Brent Waltz has been sentenced to ten months in prison on federal campaign finance charges. You can read about the details of the indictment here and here. But, I’m going to summarize it as Waltz getting casino money and being part of a straw man donor scheme to funnel that money to his 2016 primary campaign to be the Republican nominee for the Ninth District Congressional seat. Waltz lost that primary to “Tennessee” Trey Hollingsworth. Waltz ultimately only picked up 13% of the vote in the primary which included four other candidates.
The reason I want to underscore that the money was connected to the casino industry is that Waltz became a state senator after unseating Larry Borst in the 2004 primary. Borst had served for a decades and was chair of the Senate Finance Committee. As long-time State House reporter, Jim Shella observed in a 2020 IBJ column:
Waltz was first elected to the state Senate in 2004 after he won a GOP primary against powerful Finance Committee Chairman Larry Borst. Borst was opposed to more gambling, and Waltz had the support of Republicans who saw Borst as an obstacle. There has been an open discussion in Statehouse hallways ever since about Waltz’s ethics.
I won’t go so far as to say that Borst would be gratified by Waltz’s conviction and sentencing. But his concerns about the gaming industry in Indiana certainly seem to have been proven valid.
What I don’t get is with Waltz and Keeler, allegedly, is that they committed, allegedly, felonies for such a small amount of money. Was Keeler’s offense over something like $40,000? Really?