Former Indiana senator and longtime Banking Committee member Evan Bayh held a series of private meetings with financial services industry executives and lobbyists throughout 2008 — just as Wall Street was collapsing and big banks were seeking a bailout from Washington, according to a newly obtained schedule for the ex-lawmaker now running to reclaim his seat.

One of the engagements — which included lunches, dinners and golf outings — happened the day of the Wall Street bailout vote. On Oct. 1, 2008, when the Senate voted to approve the $700 billion rescue package, Bayh held a “Lunch with Supporters” that included lobbyists for the financial services industry, his schedule shows. Other meetings with industry lobbyists and officials took place in the weeks and months up to and following the bailout vote.


During his tenure in the Senate, Bayh raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the financial services industry and Wall Street firms while supporting many of the legislative measures they pushed, including the bailout bill. The investment firm Goldman Sachs and its employees were Bayh’s top donors during his Senate career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign finance watchdog group. CNO Financial Group and Morgan Stanley also ranked in the top five of Bayh’s career donors, according to CRP.

Since leaving the Senate in early 2011, Bayh has served on the board of Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank, which received $3.4 billion from the so-called Troubled Asset Relief Program. The bank later repaid the money with interest.

Bayh has also worked for Apollo Global Management, a New York investment firm that paid him $2 million in 2015-16, according to his financial disclosure form. Aides to Bayh say he will cut his ties to Apollo and receive no further compensation if he wins the Senate race.

There are also questions about Bayh’s attendance at Banking Committee or subcommittee meetings during the 2007-08 period as the U.S. financial crisis unfolded. While the panel does not keep attendance records per se — a senator’s presence at a hearing is noted only if the lawmaker speaks during the session — and Bayh was not a member of some of the panel’s subcommittees, there is no record of Bayh having spoken at or attended more than 60 percent of those meetings.

Bayh’s support for the 2008 Wall Street bailout has emerged as a major issue in his current race against Republican Rep. Todd Young. Young and pro-GOP outside groups have bashed Bayh over his support for TARP, which was proposed by then-President George W. Bush’s administration.

Bayh voted for the Wall Street bailout package, as well as a failed bill to provide financial support for the U.S. auto industry. The Obama administration later used executive authority to grant loans to American auto companies, which fully repaid the money and saved tens of thousands of jobs, including many in Indiana.

Young has hammered Bayh for cashing in on his Senate service.

“Evan Bayh is trying to disguise his record of being a key supporter of the Obama-Clinton agenda,” Young’s campaign said in a statement. “Hoosiers know that Evan Bayh’s answer to the recession was the same as Hillary Clinton’s: bailouts. In Bayh’s case, he even bailed out the biggest banks and then left Indiana to work for them.”

Bayh also supported legislation as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank reform package to rein in further bank bailouts. And he backed the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was strongly opposed by industry.

While noting that then-Indiana GOP Sen. Dick Lugar also supported the 2008 bailout bill, Bayh’s aides have criticized the release of his Senate schedule. The Associated Press obtained his 2010 schedule, which showed Bayh meeting with prospective employers before leaving the Senate. Bayh said he obeyed Senate rules and federal law in conducting those meetings, but it has become a serious liability for him in the campaign.

“The documents being provided to press by a political opponent of Evan’s in the final days before an election are at best incomplete," said Ben Ray, a Bayh spokesman. "More than 70 percent of all votes Evan took in 2008 are absent from this schedule, and it is clearly not a reliable source of information on how his time was spent."

Ray added: “Evan voted for the toughest Wall Street reform since the Great Depression. If elected, he will continue to stand up for Hoosiers in the Senate, unlike Congressman Young, who has voted repeatedly to bring back ‘too big to fail’ banks and let credit card companies impose unfair fees on Hoosier families.”

A review of Bayh’s legislative record during 2007-08 shows he did not introduce any proposals on his own to address the financial crisis or make any major Senate floor speeches on the issue.

