Daniels' PAC Unloads Cash, But Not One Dime For Fair Finance Investors

The Star's Mary Beth Schneider reports that Gov. Mitch Daniels began unloading the remaining funds in his Aiming Higher PAC just days before Purdue University's Board of Trustees named him as the university's new president. Gov. Daniels pledged to withdraw from his involvement in partisan politics upon the announcement. To that end, Daniels wrote two checks in the amount of $25,000 each to Mike Pence's gubernatorial campaign committee, which has already raised a record amount of money for a gubernatorial campaign, and to State School Superintendent Tony Bennett's campaign committee. After those large contributions and associated expenses, his PAC has a little more than $50,000 remaining. A separate issues fund has about $18,000 remaining. "We'll wind 'em both up by the end of the year," Daniels said. "I don't know exactly. The money needs to be given for the purpose that somebody donated it. We can't take it and divert it to a different purpose."

In other words, Gov. Daniels believes the 5,000 small investors in Ohio who lost more than $200 million they invested in Fair Finance, can all drop dead. Daniels, who is personally worth more than $50 million, could earn close to $1 million a year as Purdue's new president. Daniels accepted more than $200,000 in campaign donations from Durham, more than anyone other than former Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. To date, he has returned a paltry sum of $3,000 to the bankruptcy trustee. Earlier this year the bankruptcy trustee filed suit against the campaign committees of Daniels, who is the only hold out among politicians the bankruptcy trustee pursued to recover generous campaign contributions made by Durham. The trustee has asked Daniels to repay $90,000, or a little under half of what he collected from Durham. The Star article makes no mention of the ongoing litigation against his campaign committees.