Billionaire Dean White Unmatched In Political Giving To State Republicans In Northwest Indiana

Merrillville businessman Dean White (Northwest Indiana Times photo)

The Northwest Indiana Times' Marc Chase took a closer look at the campaign contributions made by billionaire Dean White, who hails from Merrillville. What he found was that White had pumped nearly $4 million into Indiana's top six Republican campaign committees between 2011 and 2014 alone. "He's an unmatched "sequoia" of Indiana campaign finance, providing one of the largest single funding sources for state Republicans, one Hoosier political analyst said." If you remove White's contributions from the equation, Chase found that Northwest Indiana had "a proportionately small amount of monetary skin in the political game."

Chase's analysis found that White was the number one, two or three top contributors to five of the top Republican campaign committees, including the Indiana Republican State Committee. Democrats had no single individual contributing anywhere close to the amount of money White is contributing to Republicans. Here's a summary of Chase's analysis of White's generous donations to state Republicans.

• Nearly $1.1 million to the Indiana Republican State Committee, the Hoosier GOP's main overarching fund. White was the third largest donor to this fund. 
• Nearly $1.1 million to the House Republican Campaign Committee, a powerful partisan war chest fueling the political fortunes of dozens of Statehouse delegates throughout Indiana. White was the biggest single donor to this fund. 
• $775,000 to Gov. Mike Pence's campaign fund. White was second only to the Republican Governor's Association, which provided $1.1 million to Pence's campaign. 
• $675,000 to Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma's campaign, making White the largest single donor to the top legislative Republican's campaign fund. 
• $375,000 to the Indiana Senate Majority Campaign fund, making White the second-leading contributor to the political fortunes of Senate Republicans. Only Indiana Senate President David Long contributed more to this fund, with $733,800.

The story ponders just what all of that money gets for Dean White or Northwest Indiana, particularly since the mostly Democratic leaders in the region constantly complain their needs are ignored by Indianapolis. A spokesman for the state GOP, Robert Vane, cited Gov. Pence's support of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority and charter schools as proof he hasn't ignored the region. Political commentator Brian Howey tells Chase that he's never met White and is unsure "what's in it for him."

Excuse me, but have folks already forgotten that Indianapolis taxpayers were forced to dump nearly $65 million into the construction of White's J.W. Marriott Hotel in downtown Indianapolis? If White only had to donate $4 million to get a $65 million gift from taxpayers, I would consider that a pretty good return on investment. Wouldn't you?  I'm surprised these folks have already forgotten about that. Who could forget that big gala event as part of its grand opening where White's son, Dean, said he had an unlimited budget to entertain at the closed party for only the elite insiders, who were entertained by Diana Ross, provided free hotel accommodations at the luxury hotel and given all the free food and drink they wanted.