Bayh did join with other Banking Committee Democrats in October 2007 in warning subprime lenders to modify mortgages to prevent a wave of home foreclosures. The widespread use of subprime mortgages was a major factor in the real estate market collapse, which led to broader problems in the U.S. financial system.

And during the throes of the financial crisis, in September 2008, Bayh took part in at least a half-dozen meetings and conference calls regarding the government’s response to the emergency. Among them was a Sept. 23 hearing with then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox.

“The sense of urgency was palpable. After all, Chairman Bernanke — a man who, it was safe to say, is not known for engaging in hyperbole — had just told us that we were perhaps only a matter of days from the beginning of a major economic collapse,” Bayh later recalled, according to an interview he did with Indiana University. “I recognized that Congress could not make the long-term reforms needed in the time frame that was at our disposal in September 2008, but I told my colleagues that I would be looking for some mechanism that would force us to revisit this issue.”

Yet the crisis atmosphere did not prevent Bayh from his regular routine of fundraising and political networking, including meeting with representatives of some of the very companies he was prepared to help bail out on the day of the TARP vote.

Bayh began the morning of Oct. 1 that year by making fundraising calls for 90 minutes in the office of Nortel Networks, a short walk from the Capitol, according to his schedule.

Bayh then held a “Lunch with Supporters." Among the guests was Andrew Lowenthal of the lobbying firm Porterfield & Lowenthal, whose clients included the American Bankers Association, Wachovia, Prudential, Mass Mutual, National Mortgage Bankers Association and the New York Bankers Association. Lowenthal and some of his clients were donors to Bayh’s reelection campaign and his leadership PAC, All America PAC, FEC records show.

Another attendee was Scott Pastrick, who was then president and CEO of the lobbying firm BKSH & Associates Worldwide. His clients included GM and Safety-Kleen, which sought provisions in TARP bill.

A third attendee was Scott Parven, then a lobbyist at Parven Pomper Strategies. Parven was representing Noble Environmental Power, which sought a wind tax credit as part of the TARP package.

Bayh’s spokesman defended his decision to take part in that lunch.

“The economy was on the brink of collapse, and more than 100,000 Hoosier auto jobs were at risk. It was entirely appropriate to be with representatives of companies like GM, which employs thousands of Hoosiers,” Ray said.

There were other engagements with financial industry representatives before and after the TARP vote. Bayh’s calendar entry from Sept. 21, 2008, shows a golf outing at the Chevy Chase Club with two Wall Street executives.

On Dec. 3, 2008, Bayh had lunch with Michael Petrie, who was chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Bayh’s schedule shows. The Mortgage Bankers Association PAC donated $2,500 to Bayh’s leadership PAC that month.

The following day, according to the schedule, the senator dined with lobbyists from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Mortgage Bankers Association, Managed Funds Association, SIFMA and the Investment Company Institute.

Bayh also missed some Banking Committee hearings to attend political meetings or fundraising events, his schedule shows.

On Nov. 19, 2008, Bayh skipped the Banking Committee’s confirmation hearing for the Special Inspector General for the TARP program. At that time he had lunch with his father, former Sen. Birch Bayh, at Charlie Palmer’s restaurant near Capitol Hill and then went into a “Supporters Lunch” at the offices of lobbying firm C2 Group, whose clients included Wachovia. The lunch was also attended by a lobbyist for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

On Oct. 23, 2008, Bayh apparently did not attend a Banking Committee hearing titled, “Turmoil in The U.S. Credit Markets: Examining Recent Regulatory Responses.” His schedule that day showed him at campaign events for the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama.

Bayh continued to raise money until his retirement announcement in Febuary. 2010. During the 2004-10 cycle, the Indiana Democrat received more than $1.2 million in campaign cash from the financial services and real estate industries, CRP’s analysis shows. His biggest donor was Goldman Sachs. The company and its employees gave nearly $49,000 to Bayh’s reelection campaign.

Financial services industry officials and lobbyists were also major donors to Bayh’s leadership PAC, campaign finance records show, funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars into the fund during his tenure in the Senate.