"Hoo Owns the Candidates?" Mike Braun, Part 5
Planes, (Supply) Chains, and Automobiles
This is the sixth 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 take another look at Senator Mike Braun, who is vacating his seat in Washington to run for Governor. Previous installments have looked at Braun’s big donors in the RV industry, medicine, agriculture, and extraction. The first installment of the “Hoo Owns” series was on U.S. Senate candidate Jim Banks, and can be found here.
In last week’s profile, I mentioned that of all the world’s carbon, “the 53% of all CO2 emissions that come from the mining and drilling industries don’t even consider the eventual BURNING of those fuels. This is just from extraction and primary processing.” In this article, we’ll look at the Indiana oligarchs that make their money in the transportation and logistics industries, which account for 28% of U.S. emissions, and where burning petroleum products accounts for 94% of the fuel input.
Gubernatorial candidate Mike Braun’s large donors in this industry include airline executives, trucking moguls, and automobile dealers. Every one has a financial incentive to maintain the status quo, stifle competition, thwart organized labor, and delay electrification of the industry.
For example, Braun’s airline industry donors operate in the regional airline space and in private charter flights. A sane country not wholly controlled by private interests would have a low-carbon high-speed rail system leaving inefficient regional carriers unnecessary. Over intense industry lobbying, France just outlawed short regional flights. Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Spain have all made gestures toward a similar move. In America, fossil fuel-funded think tanks set the agenda.
Even worse than small regional airlines are private jets. According to a recent report from the Institute on Policy Studies, private jets emit at least ten times more pollution per passenger than commercial planes. Additionally, although they make up about one sixth of all flights handled by the FAA, private jets contribute only two percent to the FAA’s trust fund, the agency’s primary funding source. This places the tax burden on regular folks taking commercial flights, even though the median net worth for a private jet owner is $190 million. Did you know you can by a jet share like a time share? The smoligarch (TM me, just now) jet set, with only $140 million in net worth, has to go this route. Poor things.
Let’s have a look at the jet setters and big spenders among Braun’s donors in all the transportation industries, then we’ll come back and talk about the trucking industry and auto dealers. But first, the pitch…
PLANES
Matthew Koscal, Carmel, $10,000 - Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Republic Airways. According to the company’s LinkedIn page, “Republic Airways is a regional airline headquartered in Indianapolis, operating fixed-fee flights for American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. The Company’s fleet consists of nearly 200 Embraer 170/175s, offering approximately 1000 flights daily to 100 cities in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean and Central America.” The company is in the process of building a new corporate campus and training center in Carmel, expected to fully open by early 2025. Koscal has not been nearly as prolific as many of the other donors we’ve profiled, but has really picked up the pace and size of his contributions since 2019.
Jet Access Aviation, Greenfield, $25,000 - According to their website, “Jet Access is the first vertically integrated, fully transparent full-service aviation management company in the industry.” What that means is they store and operate private planes for corporations and high-net worth individuals, charter private flights, offer concierge services, maintenance and refurbish planes, and provide flight training. The CEO of Jet Access is Quinn Ricker, and if that name sounds familiar, I just profiled this nepo baby’s daddy in my last piece. Jay Ricker, the founder of Ricker Oil, donated $50,000 to Braun’s campaign. The old man has been a prolific Republican donor, and the younger Ricker has really begun to up his bribery contribution game the last few years.
(SUPPLY) CHAINS
Card & Associates Athletic Facilities, LLC $35,000 - From their website: "Card & Associates was officially established in 2015. For the last 6 years, they have brought their unique talent, leadership, and resources to communities seeking an effective partnership for unparalleled athletic, tourist, and economic development impacts. Their first success with state-of-the-game athletic facilities is Pacers Athletic Center, located in Westfield, IN. They have since also developed, constructed, and are operating: Mojo Up Sports Complex in Noblesville, IN and Community Sports and Wellness in Pendleton, IN. C&A currently has over 10 projects in the works in 5 different states.” This has nothing to do with logistics, obviously, but continuing on, founder and CEO Andy Card “was a fourth-generation owner of Perkins Global Logistics and he successfully managed to increase the company’s revenues from $7 million to $72 million—all in his first 12 years as CEO. From there, Andy has gone on to pursue several highly-profitable entrepreneurial ventures in real estate, food services, and entertainment.”
