Something's Fishy in Indiana's CD 9!

Let’s begin with some quotes from Travis Hankins’ web site. As people say, his story is compelling.

“I was raised by the government from an early age, starting in day care and working my way through the government school system.”

“Many of my close friends and peers came from the same poor, broken family background that I did. Our government schooling, with help from the movies we watched and the music we listened to, shaped our values of moral relativism and situational ethics. There were no moral absolutes. There was no such thing as right and wrong, only what we thought was right in our own eyes.”

“Government continued its strong presence in my life as I became the first in my family to attend college. The only way I was able to attend Indiana University was through a federal government program that financially assists first-generation, low-income students. This government program solidified my view that help from the government was the only way I could succeed in life and that I was entitled to help due to my circumstances. I was also an influential student leader on campus. My influence and my advice, which I thought was right at the time, led many students down the wrong path. I led students to believe in the same ideas that I strongly held. I felt that America was an oppressive empire, that our nation's military was imperialist, that capitalism was nothing but greed and that Ronald Reagan was the worst President ever. I saw marriage and family as something to escape rather than embrace, abortion as an acceptable choice of convenience, and that government was the answer to every problem.“

“Looking back, I lacked motivation to accomplish anything I had to work for and I was making zero preparations to become independent and self reliant. My only plan was to be "happy" and take what the government gave me.”

Fast forward six short years. Travis has become a Christian. He has gone to Bible School, Washington D.C., and to several states campaigning for Mike Pence for President. I am truly happy for him, but where do we get the information about getting the “motivation to accomplish anything I had to work for and I was making zero preparations to become independent and self reliant”? His first job, appears to be“real estate investor” in 2005. That apparently has provided the necessary independence to become self-reliant. At least it has provided time to go all over the country in order to compare himself with Ronald Reagan and Mike Pence. His is a great story of finding God and escaping his life-long enchantment with socialism. To then ask to be our United States Representative, excuse me, I want to know more, and this young guy has some audacity to think that no experience of any kind in the last 5 or 6 years is enough to be elected to such an important office.

Travis Hankin's biography page on his campaign website states: “In 2005, he established Hankins Properties and owns properties in locations including beautiful Branson, Missouri and sunny South Carolina.” There is no record of a business registered in Indiana under Hankins properties. There are businesses in Missouri and South Carolina that have “Hankins” in the name, but none are owned or have a resident agent of Travis or Aaron Hankins.

Source: https://secure.in.gov/sos/bus_service/online_corps/name_search.aspx Also, see MO and SC SOS websites.

Travis states he “owns property in Branson, MO”; however, the only property in Branson, MO is a single two bedroom condo owned solely by Aaron Hankins, his twin brother.

Here’s a picture of it:

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=159+VIXEN+CIR+G,+branson,+mo&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=159+Vixen+Cir,+Branson,+Taney,+Missouri+65616&gl=us&ei=jDefS7DDMoHSM6DYnOIM&ved=0CA0Q8gEwAA&ll=36.67606,-93.232341&spn=0,359.978135&z=16&layer=c&cbll=36.669708,-93.232472&panoid=b5ZtbM37rKWmHeCD-_YsYw&cbp=12,336.41,,0,-10.05

One easily finds rental ads for this condo with Chris Denney listed as sole contact for renting out Aaron’s property in Branson, MO. Google cached Source:

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:kHIU7QXUHYQJ:www.rentalhouses.com/MO/BRANSON/vixen-cir-unit-r1035529+159+VIXEN+CIR+G,+branson,+mo&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Oddly, Chris Denney is also involved in the Travis campaign, notably as owner of Travis’s political websites:

http://whois.domaintools.com/travishankins.com

Also notable is the address given for the campaign headquarters as 1824 Central Ave, Columbus, Indiana 47201. This is the address of Aaron Hankins. Aaron Hankins also began a campaign for congress in the same district as Travis in 2007.
Sources: http://dotherightthing-cyberpastor.blogspot.com/2008/01/cyber-pastor-endorses-aaronhankins.htmlhttp://web.archive.org/web/20071016214137/http://aaronhankins.com/

Aaron Hankins and Travis live at the same address in Columbus, IN. Apparently, Travis is still not self-sufficient, and while living off of other people's funds he's asking the good people of Indiana to send him to WASHINGTON to live off tax-payer money?!

It is illegal to use campaign contributions for living expenses. I do not see how Travis Hankins is generating personal income through "Real Estate". If this is legitimate, Hankin's campaign needs to explain the complete lack of documentation proving his actual income.

There are regular “Free Will Offerings” taken up at his various appearances. He does not seem to track this money and he may be causing churches and other Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) organizations to put their exempt status at risk, since political contributions, or even hosting and supporting candidates for public office are not appropriate activities for public charities.

People have shared how Travis has visited their church, explaining how difficult his life has been, telling of his conversion and his being the only Christian conservative running for this office (9^th District- which is utterly untrue). Claims he is disrespected by the media, and can’t get invited to the debates, and he won’t take tainted contributions from the corporations and lobbyists. People (especially the middle-aged women) feel sorry for this nice young Christian boy and they give him money.

There is much more, and some research needs to be done on his campaign spending. I would assume that he should have disclosed his personal financial statements (or something similar), which would provide insight into what he owns, what he makes and whether he is self-sufficient. If not, how is he paying to live? Does he have any other job? Has he ever had more than temporary employment? How did he (or Aaron) buy a condo in Missouri, if neither had ever worked through the age of 22 or 23 (roughly the year that Travis established Hankins Properties (apparently a non-existent entity with property his brother owns, which does not make enough money to make a decent living for one person (whichever of the identical twins it belongs to)?

A word of caution fellow Hoosiers...there's something fishy going on in District 9!