And the first look through the filing reveals why Bayh, who refused to make the disclosure public when he launched his campaign over the summer, was trying to bury the details of his personal finances.
After an Associated Press investigation revealed on Friday that the former Senator engaged in a votes-for-hire scandal that would benefit potential employers as he looked for corporate gigs during his last year in office, Bayh’s financial records reveal that he got rich off the scheme. Records reveal Bayh’s personal worth jumped as much as $46 million since he left office.
Bayh’s 19-page personal financial disclosure form details a large jump in his family’s net worth over the last six years, as the former senator embarked on a post-Congress career at powerful K Street firms and on corporate boards. Bayh, along with his wife Susan, reported between $13.9 million to $48 million in assets, the records show.
Bayh’s post-Senate earnings are up sharply from his time in public office. Bayh earned a salary of $174,000 annually in 2010 — though his wife, Susan Bayh, also earned at least $1 million working for the biotechnology company Dendreon and over time earned income and stock options from six other companies. Evan and Susan Bayh had between $2.1 and $7.7 million in assets — plus stocks and stock options from two companies worth at least $1 million each belonging to Susan Bayh — when Bayh left the Senate at the end of 2010, according to a filing at the time. (Seung Min Kim and Maggie Severns, “Bayh Net Worth Soared Since Leaving Senate,” Politico, 10/10/16)
The news of Bayh’s skyrocketing personal wealth after he left office comes just days after an investigation showed that Bayh spent his last year in office meeting with corporate headhunters, negotiating his own soft landing while casting votes that would benefit potential future employers:
“In June 2010, Bayh was among a small group of Democrats who helped kill a tax increase on private equity gains known as carried interest opposed by Apollo Global Management. That fall he stayed overnight three times at one Apollo executive’s Central Park South residence, and met twice with the company’s chief executive, Leon Black.
“Weeks after Bayh left the Senate, Apollo announced he had been hired as a senior adviser
“Similarly, in May 2010 Bayh lunched with a Marathon Oil board member. Then in June, he and a minority of Democrats joined with Republicans to defeat an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that would have eliminated billions in tax deductions and exemptions for oil and gas companies.
Marathon Petroleum Corp., a new Marathon spinoff, announced Bayh had been elected to its board in July 2011.” (Erica Werner, “Job Hunt Substantial Part of Bayh’s Last Year,” Associated Press, 10/8/16)
Evan Bayh owes Hoosiers an explanation. If he used his position to bolster his personal wealth in the past, why should voters believe that he’s interested in serving anyone but himself?