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Chris Sikich over at the Indianapolis Star has the story:
Vice President Mike Pence has canceled his Friday appearance in Indianapolis, where he planned to vote at the Indianapolis City-County Building.
His office did not provide an explanation when asked why. His office said the trip would be rescheduled soon.
He and his wife, Karen Pence, each tested negative for COVID-19 Thursday, according to his office.
"Nobody's sick. There's no positive tests," Pence spokesman Devin O'Malley said. "The VP is planning on travelling on Saturday and Monday. We'll have more information on the vice president's schedule next week soon."
An adviser to Pence said the reason was not health-related.
Marty Obst, senior political adviser for Pence, explained the cancellation in an email to News 8’s Demie Johnson: “It was merely a scheduling issue and definitely not health related. We are going to be in Florida Saturday, Ohio Monday, and Wisconsin Tuesday. Will be sure to reach out in advance or our next trip to Indiana.”
IR and the Gang were already suspicious about Pence’s canceling his plans to comeback and vote on Friday. Marty Obst’s statement that the schedule change is not health related leads us to believe that either the reason for the cancellation is A.) Health related, either due to the President and/or the Pence’s health. Or B.) Pence reasonably for see’s a need to be somewhere else on Friday but cannot or will not say why. We have written about Marty Obst’s shady ways before, so we will not go into detail here. But something is not right with this situation. If anyone hears anything about what is going on let us know in the comments, if you don’t want your comments published just say so and we will keep it confidential.
We also thought we would bring up as we and others have before the issue of Pence’s casting ballots from the Governor’s Mansion even though he hasn’t lived there since 2017. We have more information about that in a previous post from 2018, feel free to read that for more information. We thank all of you for your support and remember be safe and be excellent to each other!
UPDATE: Musician Jay Diggs has just released a hilarious song about Mike Pence called “I Have A Fly On You”.
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:
Enjoying a quiet moment on our last Sunday morning at the Governor's Residence pic.twitter.com/1oqBL3LN82
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!
For reasons that remain murky and muted by remnants of Gov. Mike Pence’s reelection campaign, no further direct money will end up in the coffers of Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb for his bid to keep the office in Republican hands.
“You’re not going to see a direct transfer from Mike Pence,” said Holcomb campaign manager Mike O’Brien on Tuesday. But O’Brien was quick to add, “We’ll be fully funded. Normally a candidate for governor spends four years stockpiling funds. We can’t do that. Our cash flow will be raise and spend.”
O’Brien also said that many Pence donors are stepping up in his race against Democrat John Gregg, who has raised north of $10 million. “Their response has been fantastic,” O’Brien said. On Aug. 24 and 25, the Holcomb campaign posted $117,300 in large donations, $50,000 each from Anthony Moravec of Columbus and Ronald Cameron from Little Rock, and $17,300 from John Meredith of Columbus. But O’Brien quashed speculation that the Pence campaign had prepaid production and ad buys that could be transferred to the new nominee.
The campaign manager’s comments end speculation as to how much of Pence’s reported $7.4 million campaign war chest at the June 30 mid-year deadline will be transferred to Holcomb. On July 29, the Pence campaign transferred $1.25 million to Holcomb.
But the unanswered question is why didn’t the Pence campaign take steps prior to July 19 to move a bulk of those funds, perhaps as much as $6 million, to either the Indiana Republican Party or the Republican Governors Association where they could have then been transferred to the new nominee? Did the Pence staff, in all the veepstakes hoopla and as they positioned for jobs in the Trump campaign, simply fail to do the proper research on how his federal candidacy might impact those funds? Or is Pence pulling an Evan Bayh, keeping a big war chest hoarded for future use if the Trump/Pence ticket loses on Nov. 8? Only Pence and his newly converted Trumpkins know.
O’Brien, who took the helm of the Holcomb campaign on Aug. 2, declined to speculate on why the Pence funds weren’t shifted to the new nominee, telling me that this is the scenario he inherited. On Aug. 1, when Holcomb was asked about the Pence funds, he said, “I’ll let Gov. Pence speak for every penny he decides to spend. I am concerned about raising the money I need. I am confident I can do that. We’ll raise the millions it will take to get the message out over the next 100 days.”
