Evan Bayh's New Stance

[Tim H]

I received this after Evan Bayh's decision to not run for re-election. He was going to lose by a landslide because his corruption was catching up to him.

"Election season has officially arrived. While I won't be on the ballot this year, I care deeply about ensuring that our elections are fair and the voices of ordinary Hoosiers are heard.

Unfortunately, due to a recent Supreme Court decision, we are facing an election where there will be no limits on the amount of money that special interests can spend on ads that support or oppose a candidate. Worse, the ruling will allow powerful corporations to hide their unlimited expenditures by secretly funneling money through organizations whose sole purpose is to launch ads that distort the truth.

The majority's 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case removes limits on how much money an oil company, a Wall Street bank, or even a corporation under foreign control can secretly spend on political advertisements. As a result, those who are beholden to special interests will be elected to defend special interests. The losers in all of this will be you, ordinary citizens.

That 's why I introduced a bill last week to close the floodgates opened by the Court's ruling. My legislation would force shadow interest groups to disclose all of the major donors who fund their attack ads. It would require corporate CEOs to appear on camera to stand by any claims and say they "approve this message," just like candidates have to do now. And it would close loopholes that allow foreign corporations to influence the outcome of our elections.

I announced this bill on the steps of Supreme Court, and I recorded a video of the event to share with you. (Click here to take a look.) The goal is to enact these reforms by July 4th, in time to deter and expose the onslaught of misleading, negative ads that will air before the November elections. Hoosiers have a right to know the motives and agendas of those trying to influence their votes.

When it comes to removing the corrosive influence of special-interest money on politics, sunshine is the best disinfectant."

Here are some fun facts about Senator Bayh

1. Relationship between his Senate office and wife's corporate career

His wife Susan Bayh has been described by the Fort Wayne, Indiana Journal Gazette as a "professional board member" or "professional director", having been a director of fourteen corporations since 1994 and being a director of eight as of 2006. The Journal Gazette reported that since Susan Bayh began her career as a corporate director, “Sen. Evan Bayh [has] cast more than 3,000 votes, including some on issues of keen interest to the pharmaceutical, broadcast, insurance, food-distribution and finance industries", Since 2003, Sen. Bayh has prohibited his staff from having lobbying contacts with his wife or representatives of the companies she directs. Mrs. Bayh makes very few public statements and has not commented on any perceived conflicts of interest, declining to be interviewed by the Journal Gazette.

2. He currently serves on five Senate committees: Banking Housing and Urban Affairs, on which he is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance; Armed Services; the Select Committee on Intelligence; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Small Business Committee.

3. When his second term as governor ended in 1997, he accepted a lecturing position at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Bloomington. From 1997 to 1998, while he was campaigning for U.S. Senate, Bayh was also hired as a partner at Indianapolis law firm Baker and Daniels. In 1998, his Baker and Daniels salary was $265,000, according to Senate financial records. Indiana University paid him an additional $51,000 that year.

Isn't it interesting that he is NOW against all this special interest money and wants CEO's to stand up and approve messages when he didn't volunteer for such things when he was Senator and his WIFE was the head of the special interest. At one point HIS OWN STAFF told him to step down from an issue his wife was lobbying for. I bet that now that he has spent his entire life in politics and has stepped down, he for term limits.

Now there's a Democrat for you that ran for President under the banner of the Democrats.