A blast from the past victory!
Victory!
Last month, we heard from our friends at the Oakland Institute that the government of Tanzania announced that it finally intends to deliver on its 2008 promise of citizenship to tens of thousands of Burundian refugees!
Many of these people would have been displaced by Bruce Rastetter’s love of big money.
Rastetter is no stranger to Iowa CCI. We started fighting his Heartland Pork factory farms in the late 90’s. He has continued to make his big money mark, starting and selling ethanol plants under his Hawkeye Renewables, and with his Agrisol effort to displace thousands of refugees and local farmers for profits from corporate agriculture.
For years, Bruce Rastetter tried to use his influence as an Iowa Regent to get ISU’s backing and involvement in a Tanzanian land grab. The proposal to lease tens of thousands of acres for $.25 acre for 99 years would have displaced tens of thousands of refugees and local farmers in Tanzania. Why? Rastetter’s Agrisol company wanted bring monoculture farming, ethanol, and factory farms to another part of the globe.
He tried to acquire ISU’s backing, but they cut all ties, as did the USDA. You helped expose his conflict of interest as a regent and collected thousands of signatures demanding his resignation. While he was not forced to resign, his unethical behavior and big money interests were brought to the attention of the greater public. The land grab was ultimately stopped!
Check out the timeline of events below:
2007: Rastetter donates $1.7 million to ISU
2008: Rastetter begins talks with Tanzanian government
2009: Collaboration between ISU and AgriSol begins
2010: Rastetter is the single biggest donor to the Branstad campaign, giving more than $164,000.
2011:
February 25: Branstad appoints Rastetter to Board of Regents
May 1: Rastetter’s term begins: he should have recused himself from discussions of an ISU partnership with AgriSol at this point.
May 18: Rastetter finances a $13,000 trip for ISU officials to Tanzania
June 14: Des Moines Register publishes AgriSol expose
June 17: Rastetter discloses his financial interest in AgriSol to the public
July: Rastetter elected President Pro Tem of Board of Regents
September 13: Rastetter finally recuses himself from discussions of partnering with ISU -- four months after he becomes a Regent.
September 26: Dan Rather reports on AgriSol
2012:
February: ISU cuts all ties to Tanzania project
April 24: Rastetter files a false financial disclosure report with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board
June 19: Iowa CCI members file a conflict of interest complaint against Rastetter with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.
Read more here.
Join the fight
Contact us for more information
Join as an Iowa CCI member today or chip in $10 to support our organizing on this issue.
Sign up for our E-Mail Action list to get the latest updates