Angry White Boy and Indiana’s Conservative Hardball have posts up noting some difficulties that Todd Young is having with the FEC regarding some of his campaign finance reporting.

The FEC is like a glacier; it moves slow but grinds down things in its path. It probably wouldn’t undertake any enforcement action on these issues before the primary (should it deem enforcement action necessary).

After the primary, when (or if) Todd Young loses, the committee will be defunct and out of money, at which point the FEC would go after the campaign treasurer and not the candidate.  Remember, Tom DeLay ended up on Dancing with the Stars, but Tom DeLay’s treasurer ended up in prison; Young’s problems probably aren’t that bad, but repeated FEC violations are nothing to sneeze at.

Update after the leap.

Times maybe tough, but Hoosier voters seem to be taking their sour economic mood out of State House Democrats by giving some of their hard earned money to GOP challengers.  Consider the following:

• Republican challengers combined have over $186,000 cash-on-hand, while Democrat challengers have only $53,000.
• Kyle Hupfer (District 37 vs. Scott Reske) currently has over $54,000 on-hand, more than all the Democrat challengers combined, and over $40,000 more than the incumbent (Reske has only $12,000)

Three other Republican challengers already have more cash-on-hand than their incumbent opponents:

• Ron Bacon (District 75) has $12,200 vs. Dennis Avery’s $6,500

• Mike Karickhoff (District 30) has $11,700 vs. Ron Herrell’s $5,400

• Cheryl Musgrave (District 77) has $34,400 vs. Gail Riecken’s $23,200 (Btw, Musgrave has more cash on hand than Rieken spent in 2008 to win the seat)

Now here is where we start to see the strength of the party organizations.  Nationally, the money raised has been about even when you look at what both parties have done and where they are with cash on hand.  But here in the state it’s a different story.

• The House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) also raised $1.1 million with $608k cash-on-hand.

The Democrats?

• The HDCC has raised $523k and has $395k cash-on-hand.

Ouch!

And when you factor in the campaign accounts for Brian Bosma and Pat “The Hair” Bauer, the advantage for both money raised ($1.5 million to $874k) and cash-on-hand ($977k to $755k) grows even larger.

The year is starting out well.  With Scott Brown’s victory on Tuesday in Massachusetts, Republicans have a lot to be happy about.  Momentum is on our side and it’s looking that way on the state level to.  But now is now is not the time to get lazy and think that good fundraising numbers will mean a good outcome in November.  Consider getting involved with one of these candidates or a Republican candidate of your choice near you.  And keep an eye on our Candidate Monday features as we continue to profile GOP State House candidates from all across Indiana.

Doesn’t make any sense to me, really.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is simultaneously Obama’s right-hand man (thus anathema to conservatives and patriots across southern Indiana) and he is the guy who steered Obama away from cherished progressive goals like the public option.

Why have him come to Bloomington to do a fundraiser?

It’s the worst of both worlds; it pisses off the lefties that Baron needs to volunteer and donate to his campaign and it inflames the conservatives elsewhere across southern Indiana that Baron needs to keep snookered and sleeping.

Emanuel coming to Bloomington Jan. 9 to support Hill

please join us
in honoring
congressman
baron p. hill
REPRESENTING INDIANA’S NINTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

WITH

special guest
rahm emanuel

saturday, january 9, 2010

VIP Reception
at the home of Dr. Owen & Julie Slaughter
2424 Dunn Street ~ Bloomington, IN
5:00 – 6:00pm

General Reception
Tudor Room
Indiana Memorial Union
Bloomington, IN
6:30 – 7:30pm

VIP RECEPTION
$1,000 Per Host
$500 Per Guest

GENERAL RECEPTION
$100 Per Guest

From Saturday’s Indianapolis Star:

On Friday, Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker called on other politicians who have taken Durham’s money — almost all Republicans — to pay it back, whether or not they have already spent it.

“If they agree with the premise that the money shouldn’t have been in the process to begin with, where they spent it is irrelevant,” Parker said. “You need to find a way to get it out of the process.”

Well, let’s see…

Who listened to Dan Parker?

