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IN-03: Souder Resignation

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I was busy with paying work when news of the Souder resignation broke. It’s been maybe 9 or 10 hours, and it already feels like old news. But, it seems momentous enough that I figure I should comment.

Souder has been committing adultery with one of his staff members (female), and he got caught. Because he got caught, he is resigning. The rumor I heard was that a newspaper was sniffing around about Souder and his mistress getting caught having sex in a public park. But, I hasten to add, if this has been confirmed, I haven’t seen it yet. (TPM Muckraker has a story on this – they say that DNR searched its records and didn’t find an official record.)

Sanctimonious public officials grate on me, so it’s somewhat satisfying when a little petard hoisting sends them packing. But my amusement at this sort of thing is tempered by the realization that Souder isn’t some abstract character in a story. He’s a real person with, and this is the important part, a real family. His family members are no doubt hurting from this, and I have no particular cause to wish them ill.

So, in the course of 5 years, we are seeing a dramatic sea change in Indiana’s Congressional delegation. Of the 11 Representatives and Senators representing Indiana in 2006, only Senator Lugar, Mike Pence, Dan Burton (barely), and Pete Visclosky (if a corruption investigation doesn’t bring him down) seem likely to be serving in 2011. Sen. Bayh is stepping down. Chris Chocola was defeated by Joe Donnelly. Steve Buyer is resigning ostensibly to take care of his wife, but also under the cloud of his sketchy Frontier Foundation funding. Julia Carson passed away in 2007 and was replaced by her grandson, Andre. John Hostetler was beaten by Brad Ellsworth. And Mike Sodrel was beaten by Baron Hill.

I’ve already seen one of the standard defenses to the sanctimonious hypocrite scandal. It goes something like, “it’s not wrong for someone like Mark Souder to proclaim the sanctity of marriage and good, wholesome values even if he falls short in his personal life.” I’m always puzzled by the lack of concern for integrity this defense implies. It’s enough, apparently, that a public figure says the right things about morality and pretends to believe those things because hearing those things and seeing the pretense is “good for us” somehow.

The problem, as I see it, is with condemnation of those who don’t necessarily speak the approved words about proper morality or engage in the pretense that everyone adheres (or should adhere) to that particular code.

If the family values crowd characterized their version of morality as worthy aspirations instead of imperatives, the departure from which is sinful, I would probably agree. And if guys like Souder said that these aspirations were good ideas that he, personally, was lousy at attaining, I wouldn’t have much to hold over his head right now. But there seems to be a judgment of unworthiness applied to others who are not members of the tribe that is rarely applied as vigorously to folks like Souder.

Now, at least, Souder appears prepared to honor his term limit pledge about four years late. Maybe that will allow him to focus on whatever marital pledges he may have made.

Busy Primary Season

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There is some unrest in the air, making this a busy primary season. The Lafayette Journal & Courier has a list of people who will be on local ballots.

SENATE
Don Bates, Jr., Richard Behney, Dan Coats, John N. Hostettler, Marlin A. Stutzman
Coats is a former Hoosier, lobbyist, and very retro – I don’t think he captures the mood of the Republicans. Behney has come off as a blowhard, talking about playing with his guns if he doesn’t get his way. Hostettler is a wingnut. I don’t know much of anything about Bates. Stutzman has been a state legislator, giving him a veneer of respectability, who has a reputation as very conservative, which will play well in the primary.

IN-01
D: Peter J. Visclosky*, Woody Wilcox
R: Adam A. Dombkowski, Ric Holtz, Mark Leyva, Peter Lindemulder III, Eric L. Olson, Robert Pastore, Michael Petyo, Jayson Reeves
Visclosky has some ethics issues dogging him, but, so far as I know, it’s just investigatory at this point. He has to be regarded as a heavy favorite at this point.

IN-02
D: Joe Donnelly*
R: Martin A. Dolan, Jack Edward Jordan, Jackie Walorski, Tony Zirkle
Any primary fight that involves Wacky Jackie battling with a disbarred (pdf) Illinois Nazi supporter should be one to watch. I don’t know anything about Dolan and Jordan – they might be credible challengers.

IN-04
D: Tara E. Nelson, Mark Powell, David Sanders
R: Jon Acton, Cheryl Denise Allen, Mike Campbell, Daniel L. Dunham, James T. (Jim) Hass, Brandt Hershman, LaRon Keith, Todd Rokita, Mark Seitz, Ed Soliday, Phillip J. (PJ) Steffen, Phil J. Thorpe, Eric L. Wathen, R. Michael Young
David Sanders is a Purdue professor and a great guy, but has not, historically, been able to raise the kind of funds necessary to compete against Steve Buyer in this district. He threw his hat in the ring when nobody else was going to, which is good because it would have been a shame if Rep. Buyer had gone completely unchallenged in the wake of his Frontier Foundation shenanigans. Off hand, I don’t know anything about Mark Powell or Tara Nelson who will compete with him in the primary. The real action, at this point, is in the Republican primary. IN-04 is a heavily Republican district and would-be Congressmen came out of the woodwork when Buyer announced he was stepping down. Right now, I’d probably give Hershman and Rokita the edge in this crowded field. Rokita because he has name recognition, and Hershman because the Fourth is his turf probably more than the others, as a state Senator from the Lafayette area and as someone very involved in Buyer’s campaigns. I’m not sure how well the Indianapolis types will fare in this sprawling district.

IN-08
D: Brad Ellsworth*, W. Trent Van Haaften
R: Bud Bernitt, Larry D. Bucshon, Billy J. Mahoney, Kristi Risk, John Lee Smith, John K. Snyder, Dan Stockton, Steve Westell
This one is interesting because Ellsworth is probably going to take a stab at the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Evan Bayh which would leave Van Haaften as the Democratic candidate. Trent is a state representative who has been known to read and even comment on this blog from time to time which automatically makes him a man of discerning tastes. I am not immediately familiar with the Republican candidates.