Asked whether some of the Pence funds will be refunded to the RGA, O’Brien responded, “Can't comment on what Mike Pence might do. I'll just say the RGA is all in for us and they'll invest. You'll see it soon.” The RGA did put $250,000 into the Holcomb campaign earlier this month, with Holcomb campaign spokesman Pete Seat calling it a “new investment” and not recycled Pence funds
We are stumped as to just why Howey says that there is some confusion about why the Holcomb campaign will receive no further direct contributions from the Pence reelection campaign. If Mr. Howey had just bothered to read either Niki Kelly's articles here and here, or a widely cited Memo from the Democratic Governor's Association dealing with the Pence money issue, hell if Howey had just bothered to simply do more than five minutes of work looking into this it wouldn't surprise him why Holcomb is not going to get anymore money from Pence! The answer is because the Pence campaign legally cannot give him any! He could have even read this blog and become aware of it that way! Mike O'Brien who is Eric Holcomb's campaign manager is currently listed on Barnes and Thornburg's website as Senior Public Policy Advisor at their Indianapolis office. Before his current position at B&T it appears that O'Brien's job was just to carry water for whatever legislation that "Godfather" Governor Mitch Daniels told him to. He also is the former chairman of the Hendricks County Republican Party. What has always struck us as so interesting is that O'Brien like most Mitch Daniels boot lickers political appointees O'Brien seems extremely young to have been given such heavyweight political positions. But Daniels had a habit as Governor of appointing a lot of extremely young party hacks to senior positions in his administration! Frequent readers of Gary Welsh's blog Advance Indiana and Paul Ogden's Ogden on Politics blog will recognize the law firm of Barnes and Thornburg! They were as Gary Welsh called them part of the "downtown mafia" that just tries to control as much of the Hoosier state as they possibly can! Howey continues: Former Pence campaign spokesman Marc Lotter, who along with former Pence campaign finance director Marty Obst took new positions with the Trump presidential campaign, did not respond to questions. Lotter has refused to respond to most Indiana news media requests.
Unanswered at this point is what happens to $5-6 million in Pence funds? Eventual campaign filings will reveal the story, but at this point the fledgling Holcomb campaign could have used that money . . . yesterday.
When Pence officially became a federal candidate, his Indiana campaign funds fell under Federal Election Commission guidelines, which limited the amount of funds that could be transferred to the successor nominee. Holcomb was endorsed by Pence on July 22. He used it with a strong implication that much of the Pence war chest would be transferred to his fledgling campaign. But minutes after winning the nomination, Politico reported that much of the Pence war chest was not transferrable.
In presentations to the Indiana Republican Central Committee members, U.S. Reps. Susan Brooks and Todd Rokita both stressed that they had more than $1.2 million in funds and both laid out strategies for funding their campaigns. One influential observer speaking on background told me, “It is interesting that here it is a month later, and he still only has barely over 10 percent of the Pence funds, especially when you examine the daily finance reports of individuals giving $10,000. Many of those folks are reliable $50,000 or $100,000 donors. So what’s up with that? The silence from the Pence campaign and Holcomb campaigns on this is deafening.”
Republican financier Bob Grand, who turned up in Cleveland on the morning of July 20 during the waning hours of the Republican National Convention, said at the time he would be working on the fund transfer. On July 27, Grand said, “It’s all going to get worked out. It’s not a problem and it’s not going to be a problem. Eric Holcomb is going to have plenty of money to run this race. A fair amount of it will come from the Mike Pence campaign.”
There doesn’t seem to be any public tension between Pence and Holcomb, who campaigned together in Columbus earlier this month. Holcomb is a loyal lieutenant to the vice presidential nominee. But that loyalty, in a financial sense, appears to be a one-way street as Holcomb’s condensed campaign hits a very early homestretch. Well gee Brian! Why in the world would you think that Mike Pence gives a damn about anyone other than Mike Pence? If the rumors are to be believed that Mitch Daniels forced Mike Pence to appoint Eric Holcomb to be his Lt. Governor that would certainly lend credence to the theory floated by many that Pence and/or members of his team don't care if Holcomb wins the Governor's race or not! As far as we here are concerned the Indiana Fake Republican Party can all crash and burn!
Note to our readers: We have been having issues with blogger in regards to the font size of our posts. We will have this resolved as soon as we can. If any of you have any suggestions let us know!
If you live long enough you see just about anything happen. But even IR never thought we would see the day that Mike Pence would hire a lawyer from the firm that employs former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh. Apparently the shock of being dumped by Congressman Jim Banks and being replaced by Bobby Knight has shattered Pence's already fragile mind! The Washington Post revealed that Mike Pence has hired Richard Cullen of McGuireWoods to represent him in regards to possible investigation by congress and special prosecutor Robert Mueller into possible collusion between the Trump White House and the Russian Government involving the 2016 presidential election. Several Indy Republican readers alerted us to this story. There are a few interesting questions that pop up during an examination of the circumstances surrounding Pence's hiring of Mr. Cullen. We will ask our questions. First let's layout what facts we have so far.
