus this year someone volunteered for it and I was glad to give it up.  I voted for William Meyers in the primary.  I thought he was the better canidate and would have the better chance to beat Latham in the general election.  He lost so lets help Becky.

    For 6 years I was on the Dallas County Central Committee with Becky Greenwold.  She was and still is a tireless worker for the party.  She worked herself up through the ranks to deserve the respect she has earned around the state.

    A county chair cannot announce that this county is closed to a candidate.  In Dallas County we have over sixty people on our central committee.  Any committee person is free at any time to announce their support for any candidate in the party.  A good example in 1976 most of the Union County Central Committee was for Jimmy Carter.  I was the lone Morris Udall support.  But that didn’t stop me from organizing for Udall.  Any committee person in any county could have organized in that county for Meyers.

    I donated money to Meyers campaign,  I offered advice to him.  One thing he needed to do and chose not to was to use free media.  I was willing to do more for his campaign but I didn’t see any activity from the candidate.  Shaking 20,000 hands is ambitious.  But how many of those people will remember you in ten minutes.  The per cent is very very low.

    If Meyers feels he was treated unfairly he can try to work within the party.  He seems to be fairly intelligent and has a loyal following.  He can build his name recognition and expand his base.  He could have a bright future in the party.  Or he could act like a spoiled brat and take 1000 votes from Becky and and help Latham get reelected.

    • free media

      One thing he needed to do and chose not to was to use free media

      As in the last thread, I just posted in…we did use press releases. Did the papers follow through with their end, and publish the releases? How many did you see?

      You may be asking yourself..how do you know he sent out press releases? were you told this?  I was not told this by anyone in the campaign, I know because I sent out a lot of the press releases myself.  

      • although I'm not a marketing/communications expert

        There’s a lot you can do to generate free media coverage besides sending out press releases.

        For instance, the media like to cover events, so there are many ways a candidate can plan a public event that will seem interesting and newsworthy for assignment editors.

        • small towns

          That’s especially true in small towns. My hometown paper will often publish pictures of an event after it happened even if nobody from the paper attened. Just have someone (preferably someone local) take pictures and send them in. The key is to get pictures of local people (along with the candidate) in the pictures. This increases name recognition–which would have been essential in this race. Also people see pictures of someone they know associated with this candidate and might at least check him or her out.  

          • Emmetsburg paper

            I personally contacted the people at the local paper there in town and let them know that we would be there, where we were going to be, and at what time.  

            The response we got from them was…”it is press day and if we aren’t busy we will have someone there”…

            We did have local people show up and if you would of looked at Williams site, there was a picutre on there from our visit, that I personally took.

            Local papers are good in a sense, but generally do not have the staff to cover every event no matter how small (national congrerssional primary candidate).

            We did get coverage from the Estherville paper that same day.  The reporter stayed for the whole event, and even interviewed William afterwards.

            Sometimes it just depends on the timing of the event and other times it depends on the certain medias politcal view points.  

            For those of you that think that we did not try to use the free resources that were available to us, you are WRONG.  With the type of grassroots campaign that we ran, we were looking for anyway possible to save a dollar…just like William would of done for us here in Iowa had he gotten the Democratic nomination…Like he WILL after the general election in November.  

  • wow!

    It’s been a couple of days since I’ve been here last and I just noticed that in this poll, that the “real people” vote is catching up to the “sock puppet” vote.  It’s nice to know that us real people can compete effectively against the sock puppet voting block.  I suppose that sock puppets need representation too, and I don’t want to deny sock puppets (either left socks or right socks) of their voting rights, but, as a real person, I just felt under-represented in this poll.

    Let me also add now, that I have no bias against white socks, black socks or even argile. They deserve to fight for their interests and I know that some who have posted here have given them a “hand.”  ðŸ™‚

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