Will the Debate Spotlight Postville?

By COLlive reporter

All Republican presidential candidates will be in Washington, DC Wednesday affirming their commitment to Israel as they address the Republican Jewish Coalition.

What we have yet to see is whether they will be discussing the Rubashkin saga at the upcoming debate this weekend in Iowa, the first primary state.

And while a large majority of voters say economic concerns are a top priority, immigration remains one of the most contentious issues facing the candidates in the debate in Des Moines, sponsored by Yahoo! and ABC News.

Yahoo News visited the town of Postville to examine the effects of the government raid at the Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant that scooped up 20 percent of its population in a single day.

Yahoo reporter Liz Goodwin concluded that 3 years after that raid, the largest single raid of a workplace in U.S. history until that date, the town feels poorer and less stable.

She noted how then-manager Sholom Rubashkin, tried to keep the company aloft and scrambled to find legal workers after the raid, offering to pay their way to the plant and promising them a land of opportunity.

“Guatemalans came, husbands, wives, cousins, brothers, sisters … and everyone could see in the Guatemalans, you know, family values,” said Aaron Goldsmith, a former city councilman and the first Orthodox Jewish politician to hold elected office in Iowa.

Over the years, the Jewish population has grown and Rubashkin built a synagogue, a kosher grocery store, a boys and girls school and a Mesivta.

What is left to see is if the debate will make mention of what many consider the injustice done to Rubashkin, sentenced for 27 years in prison for business dealings he’s done after the raid, trying to save the company and the town.