Importantville: AARP polls #INSen—Donnelly on Kavanugh's fate—Benioff buys Time Magazine for $190 million—Emplify raises $7.5 million
What's happening—and what's next—at the intersection of politics and business in Indiana.
Days to Election Day: 50
Yesterday afternoon, before 1:30 p.m., it seemed like Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to become the next SCOTUS justice, expected to take place this Thursday, was a sure thing. After 1:30 p.m., whether he could survive serious allegations of sexual assault seemed an unsettled question.
That’s when The Washington Post published an interview with Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault during high school.
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans questioned the timing of “the uncorroborated allegations” in a Sunday statement. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) said the committee should hear from Ford before moving forward. This morning, Ford said she would testify before the committee.
Closer to home, the allegations would seem to make an already tough “yes” vote for Sen. Joe Donnelly more difficult. Asked for comment on whether the news would change his vote, here’s the statement Donnelly’s office sent Importantville:
Senator Donnelly takes his responsibility to consider Supreme Court nominees – regardless of the president making the nominations – very seriously. With both Judges Garland and Gorsuch, and now with Judge Kavanaugh, Senator Donnelly has evaluated Supreme Court nominees based on their understanding of the law, their ability to be impartial, and their judicial temperament. As such, he is continuing to review these serious allegations, and any and all information related to Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Donnelly’s spox did not respond to a follow-up question about whether the Kavanaugh vote should be delayed.
At press time, a spokesman for Rep. Mike Braun had not responded to questions about whether the allegations changed his support of Kavanaugh.
IMPORTANTVILLE TAKE: Barring some Black Swan event, it’s difficult to see how Donnelly votes for Kavanaugh now.
Good Monday morning. I hope you had a great weekend.
WHERE’S VEEP? He’s in D.C., where he’ll lunch with the president and attend a Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration.
BUSINESS NEWS BREAKING THIS MORNING: “Indiana’s Emplify raises $7.5 million for its employee satisfaction software,” per Venture Beat's Anna Hensel.
Emplify, a two-year-old software startup that helps companies track employee satisfaction, today announced that it has raised a $7.5 million round of financing.
“The round was led by the growth equity arm of New Jersey’s Edison Partners, with participation from a pair of Midwestern VC firms — Indiana’s Allos Ventures and Missouri’s Cultivation Capita. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Emplify had previously raised a $3 million seed round.”
…
In a phone interview with VentureBeat, Emplify CEO and cofounder Santiago Jaramillo pointed to a few trends he believes highlight the need for software like Emplify that can track employee happiness over time — a tighter U.S. labor market, a greater tendency among younger employees to change jobs more frequently, and the rise of distributed teams, which limits the amount of in-person feedback companies can get from their employees.
“What we’ve realized is that company leaders out there don’t have data or strategy for the thing that matters most, which is people and culture,” Jaramillo said. “They literally find out why people are leaving at the exit interview — which is way too late.”
AARP releases polling on #INSen
FIRST IN IMPORTANTVILLE: AARP Indiana conducted a poll with Alan Newman Research of 807 registered Indiana voters who were 50 and older. The poll was in the field August 18-28.
Here’s a look at some interesting numbers on the economy, tariffs and social security.
—Economy: On the economy, 34 percent said it was “getting somewhat stronger.”
20 percent said it was “getting much stronger.”
19 percent said it was “staying the same.”
16 percent said it was “getting somewhat weaker.”
7 percent said it was “getting much weaker.”
—Tariffs: On whether tariffs would hurt or help Indiana’s economy, 33 percent said “somewhat hurt.”
26 percent said “somewhat help.”
21 percent said “strongly hurt.”
8 percent said “strongly help.”
—Free trade vs. tariffs: When it comes to free-trade agreements, 65 percent said government should “pursue more free-trade agreements.”
21 percent said said “tariffs and barriers should be pursued.”
—Social Security: On how soon the government should strengthen Social Security, 69 percent said “immediately.”
