Bayh's Running-Mate Chances May Be Hurt by Wife's Board Seats

[snowbear]

Bloomberg.com - 4 hours ago

By Timothy J. Burger



Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, on a short list of Democrat Barack Obama's possible running mates, may face questions about potential conflicts of interest from his wife's work on seven corporate boards that paid her more than $837,000 last year.

Susan Bayh, a lawyer, is a director at Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., which is part of a medical research partnership awarded a $24.7 million federal grant in May after Evan Bayh and his Indiana colleagues in Congress recommended the group to the National Institutes of Health.

She's on the board of E*Trade Bank, a subsidiary of E*Trade Financial Corp., while her husband sits on the Senate Banking Committee. Susan Bayh is lead director at Emmis Communications Corp., an Indianapolis radio-station operator that published Evan Bayh's 2003 memoir.

`When you're vetting a vice president and his wife is on seven boards, that is a serious question of conflict of interest on a whole variety of issues,' said James Thurber, director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies in Washington.

Evan Bayh has gone `above and beyond what is required under Senate ethics rules' to prevent possible conflicts, forbidding his staff to communicate with lobbyists for companies where his wife is a director, Bayh's spokesman Eric Kleiman said.

[JI7]

1. Biden is better anyways

[flpoljunkie]

7. You gotta admire a Senator whose net worth, after a life in public service is $100-150,000.

Sen.Joe Biden(D-Del.)

Net worth: $100,000-$150,000

Details: Biden has spent virtually his whole life in public service and does not have much else aside from investments in a small array of mutual funds and cash accounts. He received a $112,000 advance from Random House for a book in 2005.

And Chris Dodd, as well... (I would love it if Obama surprised us and picked Dodd, or Feingold.)

Sen.Chris Dodd(D-Conn.)

Net worth: $260,000-$682,000

Details: Dodd has a cottage in Ireland worth between $100,000 and $250,000, but has spent most of his life in public service and owns an array of mutual funds.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400305_pf.html

[PDittie]

2. So many reasons to say no to this guy.

Another one: the GOP governor of Indiana will appoint Bath's replacement, and we lose a seat in the Senate.

[PVnRT]

10. Only if he's re-elected

Plenty of Hoosiers are not happy with Mitch right now.

[DFLforever]

3. They both have such lovely fake smiles!

Obama, spare us...

[fujiyama]

4. Conflicts of interests galore!

Oh well, I guess whether it's him or Biden (owned by MBNA) we're stuck with similar problems...But at least Biden won't put me to sleep.

[dkf]

5. Spouses of public officials should not become lobbyists or directors of corporations

unless they held these positions before their spouses won their seats.

If they are on boards because they want to make a difference, they should donate all funds received to the federal government or charity.

[Clark2008]

6. Bayh's running-mate chances should be hurt by Bayh.

He's a twit of the first order.

[TexasObserver]

8. Doesn't pass the smell test.

His wife sitting on the boards of companies his committee regulates? Not good.

In fact, it's scandalous.

[NorthCarolina]

9. Far too conservative for my liking, so this is good news for me personally.

EOM