It seems that the rest of the world is just now catching on to something I could have told them in 2002. Mike Pence is super sketchy. The present scandal about RFRA doesn't even touch the full extent to which this man is prone to hypocrisy and pandering to the lowest common denominator. I know Mike Pence. Back in 2002, I worked on the campaign of the woman who ran against him for Congress. Because the rest of the campaign was based in Greensburg, and I was in Muncie, I got tasked with opposition research/tracking for Pence. Up close, and personal, I got to see just how sketchy the man was.
How sketchy is Mike Pence? Let me count the ways.
Libertarian Racial Ethics
Speaking to economics students at Anderson University in 2002, Pence explained to to them that African Americans should favor Social Security privatization, as did he, because, in his words far fewer of them will live long enough to take advantage of it. It's really a wealth transfer from black Americans to white Americans, he said. God, I wish that I had been able to record that speech. I'm not entirely certain that Mike Pence is a bigot, but he sure will reach out to them in the way that only a Koch fiend can.
McCain is a Secret Democrat?
During the debate on the the passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, Pence decided to start attacking McCain, saying:
that Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain was "so deep in bed with the Democrats that his feet are coming out of the bottom of the sheets."
Given the propensity of Pence to pander to bigots, the choice of metaphor is interesting to say the least, as it hints to sexual "deviancy."
So That's What An Intelligence Leak looks like.
At a spring breakfast for the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, Pence assured the audience that although the Bush administration had denied American forces had taken part in the capture of Al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah in Pakistan, that he could assure us that those who captured Zubaydah had all "filled out their brackets for the Final Four" because of briefings he had received as a Congressman. Everyone there just laughed their heads off at that one.
Flip Flopping on Donations from Corporate Fraudsters
Remember Worldcom, the company where senior execs committed $11 billion accounting fraud?
On 12/7/2001, Mike Pence's campaign committee took a donation from WorldCom.
As the accounting scandals grew,he even talkedto the Howey Political Report about how his:
personal attitude about the need for legislation evolved as the scandals evolved. At the first of the year and the spring, candidly many of us thought we were talking about a relationship between one corporation and an accounting problem; that it might be a law enforcement issue; maybe some enhancements in pension protection. While I thought it was a good bill in
April, I thought it was a measured response that I thought was appropriate if
we were talking about simply two bad actors in corporate life. It was very shortly
thereafter when we came to realize with WorldCom, Global Crossing, at least I
became aware of the fact, that this could not be explained away as an example of
some fraudulent activities in a couple of enterprises, but rather this was some evidence of some inherent weaknesses in our system of accounting and our public securities laws.
On 9/6/2002, he
returned the donation after he was challenged to do so by his Democratic challenger.
You want to know how much of a flip-flopper Mike Pence is?
In September, Mike Pence's sense of ethics compelled him to return money from Worldcom, because it was tainted. Yet, somehow this money was magically washed clean of the sin of corporate fraud come November.
On 11/4/2002 (the day before the election) Pence's campaign accepted another donation from Worldcom.
That's right, Pence flip-flopped on his campaign's return of WorldCom's donation. That sir is how shady this man is.
Schock Before There was an Aaron Schock
It isn't just that Mike Pence has a thing for taking tainted cash for his campaign. By 2006, when Dick Armey was indicted for violating campaign fundraising laws, Pence just refused to return the money he had taken from ARMPAC. And if you look at what his campaign paid for is downright Schocking.
Pence sought reimbursement for 293 meals in 2005, for a total of $9,806. Most were at fast-food or family-style restaurants, including Wendy's, Arby's, Ruby Tuesday, and various pancake houses and pizza parlors, as well as convenience stores and airport concessions based in Anderson, Ind. Ninety-four of the charges totaled $10 or less. He also paid $4,082 for a 1998 Oldsmobile minivan that he drove throughout his east-central Indiana district.
Conclusion
There's so much more about Pence that is shady, but there's only so much day to write. Check out JustIN if you doubt it. This all said, it only seems right that the long, shady past of Mike Pence come to light given the negative attention he's cast over Indiana.