By The Iowa Statesman
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) got a huge boost for his presidential campaign over the weekend when former Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President Craig Lang gave his endorsement at an event in Atkins on Saturday.
Saying it was time for a president who is serious about property rights and reigning in the overreach of an out-of-control federal bureaucracy, Lang pledged to lead an effort in Iowa to build a statewide team of farmers and agribusiness leaders on behalf of Paul’s presidential campaign. Lang is best known by many Republicans for his opposition to the Harkin Center at Iowa State University when he served as president of the Board of Regents, a position that prevented the democrat-controlled Iowa Senate from reappointing him to the Board of Regents.
“When you spend a lifetime in agriculture, you see the ever-growing reach of bureaucrats against farming and small business. There’s no candidate who has been more steadfast in his opposition to an overreaching federal bureaucracy than Senator Rand Paul,” said Lang. “Even more, I believe he’s the candidate who will really do what he says.”
The announcement was yet another Iowa blow for the probable presidential aspirations of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Lang previously served on the state committees to elect Bush’s older brother, President George W. Bush.
“I’m thankful to have the support of Craig Lang. Like him, I believe that much of what agriculture needs is not more government programs, but rather, restraining a bureaucrat-dependent government seated inside the Washington Beltway,” Paul said. “It’s simple: tear down the Washington machine and unleash American agriculture.”
Lang joins Iowa agribusiness leader, Steve Sukup, on the Iowa team to elect Rand Paul. Sukup, an owner of a family business, Sukup Manufacturing, and former Iowa gubernatorial candidate, said, “Craig Lang is one of the most respected people in Iowa agriculture today; the fact that he is throwing his support behind Rand Paul shows a growing realization in the farm community that the best president for farmers is one who understands how to create a level playing field.”
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