Beau Knows the Epstein Class
Oligarchs abuse our girls, suck the value out of our economy, and buy BOTH major political parties. The perfidy does't start at the national level - their tentacles extend to state governments, too.
Leading up to the Indiana state Democratic Party convention, Hoosier Lemon is making the case that Beau Bayh is NOT the right person to represent the party as nominee for Secretary of State in 2026, nor should be the person to lead Indiana Democrats into the future. A pretty face and a fat bank account are no substitute for leadership — and Beau’s deep connections to the corporations, billionaires, and special interests that play both sides of the aisle should make the delegates who vote on this nomination think long and hard before casting their votes.
Check out last week’s piece on the fossil fuel execs supporting Bayh here.
The week before, we looked the school privatization champion dropping big money on Beau here.
Previously, we detailed Bayh’s ties to the Israel lobby right here.
And before that, we examined Beau’s relationship with the private equity industry here..
So, Who is The “Epstein Class” ?
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) coined a phrase every Hoosier should memorize: the “Epstein class.”
His definition is simple, “[r]ich and powerful people who feel entitled to use that wealth to be above the law.”
Not charged. Not convicted. Entitled. It’s a mindset. The belief that money buys immunity, that influence erases consequences, and that the rules apply to everyone except you.
Marc Rowan is a charter member of that class. He’s a billionaire, AIPAC mega-donor, who gave $1 million to the Trump Victory super PAC in 2020 and is the CEO of Apollo Global Management. Rowan had breakfast at Jeffrey Epstein’s townhouse. He sued a coastal town into submission. He turned a university into a political weapon. And now Donald Trump has him helping to rebuild Gaza through the Board of Peace (think: an Ali Baba version of the UN), complete with data centers Rowan’s own firm just financed.
Rowan is the Epstein class, full stop.
In January, Marc Rowan donated $25,000 to Beau Bayh’s campaign for Indiana Secretary of State.
Here, dear reader, is why that should worry you.
The Montauk Playbook
In the 2010s, Rowan wanted a waterfront restaurant in Montauk, New York. The locals didn’t. So he sued the town nine times. Nine. He buried them in legal fees until they broke.
That’s how the Epstein class operates. You don’t persuade. You don’t compromise. You write a check to a law firm and wait for the little people to run out of money.
The UPenn Playbook
Rowan gave his alma mater $50 million. Then demanded control. When pro-Palestine encampments and speech sparked controversy on college campuses nationwide, Rowan saw an opening. He and his donor network—the same ones who fund Republican representatives Elise Stefanik and Indiana’s own Jim Banks—turned up the heat. The university president resigned.
That’s not philanthropy. That’s a donor revolt disguised as principle.
The Gaza Playbook
After the election, Trump appointed Rowan to the Board of Peace (think: an Alibaba version of the UN) tasked with rebuilding Gaza. The plan includes industrial zones for data centers. Meanwhile, Apollo Global has poured $3.5 billion into AI chips for Elon Musk and controls a major data center company.
Pause and think about that for a moment, dear reader. A man helping draft a reconstruction plan stands to profit from building data centers there. In a war zone. Without Palestinian input.
That’s not statesmanship. That’s a conflict of interest the size of the Mediterranean.
The Epstein Class Has a Hoosier Franchise & His Name is Beau Bayh
You might think Marc Rowan’s exploits are a New York problem. They’re not. Two threads connect him directly to Hoosiers.
First, public pensions.
If you’re a teacher, a firefighter, a police officer, or any public employee in Indiana, your pension is likely invested with Apollo Global Management. And Apollo is now being sued by its own shareholders. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that Rowan and disgraced Apollo founder Leon Black made false statements about their communications with the late convicted sex-offender, Jeffrey Epstein. According to the complaint, Rowan forwarded internal tax documents to Epstein and met with him at his Manhattan townhouse and all while Apollo publicly insisted that, “[n]either Marc Rowan nor anyone else at Apollo (excluding Leon Black) had either a business or personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.”
The stock fell. Your retirement took a hit. Even the American Federation of Teachers is calling for a federal investigation into Apollo’s Epstein ties, while Indiana’s candidate for Secretary of State keeps the donation.
Second, and more directly: Beau Bayh took $25,000 from Marc Rowan while promising to bring “trust” and “accountability” back to the Secretary of State’s office.
Let’s be clear about what that office actually does.
The Indiana Secretary of State oversees our elections and certifies our votes. They register every business operating in the state. They run the auto division which licenses and regulates every car dealer in your town. And perhaps most critically for this story, they oversee the securities division, the cops on the beat for Indiana’s investment industry.
That means the Secretary of State has the power to investigate, fine, or license the very firms managing Hoosiers’ retirement money—including Apollo Global Management, the firm that pays Beau’s father a seven-figure salary. As I’ve documented in detail, this isn’t the first time Beau Bayh’s donors have raised alarms. You and I both know, dear reader, that Beau knows private equity, the Israel Lobby, school privatization, and fossil fuels. We’ve covered the whole pattern.
So here we have a candidate for an office that regulates private equity firms and took $25,000 from the CEO of a private equity firm. A CEO who: sued a small town into silence, bullied a university into submission, is helping rebuild Gaza for his own profit, and whose firm is now being sued for allegedly lying about Jeffrey Epstein.
When asked about the Rowan donation, Beau Bayh said he and his donors may disagree on plenty—but, somehow, all agree on restoring “trust and accountability.”
And I’ve got some oceanfront property in Gary to sell you.
So what exactly does Beau think that money is buying? And who exactly does he think is dumb enough to buy that focus group tested answer?
The Choice Before the Delegates
Beau Bayh can prove the Epstein class wrong. He can return the $25,000. He can say, plainly, that Indiana’s Secretary of State does not take donations from people who act like the law does not apply to them.
His current strategy??? Keep the check and pray the spin holds. Inshallah.
The problem with that strategy is that Hoosiers aren’t stupid, we notice the snake oil being sold to us. We notice when our pensions get tied up in Epstein-adjacent lawsuits. We notice when our property taxes go up while billionaires write checks to buy influence. And we notice when a candidate for the state’s top ethics office cashes a check from the Epstein class.
Beau Bayh had a choice. He still has a choice.
What’s it going to be? Only Beau knows…
If you want to support Blythe Potter, please write more to convince readers that she has a pathway to victory. That is hard to see for this reader, after watching so many other excellent Democratic candidates lose, and the important thing is that Diego Morales MUST be defeated. Your continued posts focused on disparaging Beau Bayh, rather than supporting Blythe, are discouraging and seem counterproductive. Instead, help us build confidence that Blythe can win in the general election.