But new mayor has also been at loggerheads with Agriprocessors.
Lynda Waddington of the Iowa Independent reports:
The man appointed by the Postville City Council to serve as interim mayor accepted campaign contributions totaling more than $2,000 from members of the Rubashkin family, who founded and operated the beleaguered Agriprocessors meatpacking plant, site of a massive 2008 immigration raid.
Leigh Rekow, 74, took the oath of office Wednesday after being appointed mayor by a 3-2 vote of the council earlier in the week. He will serve as mayor through November.
Rekow, a Republican who served more than a decade on the Postville City Council, formerly represented Iowa House District 32 in the Legislature and served on the agriculture standing committee. It was during his campaigns for the Iowa House that Rekow accepted political contributions from Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, founder of Agriprocessors, and his son, Sholom Rubashkin, day-to-day executive in charge of the Postville plant.
The contributions, which were made during 2000 and 2002, total $2,100 — $1,600 from Sholom and $500 from Aaron Rubashkin.
Rekow, according to Stephen Bloom’s account in the book “Postville,” led the local effort to annex the meatpacking plant into the city. The plan was severely disliked by the Jewish community to the point of some accusing local residents of anti-Semitism and Sholom Rubashkin threatening to pack up the business and move it elsewhere if residents voted in favor of annexation.…