How Evan Bayh lost my vote, my respect and my loyalty…
As many people know, I used to be a very loyal supporter of Evan Bayh. In fact, I took my twin boys to meet him in October, 2004 (pictured above). Evan Bayh was somewhat of a hero to my boys and me for many years. I was heartbroken when he decided to leave politics. I truly believed he was one of the last really “good guys” left.
While going over my personal general election ballot to conduct research on each candidate, I have to say I am beyond disappointed to find that the man who was once bigger-than-life to me has been consumed by the monster that is, the Washington Establishment and DC elites.
Evan Bayh was the first U.S. Senate candidate I researched because I thought I would be casting my vote for him – I'm glad I didn't give in to a historical connection and familiarity with this candidate and did my due-diligence on him, just as I would any other candidate.
Why Bayh Left Office
When Bayh left office, it was said he was leaving politics due to the nastiness of politics and personal strains between he and Barack Obama. Bayh regarded the president as a liberal with very little understanding of how most of America really operates or thinks. While that may have been true at the time, it certainly didn't remain that way.
Bayh After Leaving Office
After leaving the U.S. Senate, Bayh went to work as a strategic adviser on policy for the corporate law firm McGuireWoods LLP (2011-present) and as a senior adviser to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management (2011-present).
I have seen the Evan Bayh attack ads that claim he has spent his years following retirement as a DC lobbyist. He denies that claim. A closer look shows that there are indeed loopholes in disclosure laws that can be used by former senators where they can use their influence on behalf of certain clients without having to register as a lobbyist one such loophole states that only those who spend 20% of their time lobbying for a client or who contact at least 2 government officials must register under federal law. This loophole is often referred to as the “Daschle loophole” and is being used, with ease by 80 of the 352 people who have left Congress since 2008. Can you see how easy they make those financially-rewarding partnerships and political trickery?
Of course everyone under the sun knows how I feel about lobbyists on Capital Hill. I despise them and feel they have no other purpose in Washington than to corrupt our lawmakers by lining their pockets rather than our lawmakers being there and actually doing the jobs we elected them to do.
When I dug deeper into the other company Evan Bayh has been working for, Apollo Global Management, I was completely and totally heartbroken.
Apollo Global Management is a private equity firm that specializes in leveraged buyout transactions and purchases of distressed securities involving corporate restructuring, special situations, and industry consolidations. In the most basic of terms, what that means is Apollo is a vulture fund. It's called a vulture fund because these types of firms swoop in to buy up distressed companies, and in some cases strip them of their assets then leave behind a corporate carcass.
What happens is the investment firm borrows huge amounts of money to purchase a controlling stake in a company, saddles the company with the debt from the buyout, and then pays itself back by extracting funds from the original company. While these types of buyouts can be very profitable to firms like Apollo, and the the executives at the bailed-out company, it usually ends up being devastating to the employees who end up losing their jobs.
A Page Out of the Clinton Foundation Playbook
Bayh's net worth soared to between $13.9 million and $48 million after he left office and began a post-Congress career with lobbying firms and corporate boards. Considering his reported assets his final year in Congress were listed at $6.8-$8.0 million, I don't think you have to use too much imagination to connect those dots. Additionally, Bayh amassed nearly $6.3 million in salary, compensation on corporate boards, and various speaking fees between January 2015 and October 2016 when a new financial disclosure was filed late October 9th, the night of the second presidential debate in early October.
While Evan Bayh has not been active in politics, at least on the surface, he was still a very active player behind the scenes, obviously. It is precisely THIS kind of activity and use of political power or connections that I absolutely can NOT vote for.
I Just Can’t Vote for Bayh
For the first time in my adult life, whenever I have had the option to do so, I will not be casting my vote for Evan Bayh, but rather my vote will go to Lucy Brenton, Libertarian candidate for Indiana U.S. Senate.
Lucy Brenton, Libertarian, is My Choice
I encourage you to take a look at Lucy's website and review her position on various issues. Unlike her opponents, Lucy has taken the time to go into great detail how she feels about each of these issues. I was also able to see her speak recently and she seems very solid in her positions and not “scripted” with typical talking points like so many candidates these days.
When I looked at Evan Bayh's website, it was obvious he is relying on name recognition and history to win him the vote – don't be fooled. If he does not respect us, the voter, enough to go into more detail on the issues than to throw out a couple of paragraphs, if that, pointing out what he did before – I want to know who the candidate is NOW and what they plan to do in the future. He should realize in this very critical election year, we are hardly the same batch of voters we were before kind of like he is hardly the same person he was when the people of Indiana loved, admired and trusted him.
Gayla – follow me @Gayla or on Facebook
