Mike Pence in Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco
On Corporations:
2008: fought bailout to corporations while people lost jobs
By the end of 2007, the United States was at the start of an economic death spiral. And at the start of 2008, a full blown economic crisis was at hand. Pence and an economic crew fought the bailout: at the end of September the House voted it down--but
stocks tanked right after the vote. Pence picked up on a growing resentment on the ground. Pence saw a growing crescendo of outrage and populist revolt from people who were losing their jobs while watching Big Government hand out bailouts to Big Banks.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p.146
Sep 14, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
AdWatch 1990: "Thanks, America, for buying so much Arab Oil"
Pence was a great Saturday Night Live fan, and he had an SNL-type [TV ad idea]. They would open with a head-on shot of a man wearing a keffiyeh, a head scarf, and a traditional Arabic tunic. The man would wear aviator sunglasses and thank [Pence's
opponent Rep.] Phil Sharp for sending so much money to Saudi Arabia.On October 4, 1990, Pence let er' rip. "My people would like to thank you Americans for buying so much oil," Pence's Arab says. Then he clasps his ring fingers together, shakes them
in the air, and exclaims ,"Oh thank you Phil Sharp!"
"Congressional candidate Mike Pence's television ad with the phony Arab is so bad it's perversely delightful," the Indianapolis Star declared. But protests crept up. Pence acted like nothing was
wrong: "If I felt the ad was racist, or I felt it was playing to stereotypes, I wasn't going to run it. So, they made sure the dignity of Arabs was preserved. It does not invite you to laugh at Arabs, but it does invite you to laugh."
Source: Ad-Watch in Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p. 74-5
Sep 14, 2019
On Foreign Policy:
Robust missile defense in Europe against Russian aggression
On April 10, 2015 , Pence flew with a delegation of Indiana business leaders, political donors, and politicos to Berlin. The formal announcement from the governor's office was that this trip was about trade and nothing else. Meanwhile,
Pence's team pitched the Berlin trip as something else. The national press corps bit. "I believe the United States and EU must respond with deeds more than words to strengthen our economic and strategic defenses,"
Pence said in the prepared remarks his team leaked to Fox News. "I believe we must take immediate steps to deploy a robust missile defense in Europe, especially in Poland, and
the Czech Republic-to protect the interest of our Nato allies and the United States in the region. Stronger economic ties and stronger defense is the strategic response to Russian aggression.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p.195
Sep 14, 2019
On Free Trade:
Foreign investment has a positive impact in America
[In the 1988 electoral race, Rep. Phil Sharp debated Pence in October]. At their second meet in Columbus, Pence knocked Sharp and the Democrats for their protectionist policies, marred with their nationalist overtones. The stance may be popular with
the rust belt workers, but Pence stood firm with the GOP stance supporting free markets. They "don't like Japanese coming to America. We in Columbus know what a positive impact foreign investment can have on this country," Pence said.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p. 62
Sep 14, 2019
On Government Reform:
Campaign was for-profit business; later ruled illegal
[In 1990], in Pence's finance report, he registered his campaign as a for-profit business. Pence said he did it because he was serious about running this country like a business. Deep in the report, Pence was spending campaign cash on personal bills.
Pence had decided months ago to supplement Karen's salary with campaign cash. He spent $922 a month to pay their mortgage, $222 a month to pay Karen's car payments. He spent about $13,000 of campaign cash for personal use. He'd gotten a taste of the
campaign cash in 1988, making some of Karen's car payments and no one ever raised any concerns. So he went full blast in 1990. As the news trickled out, Pence became defensive: "I'm not embarrassed that I need to make a living."
Practically, both
were right: Campaigning full time cut into time for most regular folks to make a living. Unless they were rich or incumbent, would-be pols would have to stop their primary work to run for office. [The FEC later ruled the practice illegal. --Ed.]
