Vice President Mike Pence touts himself as the uber-Christian and conservative bookend to the bombastic and morally-challenged President Trump. However, his own political record challenges that notion.
For instance, Pence was once blasted for using more than $12,000 in campaign donations to pay his mortgage, credit card bills, fees for golf tournaments, and even his wife’s car payments. The incidents occurred in 1990, before the practice was deemed illegal, but were still considered highly unethical at the time. In short, Pence is reason laws had to be written around the practice of spending campaign donations on personal expenditures.
“During a failed 1990 congressional run, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Donald Trump's newly announced running mate, used nearly $13,000 in campaign funds for a slew of personal purposes, including paying down his mortgage and covering golf tournament fees.” https://t.co/qnufcHfVHc
— ???? ??????? ?? (@Doug_Bratman) September 3, 2018
According to The Washington Post:
‘Pence’s 1990 race also led to key changes in campaign finance policies. Experts say that subsequent rules passed by the Federal Election Commission barring the use of campaign funds for personal needs were the direct result of ethics concerns raised by Pence’s actions.’
“During a failed 1990 congressional run, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Donald Trump's newly announced running mate, used nearly $13,000 in campaign funds for a slew of personal purposes, including paying down his mortgage and covering golf tournament fees.” https://t.co/qnufcHfVHc
— ???? ??????? ?? (@Doug_Bratman) September 3, 2018
The former governor of Indiana who made a name for himself by backing laws that allowed businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ citizens in the name of religious liberty promoted himself as a successful lawyer at the time when he ran for Congress against Democrat Phillip R. Sharp, whom he ironically criticized as being beholden to PAC donors.
.@realDonaldTrump and @mike_pence have been hell-bent on ripping away and undermining the rights of millions of Americans, including #LGBTQ people. See @HRC’s tracker to stay current on this administration’s dangerous actions. https://t.co/5r7YiaSWFU
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) September 3, 2018
Pence lost two elections to Sharp in 1988 and 1990, and his defeat was attributed to both his campaign spending and his brazen negative campaign ads. In one, Pence teased a spoiler about Sharp and his views on drugs that were more than a little misleading.
‘That campaign provided early hints that Pence was willing to go for the jugular. One Pence mailer depicted images of a razor blade, white powder and rolled-up cash, and declared: “There’s something Phil Sharp isn’t telling you about his record on drugs.” The brochure left readers hanging until a subsequent page: “It’s weak,” the ad read, using letters formed in powder.’
One Pence mailer depicted images of a razor blade, white powder & rolled-up cash, and declared: “There’s something Phil Sharp isn’t telling you about his record on drugs.” The brochure left readers hanging until a subsequent page: “It’s weak,” the ad read
https://t.co/drhHFYsXKH— Jeanne Hoffa (@JeanneHoffa) September 2, 2018
Pence lost that election by 19 points. As a result, he wrote an essay entitled “Confessions of A Negative Campaigner” in which he used biblical quotes to decry the use of attack ads 28 years before standing proudly next to Donald Trump, the king of negative campaigning, with a beatific smile on his face that no one noticed for the irony it took to do so.
‘A campaign ought to demonstrate the basic human decency of the candidate. That means your First Amendment rights end at the tip of your opponent’s nose—even in the matter of political rhetoric…one day soon the new candidates will step forward, faces as fresh as the morning and hearts as brave as the dawn. This breed will turn away from running “to win” and toward running “to stand.” And its representatives will see the inside of as many offices as their party will nominate them to fill.’
Let's not forget that Mike Pence once okay-ed a campaign ad that featured a man with a heavily Middle Eastern accent wearing a black robe, white headdress, and sunglasses thanking Pence’s opponent Rep. Phil Sharp for not weaning the U.S. off a dependence on foreign oil. pic.twitter.com/R5JPxaDU3g
— Savannah Hinde (@SavannahLHinde) January 7, 2018
Just as many suspected, Pence is not the Christian, principled counterpoint to Trump. He’s nothing more than the hypocritical bookend that Trump needed to soften his own viciousness.
Featured image via Flickr by NASA HQ PHOTO under a Creative Commons license
