WASHTINGON, DC – After Democratic nominee for Iowa Attorney General Nate Willems used his first TV ad to expose GOP AG Brenna Bird for being too lenient on corporate polluters and failing to hold a company accountable for releasing cancer causing toxins, the company in question, POET, tried to intimidate the Willems campaign by threatening a defamation lawsuit against them.

Clearly, corporate polluters fear having an Iowa AG who will actually hold them accountable when they break the law. But Nate Willems knows his ad stands on the facts, and he won’t back down or be intimidated.

Key highlights: 

• “‘Under Iowa law, truth — including substantial truth — is a complete defense to defamation. … In this case, the statements at issue are substantially true, as the IDNR order itself confirms,’ [Willems’ attorney] wrote. ‘Your letter’s competing characterization does not negate IDNR’s own public-health finding.’”
• “Weisman said that despite claiming to have acted responsibly, POET waited nearly a year after learning of the potential problem to conduct testing in Shell Rock.”
• “Weisman also wrote that Iowa law gives Bird, as attorney general, independent authority to enforce the law, with or without a DNR referral, and that she ‘chose not to use it.’”

• “She suggested any lawsuit would likely be dismissed and POET would be ordered to pay Willems’ attorney fees under Iowa’s anti-SLAPP law.”
• “In a statement, Willems said ‘Iowans are sick of corporate polluters behaving like they’re above the law’ and promised if elected to use the Attorney General’s Office to fight cancer-causing pollution.”

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