Well, not the Democratic National Committee and not Baron Hill:

“Tim Durham is innocent until proven guilty, and we’ll reassess once that decision has been rendered,” Democratic Rep. Baron Hill said in a statement relayed by a spokesman, when asked if he planned to give back his $5,600 contribution.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee also said it would not give back the $3,000 it received.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller and State Senator Mike Delph, though, have the right idea:

Republican Attorney General Greg Zoeller, who is up for re-election in 2012, and state Sen. Mike Delph, who is running for re-election in 2012, each received about $10,000.

And both have set aside an equivalent amount pending resolution of the investigation. That way, if the money is tainted, they can give it to charity or even to a fraud victim’s fund, if one is established.

There you have it. Baron Hill and the Democrats aren’t returning Tim Durham’s money, despite trying to score political points by calling for others to give it back.

The only people to have made arrangements to return Durham’s money are principled Republicans like Greg Zoeller and Mike Delph.

I’d also like to call attention to Becky Skillman, who was the only statewide elected official up last year (and perhaps period) who did not take any money at all from Tim Durham.

Advance Indiana has a number of posts (most recently here and here) about the situation involving Indianapolis financier and socialite Tim Durham, who has given a not insignificant sum of money to a lot of politicians (mostly Republicans, it must be said) in the past.

Of particular note to voters in southern Indiana, however, are the contributions that Durham made to Baron Hill of $2,300 in September of 2007, $2,300 in December of 2007, and $1,000 in October of 2004. He also gave $3,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 2000.

Mike Sodrel, it should be noted, got no money from Durham in his campaigns in those cycles (or any other cycle, for that matter).

Let’s see Democrats mention that if they decide to make political hay out of this Durham matter. I doubt that Baron will be in any rush to divest himself of those campaign contributions.

As mentioned earlier, former Vice President Dan Quayle did a fundraiser this evening for Todd Young’s campaign for Congress. Your humble correspondent was not present, but several Bothan spies attended and have sent back their reports. Fortunately, none died to bring you this information (forgive the lame Star Wars puns).

The event was attended by just under one hundred people (including various family members, dignitaries, and a handful of as-yet-not-disgruntled volunteers). Attendees were to pay $300 per person for the event, but (as noted earlier) interest was poor and tickets were discounted to $100.

Read more after the leap.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. — The First Amendment

The First Amendment is beautiful in its simplicity and perspective. The Founders assumed that we all have a certain God-given rights, so they did not write the amendment to grant those rights, but to make it illegal for government to infringe on our rights. They knew that politicians would always find an excuse to limit freedom of speech for the “common good.” In an age where the primary means of protecting our rights is holding government accountable, free speech is critical.

Of course, not all politicians see it that way. John McCain authored a campaign finance “reform” bill several years ago to limit the influence of “big money” in politics. Of course, it just so happens to benefit incumbents like McCain when campaign funds are restricted. McCain-Feingold (M-F) was the primary reason I voted against the Republican nominee for President last year and instead cast my ballot for the Libertarian candidate.

(Read more after the leap)

Repeatedly in recent coverage of the health care debate in southern Indiana, the same woman has appeared in stories.

She’s a curious case.

Her business pays $30,000 a year in health bills, as she told multiple media outlets as she protested a visit to southern Indiana by Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele:

New Albany small business owner Susan Hewitt points out, “Most of us can afford to pay something. We don’t want anything for free, but we would sure like to be able to buy into the insurance and be covered.”

Hewitt was one of about a half dozen people taking the opposite view from Steele’s. She says as a small business owner she cannot afford the current system. “We are actually buying state insurance because we can’t fit into a company plan, we’re paying about $30,000 a year on premimus and medications. We’re struggling.”

Video here.

But she has had to travel to Thailand for a mammogram and is considering driving to Canada to fill her prescriptions:

Susan Hewitt said buying medication is getting so bad that the couple has considered driving to Canada to fill prescriptions.

“It’s unsustainable,” she said.

She has already gone abroad for medical care. After finding out her state-issued insurance would only cover catastrophic operations, Susan Hewitt said she traveled to Thailand for a mammogram and ultrasound, which she said would have cost at least $4,000 in the U.S.

The cost was $700 in Thailand, a total expense for her of $1,900 including the plane ticket. And Susan Hewitt stands behind the quality of the care she received overseas.

She told Baron Hill about her trip to Thailand in video here during his town hall in New Albany earlier this week.

Transcript:

Another woman told a story of how she went overseas for treatment because it was cheaper. “I talked to a good friend of mine. She said: ‘Let’s go over to Thailand and we can get a mammogram, ultrasound and the whole thing printed out for like $700.’ And I took her up on it.”

But she somehow found the money to donate $2,600 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign last year.

Got to have priorities.

Like I said, a curious case.

I got a very interesting letter in the mail on Tuesday evening.

It was a fundraising letter from Becky Skillman. I’ve never gotten one from her before (which made it interesting in and of itself) and the letterhead was also something new:

It was the second page that I found to be particularly noteworthy, above and beyond the usual flood of fundraising junk mail that arrives in my mail box each day from every candidate and committee under the sun.

It’s typed up, since the scanner wouldn’t work and the camera on my phone wouldn’t do it justice:

(Read more after the leap)

Most of the action in terms of the 2010 Congressional elections in Indiana is happening in the safest seat of all, the hyper-Republican 5th District. Up in the 5th, Republicans have already raised almost half a million dollars to fight over whether Dan Burton will keep his Congressional seat (and, if he doesn’t, who will get it).

The initial reporting on the district has focused on Luke Messer’s haul of around two hundred thousand dollars. I would say that the bigger story is not how much money Messer raised, but how much money the other candidates raised. Namely, enough to keep themselves in the race. Virtually all of the candidates raised enough money to ensure that they will remain around; the field will not be narrowing any time soon.

In the sense that a divided field will never knock-off the incumbent (which is such conventional wisdom that Messer’s allies have been trying to devise a scheme to pick a lone challenger), this is good news for Dan Burton.

“Winners” are in italics, after the leap.

Federal campaign finance filings for Q2 are out, and I’ll be looking at some of the more notable numbers in Indiana, district by district.

In the 9th District, there were sorry campaign fundraising numbers all around. Baron Hill posted contribution numbers significantly inferior ($218,615.89)to his fundraising in Q2 of 2007 ($322,440.73), even with having a presidential fundraiser to help bolster his campaign’s war chest.

But then, Baron had a lot of money on hand already, some from the past cycle and some from his prior quarter to ensure he remains vastly ahead of both of his current potential Republican competitors in terms of cash-on-hand. And then there’s the matter of the Obama fundraiser, titled “Keep Indiana Blue,” which gave Baron a 20% boost on his existing lackluster fundraising.

Baron posted additional fundraising of some $40,232.88 from that event, bringing his total haul for this quarter to $258,848.77, a number that is still significantly less than Baron’s haul at this point in the 2008 cycle. Part of that may be due to the economy. Part of that may be due to Baron feeling safe after he outspent Mike Sodrel three-to-one last time. Part of that may be that Baron doesn’t feel threatened from the current crop of potential challengers (filed and not-filed; Richard Moss has never filed a committee to run). It may be all of the above.

As for the aforementioned challengers, their fundraising was considerably less than Baron’s reduced haul (and also less than Sodrel’s take at various corresponding times in his various campaigns, and neither Young nor Hankins have Sodrel’s ability to self-finance). Baron has already spent more, this year, than the two of them combined have raised.

“Winners” are in italics, after the leap.

Telling throw-away line at the end of this article by National Journal:

This isn’t to say that Obama’s all about sticks and no carrots. Just last weekend, while in Indiana for the Notre Dame commencement speech, he also made a lower-profile fundraising appearance for some Democratic congressmen. Three of the four — Joe Donnelly, Brad Ellsworth, and Baron Hill — sit in swing districts. But all have ultimately supported his fiscal policies, including stimulus funding and the budget. The message he sent with this fundraiser was clear: If you stick with me, I’ll stand by you.

I think that what Obama bought with that fundraiser will rapidly become apparent as the time comes for the primary creator of that fundraiser, Baron Hill, to vote on cap-and-trade carbon taxes.