Actually, it started last night, but in any case the FBI investigation and arrest of Tim Durham has the Indianapolis blogosphere lighting up (and, contrary to Mr. Shella’s assertion, it’s a bi-partisan pile on – with Advance Indiana and Ogden on Politics featuring prominently.) The IBJ’s Greg Andrews seems to have been taking a prominent role (if not the leading role – I haven’t followed it that closely yet) in reporting on this story. Durham, an Indianapolis businessman, seems to have been playing fast and loose with an Ohio based finance company he owns.
Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham has treated Ohio-based Fair Finance Co. almost like a personal bank since buying it seven years ago, and now Durham, partners and related firms owe it more than $168 million, records show.
Fair, a consumer-loan company, listed no insider loans under prior ownership. The extensive borrowing—which represents 70 percent of Fair’s assets—worries some investment-industry observers at a time parts of Durham’s financial empire are strained.
That would be just another installment of the financial Masters of the Universe financiers being revealed as humbugs behind the curtain except that Durham appears to be an exceptional douchebag in terms of his showiness and he has ties to Indiana’s political establishment, especially – it seems – the Indianapolis Republicans. Durham had been married to the daughter of former City-County Council President and business tycoon Buert Servaas. He has also contributed generously to Marion County Prosecutor, Carl Brizzi ($150,000). But Brizzi isn’t the only one, Durham has contributed to. His money has flowed widely, mainly, but not exclusively (looking at you Rep. Hill ($4,600) to the Indiana Republicans.
Knowing as little as I do about this matter, I still have to admit having my views colored by an immediate schadenfreude. Not because of the guy’s politics, but because of the guy’s lifestyle. I’ll never be rich and flashy. I’m not sure I’d even be comfortable if that lifestyle was available to me. But, at a glance, it does look cool. Instead, I went with a slow and steady career and a committed family life. As with most things that are worthwhile in this life, the path is slow, subtle and, at times, hard (that last applies mostly to work – I haven’t yet seen what is especially hard about family life: pick a good spouse, don’t be a complete jackass, and raise your children as best you can. The rest seems to more or less take care of itself. Perhaps my kids’ teen years will be a rude awakening.)
But, in any case, it’s gratifying when things that look too good to be true turn out to be too good to be true and to see a guy cheating to get ahead brought low. This is all a little preliminary, I guess. Maybe all the negative reporting about this guy is premature and wrong. But there is a lot of smoke all of a sudden, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find that there was fire. All of the local politicians should probably review their connections to the guy, review the contributions they received from him and his organizations, and be prepared to explain themselves.
I never knew Durham.
His ex-wife Joan attended law school in Indpls. She wore her tennis skirt to classes, as if she had just come from her lessons or didn’t have enough time to change into jeans before heading over to the country club, in her Mercedes. There were none of the cheap “C” series Mercedes manufactured at that time, just those expensive big diesel versions or the sporty 2 seater convertibles, as compared to everyone else’s Chevrolet or Ford in the law school parking lot at that time. From what I heard, her parents viewed themselves as more snooty than Monaco royalty.
But, at a glance, it does look cool.
See, I don’t get this, and I’m curious about the extent to which that’s a product of our different eras. I might sit on the deck and think it’d be nice to have a tennis court, or a pool–which are things I could probably swing if I really decided to–or to take a world tour without worrying about finding the time or the money (but I know perfectly ordinary people, in terms of net worth, who’ve been everywhere). How much do’ya need to have, or do, all at once? That Vegas, Baby! lifestyle is the absolute last thing I’d do with money; and the idea of spending one’s life doing whatever it is piles up the gilt is just lost on me.
And you can call that my socialist tendencies, but I had an uncle who was a financial wizard, CFO of an international firm, who lived in the same three-bedroom house for forty years, bought a new car and a couple of suits every year. His daughter, who’s a little older than I but no commie, inherited his genius and his habits. My Poor Wife’s grandparents were wealthy (limestone) and they had a summer cottage and a winter place in Florida, not yachts and planes and judges.
I’m not sayin’ Ronald Reagan invented wretched excess or pathetic overcompensation, and robber baronage has been with us for some time, but I think the idea that Durham–criminal, scofflaw, or not–is a paragon of Attainment is a relatively modern disease.
For me, the superficial coolness is just a product of my bygone college days. And even that is nothing more than the fact that I liked getting drunk and looking at pretty girls with a notion that, if things went right, maybe I could hook up with them. (Actually hooking up wasn’t really the point. I pretty much never did and didn’t even expend much effort on making it happen. It was the prospect coupled with the beer and talking about pretty girls and beer with my dissolute buddies that was fun.)
Doug, if your kids’ teen years aren’t a rude awakening, you’ve checked out years before you even got there. Just saying- it has a way of being a solid kick-in-the-ass.
Nothing wrong with being rich, or trying to get there. Being a jackass about it? Yep, that’s where the schadenfreude is bound to happen.
Please don’t forget all the common folk involved in this mess. I live the slow and steady life also, and have dealt with Fair Finance for thirty years. Have I gotten rich? Not hardly, and now it appears I may be out $20,000.00. I consider myself fortunate that I wasn’t counting on the money for my survival. This guy may be an extreme douchbag the Ohio investors are the ones receiving the douche. Refreshing.