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p. 69-70
Sep 14, 2019
On Health Care:
Replace ObamaCare with new plan with Congressional support
[In 2017,] the first order of business for Pence was repealing ObamaCare. Republicans had spent eight years trashing the Democratic health care overhaul, but now that they were in power, they ran up against the same political winds that forced
ObamaCare to look like such a political Frankenstein's monster to begin with. Conservatives wanted a complete and total repeal of the law, moderative Republicans wanted to protect certain pieces of it. In private meeting at the White House,
Pence consistently reassured Trump that they would have the votes needed to do away with ObamaCare, create a new healthcare plan, and put a new bill on the president's desk. But Pence's own long time adviser and confidant,
Marc Short, consistently delivered a more pessimistic message to Trump, that the votes would be more difficult to come by. Short was right.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p.281-3
Sep 14, 2019
On Immigration:
Lump sum payments to temporary workers to leave U.S.
Pence started work on comprehensive immigrant reform. In 2006, a fix seemed imminent. Pence didn't think immigrants should be rewarded for breaking the law, but he also wanted something on the books. They emerged with a plan to boost border security,
grant temporary work visas to immigrants, and encourage them to leave the United States after a few years by offering up lump sums from their Social Security benefits. It bridged the gap between far right conservatives angry at an influx of immigrants
from Central America and moderate, pro business Republicans, led by the Bush White House. But the politics between the two sides proved trickier than Pence ever imagined. Hard-line conservative groups ran attack ads against him back home in Indiana,
dubbing the plan, "Backdoor Amnesty." Pence eventually dropped the effort, after a long two years, when it became clear that no immigration effort of any stripe was likely to clear the House or Senate.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p.144-5
Sep 14, 2019
On Jobs:
Increasing minimum wage causes lay offs
[In the 1988 electoral race, Rep. Phil] Sharp and Pence finally met on the debate stage, on October11.[On minimum wage]: "Increasing the minimum wage would cause businesses to lay off workers, he said' when
you guys raise the guy on the bottom rung of the ladder, you have to raise everybody else's." He blasted Sharp and the Democrats on spending: "Their answer to every social ill is to spend more money."
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p. 61-2
Sep 14, 2019
On Jobs:
2010: to create jobs, need across the board tax relief
Pence recounted a touching story: "I met a little African-American boy, in eighth grade, named David Carter Jr. His family had been struggling with the economy. His dad said, 'There's just no words.' Mr. President, would you consider embracing-in the
name of David Carter Jr. and his dad, in the name of every struggling family in the country--the kind of across-the board tax relief we have advocated for?"Obama ticked through a defense of his tax cuts in the stimulus bill, the state of the economy
when he took office, and other means. The one thing he didn't mention, because he didn't have to; Why would a family living in a homeless shelter need a tax cut?
Pence's question sounded a lot like the answer he gave on jobs decades earlier, at the
October 2000 congressional debate in Muncie; the unfettered free market would provide. But would it? It hadn't provided for this family in Baltimore, or recently for the families in Muncie, Indiana. Was there something Pence was missing?
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p.154-5
Sep 14, 2019
On Principles & Values:
1980-90s: Attended nondenominational Christian megachurch
Pence's self-affixed Christian-first label has never been seriously parsed. So where did Pence fall in that sweeping panoply of religion? Well, everywhere and nowhere. His own religious identity seems strangely amorphous, even as he puts it out there as
his chief defining characteristic. He had his first savior experience with Jesus in 1978 but kept attending church through the 80's into the early 90's. After they had children, Karen and Mike opted to attend a nondenominational church in Greenwood
that could best be described as a reformed Baptist church with an evangelical bent. In D.C. the Pence's attended a nondenominational megachurch
And what of Pence himself? Pence's close political aides and allies, formed during his time in congress,
describe an unshakingly pious man. But his friends in Indiana rarely saw the public displays of religiosity before he went to Washington in 2000. And those displays returned again once he returned to Indiana to run for governor, a dozen years later.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p. 13-4
Sep 14, 2019
On Principles & Values:
1991 OpEd: Negative campaigning is wrong, and that's my sin
Even if Pence ran again for another office, he still had to bury the image of a vicious attack dog. Hoosiers didn't take well to personal attacks in their politics. He needed to write "Confessions of A Negative Campaigner".The Indiana Policy
Review published Pence's confessional in its fall 1991 quarterly issue. Pence opened his 500-word essay with the advice of St. Paul: "It is a trustworthy statement, worthy of all acceptance, that Jesus Christ came to save all sinners, among whom
I am foremost of all." He now knew that, "negative campaigning was wrong.. The mantra of a modern political campaign is ,"drive up the negatives."
