Coats Unscathed at GOP Event

Chris Dickson and Senator Dan Coats

Dan Coats for Indiana
http://dancoatsforindiana.blogspot.com

Other candidates don’t refer to his lobbying career

Tom Davies

New Castle: The five Republicans who want to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh shared a stage for the first time just hours after the race for the Democratic pick cleared up more, with Rep. Baron Hill saying that he would seek re-election to the House and endorsed Rep. Brad Ellsworth for the Senate seat.

None of the four other Republican candidates at Saturday’s Henry County GOP event brought up the questions that Coats has faced over his work as a Washington lobbyist and his years spent away from Indiana.

All drew frequent applause from the crowd of about 200 people in a Moose lodge by faulting President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress for their handling of the economy, push for revamping the health care system and increased federal spending.

“Washington is completely out of touch with America,” said state Sen. Marlin Stutzman of Howe. “I believe that people voted to change Washington, not to change America.”

Coats has the backing of national Republicans since he launched his Senate campaign Feb. 3, but his attempt at a political comeback 18 years after he was last on a ballot didn’t prompt any of the other candidates to drop their campaigns.

Coats reassured the crowd Saturday of his intentions if he wins the party’s nomination in the May 4 primary.

“I’ve re-engaged because I care deeply about my country and care deeply about the future of this country and am fearful, absolutely fearful, about where we’re headed,” he said.

The Republican primary campaign has taken on greater importance since Bayh’s Feb. 15 announcement that he wouldn’t seek a third term

Dan Coats Moves Ahead In Polling

Dan Coats

Indiana polling

The Indiana political reporter Ed Feigenbaum reports:

Polling last Monday and Tuesday for a congressional candidate in one hotly contested primary found the Senate primary race to be a runaway of sorts in that particular district for [Dan Coats] ... leading the field by a wide percentage margin well into the double digits, with only one of the other hopefuls [John Hostetler] even breaking the 10 percent support threshold — and [conservative favorite Marlin Stutzman] checking in at a surprisingly low 2 percent — but with boatloads of yet-undecided voters.

A source who's seen the poll of GOP primary voters confirmed the account and says it was from Indiana's 4th District.

Posted by Ben Smith 11:54 AM
Politico

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

1) While one law firm represented Bank of American on a patent issue, that representation ended before TARP - so Dan wasn't involved, nor was the firm.

2) They got the Venezuela charge exactly backwards. The firm helped an American company deal with the fact that Chavez was trying to confiscate their business assets -- so the charge made by Senator Bayh's people and those who parroted them were 180 degrees off from the truth.

3) Considering Dan Coats' service to country in the Army, on the Armed Services Committee in Congress and as Ambassador to Germany, one could argue it's deeply offensive to question his patriotism relative to Yemen if it weren't so laughably ludicrous.
Here's what the records show (from The Hill, Feb. 5, 2010):

"Coats registered as a lobbyist for a foreign interest while he worked at Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand in 2000 and 2001. According to lobbying disclosure documents, he contacted members of Congress trying to get them to invite the Indian prime minister to a joint session of Congress.

"Coats only personally lobbied for India , according to the documents, but around the same time his firm also did foreign lobbying for several other countries, including the governments of Yemen , the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan."

Coats had no dealings with Chavez aide says

Photo of Senator Coats' Detractors

by

Glenn Thrush of Politico

It took them exactly a week, but Dan Coats's nascent Indiana Senate campaign has finally responded to my story about his lobbying efforts on behalf of a Texas oil company that has partnered with the government of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.

A quick refresher: Coats's firm, King & Spaulding, received $470,000 in fees from Houston-based Harvest Natural Resources from 2005 to 2008, according to the Senate's lobbying database. During that period, the company concluded a deal with the Chavez government that gave it roughly a third of the revenue generated from projects it developed.

Kevin Kellems, Coats's spokesman, sends an e-mail today claiming the story "got the Venezuela charge exactly backwards. The firm helped an American company deal with the fact that Chavez was trying to confiscate their business assets."

Kellems, himself a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, says Coats had no direct dealings with Chavez and his aides and suggested that Coats played a relatively minor role, despite his appearance on three years' worth of disclosure forms.

Kellems downplayed Coats' role, writing:

"Dan Coats was asked by the firm to assist in setting up two appointments for a Texas company which was a long-time client of the firm — appointments with a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees — so the CEO could inform them of the Venezuelan threat to annul their contract and harm the company financially."

In late 2005, at the time he was lobbying for Harvest, President Bush tapped Coats to act as Capitol Hill Sherpa for then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

Lobbying reports from that period, which list Coats as the main lobbyist on the Harvest-Venezuela account, list contacts with the "Executive Office of the President."

Kellems didn't immediately respond to an e-mail asking Kellems if Coats addressed the Harvest negotiations with the president or any of his top advisers.

Posted by Glenn Thrush 03:03 PM