John Cox reports:
Evan Bayh's retirement is so interesting. Look behind the headlines though. Here is a Senator who has been in elective office since he was 30 years old. Yet, his net worth is estimated to be as high as $14 million. How did that happen serving the public? His spouse was a mid-level attorney at Eli Lilly. Shortly before he was sworn into the Senate, she was elected to the boards of a bunch of public companies. A coincidence?
Evan Bayh, the walking conflict of interest. Here's the scoop on his
wife:
Since leaving Indiana as a first lady, Susan Bayh has become a professional board member, earning more than $1 million a year in director fees for advice she gives to companies that make pharmaceuticals, operate radio stations, sell health insurance policies, offer online banking and distribute ingredients to fast-food restaurants.
In the past four years, Bayh collected more than $1.7 million in pre-tax income when she exercised stock options from two of the corporations. Her actual income from exercising stock options is higher, but the details of one transaction were not publicly reported.
During the same time, her husband, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., cast more than 3,000 votes, including some on issues of keen interest to the pharmaceutical, broadcast, insurance, food-distribution and finance industries.
Nice work if you are related to a Senator of influence. Here's more from
The Street.com:
According to reports he filed that year, Susan Bayh's stock holdings were worth between $1.3 million and $2.7 million that year. Their family's total net worth was between $4.3 million and $15.1 million that year, not including a $1 million home in Washington owned in the name of Susan Bayh.
Heh.
