Hoo Owns the Candidates? Mike Braun

Part One: The Michiana Motorhome Mafia

This is the second in a series entitled “Hoo Owns the Candidates?” wherein we look at the money flowing into the coffers of Hoosier political candidates as they gear up for 2024. Today, we look at Senator Mike Braun, who is vacating his seat in Washington to run for Governor. Part one, covering U.S. Senate candidate Jim Banks, can be found here.

Motor homes and ultra-conservative politics as far as the eye can see.

I don’t mean to keep picking on them, and I like to watch fast cars repeatedly turn left as much as the next guy, but did I make a wrong turn and wind up on the infield at a NASCAR race?

Nope. I wound up in Elkhart County, Indiana.

Growing up in Northern Indiana, I only knew two things about Elkhart. One, in the Northern Indiana Conference of 1993, it was an interminable bus ride to Memorial High School from Michigan City Elston (where my Red Devils at?) and somehow even more interminable, packed in sardine-tight with my sweat-soaked freshmen football comrades, reeling from yet another loss, at 9:30 pm on a school night, on the way hone. Secondly, Elkhart is the RV capital of the world.

According to South Bend’s ABC57, “more than 80 percent of all RVs in the world are built in Elkhart County, and RV manufacturers in the county make up eight of the 10 largest employers.” Furthermore, “There are some 100 plants operated by 30-40 manufacturers representing about 100 brands, according to Al Hesselbart, historian at Elkhart’s RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum.”

An Indianapolis Star piece from 2018 states, “Elkhart County represents a little more than 3 percent of Indiana's population, yet has 13.5 percent of the state's manufacturing jobs.” With all that industry comes industrialists, and these trailer tycoons, motorhome magnates, and fifth-wheel fat cats are very influential at the state capital, particularly with Republicans. With the GOP primary in the governor’s race now a crowded five-person field, support from these prominent donors may be necessary to clinch the nomination.

Senator Mike Braun, who is leaving the “The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body” (lol) after only one term, has raised “$2.22 million for the first six months of 2023, the largest amount ever raised in this fundraising period for an open gubernatorial race. Last December, Braun also set a Hoosier record by raising over $1 million within the first 30 days of his campaign, and today he currently has $4.6 million cash on hand.”

As I mentioned in an update last week, IN INDIANA STATEWIDE ELECTIONS, THERE ARE NO CAMPAIGN SPENDING LIMITS ON INDIVIDUALS OR PACS. With no spending limits, Braun is receiving an inordinate amount of support from high-dollar donors. Specifically, he’s raised $1.7 million JUST from the 80 individual donors (not even counting PACs or businesses) who gave $10,000 or more. Because I work a regular full-time job and would also like to see my family occasionally, I only looked at those individuals. There are 100 more who gave at least $5,000 but less than $10,000. Somebody else have at ‘em.

Among those 80 biggest contributors, I started to see a disproportionate number of executives from the RV and related industries in Michiana. So, I decided to break this exposé into pieces. Groups of donors in other trades have also consolidated around Braun, and we will look at them next time. Today, however, let’s look at this set of RV and RV supply tycoons, who they are, and how they made their money. Afterwards, let us consider WHY these folks would line up behind Braun.

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Donald Gunden, Goshen, $30,000 - General Manager for the Rockwood, Flagstaff, and Palomino brands of Forest River, Inc. FRI, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is an Elkhart-based manufacturer of RVs, buses, boats, and trailers, and is known as one of the “Big 3” RV manufacturers. Gunden has a lengthy history of big political contributions, exclusively to Republicans (and Joe Donnelly, who was basically a Republican).

George G. Thomas, Elkhart, $100,000 - CEO/President at Viaggio Pontoon Boats; Owner and CEO of Duo-Form Plastics; CEO of Lakota Trailers. I couldn’t find any business fluff pieces like you normally get with high-rollers like Thomas, but my digging leads me to believe his father was George L. Thomas, a professional golfer before becoming the men’s AND women’s golf coach at Notre Dame. The senior Thomas was an Indiana golf legend, who also owned Brookwood Golf Course and considered Ara Parseghian a close friend. Though our friend George the Younger doesn’t appear to do publicity, he is a prolific Republican donor and an active Tweeter, amplifying some of the worst purveyors of right-wing disinformation like Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Jordan Peterson, and Andrew Tate. Come to think of it, if his account didn’t occasionally tweet about boats and trailers, I would assume it was a bot account. Short of Braun himself, Thomas is tied for the record of single largest donor to the campaign and, frankly, I don’t know how someone so successful can believe such bullshit.

