Bayh's Burning Love

Evan Bayh : "To put it in words most people can understand: I love working for the people of Indiana, I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives, but I do not love Congress. I will not, therefore, be a candidate for election to the Senate this November."

Ya gotta wonder - is there a massive corporate payday in Bayh's future, or a scandal? Have republicans pulled out the polaroids to convince a few Dems to retire? (Does his "put it in words most people can understand" sound condescending?)

Evan is the son of Senator Birch Bayh, who was a pol from 1954 to 1980, when he lost his reelection bid to Dan Quayle after having lost his bid for the democratic presidential nomination to Jimmy Carter. You really must be a loser to lose to Dan Quayle.

I remember Evan's daddy, Birch Bayh. He made news in the 1978-79 bribery scandal of rice dealer and lobbyist Tongsun Park. The "Koreagate" scandal likely cost Dad his senate seat; but the senate ethics committee dropped an investigation into daddy Bayh. Tongsun still in the news decades later in the "Oil for Food" scandal.

I think Evan Bayh may be prepping for higher office. No longer in love with congress, he's a man of the people, a populist come to represent the common folk. Wife Susan, as described in the Indiana Journal, is a "professional board member," having been a board member and/or attorney of a dozen plus different corporations over the years (Eli Lilly & Company, Wellpoint, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Curis, Dyax).

But Bayh assured the common folk "... his wife's ties have had no bearing on his Congressional actions." And Mrs. Bayh points out that her rapid rise in the corporate world had nothing to do with hubby's senator career. Both are not influenced at all by corporate money peddlers, but by a burning desire to serve the people.

Just thinking about how pols are serving the people, and particularly generational peddlers and pols, makes me want a long hot shower with a rough sponge and a lot of soap.