Iowa Republican candidate resigns from State Senate race, reality: Another retroactive resignation

Randi Shannon is a self described entrepreneur and homeschooling mother of four, and until recently was the Republican candidate for the newly drawn State Senate District 34.  Why did she drop out?  Why, because she was appointed Senator for the Republic of Iowa for the Republic of the united States of America, of course!

State senate candidate drops out, says she’ll be part of alternate government by Erin Jordan for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Jul. 13, 2012

Shannon, who describes herself as an entrepreneur and homeschooling mom, released a four-page message Friday saying she is now the senator of the Republic of the United States of America and the Republic for Iowa.

The group believes that America’s original form of government, a collection of republics, was usurped in 1871 by a corporation called the United States Corporation, according to the group’s website.

“Now, knowing this, and with the best interests of the people of Iowa District 34 uppermost in my heart and out of respect for my own conscience, I am here to announce that I am ending my campaign as of July 4,” Shannon wrote in her statement. “My level of service to the good people of Iowa who has been so supportive of me and my campaign will be greatly increased.”

Ummm….really?  It looks like the Republicans were having trouble finding a candidate to run against Liz Mathis–commentors on the story page on the Gazette point out that she was not selected by the party apparatus, but was instead the only candidate to file paperwork to run for that party.

As an aside: Mathis, you may recall, won a special election to replace Democratic Senator Swati Dandekar who was appointed to the Iowa Utilities Board by Governor Terry Branstad.  Many at the time, myself included, believed that this appointment was made in hope of tipping the balance of power in the Iowa Senate which was (and after Mathis’ election is) led by Democrats with a slim 26-24 margin.

Also, note that the Gazette reports that Shannon posted her letter this past Friday, July 13th.  In the letter she states that she was resigning as of July 4th.  You know what that means?  Retroactive Resignation!  It’s the new rage!

A couple of links about the group that Shannon has joined from the article and the comments:

From the Southern Poverty Law Center

The website of the Republic of the united States of American

Randi Shannon’s letter on Scribd