They say politics makes strange bedfellows. Look no further than Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District where former Congressman Steve King emailed Democrat candidate Ryan Melton to let him know that Melton is “100 percent right” on the eminent domain issue.
Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra has written an op-ed in support of the pipelines and been silent on the use of eminent domain to take private land away from citizens for private use.
“Ryan, you are 100 percent right on the eminent domain issue,” King wrote to Melton in an email that Melton posted on Facebook. “I encourage you to push this issue as hard as you can.
“Property rights and American prosperity go hand in hand. This state’s unelected and unaccountable Utilities Board is empowered and perhaps poised to take the private property rights of scores of Iowa landowners and hand them over to private, big-money interests, many of whom are the top donors to their respective political parties.”
King wrote the carbon capture and sequestration plans being opposed further enrich the “haves” at the expense of the “have-nots.”
“The short-term bill will be paid by Uncle Sam by borrowing from the Chinese, the worst carbon emitters in the world,” King wrote. “The long-term bill will be paid by our sons and our grandchildren.”
Melton wrote the email from King came “unexpectedly.”
“Opposition to the use of eminent domain for carbon capture is robust regardless of political party,” Melton wrote. “My opponent (Feenstra) has written an op-ed in support of the pipelines.”
