Friday, December 11, 2015

Jim Wallace Exploring Primary Fight Against Pence


Ed Feigenbaum is reporting in his subscription-based Indiana Legislative Insight that Fishers businessman Jim Wallace is exploring another primary bid against Mike Pence in next year's gubernatorial race. According to Feigenbaum, Wallace has been in the field polling to gauge support in the event he decides to take the plunge and go forward with a campaign to defeat Pence in next year's primary.

Wallace filed paperwork to run for office in 2012 and began running a series of TV ads promoting his candidacy, but his campaign was derailed when a Mitch Daniels crony, Mitch Roob, contested the signatures he filed for his candidacy. The Marion Co. Election Board invalidated all but 486 of the 1,282 signatures Wallace's campaign had submitted for the 7th congressional district, leaving him 14 signatures short of the required number. The Indiana Election Commission voted 4-1 to remove his name from the 2012 Republican primary ballot.

Wallace, a West Point grad with an MBA from Harvard, has not hidden the disdain he has towards Pence, particularly after the RFRA battle earlier this year. Wallace formerly worked for two Fortune 500 companies in Central Indiana and various consulting companies, including Mitt Romney's Bain & Company. Wallace's TWG Capital, which was in the business of buying future commission payments that flow to insurance agents, filed for bankruptcy protection in September, 2012. He also had a domestic disturbance arrest involving his ex-wife in 2012, which was dismissed after satisfying the terms of probation through diversionary sentencing. "[Wallace] has publicly owned up to some personal negatives in his background and has no problem discussing them with potentially skeptical leaders, who may be warming to the prospect of finding someone with business and government background who speaks their language and is more into pragmatism than social issues," Feigenbaum writes.

9 comments:

Paul said...

I'm Facebook friends with him. He's a VERY decent man and isn't a social crusader.

As long as he can overcome that domestic disturbance thing during the gubernatorial race, I think he's good as gold. Remember, Hillary will be the nominee next year, and you know she'll be milking that whole "War on Women" cow as much as she can. And Gregg will likely use her tactics.

Gary R. Welsh said...

I agree, Paul. It's getting past the 30-second sound bite ads your opponent is likely to run against you. Bill Clinton can rape as many women as he wants, and his wife can go on enabling him and nobody seems to care. Most other candidates don't find those issues as easy to get around. Barack Obama won the 2004 Illinois Senate primary by dragging out uncharged allegations in divorce filings accusing his leading opponent of slapping his ex-wife around and it finished him off. He then dragged from old divorce records charges by his Republican opponent's ex-wife that he had made her go to swinger's clubs with him. That ended his campaign and put Obama in the Senate with only token opposition from a replacement candidate, Alan Keyes, who didn't even live in the state. The Democrats would definitely use that issue against Jim. I've not spoken to him so I don't know how he intends to address it.

Paul K. Ogden said...

There is no running room in a GOP primary to the left of Mike Pence. There is plenty of opportunity though for a candidate to exploit the dissatisfaction tea party and evangelicals have with Pence...someone running to the right of the Governor. Wallace is not positioned to do that, however. The Bill Oesterle wing of the Indiana GOP could hold meetings in a phone booth.

Anonymous said...

How does this dude plan on getting on the ballot with less then a month to go?
Also as a Hamilton county resident, maybe Wallace could take the lead on restoring fiscal sanity to the Hamilton GOP? Unless he thinks Fadness,Brainard, and Cook are doing alright in which case there is no chance of me voting for this guy.

Anonymous said...

I'm Facebook friends with JW too. Don't know why Paul thinks Jim would be running "to the left" of Mike Pence. Wallace is an incredibly anti-government kind of guy. My takeaway from Wallace on RFRA was that it was an unnecessary law which just reiterated constitutional freedoms found in the federal and state constitution, not as some wide support on LGBT issues.

I kind of assumed Wallace had moved out of state after 2012 with how often he is in Florida.

Paul said...

Anon 10:36 PM: Maybe Jim moved to Florida but kept his official domicile as Fishers?

Sir Hailstone said...

"Maybe Jim moved to Florida but kept his official domicile as Fishers?"

Paging Charlie White, Paging Charlie White. Charlie White to the courtesy phone for an important message.....

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, he looks just like Pence must have looked 30 years ago. He's white enough. He's male enough. He's dorky looking enough. He has the right haircut. He should run!

Unknown said...

Sorry I am answering your page a little late Sir Hailstone :)

If they apply longstanding Indiana Supreme Court published cases like State Election Board v. Evan Bayh or Matter of Judge David Evrard and apply the mandatory rules regarding how we are supposed to determine residency in Indiana Code 3-5-5, Wallace should be fine. As long as he has shows adequate 'evidence of acts' to support his intent to not abandon his domicile in Indiana. LOL, but that is a "legal approach"....

However, if the wild-eyed frothing-at-the-mouth frenzied herd rears its ugly head and partisans, prosecutors and the Attorney Generals office arbitrarily suspend and lie about residency law, taking an ape-like approach for just for 1 person again...then immediately switch it back for the benefit of pals and minions, Wallace should re-think his potential plans. Since apparently ALL of the published cases over 100 years, mandatory IC 3-5-5 as well as statutes for residency for IDOR, BMV, and federal FHA regulations seem to be replaced with grunts and rhetoric from the State as well as idiotic partisans and reporters, the law will shift, pivot and be "altered" depending largely on who Wallace has angered (meaning as a practical there is no real "law"...simply a moving target applied retroactively to behavior adjudged to be legal for the "beautiful people" but not for others).

My guess is I will be the first and the last one "Honest to Goodness Indiana" will ever do this to. Gov. Mike Pence can't complain since he "lived" down the street from me off of Olio Road in Fishers in 2012 when he ran for Governor at a $400k home provided to him by a member of the Indiana Builders Council for the "convenience of his family", enrolling his daughter Audrey at HSE schools in Fishers as a Fishers resident as he voted and claimed a homestead in Columbus, Indiana. If that we me, the State would cry perjury and make up some amorphous "theft" charge re use of the schools and the tax exemption.