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:
