While I know that having a D run as an I is not the best situation I do have to raise a red flag when I see anyone – especially one of our “leaders” trying to suppress a legitimate democratic activity — running for office. While I don’t know if I could vote for an I when we have such a strong D running I do know that William is passionate and full of ideals that will make this a healthy democratic process. Shame on anyone who plays the game of trying to push him out of what he has every right to do. Tom and I are of the same generation — it is hard to see him forget and quickly toss away what we all have fought so long for through the years just to help his good friend out.
Meyers Won’t Drop Independent House Bid, Despite Claim of Dem’s Deal
by: Jason Hancock – The Iowa Independent
Jul 17, 2008 at 14:56 PM
Independent congressional candidate William Meyers said a meeting this morning with a member of the Democratic Party’s 4th District Central Committee has not swayed him to give up his campaign.
Meyers finished third out of four candidates in the June 3 Democratic primary and almost immediately afterward announced he would continue to run for the House seat of incumbent Republican Tom Latham as an independent.
This morning Meyers met for coffee with Tom Harrington of the central committee. Meyers said at the meeting he was offered a spot on the central committee if he agreed to end his independent run. Harrington said no such offer was made, only the suggestion “from one Democrat to another” that if Meyers felt wronged in the primary process, it would be easy for him to join the central committee and try to change things.
“I was not there as a representative of the Democratic Party,” Harrington said. “And I certainly didn’t make any formal offer. I read on blogs and in the newspaper that he felt he was treated unfairly in the primary, and I wanted to see what his issues were.”
Meyers said that while there was no “formal offer,” it was clear why Harrington was there.
“He was there to discourage me from running as an independent,” he said. “It was pretty clear. I told him I wasn’t interested in what he had to offer, and the meeting ended very cordially.”
District central committee members are elected by county central committees, so Harrington is not in a position to offer a seat since elections took place at county conventions earlier this year. But Harrington said there are seats that were left unfilled, and he mentioned to Meyers it would be pretty easy for him to get on the committee.
Meyers, a former anti-terrorist specialist for the Marines, told the Iowa Independent on June 5 that county Democratic Party leaders improperly shut him out of key meetings and prevented him from obtaining information critical to his primary campaign. He said Democratic chairmen or their staff in Warren, Dallas, Kossuth and Webster counties failed to provide information such as lists of county activists. He also said he was not invited to some meetings at which some of his three opponents spoke to party activists.
It was for those reasons he decided to run, Meyers said, and those issues would not be solved simply by his joining the central committee.
“If I end my campaign, I lose all my leverage to change things,” he said. “There is a lot of behind-the-scenes baloney that goes on, and I am very skeptical of the people in power of the state party right now.”
The first day Meyers can file to run as an independent candidate is July 28. He attained the 300 signatures needed to file before the primary vote even took place. He said he anticipates that this won’t be the last contact the Iowa Democratic Party has with him to try to get him to drop his campaign, but unlessparty members are serious about instituting rule changes to stop what he sees as “good old boy” politics, he will follow through with his independent run into November.
Meyers also said he has heard from nine people looking for help to file as no-party candidates to run in legislative races this fall against incumbent Democrats who supported the state’s smoking ban, but he would not release their names to Iowa Independent without getting permission from the nine first.
“They turned to me for advice on how to do it,” he said. “It’s very encouraging to get that kind of response.”
Meyers will face off with Latham and Democrat Becky Greenwald this fall.
9 Comments
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What I think Meyers doesn’t get is that he lost any leverage he once had when he declared the intention to launch an independent bid for Congress and insulted Greenwald in comments to the media. No one is going to take him seriously.
In fact, the next young person who runs for Congress without “paying his dues” is probably going to be looked on with more suspicion because of what Meyers has done.
Helping to elect Republicans because you are mad about the smoking ban shows a lack of perspective, in my opinion.
I’m upset about a lot of things our Democrats in the legislature do (or don’t do), but I’m not going to get behind independent candidates who can only succeed in helping Republicans win elections.
desmoinesdem Thu 17 Jul 6:43 PM
Go William!
I am an Obamacrat who is urging other Democrats to vote for William.
William is the best chance to win. I don’t have any idea what Greenwald is about because I cannot find anything about her stances.
Is she for amnesty? Does she support more drilling? Is she for the smoking ban? Does she want to raise taxes? Is she for European health care like William wants?
William has the grassroots behind him and I look forward to the debates this fall.
Go William! I am glad you are standing up to Greenwald and her Democrat minions on the Central Committee.
I cannot wait until you are a US Congressman.
bill-spencer Thu 17 Jul 11:18 PM
Mr. Meyers.
I still remember the day I skipped to the mailbox and found my very own “Democrat Minion” card. It was the proudest moment of my life.
It was the moment I realized that I was part of a team of people who sought to ensure that my government will never again build a concentration camp or tap our phone lines. I was part of a team that considers mutual prosperity and diplomacy the best form of national security. Ms. Greenwald represents that party and those ideals. William Meyers, in recent months, seems only to represent William Meyers (a long with an impressive array of cute sock puppets).
I deeply respect anyone who has had the guts to throw his or her hat in the ring, and I can understand disappointment following a defeat. I’ve considered Mr. Meyers’ thinly-veiled posts a kind of post-defeat sour grapes, and assumed as the sting subsided so too would the posts.
I sincerely hope that Mr. Meyers and his double-knit followers blow the dust off of their own Minion cards and hop on board.
johnnyschad Fri 18 Jul 12:30 AM
Dear Proud Minion
I hate to break it to you, but many Democrats–including Barackocrats—appear to be OK with tapping your phone if you make any international calls or emails.
If you want to be proud of a principled group to which you belong, you might consider replacing your Democrat Minion card with an ACLU card.
iowavoter Sat 19 Jul 10:25 AM
True
I think highly of the ACLU, but that organization doesn’t turn the gears of American democracy with the same torque
as does the Democratic party–especially this year.
The passage of that bill is one move in a far bigger game.
Senator Obama is re-positioning himself towards the center, a more “electable zone” than his origins in the far left. During the primary process, it seems that Senator Obama did a masterful job allowing people to project upon him that which they wanted to see in a candidate, so his actions and inactions may surprise some.
I suspect that he’s having to carefully choose his fights over the next several months on the theory that getting elected is the best way to do the most good in the least amount of time. He’s probably right.
johnnyschad Sun 20 Jul 4:00 PM
if he didn't have enough grassroots support
to win the primary, how is he going to have enough grassroots support to win the general?
You and his other supporters are making a big mistake. You should have taken advantage of the experience he gained from running for Congress and helped him build toward another campaign in a different year.
You say you would like to see Meyers elected to Congress someday, but what you’re doing now virtually guarantees that he will have no chance of winning a future election.
desmoinesdem Fri 18 Jul 5:46 AM