Evan Bayh did not use his Indiana residence during his final year representing the state in the U.S. Senate in 2010, according a copy of his official schedule obtained by the Associated Press.
Bayh, now campaigning to regain his Senate seat, has said that a small condo he owns in Indianapolis has long been his home and that he spends "lots and lots and lots" of time there. Records show, however, that even on rare occasions when Bayh would spend the night in Indianapolis he stayed in hotels rather than at his residence.
The Associated Press reports:
The schedule provided to The Associated Press shows the Democrat spent taxpayer money, campaign funds or let other people pay for him to stay in Indianapolis hotels on the relatively rare occasions he returned from Washington, D.C. [...]
"I'll always be a Hoosier," Bayh said last week. "We own our condominium. Period. From time to time I would stay someplace else, but our condo has always been our home."
Bayh stayed at Indianapolis hotels roughly a dozen times in 2010, though taxpayers paid only a few hundred dollars because campaign funds or other people helped pick up the tab.
When asked last month how often he has stayed at his condo during the campaign, Bayh said: "I haven't kept track, but lots and lots and lots." He also accused his opponent, Republican Rep. Todd Young, of "using this as a distraction."
Bayh has come under fire in recent weeks for the way he spent his final year in the Senate after announcing that he would be retiring in early 2010.
It has been reported that Bayh took numerous taxpayer funded trips to New York City that year to meet a "veritable who's who of American banking and finance, as well as a job headhunter." One of the meetings was with the CEO of Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm that currently employs Bayh as a senior adviser.
It has also been reported that Bayh rarely attended committee hearings during his final year in the Senate.
Bayh is currently running neck and neck with Republican Rep. Todd Young, according to the Real Clear Politics poll average.