There are also plenty of state and local races. I won’t comment on the local races because I live and work here and don’t like crapping in my nest, so to speak. But one item of interest, I see that for Indiana House District 15, currently occupied by Don Lehe, there is someone on the Democratic ballot going by the name of, and I quote, “John (The Man) Malan.”

Health Care Industry Benefits Hoosiers

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TPM Muckraker has two stories about how the health care industry benefits Hoosiers — two families anyway.

Yesterday, the site had an article about the Buyer family entitled PhRMA Gave Big To GOP Rep’s Iffy Foundation, Hired His Son, Kept On Giving (h/t Blue Indiana).

Drug industry umbrella group PhRMA, which has given $200,000 to given Rep. Steve Buyer’s Frontier Foundation, in June 2008 hired a director of the foundation as its federal affairs manager, TPMmuckraker has confirmed.

The name of that director? Ryan Buyer, son of the Indiana congressman.
. . .
With the revelation that Ryan Buyer was hired by PhRMA in what appears to be a lobbying position, the web of connections between the Indiana congressman, his foundation, and the drug industry grows still thicker.

Today, it has an article about the Bayh family entitled Report: Bayh’s Wife Made Millions As Board Member for Health Insurer.

Susan Bayh’s affiliation with Indianapolis-based WellPoint isn’t news. But a new report on TheStreet digs into the details. It also finds that last year, Susan Bayh sat on four other corporate boards, in addition to WellPoint’s. She received over $656,0000 in cash and stock for all her board work, around half of which came from WellPoint.

For his part, Sen. Bayh denies that Mrs. Bayh’s board memberships influence his judgment. But, at the least, the appearance is pretty bad.

In any case, I guess it’s wrong to vilify the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries when they are providing good jobs to ordinary Hoosiers like the Bayhs and the Buyers.

Poor Poor Pitiful Steve

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I’d lay my head on the railroad tracks
And wait for the Double “E”
But the railroad don’t run no more
Poor, poor pitiful me

Poor, poor pitiful me
Poor, poor pitiful me
These lobbyists won’t let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe is me

(With apologies to the late, great Warren Zevon.) The Indianapolis Star finally gets into the act and covers Rep. Steve Buyer’s uncharity, the Frontier Foundation. In response, Rep. Buyer goes to the “woe is me” routine he first trotted out in the puff interview with the Monticello Herald Journal. He works so hard and so selflessly for this charity, you see, that he is wounded by critics who would suspect him of anything unpleasant. This is a jarring departure from his previous position — one not apparently pursued in the Indianapolis Star article — that the Frontier Foundation was not an organization with which he had any special involvement.

June 2008. The Frontier Foundation is just another charity Rep. Buyer helps:

In an interview, Buyer said “there is no connection” between his legislative actions and donations to the foundation. “I’m not an officer. I’m not a board director,” he said of his role in the non-profit. “Do I help the foundation? Yes, I do. Do I help other charity groups? Yes, I do.”

October 11, 2009. Still in denial.

Attempts to reach Buyer for comment were unsuccessful. His press secretary referred questions to Frontier Foundation and said there was no connection between Buyer and the foundation.

“It’s not Congressman Buyer’s foundation,” press secretary Anjulen Anderson said.

Buyer is, of course, inseparable from the Foundation. With no Buyer, there is no Foundation. Its board is made up entirely of Rep. Buyer’s friends and family. It shares office space with his campaign office, etc. Aside from letting him off the hook on this abrupt about face, the Indy Star article does a pretty good job of describing where the money comes from and where it has gone.

Sources are:
• Pharmaceutical interests: $465,000.
• Telecommunications interests: $215,148.
• Tobacco and alcohol interests: $65,000.
• Health insurers: $60,000.
• Other: $53,124.
• Unknown: $25,000.

There have been $10,500 in distributions, primarily to a foundation run by an Eli Lilly lobbyist, the NRA, and a guy in Monticello who had a fire. The “charity” is purportedly for providing scholarships to Hoosier students with a 2.75 g.p.a. An advertisement for the scholarship was attached to the 2007 tax return (page 22 or so). It said two scholarships of $10,000 were available. However, a total of $0 (not a typo) has been devoted to scholarships for the period 2003 – 2008. Most of the expenditures have been expenses, including a lot of what are described as fund raising expenses in the form of golf outings in swanky locations:

In 2004, the first Frontier Foundation golf fundraising event was held at the Fenwick Country Club in New York. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, Buyer said, the golf outings were held at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. The outings in 2008 were at Atlantis and the Boulders resort in Phoenix, and at Boulders and Disney World this year.

But if we think the Bahamas or Disney World are “fun,” we are sorely mistaken, says Rep. Buyer. It’s hard work! And for this selfless labor, what does Rep. Buyer get? (Aside from the trips — which he hates). He is made to suffer the slings and arrows of journalists, Democrats, and random bloggers. The Indy Star article quotes a fundraising professional who suggests it’s not out of line to try to stockpile a bunch of cash before handing out money in order to make the charity sustainable; though, apparently, staffing the board with family members and fund raising through destination golfing isn’t typically the best way to do things.

But, the big problem in all of this is the source of the funding. It’s coming from people doing business with the United States Congress for whom Buyer is in a position to do favors. He says he’s not. And, I very much suspect that Rep. Buyer would be favorably inclined toward these huge corporate interests even without the giving. But you can’t expect people to trust their Congressman when an organization entirely controlled by him is taking in large sums of money from lobbyists and not distributing it except to go golfing.