Marlin Stutzman Ethics and Sex Scandals [2012]

Ethics Allegation

Before any of this will make sense we have to clarify all of the connections, I'll use this graphic as it shows clearly that both Marlin Stutzman and Tracey Jackson (the woman who had the affair with Mark Stouder) both worked with then Rep. Stouder. What makes it important in talking about Marlin Stutzman is that he is good friends with Tracey Jackson's Husband.

Marlin Stutzman was Special Assistant to Rep. Mark Souder, District 3, 2005-2008

From Wikipedia:

On June 6, 2010 a Facebook email from former Rep. Mark Souder was sent to Noble County prosecutor Steven Clouse and GOP county chairman Randy Kirkpatrick regarding Stutzman's campaign finance "problem", Souder's affair with staffer Tracy Jackson, and predictions on the Republican's caucus to replace Souder on the November ballot. The fourteen point message was eventually forwarded on to Republican leaders, journalist, and media outlets. Souder confirmed the authenticity of the message to The Journal Gazette by e-mail, but he declined to comment beyond saying it was intended to be a private message.

In the Facebook message, Souder touts Stutzman as the favorite in the caucus but also asserts that Stutzman possibly played a role in making Souder’s affair public. Tracy Jackson's husband, Brad, is mentioned throughout the message as having flown Stutzman, while he was a United States Senate candidate, to numerous campaign stops throughout the state without reporting it to the FEC.

Stutzman's only response to date regarding the unreported flights by Brad Jackson, "He (Souder) should be focusing on his family and his marriage right now. If he had concerns about our finances – which he shouldn’t – why didn’t he talk to me?”

SOURCE

Read Mark Souder's Facebook Message PDF

Souder sounds off on Stutzman : wane.com

Souder's message seems to offer contradictory statements about the affair with an aide that led him to resign. In one paragraph, he says Stutzman knew nothing of the affair and therefore couldn't have tipped off the media. In another, he mentions that Stutzman or a political consulting firm leaked word of the affair to Fox News after getting information from the staffer's husband, Brad Jackson a Kosciusko County commissioner.

Enter Mike Pence

Pence told POLITICO that when he found out the affair involved a staffer, he immediately told Souder to resign.

Pence also said that he informed the House ethics committee of Souder’s relationship with the staffer, who has been identified as Tracy Meadows Jackson.

But Pence’s revelation raises new questions about when GOP leaders and top aides became aware of Souder’s affair. SOURCE

In another article it states:

Allen County GOP Chairman Steve Shine said he had heard talk of an affair for about six months, and at least one of Souder's opponents reported receiving anonymous phone calls about the matter days before the May 4 primary. U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., confronted Souder about the rumors after being approached by a reporter, said Matt Lloyd, a spokesman for the House Republican Conference.

Stutzman said he first heard talk several years ago about an inappropriate relationship between Souder and Tracy Jackson, a part-time staffer in Souder's Indiana district whose husband, Brad, is a pilot and flew Stutzman around on occasions during his Senate campaign. Stutzman worked years ago as a special assistant to Souder in the district. He said he and another staffer confronted the congressman, who called the allegations a "vicious rumor." SOURCE

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Marlin Stutzman [2012]

Rep. Marlin Stutzman [R-IN3]
U.S. Representative, Indiana’s 3rd District
Track Record
Challenging _________ for 3rd District U.S. House of Representatives

As a fourth generation family farmer, Marlin had been co-owner of Stutzman Farms with his father since he was 17 years old. At the age of 18, he faced the decision as the oldest son in the family, to either help build the family farming operation into a larger business, or to attend college full time. He chose to continue expanding the farm, and attend college part-time. Today he is co-owner of a multi-million dollar business, and has the knowledge of building a business from the ground up, with the benefit of having studied business and accounting. SOURCE

He graduated from Lake Area Christian High School located in Sturgis, Michigan in 1994. He attended Glen Oaks Community College in 1999 and Tri-State University from 2005 to 2007. SOURCE *Note: He is one of only a few congressmen lacking a Bachelors Degree

Prior to being elected to Congress, Stutzman served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 2002-2008, and in the Indiana State Senate from 2008-2010. When first elected at the age of twenty-six, he served as the youngest member of the Indiana legislature until 2006, and established his reputation early-on as a full-spectrum conservative. With a solid track record of lower taxes, less regulation, and balanced budgets, Stutzman was awarded the “Small Business Champion of the Year” award in 2008 from the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Congressman Stutzman and his wife, Christy, have two sons, Payton and Preston, and make their home in Howe, Indiana. The Stutzmans are active members of Community Baptist Church, and Congressman Stutzman has a passion for foreign mission work, having served on short-term mission trips to Russia, Haiti, Mexico, and Guatemala. SOURCE

    

On the Issues

VoteMatch Responses 

(CLICK HERE for full answers)

