How Many Jobs Can Bayh Juggle?

When it comes to profiteering from one's public service, nobody has Evan Bayh beat. Throughout his service as a statewide official in Indiana and as a U.S. Senator representing the state, he and his wife traded on his public positions to land jobs and corporate board positions that made the couple multi-millionaires. When he started his public career in 1986, he had net assets of no more than $50,000.00. Now he and his wife are conservatively worth more than $12 million. When Bayh belatedly announced he was not going to run for re-election to his Senate seat last year, he claimed he wanted to spend more time with his family. In announcing his decision to not seek re-election, Bayh gave us the impression he had only altruistic intentions:

After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so in Congress has waned,” he said.


“My decision was not motivated by political concern,” he added. “Even in the current challenging environment, I am confident in my prospects for re-election.”

"But running for the sake of winning an election, just to remain in public office, is not good enough,” Bayh said. “And it has never been what motivates me. At this time I simply believe I can best contribute to society in another way: creating jobs by helping grow a business, helping guide an institution of higher learning or helping run a worthy charitable endeavor.”

So what did Bayh have in mind when he said he desired to "grow a business", "guide and institution of higher learning" or run "a worthy charitable endeavor"? Well, first he took a job as a senior adviser with an international financial firm that his heavily funded with Middle Eastern sovereign funds, lobbies Congress on a wide range of issues and owns a large stake in a gaming company that owns Indiana casinos licensed by his administration when he was governor. A short time later he became a strategic adviser for a K Street law firm, McGuire Woods, that includes several lobbying clients with strong ties to Indiana. Now Fox News announces Bayh will become a political analyst and commentator for the cable news network. This should come as no surprise since Bayh's Saudi Arabian master is now the second-largest stakeholder in News Corp., parent company of Fox News. If Bayh isn't the most self-serving, conceited person to ever hold public office in the state of Indiana, I don't know who is. And no, he won't be back home in Indiana any time soon now that he and his wife have bled the state dry.