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Showing posts with label Marty Obst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marty Obst. Show all posts

Friday, July 10, 2020

Donors to Mike Pence’s Legal Defense Fund Revealed. Also, Where Does Mike Pence Live?

Finally after three years of nail biting suspense, we finally know the identities of some of the people who helped pay Vice President Pence’s legal fees. Veteran readers of this blog might recall we wrote about Pence’s legal defense fund back in 2017. Thanks to USA Today writer Maureen Groppe we now have some answers. Needless to say there are some interesting characters to say the least backing old Mickey.

Maureen Groppe wrote on June 30, 2020 in an article going into more detail about Pence’s legal donors:

Vice President Mike Pence received nearly $500,000 from a dozen contributors to pay his legal bills from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, according to his annual financial disclosure report that was released Tuesday (June 29, 2020).

The biggest backers were Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon and the California couple Michael Hayde and Laura Khouri who develop and manage apartment complexes. They each gave $100,000.

Other contributors include Pence's political adviser Marty Obst; national GOP fundraiser Ronald Weiser of Michigan; Florida real estate investor Leo Wells; Indiana businessmen Lawrence “Sonny” Beck, Paul Thrift and Tony Moravec; and Georgia businessman Brian McPheely, head of the country’s fifth largest corrugated packaging company.

The legal defense fund was created in December 2018 by Jim Atterholt, who served as Pence's chief of staff when he was Indiana's governor.

Pence hired an attorney, former U.S. Attorney Richard Cullen, after Mueller was appointed in 2017. But he was not billed until the end of Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

Expenses were paid last June and the fund was terminated in August, according to the disclosure report.

Atterholt previously told USA TODAY that he volunteered to start the fund because he doesn't believe legal bills should be the cost of public service.

Some of the names of Pence’s backers certainly have our interest peaked. A point of interest about Richard Cullen, Pence’s attorney. Is that Cullen is an old friend, coworker and godfather to one of former FBI Director James Comey’s daughters. And McGuire Woods the law firm Cullen works for is also where former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh works. For whatever reason Pence wanted a heavy hitter to represent him.

Back to some of the donors. We find it interesting that former State Representative, Indiana Department of Insurance (IDOI) Commissioner, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission Director, and Chief of Staff to Governor Pence Jim Atterholt created Pence’s legal defense fund. Atterholt is quoted as saying he created the fund for Pence “because he doesn't believe legal bills should be the cost of public service.” That’s a side splitter Jim! You sure as hell were not concerned with legal bills when you forced out Paul Ogden at the Department of Insurance back in 2006. 

Readers of INDY REPUBLICAN, Ogden on Politics, and the late Gary Welsh’s Advance Indiana blog, know that Atterholt is not the most ethical guy in politics. Gary Welsh and Paul Ogden have documented here and here Atterholt’s dubious conduct as head of the Department of Insurance, the head of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, and as Governor Pence’s Chief of Staff. There is an especially good post Paul Ogden did on Atterholt detailing Atterholt’s too cozy relationships with lobbyists and his willingness to commit perjury. When Pence named Atterholt to be his Chief of Staff that was an indication to all of us as to how useless he is as a public servant. 

Although Pence has never been charged with any criminal conduct to our knowledge, he does act as if he is hiding something. We cannot think of any other reason he would hire such a high powered lawyer to represent him. Also even though Pence has been Vice President since 2017, he still has cast ballots using the address of the Governor’s Mansion, where even he admitted he moved out of in 2017  He even tweeted his moving pictures: 

A recent article by Elizabeth Dye for “Above the Law” had this to say about the Pence’s use of the Governor’s mansion for voting:

“Does Governor Holcomb forward the Second Lady her Taste of Home and Good Housekeepingmagazines? Will Vice President and Mother Pence be bedding down in the governor’s mansion if voters see fit to evict them from Number One Observatory Circle in November? Will the Pences ever again pay their own electric bill, as they dutifully strive to cut the safety net out from under poor Americans?

So many questions! But apparently using their old taxpayer-funded digs, to which the Pences have no intention of returning, as their Indiana residence is perfectly legal.“

This raises some interesting questions especially since former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White was convicted of voter fraud, all because he allegedly voted in the wrong precinct one time in his whole life. Pence and his wife apparently are allowed to vote using an address they no longer live at. Even if one buys the claim that Pence is allowed to vote from the Governor’s mansion due to his serving as Vice President, how does that extend to his wife Karen, who is not in elected office? Somebody should ask Governor Eric Holcomb if he knowingly allows the Pence’s to vote from his residence? And if so why, and also why should the Pence’s get away with blatantly flouting election law when Charlie White was shafted by Holcomb and Mitch Daniels? Do you have something to say Eric? Mike? Karen? Trump would be well advised to drop kick Pence’s ass off the ticket, otherwise the Democrats WILL go after Pence with a vengeance and help to sink Donald even further. 