Ashley Parker writing for the Washington Post on June 15, 2017 reported here on Pence's hiring of Cullen by citing his office making the following statement:
“I can confirm that the Vice President has retained Richard Cullen of McGuireWoods to assist him in responding to inquiries by the special counsel,” said Jarrod Agen, a Pence spokesman, in an emailed statement. “The Vice President is focused entirely on his duties and promoting the President’s agenda and looks forward to a swift conclusion of this matter.”
Cullen will not be paid with taxpayer money, an aide said. Cullen referred questions to the vice president’s office.
The process of hiring a lawyer took several weeks and included interviews with several candidates, a Pence aide said. The vice president made his final decision earlier this week.
Several INDY REPUBLICAN readers have contacted us and said they found it interesting that Pence's aide would emphasize that taxpayer money would not be paying Cullen's legal fees. In light of the fact according to Vice President Pence's financial disclosure here he filed last year it showed him as not having any money!
Mike Pence when he looked at his bank account:
So if the taxpayers are not going to pay for Cullen, then how is Mike Pence planning on paying his attorney? Another question we have been asking ourselves is just when did Mike Pence decide to go around shopping for an attorney. The aide quoted said that several candidates were interviewed over a period of around two weeks with the decision to hire Cullen was made earlier this week. Now Vice President Pence was originally scheduled to give an interview on June 7, 2017 on PBS's "News Hour" program but canceled the interview shortly before it was to start.
Now the cancelled interview was to take place on June 7th. The news of Pence's decision to hire Richard Cullen was reported on June 15th, this past Thursday, or 8 days after the cancelled interview. That would fall within the "several weeks" timeline mentioned by Pence's office. So if Pence had to interview potential lawyers during that timeframe that could very well account for his abrupt cancellation with PBS. Since even if he did not interview potential lawyers in person. Pence at the very least would have had to speak to them via phone or some other means.
The Post reports that Cullen is no stranger to representing high profile clients. Ashley Parker gives the following background information on Cullen:
Cullen, a former Virginia attorney general, served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia under President George H. W. Bush and worked on President George W. Bush’s legal team during the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential election.
His other high-profile clients have included Tom DeLay, the former Republican majority leader who was investigated by the Department of Justice for his relationship with Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff; Elin Nordegren, the ex-wife of Tiger Woods, in her divorce from the golf star; and former senator Paul Trible (R-Va.), during the Iran-contra investigation.
Ms. Parker elaborates further on how Mike Pence has potentially been drawn into the Russian-Trump collusion investigation:
As Trump’s No. 2 and as head of the transition team, Pence has increasingly found himself drawn into the widening Russia investigation. Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, misled Pence about his contacts with Russian officials — Pence then repeated the incorrect claims publicly. The vice president was kept in the dark for nearly two weeks about Flynn’s false statements before learning the truth in a Post report.
Trump fired Flynn for misleading the vice president.
There were also news reports that Flynn’s lawyers had alerted Trump’s transition team that Flynn was under federal investigation for his secret ties to the Turkish government as a paid lobbyist — a claim the White House disputes. And aides to Pence, who was running the transition team, said the vice president was not informed of Flynn’s overseas work with Turkey, either.
James Comey and Cullen once worked together at McGuireWoods and Cullen is godfather to one of Comey’s daughters.
Forgive us if we are finding it impossible to believe that Mike Pence was in charge of the Trump transition team, but somehow was unaware of Michael Flynn's lawyers having informed the transition team that Flynn was under federal investigation! It is also bizarre that the lawyer that Pence finally settled on was an the godfather of one of fired former FBI Director James Comey's daughters! That's is to much for King Kong to swallow!
The Vice President's increasingly being so repeatedly near the scandals of the Trump administration. Has caught the notice of several who are finding it harder and harder to buy the nonsense being shoveled that Mike Pence is just a nice, squeaky clean guy.
Pence's former congressional colleague and host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe". Former Congressman Joe Scarborough (R-FL) said last month:
Allan Lichtman a history professor at American University in Washington, D.C. and the man most famous for correctly predicting the winner of every presidential election since 1984. Including being one of the only experts to correctly forecast that Donald Trump would win the 2016 election. Professor Lichtman has trained his sharp mind to trying to ascertain the Vice Presidents role in the Trump administration. The good professor is skeptical to say the least about old Mikey being a victim of those around him.
According to a now standard account, Pence is the innocent victim of deceptions by others – former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the president himself.
But this is supposition only, with no hard evidence behind it. It is equally plausible that Pence is complicit in the lies propagated by the Trump administration and perhaps even involved in a cover-up of potentially impeachable transgressions. That's why he must be investigated thoroughly by the Congress and the FBI along with the president and other members of the Trump campaign team and administration.
