Nate Willems’ campaign for Iowa attorney general released a new TV ad today, “I Will,” where he pledges to hold corporate polluters accountable as cancer rates in the state climb.
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In the ad, Willems points to his career taking on greedy corporations that cheat Iowa workers and pledges to prosecute the polluters Brenna Bird has refused to hold accountable.
“Now I’m running for Attorney General because if Brenna Bird won’t prosecute the polluters giving us cancer, I will,” Willems says in the ad.
Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the country and is one of only two states where cancer rates are rising. Under Iowa law, the Department of Natural Resources can fine a polluter no more than $10,000. The attorney general is the only office with the power to pursue serious penalties, injunctions and criminal charges against the companies responsible.
Willems’ first ad of the campaign, “Shell Rock,” detailed how Bird let a multibillion-dollar out-of-state company that released cancer-causing toxins into Iowa’s air for three years off the hook, then took $100,000 from the company’s CEO. Alongside that ad, Willems released a plan to hold polluters accountable, including seeking damages above the DNR maximum, refusing contributions from companies under investigation for polluting, and publishing a public database of pollution incidents referred to the attorney general’s office.
Willems has spent nearly two decades as a labor lawyer representing healthcare workers, custodians, police officers, and factory workers across Iowa and winning. As attorney general he will use the office to protect all Iowans.
Full Transcript of “I Will”:
NATE WILLEMS: Polluters are poisoning Iowa’s air and water, sending our cancer rates soaring. But instead of holding them accountable, Brenna Bird has taken their money and let them off the hook. I’m Nate Willems. I’ve spent my career taking on corporations that cheat Iowa workers – and won. Now I’m running for Attorney General because if Brenna Bird won’t prosecute the polluters giving us cancer, I will. I’ll work every day to protect our families. Because I’ve always worked for Iowans – and I always will.