15 percent said “within the next 2 years.”
7 percent said “within the next 5 years.”
3 percent said “within the next 10 years.”
1 percent said “within the next 15 years.”
2 percent said “not at all.”
1 percent said it was “not very important.”
WHAT’S NEXT: On Tuesday, AARP will release approval ratings for the president, Republicans and Democrats in Congress. On Wednesday, we’ll get the goods on the head-to-head contest between Braun and Donnelly.
EXTRA, EXTRA: On Thursday, in Really Importantville, I questioned whether the Fox News poll that had Braun beating Donnelly was an outlier. Here's what Mike Joyce, the RNC's Indiana and Michigan Communications Director, had to say about that:
The NBC/Marist poll had the race within the margin of error when you include the Libertarian candidate, which you should. Also, I thought the NBC/Marist poll was a little skewed considering over 50% of participants were from Gary & South Bend.
IMPORTANTVILLE READS
The power of Time has always been in its unique storytelling of the people & issues that affect us all & connect us all. A treasure trove of our history & culture. We have deep respect for their organization & honored to be stewards of this iconic brand. https://t.co/OLie13YJ58
September 17, 2018The Benioffs' acquisition is a personal investment, rather than tied to Salesforce. They now join a growing list of billionaires who entered the news business in recent years by scooping up iconic brands, following Jeff Bezos (The Washington Post), Laurene Powell Jobs (The Atlantic) and Patrick Soon-Shiong (The Los Angeles Times). The Post greatly expanded its newsroom under Bezos, while the Atlantic and Los Angeles Times are in the process of doing so now.
Mark Alesia, Indianapolis Star: How Trump's tariffs, trade policy create tricky terrain for Mike Braun and Joe Donnelly
But the same tariffs that are strengthening the steel industry are causing China to retaliate by imposing tariffs on farm products and goods manufactured in the United States, driving down demand.
That’s made farmer Jud Vaught of Franklin jittery. With his retirement only months away, he fears the blow to the farm economy could reduce he how much he’s able to charge in rent for his farmland.
“I was counting on my land being my pension,” Vaught said, “and I can see where it won’t be worth very much if this is the tack we’re going to take trying to get other countries to renegotiate.”
The wildly differing results for Trump’s trade policies have created a political conundrum in Indiana, the nation’s top steel producing state that is also hugely dependent on farming and manufacturing.
Mickey Shuey, Richmond Palladium-Item, “Karen Pence, senior Trump officials to visit Richmond this week”
The state's former First Lady is scheduled to be in town this week, along with several Trump administration officials, to tout a substance abuse recovery program introduced earlier this year by Belden Inc.
Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, is expected to be in Richmond on Tuesday morning, where she will take a tour of Belden's northwest-side wire and cable plant and learn more about the St. Louis-based company's Pathways to Employment program.
The White House confirmed Friday the second lady's planned visit, which is part of an effort by President Donald Trump's administration to maintain a dialogue about the ongoing opioid crisis around the United States.
“The visit will highlight Belden’s Pathways to Employment program, which is an example of a new, innovative way an American business is working to create a community-based solution to address the challenge drug addiction is having on their business and community,” the White House said in a statement.
IMPORTANTVILLE TRIVIA
This week’s question comes from WIBC Political Reporter and Statehouse Bureau Chief Eric Berman:
Two current U.S. senators were born in Indiana—both in Indianapolis. Neither of them is Todd Young or Joe Donnelly. Who are they?
Be the first to respond in the comments section to win.
IMPORTANTVILLE KICKER
“Free trade is good, except when it’s not,” said Andy Downs, a political science professor at Purdue University Fort Wayne, in Alesia’s piece about how tariffs are impacting the Indiana Senate race.
That’s for today. Thanks for reading. Send me tips and feedback at cadamwren@gmail.com. Have a good week. Did someone forward this email to you? You can subscribe below.
Mark Warner and Maria Cantwell
My friend Greg Jordan beat me to it!