Let’s all just pray that for the devils bargain that Pence has made, that he is dropped from the ticket and must pay for his sins!

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Todd Rokita-Luke Messer Primary Battle getting nasty Part II of II

                   
Luke Messer                            Todd Rokita 

As promised we are continuing our coverage of the Messer-Rokita brawl. Yesterday Congressman Luke Messer announced that he is running for the US Senate. So far no word from Congressman Todd Rokita on whether or not he will throw his hat into the ring for the Republican Senate nomination next year. Earlier this week Tony Cook of the Indianapolis Star reported here on some unusual activity that has been occurring on Luke Messer's Wikipedia page.

Cook reported:

A slew of recent edits to Rep. Luke Messer's Wikipedia page closely align with his likely primary opponent Todd Rokita's campaign attacks, setting off a new round of finger pointing in what is expected to be one of the most hotly contested U.S. Senate races in the country.

Over the past month, Messer's page has been edited to emphasize his work as a lobbyist, his decision to move his family to Washington, D.C., and a controversy involving his wife's lucrative part-time legal work for the city of Fishers.

The edits were made under user names that make it difficult to identify the person behind the changes. But Wikipedia editing logs show that Messer's page is the only one they've edited, suggesting they are more interested in influencing Messer's image than providing objective information.

The Rokita campaign has routinely criticized Messer in recent months as a "lobbyist turned politician" who left Indiana for "one of the wealthiest suburbs of Washington D.C."

Messer's campaign, meanwhile, has shot back, accusing Rokita of peddling negative stories and attacking Messer's family.  At one point, an official with the Messer campaign told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that “Rokita has a history of making unhinged comments."

In response to inquiries from IndyStar, the Rokita campaign denied editing Messer's page, suggesting instead that the Senate seat's current occupant, Democrat Joe Donnelly, was behind the changes. 

"Joe Donnelly and his allies are clearly good at editing websites ... ," Rokita campaign spokesman Tim Edson said. "That said, most of what they’ve posted about Luke Messer’s record seems accurate."

Donnelly campaign manager Peter Hanscom laughed at the assertion that Donnelly's campaign was behind the edits.

"We have absolutely nothing to do with it," he said. "It's childish behavior. This is not the way you win a United States Senate seat."

Indiana Democratic Party spokesman Will Baskin-Gerwitz also said party members were not behind the changes.

According to Cook's article the Messer campaign does not believe that Senator Donnelly's campaign is behind the editing of Messer's Wikipedia page. 

Tony Cook continues:

Messer's campaign said the edits — which include a new section about immigration intended to make Messer sound less conservative — are obviously geared toward a Republican primary audience.

 "Of course it's Rokita," Messer campaign spokesman Jason Kneeland said. "Typical of the level of ugliness we've seen from him. Nobody has declared in the Senate race, but Todd has already established he will say or do anything to get elected. I just don't think that works long-term here in Indiana."

Cook writes that their have been some edits to Todd Rokita's page as well. But Tony Cook states that the changes to Rokita's page have been "mostly positive". 

If the Wikipedia drama is not enough to pique people's interest. Another plot twist emerged today on the "Luke and Todd Show." Kaitlin Lange over at Indystar.com wrote a piece called "Trump and Pence camps at odds over best choice for U.S. Senate: Messer or Rokita?"

As Ms. Lange reports it appears that the President and Vice Presidents key Hoosier supporters are splitting over who to back for the Senate.

Lange writes:

Associates of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence appear to be at odds over the best candidate to run for a hotly contested U.S. Senate seat in Indiana.

For months, multiple people close to Pence, along with his brother Greg Pence, have thrown their support to Rep. Luke Messer, R-Shelbyville, as the Republican choice to run against Democrat Sen. Joe Donnelly in the 2018 election.

On Thursday, Rex Early, the Trump Indiana State Chairman, and Tony Samuel, the vice chairman, joined the fight, sending a letter suggesting support for Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Indianapolis. 

