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:

The Hill @thehill·1h

Pence holds unscheduled meeting with billionaire Koch brother during Colorado trip (link: http://hill.cm/Y4OXyDa) hill.cm/Y4OXyDa

RJK @PragueloverR

Replying to @thehill

Pence asking for Kochs to pay his lawyer fees.10:39 AM · Jun 24, 2017

Julie Helgen @julie_helgen

Replying to @thehill

Pence needs $$$

Tweet

Conversation

The Hill @thehill·1h

Pence holds unscheduled meeting with billionaire Koch brother during Colorado trip (link: http://hill.cm/Y4OXyDa) hill.cm/Y4OXyDa

Kathy Taylor @KathyTaylor19

Replying to @thehill

Getting his campaign money already?10:06 AM · Jun 24, 2017

1 Like

kathy @kattazer·1h

Replying to @KathyTaylor19 and @thehill

Or trying to get future legal fees paid?

The Deepening Mystery of who will pay Mike Pence's Lawyer

 

Mike Pence fretting over how to pay his attorney fees

Over the weekend we had reported on the rumors that Vice President Pence was going to use funds from his Great America Committee to pay for legal representation. Now word on the street is Pence's PAC may not be used to pay Pence's lawyer Richard Cullen.

Peter Nicholas and Rebecca Ballhaus wrote an article today for the Wall Street Journal "Pence Won't Pay Legal Fees with PAC funds".

Nicholas and Ballhaus's piece as their self explanatory title claims that the rumors of PAC funds being used to pay Pence's legal fees are greatly exaggerated.

Nicholas and Ballhaus write:

Vice President Mike Pence has chosen not to use an allied political committee to pay for the private attorney he retained last week to represent him in the special counsel probe of Trump associates’ ties to Russia, two people close to Mr. Pence said Wednesday.

Last week, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that the vice president would most likely use funds raisedthrough a leadership PAC created earlier this year to pay for his legal bills.

At that point, Mr. Pence had not been presented with the options for paying his legal bills, another person said. When he reviewed them, he decided he would not use the leadership PAC, called the Great America Committee.

It is not clear how Mr. Pence will pay his legal fees, which can be a daunting expense, especially for public officials of relatively limited means.

A financial disclosure Mr. Pence released last year appeared to show a negative net worth, not counting his state pension or his residence. He reported no significant savings accounts, mutual funds or 401(k) accounts from before he entered elected office. As Indiana’s governor, he was paid $173,860 over the previous year, the disclosure showed.

According to Nicholas and Ballhaus Pence's staff hasn't helped to clear up the question of how Pence will pay his legal fees:

The vice president’s office declined to comment on whether Mr. Pence will pay for his attorney out of his own pocket. Mr. Pence won’t use taxpayer funds to cover the fees incurred by his lawyer, Richard Cullen of McGuireWoods, a spokesman for his office said.

Indy Republican is wondering if taxpayers aren't going to pay Cullen, and PAC donations won't. Then how in the hell is Cullen going to be paid?

Using PAC donations to pay Cullen is legal. But perhaps there is another reason why Pence would be wary of using PAC money.

Nicholas and Ballhaus state:

It would be legal to pay for a personal attorney with funds raised by a leadership PAC. Yet such an action would potentially expose the vice president to criticism that he is tapping well-heeled donors to pay for his legal team.

This would not be the first time that "Pampered" Pence would have faced criticism of his use of donors money. Back in 1990 during a failed congressional campaign against democratic congressman Phil Sharp. It was revealed that Pence had used campaign money to pay many of his personal expenses.

The New York Daily News reported on this back in July. Rosalind Helderman, Tom Hamburger, and Alice Crites writing for the New York Daily News on July 15, 2016 reported:

Mike Pence was a young lawyer on the rise, challenging a longtime Democratic congressman in a Republican-leaning Indiana district.

And then, scandal.

Campaign finance records from the 1990 effort showed that Pence, then 31, had been using political donations to pay the mortgage on his house, his personal credit card bill, groceries, golf tournament fees and car payments for his wife.

The spending had not been illegal at the time. But it stunned voters — and undermined Pence’s strategy to portray the incumbent, Rep. Philip R. Sharp, as tainted by donations from special-interest political action committees.

“It was a brazen act of hypocrisy,” said Billy Linville, who was Sharp’s campaign manager. “It was a bombshell, for sure. . . . Without question, he may well have won the election if it had not been for that.”

Pence’s early stumble proved to be a defining moment, prompting a period of public remorse that helped create the wholesome image many Republicans now say makes him an ideal running mate to counterbalance the bombastic Donald Trump.

In the months after that 1990 defeat, Pence waged a statewide apology tour and disavowed negative campaigning. He told a local reporter that using campaign funds for personal expenses had been “an exercise in naivete.”

Pence’s 1990 race also led to key changes in campaign finance policies. Experts say that subsequent rules passed by the Federal Election Commission barring the use of campaign funds for personal needs were the direct result of ethics concerns raised by Pence’s actions.

Well it appears Mike Pence has at least one accomplishment to his name. His missteps in his 1990 campaign helped change federal election law!

It appears that Mike Pence is scared about being put under intense scrutiny. Pence has also been in the news lately because of the delays in finishing the extension of I-69. Click here and here for more information on the I-69 debacle. Pence may also start to face questions about whether he accurately reported the address of his residence when he ran for Governor of Indiana in 2012. See below his 2011 1040 tax return where he states that he and his wife lived in Arlington, Virginia:

 

Which if true means that he should have been deemed ineligible to run for Governor in 2012. Since Indiana law states that you must be a resident of Indiana for the five years preceding the election for governor. Which obviously would not be true if he was living in Arlington, Virginia in 2011! 

So all this has us all wondering how in the world can Mike Pence have served a decade in congress and four years as governor and have so little in the way of assets to show for it? It just seems as if he should have more to his name by now. Also if the Vice President is doing everything above board. Why not simply say how he is going to pay his lawyer? It's a fair question. We thought we would leave you all with a little mailer that Pence did for his unsuccessful run for congress in 1988. It appears that Pence's wholesome image is as phony as he is judging by this mailer:

 

Update: We have resized the picture of Pence's 1988 mailer. Hat tip to Chas Navarra for pointing out.

Jon Easter's take on Pence's PAC/ATM

IR urges all our readers to go check out Jon Easter of Indy Democrat's post on Mike Pence treating Indiana as his own ATM! Click here for the article. Keep up the good work Jon! Gary Welsh is smiling down and blessing you from heaven.