Book traces Mike Pence's 'path to power'

Show Caption Hide Caption VP Pence portrait unveiled at Statehouse Vice President Mike Pence is joined by family and supporters as his Indiana Gubernatorial portrait is unveiled at the Indiana Statehouse.

WASHINGTON – A new biography of Mike Pence opens by calling him a paradox and closes by describing his “biggest enigma” as vice president.

“How could a biblically based Christian so readily align himself with a man prone to flout the most recognized rules of civility?” author Andrea Neal asks in her book “Pence: The Path to Power,” which becomes available Aug. 1.

While Neal leaves the answer to that question to the reader, the biography provides a good overview of the path the politically ambitious Pence took to get to his current position, including his early influences, key mentors, successes and setbacks.

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Another book: Why Mike Pence's selection as VP was seen as a reward for his faithfulness

From interviews with some of those closest to Pence – but not Pence himself – Neal provides some new details, although her decision to use only named sources may have kept her from including juicy nuggets such as those that have appeared in recent books or articles about Pence.

The former IndyStar reporter, who was appointed to the State Board of Education by Governor Pence in 2013, has the scoop that Pence considered replacing his first lieutenant governor with Alex Azar, the former Eli Lilly executive who is now Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services.

In another behind-the-scenes moment, the volunteer driving Trump’s children to the airport after the family breakfasted with the Pences July 13, 2016 as Trump was deciding on a running mate overheard Eric Trump saying New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie kept calling Donald Trump, who wouldn’t answer. When Eric, instead of his father, called back the animated Christie, Eric tried to reassure Christie that no decision had been made.

After Pence aide Nick Ayers is told that evening that Trump would be calling, Pence and his top aides prayed together. They prayed for wisdom, for “a peace that surpasses all understanding,” and for protection for Pence and his family, according to Jim Atterholt, Pence’s second gubernatorial chief of staff. Then Pence left the meeting to return to the governor’s residence so he could be with his wife, Karen, when Trump offered him the slot.

Most of the book is a look back on how Pence got to that moment.

Early campaigns

Neal writes that longtime friends and teachers remember with surprising unanimity Pence's frequent announcements of his political intentions.

His first foray into national politics was an unexpectedly strong 1988 congressional campaign followed by an ethically-challenged rematch that tarnished Pence’s reputation and threatened to end his political aspirations.

Challenging an established Democratic incumbent while only 29 years old, Pence proved to be a natural at both the “grip-and-grin” of the campaign trail, as well as the ability to ask strangers for money. Although he lost, winning 47 percent of the vote in a district that hadn’t voted for a Republican since Watergate prompted then House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich to ask how he’d done it.

But in contrast to the naïve optimism and unexpected success of that campaign, his rematch with Democrat Phil Sharp “displayed aggressiveness bordering on desperation,” Neal writes. The losing campaign attracted controversy at virtually every turn, and would be called the most negative in Indiana history.

Pence’s campaign initially denied knowing anything about calls to voters from telemarketers pretending to be with a local environmental group and accusing Sharp of profiting from a nuclear waste dump. But an investigation by an Indianapolis attorney, done at the request of then-Sen. Dan Coats whose campaign manager had been implicated, concluded that Pence had known about the calls.

“Mike told me it was his seminal political moment,” Curt Smith, president of the Indiana Family Institute, told Neal about the race and its aftermath. “He said, `You call people and they don’t call you back, not because you lost but because they don’t think you’re a good guy.’ He knew he had somehow crossed the line in political ambition.”

Karen Pence, according to Smith, allowed her husband to wallow briefly in self-reflection before telling him to “get off the couch and get a job.”

Rehabilitation

Pence got two jobs.

He became the first president of the Indiana Public Policy Review Foundation, a conservative think tank where he raised money, advocated for policies like a statewide school voucher system and opposition to an Indiana law allowing public sector collective bargaining that he would later champion in public office. Through a national network of conservative think tanks, Pence also made friends across the country who would later support his campaigns.

But Pence ruffled the feathers of establishment and Chamber of Commerce Republicans when foundation founder Chuck Quilhot and Pence publicly objected to GOP Sen. Richard Lugar’s vote in 1993 to confirm as surgeon general Joycelyn Elders. (She had strongly backed abortion rights and the distribution of condoms in schools.)

Pence left the foundation at the end of 1993, and focused on expanding his other job: radio talk show host.