“Of the members of Indiana’s congressional delegation, Todd Rokita is the only one that actively and specifically campaigned for candidate Trump — never wavering and never jumping on and off the Trump Train,” the two said in the letter.

It was a clear jab against Messer. But Early and Samuel went on to say they weren’t endorsing a candidate yet, adding there are multiple qualified people considering running.

It is important to remember that Todd Rokita still has not yet officially entered the U.S. Senate race. So far only Luke Messer has. But all indications are that Rokita will enter the race eventually. We can't see any other reason why Rokita's people would be lining up the endorsements and fundraisers they are unless they plan to run for the senate. Kaitlin Lange goes onto report the following response from the Messer for Senate campaign quoting Vice President Pence's brother Greg Pence:

"I can say I know and like both Rex (Early) and Tony (Samuel). While, I respect them, there are some inconsistencies in this statement. In fact, Congressman Rokita endorsed Sen. (Marco) Rubio (for president),"  said Greg Pence, who is also the chair of Messer's finance committee. 

IR has previously reported on Greg Pence's possible run for congress here. Since then Indy Republican has heard conflicting stories about whether or not Greg Pence will run for his brothers former congressional seat. So at this point we are not sure what to think. Anyway getting back to Messer and Rokita.

Lange continues her report:

Messer's campaign also pointed out Rokita's recent opposition to Trump's Federal Aviation Administration reforms, as well as policies Messer supported that they say line up with Trump's agenda, such as finding funding for a Mexico border wall by eliminating tax credits for illegal immigrants. 

Messer supported Jeb Bush for president early in the primary and gave money to Rubio's campaign.

Trump's approval rating is low in general, but he still has a 86 percent approval rate among Republicans, according to Gallup. Rokita's campaign is trying to appeal to those Trump supporters.

While Rokita himself has been a Republican office holder since 2002, he may not have as much support from the party establishment. The Indiana Republican State Committee passed up Rokita when he attempted to become the party's gubernatorial candidate after Pence dropped out of the race last year. Instead they chose Gov. Eric Holcomb, whom Pence endorsed.

In 2011, Republicans rewrote congressional boundaries following the census and ultimately wrote Rokita out of his own district.

Lange also cites a political scientist for their take on whether being associated with Donald Trump will help a candidate running statewide next year or hinder their campaign.

Andy Downs, a political scientist at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, argued having the support of those with Trump ties may not be as helpful as it was during the election year. 

"Feelings about Trump change very rapidly, but there are still a fair number of people who like Pence," Downs said.

So far we have one candidate for senate and one probable candidate who have each lined up notable supporters and fundraisers. IR is not as yet ready to make an endorsement in next years GOP Senate Primary. We can say with great confidence that we will not support Todd Rokita should he decide to run. We have never really thought well of Congressman Rokita and the likely conduct of some of his supporters in throwing the kitchen sink at Luke Messer shows that there is good reason to believe Rokita is trying to keep others from looking into his past.

IR has in the past cited a blog post written by the late great Gary Welsh in which he cited allegations made by former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White about information he discovered about his predecessor Todd Rokita's conduct as Secretary of State. Welsh wrote:


Gary Welsh was referring to how Todd Rokita is alleged to have used employees of the Indiana Secretary of State's office to perform campaign related work for his 2010 congressional run. Just like former Indiana Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett was alleged to have used some of his employees to due political work for him on government time. Something tells us that if Todd Rokita should pull the trigger on a run for the Senate this and other issues will pop up to bite him in the ass! At the very least they should!



Saturday, June 24, 2017

Are the Koch Brothers going to help pay Mike Pence's lawyer?

When it rains it pours. And with Vice President Mike Pence we are getting a monsoon. INDY REPUBLICAN continues to be amazed at how attentive and passionate our readers are at finding information of interest to the blog. A reader alerted us to an article by Reid Wilson published last night on thehill.com website. After reading Mr. Wilson's "Pence meets with Koch brother in Colorado" all of us here found ourselves extremely curious as to why Pence decided to meet with Charles Koch. Normally the news of Pence meeting with Koch would be of no interest to us. But in light of Mike Pence's retaining legal counsel over the Mike Flynn affair aka "Flynngazhi". And our own work into just how Pence plans on paying his high price attorney click here  and here for those posts. We all were naturally curious.

Reid Wilson reports:

Vice President Pence held an unannounced meeting with conservative political activist Charles Koch on Friday, the day before the Koch brothers network kicks off a donor meeting in Colorado Springs.