John Paugh, Anderson, $27,000 - Paugh is Chairman and former President/CEO of Carter Express and Carter Logistics. From Hitachi Transport Systems, who acquired a controlling share in 2009, “Carter started its business in 1983 with just a couple trucks moving parts from suppliers to various automotive assembly plants. Today, Carter is well known within the automotive industry as a world-class logistics company and is setting the bar high for its competitors. Carter has also expanded into additional vertical markets, including consumer products, food, retail channels and more. In 1998, Carter Logistics developed a business model called the Carter Shared Milkrun Network, which supports lean manufacturing practices, such as just-in-time shipments. This program can offer companies lower inventories, small lot shipments, frequent deliveries, assigned window times, decreased cycle times, improved cash flow and re-capturing of floor space.” Paugh has given over $100,000 in political contributions, the overwhelming majority going to Republicans.
and AUTOMOBILES
CMR, LLC, Clarksville, $25,000 - One of a couple business entities in which Christopher W. Coyle serves as registered agent. I’m not sure CMR actually does anything, but Chris is a 3rd-generation auto dealer. His grandfather, Walter, founded New Albany Motor Company in 1945. Michael “Poppee” Coyle, Chris’ father, inherited the business, which became Coyle Chevrolet Buick GMC. In addition to the dealership, “Poppee” “was involved in many businesses over the years, with franchises and real estate just to mention a few.” He also came up with the idea “in 1999 to install a 150' flag pole with three stadium lights for display at night has become a landmark in Southern Indiana.” The family acquired a Nissan vendor in 2012 and now Chris serves as president of that unit, while Mike Junior serves as vice president. The brothers serve opposite roles at the original GM dealership. Chris Coyle has become quite the Republican donor in recent years, his father and brother far less active.
Christine McKibben, Fort Wayne, $10,000 - The McKibben Family owns Glenbrook Automotive Group in Fort Wayne, one of the largest dealership groups in northern Indiana. Christine’s husband, Doug McKibben, opened Glenbrook Dodge in 1979 and has grown the business into a sprawling 8-acre behemoth selling vehicles from Stellantis, Hyundai, and Mercedes. The McKibbens demonstrate their patriotism nationalism by donating vast sums to Republican candidates and causes, and also flying the largest American flag in the state. Sorry Chris, theirs is bigger. Or at least it was:
DOUBLE DIP ALERT! - Glenbrook Automotive Group owns Mercedes Benz of Fort Wayne, which made a $15,000 contribution to Braun of its own. The McKibbens also used MBFW to donate $10,000 to Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales in 2022.
Bob Loquercio, Streamwood IL, $50,000 - President/CEO of Loquercio Auto Group, which “proudly sells and services 13 automotive brands at 15 locations throughout Northern Illinois & Indiana.” Most of those locations are in the greater Chicagoland area, though Loquercio does own Hyundai Buick GMC of Goshen, Michigan City Hyundai, and Michigan City Kia in the Hoosier State. This guy is a huge Republican donor, though his largest single donation was $55,000 to former Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2015 re-election campaign.
Back on the ground, the trucking industry has been described as “notoriously conservative.” The company owners have always been so, but corruption within the Teamsters and deregulation of the industry in 1980 broke the union, destroyed solidarity, and set drivers into competition with one another. Driver salaries in the late 1970’s were up to 150% of what they are today, even when accounting for inflation. Non-union independent owner/operators drove many of those changes, sometimes violently. Back then, it was a good blue collar job. Now, the median driver works 60 hours per week, makes just under $50,000 annually for all that work, and around 40% go without health insurance. According to Open Secrets, “the industry has been a solid supporter of Republicans for the last two decades, regularly giving more than 75 percent of its contributions to the party and its candidates.” For those contributions, Republicans have consistently advocated lax environmental and safety standards, low taxes on capital, and free trade.
Despite constant conservative whining about “onerous business regulations” auto dealers, ironically, rely heavily on government intervention for their entire business model. Frankly, the entire dealership scheme is an artificial checkpoint set up to extract profit. And profit they have; dealership owner is one of the top five professions among the top 0.1% of earners, with more than one in five pulling down $1.5 million or more annually. Successful lobbying by the industry has resulted in several states banning direct-to-consumer sales, and dealers desperately want to keep that protection. Dealership owners have also proven virulently anti-electrification. It turns out “dealers make the majority of their money on servicing cars and financing them. Actually selling the cars is not that remunerative. State laws give dealers exclusive rights over warranty service, which manufacturers are forced to pay dealers to provide.” Electric vehicles, with less moving parts, require far less service. According to Open Secrets, car dealers have historically “devoted more resources to political contributions than domestic automakers themselves.” The National Auto Dealers Association is the big industry lobbying group, and they routinely direct over 70% of their spending to Republicans.
Indiana is called the “Crossroads of America” and the transportation industry is at a crossroad itself. The need to decarbonize the economy is fully understood, but the powerful interests highlighted above have built their wealth burning fossil fuels. On the road to a livable planet, these guys are the giant potholes standing in the way of progress. But this I know, if anybody knows how to navigate around potholes, it’s us Hoosiers.