Instead, Pence wrote, a political campaign "ought to be about three simple propositions; First, a
campaign ought to be able to demonstrate the basic human decency of the candidate. Third, and very much last, campaigns should not only be about winning." Pence wouldn't get down in the mud again, and neither should anyone else.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p. 82-3
Sep 14, 2019
On Principles & Values:
2000: Positive in campaign; negative on radio talk-show
[In his 2000 House race, Pence] buried the persona of an attack dog with his "Confessions" essay and the radio show, but now he had to say who stood in that place. They knew Mike Pence was a good Christian with a consistent message: fiscal restraint,
strong national defense, and strong family values."Our campaign has committed itself this year to talking about Mike Pence, and about what Mike Pence believes," Pence said in his first TV ad, in a straight-on shot to the camera.
The footage was gauzy, almost like it was glowing. Then: "I've learned a lot in the past ten years: I've seen my children born; I've built a business." The business he was talking about was his radio show. " What I've learned is that negative personal
attacks have no place in public life."
The Mike Pence of the finely crafted television spots was a good Christian who never stuck his neck out on divisive social issues. But the Mike Pence of the internet had no problem going there.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p.112-3
Sep 14, 2019
On Principles & Values:
Urged to exit ticket after Access Hollywood scandal
The Washington Post revealed a tape of Donald Trump bragging about abusing women--a hot mic moment from a 2005 episode of Access Hollywood. Trump said, "When you're a star, you can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy, you can do anything you want." Did
Pence support a WOMANIZER FOR PRESIDENT? Someone who, by his own words, had molested women.Trump gathered his team. Reince Preibus confronted Trump and told him to step down from the ticket or lose in a landslide-he never mentioned the contingency
plan the RNC had in place to remove Trump and replace him with Pence.
Pence put out a carefully hedged statement--he found Trump's comments reprehensible, could not condone any of them, and was praying for Trump.
Friends and colleagues called
Pence repeatedly: they text their pleas. "Please leave the ticket, save yourself they begged. But Pence knew that Trump was the future of the Republican party: the yowling from the politicians and the elites inside the Washington bubble were the past.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p.265-9
Sep 14, 2019
On Technology:
Questions scientific community on ozone & global warming
[In his 2000 Congressional campaign debate], Pence tried to change topics, saying, "My Democratic opponent tries to put me in the extreme by saying global warming is a myth.
The reality is there is a growing number in the scientific community who are questioning, just questioning, which scientists are supposed to do, some of the theories of global warming, the erosion of the ozone layer."
Pence then made a clever move, saying that his Democratic opponent must surely support the treaty to combat global warming supported by the Democratic candidate, Al Gore.
[Democratic opponent] Bob Rock said he'd have to study more before making that decision. Then Pence cut him off, "Well if I believe that global warming is real, then I would support the treaty."
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p.117
Sep 14, 2019
On War & Peace:
2001: Saddam Hussein is a threat to our national security
On October 26, 2001, staff dusting found trace amounts of anthrax in Pence's office: they had to shut down and relocate while the building was on lockdown. The nation was on edge.Shortly before the House was set to vote on whether to authorize
Bush to send troops to Iraq, Pence threw his support behind Bush. "I grieve at the thought of the United States at war and am not anxious to see it." Pence said. But Saddam Hussein is a threat to national security and to world security."
Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly banded together in the House and Senate to give Bush the power to declare war on Iraq. On March 20, 2003 the US invaded Iraq, just
18 months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and shunted the effort in Afghanistan aside. And Mike Pence, like the rest of Washington, was 100 percent on board.
Source: Piety & Power, by Tom LoBianco, p.124-5
Sep 14, 2019
Page last updated: Apr 26, 2021