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.

First of all… IT CAN BE DONE

Latham is more volnurable than ever. Even when he was facing Spencer in “The Blue Wave of 2006” He didnt reach out this much to his constiuency. He moved to Ames (The Largest City in his district and of the only county (Story) that he lost in 2006). And I cant check my mailbox without getting a “Latham supports nurses” or “Latham supports Veterans” or something from Stew Iverson. (Yes, I am on the Pubs mailing lists, best to stay a step ahead).

It will take a lot of skill to send him home though. Here is what I believe needs to be done.

 1. Stop the Mudslinging- We are 3 days away from the primary, few people reading this blog are going to switch, but they may just hold out a grudge if you push too far.

2. Whoever wins needs to recieve three firm and public endorsements from there other primary challengers immediately. Voice your support for the nominee and encourage your voters to do so also.

We have four great candidates who are working different parts of the state and the demographic, but it will take some swallowing of pride.

 3. As the Candidates reach out to the voters, the voters need to reach out to the candidate. I am a VERY VERY staunch William Meyers supporter and have been almost since day one. But I am willing to dedicate my time and networking resources to whoever wins the primary, be it my candidate (which I firmly believe it will be) or ANYONE else.

I certainly hope others feel the same way.

4. We need to garner national attention. This can be done in a number of ways, get with me if you want some ideas.

5. We need to support ALL our legislative candidates. We need all democratic candidates from the whole IA-4 area to get on board, everyone from sheriffs, to county suprivisors, to state reps, to senators (State and Iowa).

We need pictures, we need press releases voicing there endorsment for our congressional candidate, we need to combine our resources, (in a way that will benefit all).

6. We need every county chair to actively organize. We need county captains, we need people to knock on doors, hand out pamphlets outside Wal Mart, Phone bank, Blog warriors, and letters written to every prominent democrat in America from Jimmy Carter to Jo Shmo County Vice chair of Nowhere Alaska, telling them about our candidate and asking for there support. And have people in t-shirts in EVERY Parade 🙂 Absolute grassroots.

There are many more things we need to do, but these are the things that we as volunteers can do and help get done.

And one more thing…It needs to start Wednesday!!!!!!!

Holla if ya hear me 🙂

“Becky Greenwald repeatedly refused to provide any responses to citizens on the issues through the 2008 Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimball, and Project Vote Smart staff.”

 http://www.votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=103297?q=print

If Becky is not going to tell us what she believes, how in the world do we know if she will be our strongest candidate against Tom Latham?

I don't think we can trust her.  She's not forthcoming at all and she's connected to the Clinton campaign and we all know how they've tried to divide our party which only further divides our country.

Say NO to “Don't Debate Becky” and say YES to William Meyers.

I'm new to Iowa and new to the party but if William does not win, I'll be voting for Latham because at least I know where he stands on issues.  I know what I'm getting.  

I voted for Obama and I'm becoming more skeptial of those Clinton supporters.

William Meyers for Congress!

Full story here: http://www.decorahne…