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Richard Mourdock [2012]

Richard Mourdock [R-IN]
State Treasurer
Track Record
Challenging Richard Lugar [R] in the primary and Rep. Joe Donnelly [D] for Senate

(Photo Credit: AP)
Richard Mourdock was elected Indiana’s State Treasurer in November 2006 and was re-elected in 2010, leading the Republican ticket with over 62% of the vote. As Treasurer, Richard has been an integral part of the state’s fiscal health.  Richard’s leadership earned over $1 billion in investment income for taxpayers and successfully expanded the state’s college savings plan.  At the same time, his office has returned an average of 10% of his budget back to the Treasury each year.

Prior to his election as State Treasurer, Richard had a successful 30 year career in the private sector, managing businesses in the energy, environmental and construction industries. He also served two terms as County Commissioner of Vanderburgh County.

Richard is a licensed pilot, has been active in Christian Missions in Bolivia, holds a Master’s Degree in Geology from Ball State University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Defiance College in Ohio. Richard has completed six marathons in the past eight years. He and his wife, Marilyn, live in Darmstadt, Indiana. SOURCE

    

On the Issues
VoteMatch Responses 
(CLICK HERE for full answers)
  • Abortion is a woman's right - Strongly Opposes
  • Require hiring more women & minorities -  Strongly Opposes
  • Same-sex domestic partnership benefits - Strongly Opposes
  • Teacher-led prayer in public schools - Favors
  • Death Penalty - Strongly Favors
  • Mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws - Favors
  • Absolute right to gun ownership - Strongly Favors
  • More federal funding for health coverage - Strongly Opposes
  • Privatize Social Security - Favors
  • Parents choose schools via vouchers -  Strongly Favors
  • Replace coal & oil with alternatives - Strongly Opposes
  • Drug use is immoral: enforce laws against it -  Strongly Favors
  • Allow churches to provide welfare services -  Strongly Favors
  • Make taxes more progressive -  Strongly Opposes
  • Illegal immigrants earn citizenship -  Strongly Opposes
  • Support & expand free trade - Favors
  • Expand the armed forces - Strongly Favors
  • Stricter limits on political campaign funds - Opposes
  • The Patriot Act harms civil liberties -  Strongly Opposes
  • US out of Iraq & Afghanistan -  Strongly Opposes
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Opposed the Chrysler Bailouts Which are Now Seen as a Success



Kokomo upshifting with Chrysler investment SOURCE
Kathleen McLaughlin, Indianapolis Business Journal 12/7/2011
Kokomo hopes to build upon Chrysler Group LLC’s $1.3 billion retooling of its four local factories. The investment secured 3,500 jobs and will make the transmissions produced here a key element in future sales strategy.

Three years ago, Kokomo was the poster child for worst-case scenarios. Its two largest employers were—and are—Chrysler and Delphi Automotive. As Congress deliberated over an auto industry bailout, Mayor Greg Goodnight faced the repeated question: “What are you going to do if it completely collapses?”

Goodnight’s answer was always the same.

“We’ll figure it out,” he said. “What do you do if an earthquake hits a city? You figure it out.”

The earthquake never hit. The federal government rescued General Motors and Chrysler, and the automakers later restructured in bankruptcy court. Delphi, which was in trouble long before the 2008 financial crisis, continued to downsize, but maintains 1,400 employees in Kokomo, where it’s matching an $89 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop electronics for hybrid vehicles.

Since Chrysler announced the final piece of its $1.3 billion investment in November 2010, employment at three transmission-assembly plants has grown to 4,200, United Auto Workers Local 685 President Rich Boruff said. Another 600 to 800 work at the castings plant, which is represented by a separate local. (Local 685 is the single-largest union shop in Chrysler.)

Keeping those jobs is a huge relief to Jeb Conrad, CEO of the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance.

“It’s difficult to diversify your economy and be attractive to new business if you have 20-percent unemployment and boarded-up buildings,” he said.

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Chrysler Adds 1,100 Jobs In Spite of Richard Mourdock
by DOUG on NOVEMBER 19, 2011 SOURCE
The “new” Chrysler, which Richard Mourdock spent $2 million of Indiana’s money opposing, is adding 1,100 new jobs.

