Iowa Independent is reporting that Republican candidate Jarad Klein is trying to hijack Barack Obama’s message of change to smear his opponent, longtime family farmer Larry Marek. While it’s nothing new for desperate Republicans to pretend to stand for change, this is a particularly unique case. Klein is a career Republican operative who has worked for George Bush and the Republican Party of Iowa and only recently moved into HD89 solely to run office. With a resume like that, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Klein is a right-wing extremist.
While Klein may claim he’s representing change, a carpetbagging Bush clone isn’t change. It’s just more of the same.
10 Comments
Klein
I met Jarad Klein earlier this year at the Johnson County Fair. Not knowing bupkis about the race, except that it was going on south of Iowa City and he was the Republican candidate, he made a very strong impression on me. He comes across as a very friendly and intelligent young man, full of ideas and energy. Wrong ideas, maybe, but I still admire his attitude.
I’ve heard an ad of his once or twice on TV. I can’t remember the specifics very well, but it wasn’t the one discussed in the Iowa Independent article. It had the same “change” theme, though, and had some combination of the words “Des Moines liberals” in it once or twice.
Honestly, until I read this post and article, I had no idea who Larry Marek was. I know it’s not my district, but that’s not a reassuring sign.
american007 Fri 10 Oct 10:03 PM
off-topic to American007
Looks like you may need to reprise your “race to replace Obama” diary soon!
desmoinesdem Fri 10 Oct 10:47 PM
I find it amusing
that anyone running for office in the vicinity of Johnson County would demonize those powerful “Des Moines liberals.” If only!
desmoinesdem Fri 10 Oct 10:48 PM
Saw the ad...
Saw the ad in question three times during the Mizzou-Oklahoma St. game on ESPN2 Saturday night.
I was disappointed in both the game and the ads…
american007 Mon 13 Oct 3:22 PM
Last nights debate
I went to last nights debate at Kalona. Klein hit larry hard about taking $200,000 from the party and unions. I didn’t know ther race was that close. During the smoking ban discussion Klein hinted that Marek owns shares in a casino and took casino money, hench his support of the smoking ban.
That a lot of money. I sure hope it is worth it.
im4klein Fri 24 Oct 9:15 AM
it should be easy to confirm
whether someone owns shares in a casino. What do you mean by “hinted”? That seems like something you’d want to confirm before throwing around that kind of allegation.
desmoinesdem Fri 24 Oct 9:52 AM
I know.....
because my parents own shares in the Riverside casino with Larry and they have the complete list of shareholders. Larry also took money from other owners of the casino.
Regards,
IM4
im4klein Fri 24 Oct 12:47 PM
for what it's worth
I also oppose the exemption granted to casinos. I wish the unhappy restaurant and bar owners had challenged the legality of the smoking ban exemptions rather than trying to overturn the whole law.
desmoinesdem Sat 25 Oct 5:51 PM
Press-Citizen Endorses Marek
Although the Press-Citizen endorsing a Democrat is hardly newsworthy, the PC have the nod to Marek over Klein. Interestingly, if you read the editorial, it sounds like the board thinks Klein would be OK as well.
http://www.press-citizen.com/a…
american007 Sun 26 Oct 9:50 PM
Yeah
they let Jarad have a guest opinion article on the same day they endorsed Marek. They never did that for Sandy Greiner when they endorsed her opponets every election cycle. Maybe its because Jarad and Larry have simalar views.
im4klein Mon 27 Oct 8:44 AM