Jason Lippert, Elkhart, $10,000 - President and CEO of Elkhart-based Lippert Components, Inc. LCI is a publicly-traded (NYSE: LCII) Fortune-1000 company with over $5 billion in annual revenue. They supply components to the RV, marine, manufactured housing, leisure, and transportation industries. The company was founded in 1956 as B&L Industries by Lippert’s grandfather, Larry Lippert, along with a partner. After buying out his partner, the patriarch aggressively expanded the business and passed leadership to his son Doug, who became CEO and President in 1976. After some tough times in the early 1980’s, business exploded in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew devasted Florida. 65 dead. 177,000 left homeless. $60 billion (2023 dollars) in damages. Terrible for all those people; fucking great for manufactured home builders. The boom in business caught the eye of Drew Industries, a New York-based holding company, which acquired LCI in 1997. Our boy Jason became CEO of the now multi-national firm in 2003 and, having overseen several acquisitions, he became CEO of the larger company, Drew Industries, in 2013. Drew became LCI Industries in 2016 and has continued to expand, swallowing smaller companies domestically and abroad. Lippert routinely clears $10 million in annual compensation from LCI.

James Brown, Bremen, $25,000 - J.B. Brown is the CEO of BCI Solutions in Bremen. BCIS supplies the automotive, natural gas, military, agriculture, mining, truck, and lawn and garden industries. Founded by Ellis Brown in 1939 as Bremen Gray Iron Foundry, the firm has been owned and operated by the same family for five generations now. His father, James E. Brown, served as CEO before him and was a prolific Republican donor. The Brown family were late Congresswoman Jackie Walorski’s biggest funders in 2016. J.B. has appeared before Congress to lobby against clean power regulations during the Obama administration and gone on Fox and Friends to blame President Biden for fuel prices. From 2013 to 2019, BCI Defense also manufactured firearms, specifically AR-15 semi-automatic rifles. That’s all terrible and I need some of THIS James Brown as a palate cleanser. Absolute G.O.A.T.

Jeffrey Schwartz, Granger, $20,000 - President, Nanochem Technologies; President, Midwest Mobile Supply; CEO, Rollie Williams Paint Spot; partner, CDI LLC; Vice President, Paint Incorporated; Strategic Advisor, Tekmodo Industries; “Mr. Schwartz has over [30] years of paint and chemical experience. He owns and manages numerous entities that manufacture, distribute and apply coatings that primarily revolve around wood components, RV / bus, large truck, and specialty architectural applications.”

Matthew Miller, Bremen - $40,000 - Miller was the President of Newmar Corporation in Nappanee, a manufacturer of luxury RVs, retiring in 2021, though he continues as a strategic advisor. From a Winnebago PR statement upon his retirement: “Matt Miller has been a tremendous leader in the RV industry, dedicating his time and expertise as a member of both the RV Industry Association Board of Directors and Executive Committee. His strong commitment to customer service, product quality, and elevating service is evident in his work as the head of Newmar and through his involvement in the development of the RV Technical Institute [Elkhart], where he served as the first Chairman of the organization. In recognition of his service to the industry, Matt was awarded the 2014 Distinguished Service to the RV Industry Award as well as the 2018 Distinguished Achievement in RV Standards Award… He has held other key leadership roles in the Association, including Secretary and Treasurer on the Executive Committee and Chair of the Standards Steering Committee, Nominating Committee, and Strategic Planning Committee. He has also served as a member of the Audit Committee, RVDA/RVIA Certification Governing Board, Public Relations Committee, Awards Committee, and Governance Committee.” Yes, yes. All very lovely fluff. Committed to the industry. Also committed to the worst far-right agitators. He maxed out donations to Doug Slocum, Lauren Boebert and Laura Loomer in 2020.

Rex Martin, Lakeside MI, $25,000 - A 2015 profile filled with not-so-subtle jingoism begins, “For generations, America’s strength has emerged from the power of its manufacturing factories. On July 7, 2015, NIBCO INC., a premier example of an American success story with its U.S. based manufacturing, celebrated its all-American ownership and the 40th year service anniversary of Rex Martin, fourth generation of family leadership and chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer.” That’s nationalism thick enough to make a bald eagle weep tears of freedom while rolling coal, pounding brews, and singing Lee Greenwood.

From the NIBCO website: “In 1904 Casper Schweitzer, founded Northern Indiana Brass Foundry Works in Elkhart, Ind. with $1,200 cash. Originally, the company made brass keys for musical instruments and bronze castings for balancing scale weights. By 1922, under the foresight of Ross Martin, Schweitzer’s son-in-law, NIBCO entered the new indoor plumbing market with its copper plumbing products.” So, Rex is the fourth-generation head of the company, which does $830 million in annual revenue. He and late wife Alice also started the Rex and Alice Martin Foundation, which distributes money to a lot of legitimately good causes (and is great way to give the kids cushy six-figure salaries). Though he has given a little to centrist Democrats, Martin has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates over the years.

“But Scott, that’s a plumbing supply manufacturer! What does that have to do with RVs?” Well, big RVs and manufactured homes have kitchens and bathrooms, yeah?