No real point to this post other than it’s an opportunity for me to reiterate how bad I think Mourdock’s decision to challenge the bankruptcy work out was.
Mourdock could Benefit from Climate Regulations

A leading tea party candidate who hopes to knock off venerable Sen. Richard Lugar in next May's GOP primary has campaigned heavily against measures to combat climate change even as he holds stock in an energy company that's banking on those regulations to help build a market for its product.

Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock holds up to $350,000 in stock in USA Synthetic Fuel Corp. and its parent company, Global Energy Inc., according to his latest federal financial disclosure filings. The Cincinnati-based companies are seeking financing for a coal-gasification plant in Lima, Ohio, that has been pitched to investors and Obama administration officials as a clean energy alternative to more traditional power sources.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, USA Synthetic Fuel said part of its business strategy relies on being able to produce synthetic natural gas cheaper than traditional natural gas suppliers as demand for the fuel grows under expected climate change regulations.

Tea party members and Republicans nationwide say the regulations being pushed by the Obama administration amount to a national "energy tax" because they would increase the overall price of power by limiting cheaper, but dirtier, fuel sources. SOURCE



Endorsed by the Controversial Koch Industries Backed FreedomWorks
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INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, FreedomWorks PAC officially endorses Richard Mourdock in the Indiana Senate race as the clear choice for voters who are for free markets, fiscal responsibility, and constitutionally limited government.

Through in-depth one-on-one discussions with Richard Mourdock, a detailed look at his record and, most importantly, from listening to what our members and allies in Indiana have to say, FreedomWorks PAC believes Richard Mourdock is the best candidate for those who want a Senator who will fight on behalf of taxpayers against runaway government spending and federal overreach. SOURCE
FreedomWorks' predecessor was Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation. Of the three major players who donated large sums to Citizens for a Sound Economy, Koch charities were by far and away the largest donors, with nearly $13 million donated between 1985 and 2005. Other large donors include the Olin Foundation, the Coors Family, and the Scaife foundations.
Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) underwent a transformation in 2004 when it merged with Empower America and was reborn as FreedomWorks. CSEF was renamed, becoming Americans for Prosperity. Just like that, one Koch-Scaife-Coors-Olin venture became two. Twice the voice; twice the reach.
Business Mag Expose Says Koch Brothers Were Supplying Iran In Possible Violation of U.S. Trade Embargo

In a bold and spectacular move, Bloomberg Markets Magazine wrote a story titled "The secret sins of Koch Industries" which does not only focus on several new revelations, but also provides a comprehensive overview about scandals of Koch Industries which happened during the last decades. The story also explicitly puts the well known political activities of the Koch Brothers in context with their highly questionable behaviour in business. 

[...] No less than 15 Bloomberg journalists in several countries have worked on it. It is fascinating to see that such a major investigative piece about a highly political issue does appear in a business magazine and not in one of the more "traditional" political magazines or newspapers. 

[...] Next to Jane Mayer's ground breaking piece about the Koch Brothers in the New Yorker, this article by Bloomberg Markets Magazine undoubtedly represents another PR disaster for the Koch Brothers, and could also have severe consequences. Image Source

Bloomberg Markets Magazine reveals in this article for example that:
  • Koch Industries used the European offices of their subsidiary Koch-Glitsch to sell millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran in an apparent violation of the US-Iran trade embargo, as recently as 2007 
  • Internal documents of Koch Industries prove that the company took elaborate steps to ensure that their US-employees weren't involved in the sales to Iran 
  • While is not 100% certain at this point that Koch Industries did in fact violate US law, according to Bloomberg Markets Magazine, internal memos show for example that the details of the sales with Iran were meticulously checked by US lawyers of Koch Industries and coordinated with the lawyers in order to fully ensure that no visible involvement of US-citizens took place 
  • Koch Industries paid bribes in six countries from 2002 to 2008 to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East, comparable to similar behaviour of German technology giant Siemens (Siemens subsequently had to pay a $ 1.6 billion fine!) 
  • Koch Industries sacked a compliance officer in France in June 2009 who discovered the illegal bribes at Koch Industries subsidiary Koch-Glitsch 
  • These revelations were made possible through newly discovered documents from two labour court cases in France 
  • Bloomberg Markets reveals that former employees of Koch Industries harshly criticize the company for their internal practices and ethics 
  • The story also covers in great detail over several pages earlier violations of Koch Industries: The company in the past "rigged prices with competitors, lied to regulators and repeatedly run afoul of environmental regulations, resulting in five criminal convictions since 1999 in the U.S. and Canada." SOURCE SOURCE