The John Gregg for governor campaign says Republican Mike Pence missed votes in Congress to raise money for his campaign.  But the evidence doesn’t seem to match the charge.

Pence boasts a 95% record on floor votes in Congress.  The campaign of John Gregg got no argument, however, when it recently accused the Republican candidate for governor of missing 86% of the votes in the House Judiciary Committee last year.  Now the Gregg campaign says Pence missed floor votes, too, so he could campaign for governor.  “We know that he’s missed at least 3 votes to go to at least 2 different political fundraisers,” said campaign spokesman Daniel Altman.

Here are the facts:  Pence held a Washington fundraiser at 8:30 in the morning on March 17th of last year according to the invitation, and then he missed a pair of votes that took place after 3:00 that afternoon based on roll calls from the House website.  The events don’t conflict.

Similar documents show that back in June of 2009 Pence missed a vote over the lunch hour and then held a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. that evening, more than six hours later.  When asked if it’s possible he missed the votes for another reason, Altman said,  “We’d love to hear his explanation.”  When asked if he’s stretching things a little, Altman said,  “I don’t think so.  I don’t think so at all.”

The reaction from the Pence campaign is to label the charges “A baseless attack from a desperate campaign.”

So, why did Pence miss those votes?  His campaign spokeswoman Christy Denault says that’s beside the point but, she says, when Pence said he didn’t miss votes to campaign, he didn’t lie.