Donald Clark, Union MI, $10,000 - Clark, an Osceola native, is co-founder and CEO of Middlebury-headquartered Grand Design RV, a manufacturer of upscale travel trailers. Before founding the company with brothers Ron and Bill Fenech (big Elkhart County RV industry Republican donors in their own right). Before starting Grand Design, the three had previously worked together for Coachmen, Keystone, and THOR RV companies, Don serving as President of Dutchman brand. Grand Design was acquired by Winnebago in 2016 for $500 million cash, plus Winnebago stock. Clark continues as CEO, Grand Design operating as a subsidiary.

Thomas Irions, Elkhart, $10,000 - CEO and co-founder of ASA Electronics. They popped up in 1977 around the local RV and marine industries to manufacture specialized audio/video products for those applications. They pioneered rear-camera systems for trucks and cigarette-lighter powered TVs, expanding to take on Audiovox’s heavy-duty trucking, agriculture, and construction divisions in 1996. Irions has given political contributions to a few Democrats, but mostly Republicans. This $10,000 gift matches his largest, to Curtis Hill’s 2016 campaign for Indiana Attorney General. That’s $10,000 he probably wishes he had back.

Todd Cleveland, Nappanee, $10,000 - Cleveland was CEO of Patrick Industries from 2009-2020. He remains as Chairman of the Board. This is from a 2016 piece in Fort Wayne Business Weekly: “Cleveland, a native of Nappanee, went to college at DePauw University, where he played football and graduated with a degree in business. He went to work at Adorn LLC, an Elkhart-based RV supplier, in 1986; and stayed when the business was purchased by Linsalata Capital Partners in 2000. He eventually became CEO. Then, he moved over to Patrick as chief operations officer when it acquired the business in May 2007. He was named Patrick’s president in 2008 and CEO in February 2009.” At the time that article was published, Patrick had outperformed every other stock in North America since Cleveland took over in 2009. The rapid growth came from acquisitions, Patrick buying up dozens of smaller suppliers, such that the company and its subsidiaries now make just about every component that goes inside an RV. Compared to some of our other big spenders, Cleveland doesn’t throw his weight around as much, but he is responsible for giving Curtis Hill (see above) a very generous $22,500 between his 2016 and 2020 A.G. campaigns. These guys just can’t quit their old Elkhart buddy.

Derald Bontrager, Bristol, $12,500 AND Wilbur Bontrager, Middlebury, $10,000 - Oh damn, they’re coming in pairs now! From RV News, “Jayco president and CEO Derald Bontrager’s parents, Lloyd and Bertha, founded the company in 1968 on the family’s Middlebury, Indiana, farm. When he turned 16, Derald started working at Jayco during summers and, since, has held jobs in sales, marketing and manufacturing at the family company. Derald was 27 when his father Lloyd died in a 1985 plane crash. Al Yoder, who previously was Lloyd’s company partner and Executive Vice President, became Jayco President. Lloyd’s sons started taking on larger leadership roles as Derald’s brother Wilbur became Executive Vice President. Derald was appointed Jayco President and Chief Operating Officer in 2002, graduating to CEO in 2013. In 2014, he became RVIA’s Chairman of the Board of Directors and, three years later, was presented with Distinguished Service to the RV Industry, the RVIA’s highest honor. Derald was inducted into the RV/Motorhome Hall of Fame in 2018.” Both Derald and Wilbur have been prolific Republican donors.

Douglas Smoker, Goshen, $13,500 - President and CEO of Smoker Craft. “Smoker Craft, Inc, with manufacturing roots dating back to 1903, is a multi-generational family owned and operated boat builder located in New Paris, Indiana, manufacturing under the Smoker Craft, StarCraft, Sylvan, StarWeld and Sunchaser brand names and contract manufactures for Legend Boats, a Duhamel and Dewar company.” They really are coming in pairs now, because it’s not just Doug, but the whole executive team that appear to be generous Republican donors, like this guy…

Peter Barrett, South Bend, $20,000 - Directly from his LinkedIn page, “Peter Barrett has been with Smoker Craft, Inc. since 1996 most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Development (since 2008), and serving as Director and owner since 2007. Prior to this position Mr. Barrett served in positions of increasing responsibility with Smoker Craft, Inc. and StarCraft Marine, LLC, a company that was later combined into Smoker Craft, Inc. Mr. Barrett is a fourth generation owner/employee of Smoker Craft, Inc. following the foot steps of his Great Grandfather Arthur Schrock, Grandfather Harold Schrock and Mother, Sara Barrett.”

“OH COME ON NOW! BOATS AREN’T RVS! BOATS ARE BOATS!”

Is a boat a vehicle? Does it go? Are fishing and watersports recreational activities? Then a boat is an RV. But mayonnaise is NOT an instrument.

