After a CNN report yesterday confirmed that Evan Bayh officially left Indiana for good after he left the Senate to get rich as a Washington insider, Bayh has endured a brutal news cycle in which his residency claims have been picked apart:
- Journal Gazette: CNN reported Monday that U.S. Senate candidate Evan Bayh repeatedly has documented as his chief residence the two houses he owns in Washington, D.C., rather than his condominium in Indianapolis.
- WIBC: CNN reports he also put the D.C. address to apply for an Alaska fishing license and on the deed to a Florida vacation home.
- WTHR’s Bob Segall: Lots of explaining to do. But few answers from Bayh. Records suggest he didn’t really live in Indiana. @CNNPolitics
- IJR: Bayh currently owns a $53,000 condo in Indianapolis, but has spent very little time there, even when in Indiana. Last summer, Bayh stayed in a JW Marriott hotel 12 miles away from his condo while visiting the state.
An editorial today in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel asks the multi-million dollar question: After leaving Indiana to make a fortune as a lobbyist and serving on corporate boards, is Bayh still a Hoosier?
A big reason Richard Mourdock deposed Sen. Richard Lugar in the Republican primary in 2012 was that so many Hoosier voters thought Lugar had gotten too cozy with the Washington establishment. And if anything, the sentiment against entrenched politicians is even stronger now than it was four years ago…
But Hoosiers have good reason to ask whether Bayh is really running to represent Indiana’s best interests or just yielding to the pressure from the Democratic establishment in Washington that sees a chance to take the Senate back from Republicans.
Last month, a TV interviewer asked Bayh if he would move back to Indiana now that he’s running for Senate, and Bayh answered, “I’ve never left.”
But a review of public records by CNN since Bayh left office in 2011 showed the Democrat repeatedly listed his two multi-million dollar homes in Washington as his main places of residence — not the $53,000 condo he owns in Indianapolis. And when Bayh returned to Indianapolis last summer for an Indiana Democratic Party dinner, he stayed at a JW Marriott just 12 miles away from his condo.
And then there is the matter of where Bayh has been employed. (“Editorial: Is Evan Bayh Still A Hoosier?” Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, 8/16/16)
From his revolving door lobbying gig, to his two multi-million dollar Washington homes, to his listing of his D.C address as his official residence, to the fact that he stays in a hotel rather than his own condo when visiting Indiana…it’s clear that Evan Bayh left Indiana behind a long time ago.