Pence, in town to headline a banquet celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Christian conservative group Focus on the Family, sat down with the chairman and chief executive of Koch Industries, along with key members of the Koch team.

The meeting was not on the vice president's schedule released by the White House late Thursday.

A spokesman for the vice president's office denied to The Hill earlier Friday that Pence would be meeting with the Koch brothers' network. The spokesman did not respond to requests for comments late Friday.

Let's review what Mr.Wilson has reported so far. According to Wilson Pence had a sit down meeting with Charles Koch and several of his key staff. The meeting was unannounced so that would explain why it was not on his schedule. However earlier on Friday a spokesman for Pence denied that Pence would be meeting with the "Koch brothers network". And that later on Friday presumably after the meeting had taken place. 

The fact that Pence met with Charles Koch and several of his top staff would seem to contradict Pence's spokesman's earlier denial that Pence was not going to meet with Koch or his network. Interestingly enough is that this meeting takes place the day before the Koch Brothers were going to have a donor meeting in Colorado Springs. Also coincidentally Pence just happened to be in town because he is to address Focus on the Family's 40th anniversary banquet. One of the cardinal rules of politics is if you have to meet with someone and don't want anyone asking why you are. Then don't make it an official trip. Have some legitimate reason to be in the area at the time that is unrelated to your meeting. Just from what we have read so far Pence is up to something.

Wilson describes the meeting and all those in attendance as follows:

James Davis, a spokesman for the Koch brothers' network, said Pence and Charles Koch discussed issues ranging from tax reform to a measure reforming the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which President Trump signed Friday. The meeting lasted 50 minutes, Davis said.

Marc Short, the White House's director of legislative affairs who once served as Pence's chief of staff on Capitol Hill, and Marty Obst, a longtime Pence adviser who runs the vice president's political action committee, both sat in on the meeting.

On the Koch brothers' side of the room: Mark Holden, Koch Industries' general counsel; Tim Phillips, president of the Koch brothers-backed group Americans for Prosperity; Brian Hooks, president of the Charles Koch Foundation and the Charles Koch Institute; and Davis.

Pence is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser for Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. The Koch brothers' network is also meeting at the Broadmoor, a posh resort owned by the conservative billionaire Philip Anschutz.

Now having read about the people in attendance at the meeting we seriously suggest that Mike Pence coordinates his schedule better with his press office to avoid embarrassing contradictions like whether he is having a meeting or not from happening. Also the presence of Marty Obst at the meeting strikes us all as being a little fishy. Readers of this blog and the late great Gary Welsh's blog Advance Indiana might remember Obst is not exactly squeaky clean. Click here and here for information about Marty Obst. Also the fact that so many key people with the Koch foundation were involved in this meeting indicates that it was planned in advance. 

The only reason we can think of as to why Pence or his staff would lie about such a meeting taking place. Is that a lot more was going on than what is being claimed. Which leads us to believe that perhaps Mike Pence plans on using his long standing relationship with the Koch Brothers to pay for the lawyer he just hired Richard Cullen.

In trying to figure out how Mike Pence can have been in public life so long and have so little assets or personal wealth built up. If his financial disclosure form is to be believed. IR put a few bugs in people's ears and here is what we have found out about Mike and Karen Pence's finances. Direct from the Indy Republican mailbag: "They (Mike and Karen Pence) never had any money and lived large off the state and why would they need the free house from the builders council in fishers back when he (Mike Pence)ran (for Governor in 2012) they have just sucked off the system". 

If true and we have no reason to doubt that it is. That would explain the relative poverty of the Pence's compared to other second couples that have been in the VP's office. Another avenue we have all been exploring is would his lawyer be willing to work for payment in material goods like furniture, artwork or rare jewelry this was what we got back: "No the lawyer needs to be paid so he'll either be paid by some donor indirectly which would be tantamount to an unreported bribe or they need $$$ somehow."

These comments got us to thinking that with the hiring process of Pence's lawyer going on for most of this month. It would stand to reason that he would also have been working on a way to pay for whatever lawyer he wound up hiring. 

Apparently the IR staff aren't the only ones who think this meeting stinks:

Pence holds unscheduled meeting with billionaire Koch brother during Colorado trip hill.cm/Y4OXyDa

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Pence asking for Kochs to pay his lawyer fees.10:39 AM · Jun 24, 2017Pence needs $$$
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Pence holds unscheduled meeting with billionaire Koch brother during Colorado trip hill.cm/Y4OXyDa

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Or trying to get future legal fees paid?