Buh Bayh: Young Surges Ahead of Evan Bayh In Indiana

Some bad news has broken for Bayh lately:

Today, Politico reported Bayh had admitted using taxpayer cash to pay for some of his hotel stays. He says he'll give that part back but, you know, a lot of thieves are willing to give back what they stole in exchange for not being punished, aren't they?

And note he's still claiming he was permitted to use taxpayer funds to pay for other days of hotel stays:

Former Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh used taxpayer money to stay at hotels in Indianapolis for 14 nights in 2009 despite owning a condominium there, charging more than $2,000 in travel and lodging expenses to his official account, according to his internal schedule and Senate disbursement records.

Following questions from POLITICO, Bayh's campaign conceded that reimbursements he received for five of those nights were not allowed by Senate rules and that he would personally repay $737. The Democrat's campaign disputed that the other nine hotel stays in his home state violated Senate rules. The total charges for official expenses on the 14 days he stayed in Indianapolis hotels at taxpayer expense were $2,058.

So he's... got a condo in that city but he's staying in a hotel there anyway?

Interesting, he said, suspiciously.

Three days ago CNN and others reported that Bayh scheduled a lot of meetings with donors at about the same time the Senate was taking action on items interesting to those donors.

The schedule provides a rare account of how Bayh privately engaged with fundraisers, lobbyists and donors who had a keen interest on the issues dominating Capitol Hill. At times, his own campaign fundraiser was sitting in on his meetings with donors in his official Senate office, the schedule says, raising potential conflict-of-interest concerns.

The schedule lays bare a reality of Washington: Well-connected donors often get a private audience with a powerful member of Congress, a luxury most Americans can't afford.

"At a minimum, the meetings raise questions about buying access, and they raise questions about selling influence," said Brendan Fischer, associate counsel at the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center, a group that calls for stricter campaign finance rules.

The fallout? Republican Todd Young has pulled ahead of Bayh for Indiana's open senate seat.

Republican Todd Young moved ahead of Democrat Evan Bayh in the hotly contested Senate race by 5-points.

The WTHR/HPI Indiana Poll has Young with a 46% to 41% lead over Bayh with Libertarian Lucy Brenton with 6% and 7% still undecided.

posted by Ace at 03:13 PM

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