This is a great piece of writing by one of our key people.

When it filed for bankruptcy protection, Kiel Brothers Oil company - run by Gregory Pence, the brother of Congressman Mike Pence (Rep., IN-06) -- owed state and local government bodies in Indiana over 9.3 million dollars, according to recent court filings. The Kiel Bros Oil company, also known as KB Oil and Tobacco Road convenience stores, filed for bankruptcy in June 2004. Kiel Bros was a Sub-S family business, according to financial disclosure statements filed by Congressman Mike Pence. Prior to the bankruptcy, the Congressman claimed stock and ownership in the company valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to the official list of creditors filed September 22, 2006, total claims registered against the Pence family business was in excess of $102 million.

At the time of its bankruptcy, Kiel Bros Oil owed $8.5 million to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). The company had a history of oil spills and failure to comply with storage regulations according to public IDEM records. In at least one instance, the company was threatened with "penalties of up to $10,000 per underground storage tank for each day of violation."

Six months after the bankruptcy filing, Governor Mitch Daniels appointed Greg Pence, the former chief executive officer of Kiel Brothers Oil, to be second in command of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

"This was a classic case of setting the fox to guard the hen house," charged Democratic Congressional candidate, Barry Welsh. "Why did the Governor appoint the head of a known polluter to run the state agency that safeguards our environment? Combine this with not taking the correct action and asking the Head of the BMV to step down, and it is obvious why we have to vote in an overwhelming majority of Democratic Candidates into Indiana's Statehouse. Governor Daniel's cronyism must be checked. Congressman Pence, in his early campaigns, was very vocal about his family oil business. Why did Congressman Mike Pence not come clean with the voters about the money his family business owed to the people of Indiana, and the damage to the earth, during the last election? These are questions that demand an answer. The citizens deserve to know, now we all have to question why he would not tell us himself."

A March 17, 2005, story in the Indianapolis Star, reported that Pence's task was to make the environmental agency more friendly to corporate interests:

"Although Greg Pence had no environmental credentials, his job was to use his management expertise to help Commissioner Tom Easterly restructure an agency that had become a lightning rod for industry complaints about being slow to issue permits and having sometimes unfair and confusing rules, Pence and Easterly said."

Greg Pence left the agency after two and one half months, saying he had completed the work. The position draws a $91,000 annual salary.

In addition to the $8,499,537.82 owed to IDEM, Kiel Bros Oil owed the Indiana Department of Revenue $743,820.25. Kiel Bros Oil was also in debt to the following Indiana counties and cities:

Allen County

Bartholomew County

Greenwood City

Henry County

Howard County

Jonesville Volunteer Fire

Madison County

Town of Mooresville

Town of Whiteland

Benton County

Davies County

Jay County

Jennings County

Marion County

Monroe County

Morgan County

Posey County

Ripley County

Tippecanoe County

Vanderburgh County

In addition, Kiel Brothers owed money to the Internal Revenue Service, and the states of Kentucky and Illinois:

Commonwealth of Kentucky Dept for Environmental Protection $ 1,350.75

Illinois Dept of Employment Security Bankruptcy Unit $ 1,730.10

Commonwealth of Kentucky Revenue Cabinet $ 9,545.05

United States Internal Revenue Service $ 108,983.14