Congressman to confer with Maytag officials about firm’s future in Newton

On Friday, Congressman Leonard Boswell will meet with Maytag officials to discuss the company’s future in Newton.Boswell says it’s a meeting he and his staff have been trying to set up for quite some time. “We’re really going there with the frame of mind, is there something we can do?” Boswell says. The Congressman says he’s not going to criticize the company, but just wants to see what can be done to assist the company and the community. Maytag’s stock price has tumbled and a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the Newton production facility after Maytag moved other operations to Mexico. State and federal officials will be part of the “roundtable discussion,” according to Boswell. “We want to increase jobs. We want to retain jobs,” Boswell says.