RP Evan Bayh: It All Comes Down to the Economy

Last Sunday, Recovering Politician Evan Byah spoke to Chris Wallace about the state of the American economy, debates, and the presidential race.

RP Evan Bayh at the 92nd Street Y

Speaking at the New York cultural landmark last week, former Senator Evan Bayh discussed the changes he has seen in Congress in the past few decades.

Read the rest of…
RP Evan Bayh at the 92nd Street Y

Evan Bayh: Profiles in Partisanship

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Profiles in Courage,”John F. Kennedy wrote admiringly of U.S. senators who put the national interest ahead of partisanship, ideological purity and regional parochialism. Many sacrificed their careers because of their stands, but Kennedy held them aloft as examples to be emulated for their moral courage, intellectual independence and public candor.

Judging by Sen. Richard Lugar‘s defeat in the Indiana Republican primary last week, today’s most partisan voters would give the book an unfavorable review.

Lugar served the people of Indiana in the U.S. Senate for 36 years. My father was a colleague of his for four years, and I served with him for another 12. My father and I saw the world differently from Sen. Lugar in many respects, and we often voted differently. But Lugar is a statesman in the best sense of the word. He was thoughtful, civil and willing to find common ground when doing so served the best interests of our nation.

Those characteristics made him a great senator, but they also turned him into a soon-to-be ex-senator last Tuesday when he was soundly defeated in his Republican primary by the tea party-backed Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Lugar was undone by the antithesis of what Kennedy so admired.

Read the rest of…
Evan Bayh: Profiles in Partisanship

Evan Bayh & George Voinovich: No Budget, No Pay

While we were public servants, our constituents counted on us to represent them well in Washington. It was our job to deliver to the best of our abilities.

Unfortunately, both today and while we were in office, Congress has simply been unable to deliver on one of its most fundamental responsibilities — passing, on time, the spending bills necessary to fund and run the government.

It has been more than 1,000 days since Congress last passed a budget on time, and well over a decade since it did so with all appropriations bills.

Read the rest of…
Evan Bayh & George Voinovich: No Budget, No Pay

Evan Bayh Pushes for Regulatory Reform

Contributing RP Evan Bayh is leading an effort to promote regulatory reform in Washington.  Check out coverage of his mission in the Charleston Daily Mail:

Former Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told a friendly audience at the Business Summit that some layers of federal regulation need peeled back and the Obama administration needs to also review all of the regulations currently in the works.

Bayh, Card, U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin all spoke about the need to reduce government regulations on Friday during the Business Summit at The Greenbrier Resort.

Bayh and Card have teamed up as U.S. Chamber of Commerce spokesmen on the topic.

“In the short term, we need a moratorium on new burdens on business,” Bayh said. “We’re close to tipping back into a downturn. We don’t need more burdens on business.”

Bayh said a proposed law that would require a Congressional vote on any rules or regulations that would cost more than $100 million a year makes sense.

“Look at some of the rules and regulations that are coming down the pike,” he said. “The ozone issue could be a trillion dollars of additional cost. My home state, Indiana, is a 95 percent coal state. Our electric rates are modest, which is one reason we have the largest number of manufacturing jobs of any state. The last thing we need is an increase in the price of production when we’re competing with China, India, and others who don’t have these rules. There are 300 more rules and regulations proposed this year at a potential cost of $65 billion.”

Click here to read the rest of the article.

RPTV’s Friday Video Flashback: Evan Bayh Retires (2010)

Earlier today, former Governor and U.S. Senator Evan Bayh joined our team of contributing recovering politicians.

We thought it was appropriate then to share the video of his moving speech in which he announced that he would not seek a third term in the U.S. Senate. The themes he strikes — a lack of civility in politics, the hyper-partisanship of Washington — are many of the same messages that animated the creation of The Recovering Politician.

So sit back and enjoy our RPTV Friday Video Flashback:

RPTV: Fifteen Minutes of Fame with Evan Bayh

Our newest contributing recovering politician was a Secretary of State, two-term Governor, two-term Senator, and on the short-list of potential Vice Presidential nominees three times.  So Evan Bayh needs little introduction.  Suffice it to say that the centrist Democrat is one of the most well-known and well-respected recovering politicians in the country.

In this week’s edition of RPTV’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Bayh shares his thoughts about political retirement, the virtue of public service, and the fiscal course our nation faces.  Enjoy this interview as the RP welcomes Bayh to The Recovering Politician:

Tomorrow at The Recovering Politician: Evan Bayh, Our Newest RP

I’m thrilled to report that our highest profile contributing RP yet, Evan Bayh, will be joining the team tomorrow morning at The Recovering Politician.

For those of you who don’t follow politics or read the newspaper, Evan Bayh is the former two-term Governor and two-term U.S. Senator from Indiana, who chose not to run for a third term in 2010 because he had tired of the hyper-partisanship and polarization in Washington.

Tomorrow morning, we will have a special, personal episode of RPTV in which Bayh and I discuss his post-politics life, his reflection on the merits of public service, and his judgment on today’s great budget debates.

I hope you will join us first thing tomorrow morning for Evan Bayh, and stay with us the rest of the day for our usual feast of civil dialogue.

Evan Bayh’s Links: