Democrat Evan Bayh has spent the past three years involved in a lobbying campaign for his hometown NFL team, the Washington Redskins.
Bayh is currently running to regain the Indiana Senate seat he retired from in 2011 to become a partner at McGuireWoods, a major D.C. lobbying firm.
Lobbying disclosure forms show that McGuireWoods, where Bayh remains a partner, was brought on by the Redskins in July 2014 to defend the organization from legislative action aimed at forcing it to change its name, which many view as a racial slur toward Native Americans.
McGuireWoods was hired to have "discussions of team origins, history and traditions" in the House of Representatives and Senate, according to filings. The firm also reported that it would assist with the Original Americans Foundation, which was created by the team to assist the Native American community and quiet critics.
Patrick Martin, who was Bayh’s senior adviser at the lobbying firm until Sept. 8 when he was promoted to senior vice president, is still an active lobbyist for the Redskins. Martin joined McGuireWoods shortly after Bayh in early 2011. He previously served as legislative correspondent in Bayh’s Senate office.
Martin was one of the initial lobbyists who registered to work on behalf of the Redskins when McGuireWoods was hired in 2014. He is still registered to lobby for the team, according to the most recent filing.
The decision to hire lobbyists was prompted by a May 2014 letter sent by 50 Senate Democrats to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell urging him to support a name change.
"The N.F.L. can no longer ignore this and perpetuate the use of this name as anything but what it is: a racial slur," said the letter, which was signed by all but five Democrats in the Senate. "We urge the N.F.L. to formally support a name change for the Washington football team."
Sens. Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), colleagues of Bayh during his years in the Senate, mentioned revoking the NFL’s tax-exempt status if they did not budge on the issue.
Bayh’s firm was paid $180,000 for just six months of work in 2014, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The firm was paid $140,000 in 2015, and has been paid $60,000 so far this year.
McGuireWoods is the only firm that has lobbied Congress on behalf of the Redskins. No other NFL team is spending money to lobby Congress, according to a search of the Center for Responsive Politics lobbying database.
Though Bayh and Reid seem to be on opposite sides of the Redskins issue, it was Reid who led the charge to convince Bayh to launch his campaign. "It's going to be good for the country, good for Indiana to have him back," Reid said.
Bayh and Martin did not respond to requests for comment on their dealings with the Redskins or their feelings about whether the team should change its name.
While a majority of Americans believes the Redskins should keep its name, Democrats are against a name change by the smallest majority.
"Republicans are against it 85/3, independents are 69/19, and even Democrats are 51/35," wrote PPP following a poll it conducted this summer.
Being tied to the Redskins has already proved problematic for Democratic politicians this election cycle.
A pro-Hillary Clinton Super PAC was criticized last year after the Washington Free Beacon revealed that one of its staffers was a former cheerleader for the team.
In addition to being a partner at the firm lobbying for the Redskins, Bayh approved the non-profit status of the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1987 as Indiana’s secretary of state.