• Abortion is a woman's right - Strongly Opposes
• Require hiring more women & minorities -  Neutral
• Same-sex domestic partnership benefits - Strongly Opposes
• Teacher-led prayer in public schools - Neutral
• Death Penalty - Neutral
• Mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws - Neutral
• Absolute right to gun ownership - Strongly Favors
• More federal funding for health coverage - Strongly Opposes
• Privatize Social Security - Neutral
• 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 - Favors
• Make taxes more progressive -  Strongly Opposes
• Illegal immigrants earn citizenship - Neutral
• Support & expand free trade - Opposes
• Expand the armed forces - Strongly Favors
• Stricter limits on political campaign funds - Neutral
• The Patriot Act harms civil liberties -  Strongly Opposes
• US out of Iraq & Afghanistan - Opposes

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Stutzman: Family can’t ‘can’t say no’ to farm subsidies
Sylvia A. Smith | Washington editor

Marlin Stutzman, the Republican congressional candidate whose family farm operations have received $998,000 in agricultural subsidies since 1995, says it’s not possible for him to decline that money.

Although Stutzman says the direct payments should be eliminated, until they are, “we can’t say no.” He has described the payments as “federal mandates.”

The Agriculture Department says Stutzman could decline the checks.

“It’s a voluntary program,” said Carl Schweikhardt, program specialist for the Farm Service Agency, the USDA operation in Indiana. “You can refuse payment on the farm.”

Stutzman’s interpretation of the agriculture subsidy program has become an issue in the campaign for the northeast Indiana congressional seat. Democrat Tom Hayhurst says Stutzman says one thing about opposing the subsidy system yet benefits from it.

Direct payments were created in 1996 when Congress said it wanted to wean farmers off subsidies that were based on the price of crops. If the price fell below a government-set level, farmers received a check for the difference.

Otto Doering, an agricultural economist at Purdue University, said the idea of a guaranteed check – instead of payments if crop prices dipped – was supposed to be a bridge to a new, subsidy-free system.

“You qualified for direct payments by having received ag payments for three of the last five years. It’s like you qualify for welfare by having been on welfare,” he said.

But in 2000, Congress re-established the crop subsidy and kept the direct payment. So now farmers get both, he said.

Stutzman said it’s a system he abhors. He would like to replace it with crop insurance so farmers could collect if prices fell because of weather conditions, over supply or other factors that affect the price of crops.

The Stutzman operation in northern Indiana and southern Michigan farms 4,000 acres, about 3,200 acres of it rented from landowners. Since 1995, the operation has received $998,000 in subsidies, according to the Environmental Working Group, which analyzes USDA data.

Stutzman said only a fraction of that – about $100,000 – went directly to him. The rest, he said, went to his father.

Last year, Stutzman received $6,626 in crop subsidies; his father received $33,313.

“By law,” Stutzman said, “the direct payments goes to the producer,” not the land owner.

Stutzman said the owner of the land his family operation farms “just wants the cash rent. He doesn’t want any of the risk in the production. The legalities are who has the risk of producing the crop.”

But Schweikhardt said farmers “can refuse payment.”

“What else do I do with it?” Stutzman said. “As far as I know, we – It’s got to go somewhere. … Maybe there’s an exemption; I don’t know. But USDA said the farmer has to take it. We don’t have complete control within the farm program.”

“The point is it’s the farm system. They’re going to send me a check here in a couple of weeks, and you know what? I’m going to deposit it. I don’t like it. I don’t like the system. Does Dr. Hayhurst take Medicare and Medicaid payments?”

Stutzman said he tried to give the money to the landlord, “but we were told it can’t go in (the landlord’s name), it has to go in Marlin Stutzman’s name.” SOURCE

Stutzman Hired Federal Energy Lobbyist for Chief of Staff
Published: December 2, 2010 3:00 a.m.
Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette

WASHINGTON – Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, said Wednesday he hired a federal energy lobbyist and former Statehouse colleague to be his top lieutenant.

Tim Harris, executive director of the Indiana Utility Shareholders Association, will be Stutzman’s chief of staff in Washington. Harris was Stutzman’s seatmate in the Indiana House before Harris was defeated in 2008. He represented the Marion area.

The trade association, made up of stockholders of investor-owned gas and electric utilities in Indiana including American Electric Power, Duke Energy, NiSource and Vectren, registered Harris to lobby Congress last year and this year on cap-and-trade legislation, carbon emission rules and dividend and capital gains taxes. Harris lobbied Congress only for the Indiana group. SOURCE

Rep. Marlin Stutzman Would End and Privatize Medicare
SOURCE

H.Con.Res.34: Ryan Budget Bill
Status: House passed 235-193, 4 not voting

This bill would end Medicare as we know it, replacing it with a voucher system for seniors to buy health insurance coverage on the open market. Actuaries say the amount of the vouchers would not be enough for seniors to replace the coverage they would lose with the end of Medicare.

Rep. Stutzman voted Yes. The bill passed the House, but was rejected in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

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