And along those lines, an honorable mention:

Grant and Scott Porter, Decatur, $10,000 each - The Porter family ARE Formula Boats. From the company website:

“The guiding force behind Formula’s vision of excellence is the Victor B. Porter family. Until his passing in October of 2021, Vic Porter held the office of Chairman Emeritus of Formula Boats. Now, four sons and a daughter actively manage the business. Scott Porter serves as a knowledgeable, energetic President while Executive Vice President Grant Porter directs all product development and manufacturing. Chairman Wayne Porter is Vice President of Sales, Jean Porter Brune is Vice President of Marketing and Ted Porter is Vice President of Human Resources. The eldest son, John, also a company shareholder, is a medical doctor not involved in daily business activities. Vic’s wife Kris serves on the Board of Directors. Scott’s wife Shelley is active in the IT department and is also involved in various Formula sales projects. Third-generation Porters work in the business as well. Two of Wayne’s children, Jeremy and Sarah, work full-time for Formula. Jeremy is the Transportation Manager and Sarah is the Director of Marketing Promotions. Jean’s son, Jason Brune, is the Product Engineering Manager. Ted’s three sons also work in the business, Danny is the Research and Development Manager, Chris is a Product Engineer and Josh is a CAD/CAM Design Engineer. The fourth generation has joined the workforce as summer help.”

Now, Decatur is in Adams County, southeast of Fort Wayne near the Ohio line; most definitely not Michiana. But, as a multi-generational, privately-held family business in the recreational vehicle sector in Northern Indiana, I thought them worth mentioning here.

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So, in summary, Braun has received $356,000 from the listed contributors alone. That’s more from fifteen wealthy individuals than the leading Democratic candidate has raised altogether. Now, it is no surprise to find Republicans with a huge financial advantage over Democrats. That’s par for the course. Now, obviously, I cannot inhabit these men’s minds, and I don’t want to ascribe ill intent, but why might the these particular industrialists line up behind Braun? I have my own hypothesis.

First of all, manufacturing has always leaned far right. The National Association of Manufacturers was founded in 1895 and harnessed the combined resources of the country’s wealthiest industrialists to fight unionized labor, resist government regulation, promote fascism, and maybe assassinate FDR. After World War II, NAM’s rabid anti-communists amplified Joseph McCarthy and started the John Birch Society. I wrote extensively about this influence network a few months ago. Despite years of mostly successfully cleaning up whitewashing their image, the Association is still largely a front for the coal, oil, and gas industries.

Under the NAM umbrella exists a cluster of trade organizations known as the Council of Manufacturing Associations. “With a membership including 260 national manufacturing trade associations representing 130,000 companies worldwide, the CMA creates partnerships across the industry, amplifies manufacturers’ voices, and connects members to experts and trade association executives. CMA members gain insights, share perspectives, form coalitions, and ensure manufacturers have a strong voice in national policy.” How does it work? Groups like the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers, National Marine Manufacturers Association, and Recreational Vehicle Industry Association collect dues from industrialists like our friends above, kick some of that up to NAM for general industry lobbying, and use a bunch to hire their own specialist lobbyists.

What does an army of lobbyists get you? The same things industry has always wanted from the state: low corporate taxes, lax regulation, hostility to labor, and an aggressive military for opening/defending new markets. Basically, the Republican Party platform. A brutal exposé from the Indianapolis Star illustrates the results of these policies right here in the Indiana RV industry: broke people with broken bodies untreated by a broken healthcare system while a few oligarchs like the Camper Cabal up here take all the rewards.

And it would be one thing if all these guys had struck out on their own, invented or innovated, pulled themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps and made it big. A few of the aforementioned did found their companies, though I don’t think that entitles them to a lifetime of setting policy for the rest of us, but what really grinds my gears is how many of these guys inherited their fortunes. Thomas Jefferson said, “a power to dispose of estates for ever is manifestly absurd. The earth and the fulness of it belongs to every generation, and the preceding one can have no right to bind it up from posterity. Such extension of property is quite unnatural.”

Indeed. It’s bad enough these nepo babies were born into wealth most of us can’t even imagine; it’s even worse they use this advantage to further entrench their unearned elevated positions. That’s the kind of lineal, dynastic aristocracy I thought our forefathers rebelled against in 1776. It’s downright un-American and it’s certainly not meritocratic. To combat Gilded Age wealth inequality, and its pernicious effects on democracy, Teddy Roosevelt advocated for a robust inheritance tax. Woodrow Wilson signed the federal estate tax into law in 1916 and FDR argued for further strengthening it in 1935. It proved to be an effective equalizer. These men recognized the essential truth of the quote attributed to Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, “we can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we can't have both.”

Mike Braun is currently one of 41 co-sponsors on a Senate bill that would eliminate the estate tax entirely. We know which side he’s on.

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