For a seasoned politician who served for 12 years in Congress and three years as governor of Indiana, Pence has seemed remarkably easy to fool. Supposedly, Mike Flynn fooled Pence into affirming that Flynn's conversations with Soviet Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were "strictly coincidental" and had nothing "to do with United States' decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia."
Pence was allegedly fooled again when he said that Trump fired FBI Director Comey because he accepted "the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general." Trump later admitted that he had intended to sack Comey before he received any Justice Department recommendations and that "this Russia thing with Trump" was on his mind when he made the firing decision.
The theory of Pence as innocent victim lacks credibility.
As vice president on March 9, 2017, Pence said that regarding stories about Flynn's lobbying for Turkey, "Hearing that story today was the first I'd heard of it." Yet Pence was the head of the transition team that recommended Flynn for National Security Adviser and news reports in November 2016 had disclosed Flynn's lobbying for Turkey.
Beyond press reports, on November 18, 2016, Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Pence warning: "Recent news reports have revealed that Lt. Gen. Flynn was receiving classified briefings during the presidential campaign while his consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, Inc., was being paid to lobby the U.S. Government on behalf of a foreign government's interests. … Lt. Gen. Flynn's General Counsel and Principal, Robert Kelley, confirmed that they were hired by a foreign company to lobby for Turkish interests"
Lies spoken softly by Mike Pence are no less insidious than lies bellowed and blustered by Donald Trump. Pence must be part of all investigations of the Trump administration. Under Article 2, Section 4 of the constitution, a vice president no less than a president is subject to impeachment.
Such damning statements made about a sitting Vice President of the United States by one of America's finest political experts and by a former fellow congressman are not to be dismissed lightly. If Michael Flynn's lawyers did indeed tell the Pence-led Trump transition team about Flynn's work being the subject of a federal investigation. In all likelihood Mike Pence was aware of this as well! Which would mean that even a dimwit like "Pampered" Mike Pence would know he was going to probably need a lawyer. And he would have known this before assuming office. Which would make the matter of him being able to pay what would undoubtedly be exorbitant legal fees an urgent one.
But how to pay a high powered lawyer if he reported having no money on his disclosure form?
How does the former governor, whose financial disclosure last year appeared to show a negative net worth, plan to pay him?
The likely solution: an independent political group launched by Pence allies last month that can raise up to $5,000 per donor and has no restrictions on the personal use of funds.
Mr. Pence on Friday is set to attend a fundraiser for the group, Great America Committee, in Indianapolis, a day after his office said the vice president had retained Richard Cullen, chairman of the prominent law firm McGuireWoods, to represent him in the special counsel probe of Trump associates’ ties to Russia. Premier tickets to the event cost $5,000, while donors who pay $2,500 gain access to a reception at the hotel where the event is hosted.
Mr. Pence will most likely use funds raised through that group to pay for his legal bills, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Cullen said Mr. Pence’s office had directed him to “make certain that whatever method [of payment] is used is compliant with all federal law and regulation.”
There are no rules barring Mr. Pence from using the group’s funds to pay for his private attorney, said Kenneth Gross, former head of enforcement at the Federal Election Commission.
“There is no personal use restriction on a leadership PAC,” he said.
Using leadership PAC funds to pay for a private attorney would allow top donors to Mr. Pence to bankroll his legal defense as the special counsel’s probe heats up.
Ms. Ballhaus mentions that the creation of this PAC was most curious because:
The creation of one (a PAC) on Mr. Pence’s behalf earlier this year raised eyebrows, as vice presidents—particularly those in their first terms—rarely have their own political committees separate from the president.
Another weird twist is that Mike Pence is the honorary chairman of the PAC. And his aide Marty Obst is on the staff of the Great America Committee. Readers of this blog and Gary Welsh's Advance Indiana blog may remember that Obst was associated with the shady real estate agent John Bales and also unsuccessfully tried to save Senator Richard Lugar from losing the 2012 Republican Senatorial Primary. The inclusion of Obst on the Great America Committee and the fact that Pence came down to Indianapolis to fundraise for his pack one day after hiring Richard Cullen as his attorney does not pass the smell test.
So what are we to make of the increasingly boneheaded and paranoid actions of Mike Pence?
Bill Kristol the founder of conservative magazine The Weekly Standard had this to say about an unusual tweet the VP made:
In the INDY REPUBLICAN mailbag a reader made this observation about VP Pence groveling like a submissive worm to his D.C. masters:
Typical Pence...the soft, weak link of any team....probably wears "depends" undergarments for as much as he pisses his pants. Wonder what is worrying the little pissant so much?
We love our readers insights into Mike Pence. We think they are mistaken about one thing though. They forgot that since Pence is Number 2 in Washington he most likely would have to wear depends because he just craps so much!