What began as a 30-minute Saturday morning show on a Rushville station, turned into a syndicated show in 1994 that eventually peaked at 18 stations. "No topic engaged his passion quite like presidential politics," Neal writes.

In addition to honing his communication skills, Pence took a special interest in his shows advertisers, some of whom would go on to be campaign contributors.

Congressional career

An open seat in the now Republican-held congressional district he’d run for twice launched Pence to Washington. He viewed the opportunity as God granting him a second chance at his long-held dream.

Pence was soon embraced by national conservative groups and pundits as an effective spokesman for conservatism, and because of his willingness to challenge GOP leadership. It was those fights against fellow Republicans on spending issues — not the social issues he more recently became known for — that first prompted his name to be floated as a potential presidential candidate.

But while fiscal conservatism is what initially earned Pence national media attention, former state GOP Chairman Jeff Cardwell told Neal that Pence’s arguments for restoring a ban on federal funding for human embryo research were a “defining factor” in President George W. Bush’s decision to support a ban.

Gubernatorial term

Pence, however, downplayed social issues when he decided to run for governor in 2012 as a probable precursor to a later presidential bid.

Instead, his “Roadmap for Indiana” advocated for tax cuts, spending limits and education reform.

But his surprisingly close victory foreshadowed what would be a rocky road for Pence’s gubernatorial years.

Pence unveiled his policy agenda without consulting Republican lawmakers, who had a super majority in the state legislature. That suggested to House Speaker Brian Bosma that Pence was "following a consultant’s script and did not understand the political realities at the statehouse," Neal writes. And when the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity ran ads criticizing Republicans for not getting fully behind Pence’s proposed tax cuts, that further convinced legislative leaders that Pence was using the post to build a national profile.

After Pence changed top aides midway through his first term, he confessed to Atterholt — his new chief of staff — that he was overwhelmed with the minutiae that came with being governor.

It had taken him a while to figure out the difference between being in Congress and being governor, according to the book.

“In Washington, he had seen his role as obstructionist — fighting bad bills, holding leadership accountable, and reminding colleagues of Republican principles of limited government,” Neal says. “As governor, he had to lead. That meant setting a vision and winning over the public and lawmakers.”

Besides frustrating state legislators, Pence had ticked off Christian conservatives by backing only a modest rewrite of the Common Core educational standards. Pence then made up with his “most loyal constituency” by halting the state’s application for an $80 million federal grant for early childhood education.

Pence again found himself trapped between Christian conservatives and the business community in his biggest crisis, which threatened to end his political career — his signing and then having to agree to amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015.

“Looking ahead to presidential possibilities, he’d been advised by his consultants to avoid making waves that could affect his political ambitions,” Neal writes. “The RFRA proved to be a tidal wave. Although it was not a part of the governor’s agenda, by signing it into law he had become its most visible champion.”

Virtually overnight, Pence had become the face of homophobia because of the law, which critics said would allow businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

Joining Trump

Pence was facing a difficult re-election campaign when, two days before the deadline to withdraw from the ballot, Trump asked Pence to be his running mate.

Pence never expressed reluctance to align himself with a candidate rejected by some within his own party, according to the book.

“Are you kidding?” Neal quotes Rex Early, chairman of Trump’s Indiana campaign and former state party leader. “At this point in his career, how many chances is Pence going to get?”

The book doesn’t offer what Pence thought when, after Pence accepted Trump’s offer and the news leaked out, Trump reportedly continued to vacillate on the decision and delayed his announcement.

And while other authors have written that Trump’s campaign did not expect to win election night, Neal writes that “at no point in the evening did Pence envision defeat.” (She provides the fun detail that Pence got a congratulatory text from kin in Ireland with a photo of a red Trump hat on their door knocker with a note: “Gone celebrating.”)

Despite Pence’s “calculated approach to his political career,” Neal writes that Pence’s willingness to bind himself to Trump is more nuanced than pure ambition. She raises the question asked in the Old Testament story about Esther, an orphaned girl who improbably becomes the Queen of Persia and intercedes with the king to save the Jewish people.

“And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther's older cousin Mordecai prompts.

The question, the book says, is a fitting one for Pence, who tries to study the Bible daily.

“`Such a time as this’ will test the political skills Pence has developed over a lifetime,” she writes, “and the leadership role he has so faithfully pursued.”

Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.