Settling the Score with Mike Pence
Employing the method I advocate in my book, How to Select an American President, here is how I score his resume and record.
To begin, examine his resume and don't presume that because he was elected as Vice President under the twice impeached former president, his experience as Vice President earns him extra points.
In his life history, there was a turning point:
"He volunteered for the Bartholomew County Democratic Party in 1976 and voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election,[27][19] and has said he was originally inspired to get involved in politics by people such as John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.[27] While in college, Pence left the Catholic Church and became an evangelical, born-again Christian, to his mother's disappointment."
What prompted Pence to become an evangelical?
He attended college and graduated, earning a law degree. He set up a private practice.
In 1988, he changed political parties and ran as a Republican and lost. In 1990, he quit his job to campaign and lost again.
"During the race, Pence used "political donations to pay the mortgage on his house, his credit card bill, groceries, golf tournament fees and car payments for his wife."
It wasn't illegal, but it tarnished his reputation. He was acting more like an evangelical preacher.
He ran an anti-Arab bigoted ad in 1990 for which he had to apologize. (evidence of bigotry)
"Shortly after his first congressional campaign in 1988, radio station WRCR-FM in Rushville, Indiana, hired Pence to host a weekly half-hour radio show, Washington Update with Mike Pence."
"In 1992, Pence began hosting a daily talk show on WRCR, The Mike Pence Show, and a Saturday show on WNDE in Indianapolis."
Pence called himself "Rush Limbaugh on decaf."
"Beginning on April 11, 1994, Network Indiana syndicated The Mike Pence Show statewide."
You see how Mike Pence, the lawyer, and failed politician, found his stride as a conservative radio talk show host. He stuck with that until 1999, when he decided to run for Congress in 2000. He won.
Pence belonged to the Tea Party Caucus.
"In his first year in office, Pence opposed President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and President Bush's Medicare prescription drug expansion in 2003."
Pence showed he was aligned with Christian right-wing conservatives more than with mainstream Republicans.
"Pence began to climb the party leadership structure and, from 2005 to 2007, was chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House Republicans. In November 2006, Pence announced his candidacy for leader of the Republican Party (minority leader) in the United States House of Representatives. Pence's release announcing his run for minority leader focused on a "return to the values" of the Newt Gingrich-headed 1994 Republican Revolution."
Pence lost the bid to Representative John Boehner of Ohio by a vote of 168 for Boehner, 27 for Pence, and one for Representative Joe Barton of Texas.
"In January 2009, Pence was elected as the Republican Conference chairman, the third-highest-ranking Republican leadership position behind Minority Leader John Boehner and Republican Whip Eric Cantor."
"During Pence's twelve years in the House, he introduced 90 bills and resolutions; none became law. His committee assignments in the House were the following:
- 107th Congress (2001–2003): Agriculture, Judiciary, Small Business
- 108th Congress (2003–2005): Agriculture, International Relations, Judiciary
- 109th Congress (2005–2007): Agriculture, International Relations, Judiciary
- 110th Congress (2007–2009): Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, Select Committee to Investigate the Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007 (Ranking Member)
- 111th Congress (2009–2011): Foreign Affairs
- 112th Congress (2011–2013): Foreign Affairs, Judiciary."
"Pence was mentioned as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2008 and 2012. In September 2010, he was the top choice for president in a straw poll conducted by the Values Voter Summit."
"In May 2011, Pence announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana in 2012. Incumbent Republican Governor Mitch Daniels was term-limited. Pence ran on a platform that touted the successes of his predecessor and promised to continue educational reform and business deregulation of Daniels."
Cut, cut, cut
"Pence "inherited a $2 billion budget reserve from his predecessor, Mitch Daniels, and the state ... added to that reserve under his watch, though not before requiring state agencies, including public universities, to reduce funding in years in which revenue fell below projections." The state finished the fiscal year 2014 with a reserve of $2 billion; budget cuts ordered by Pence for the $14 billion annual state budget include a $24 million cut from colleges and universities, a $27 million cut from the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA); and $12 million cut from the Department of Correction."
Slow growth
"During Pence's term as governor, the unemployment rate reflected the national average. Indiana's job growth lagged slightly behind the national trend. In 2014, Indiana's economy was among the slowest-growing in the United States."
Anti-abortion, anti-human rights, all for guns.
In Part 2 of this series, I will score his performance against this backdrop, including a report from Forbes:
"How Mike Pence Became A Millionaire From Government Pensions
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