The Smoligarchs: Doug Rose
A look at "Hoo owns" Indiana's political class
The Smoligarchs is a series on the biggest political donors in Indiana. Every state has influential real estate developers, auto dealership owners, medical industry insiders, large agribusiness farmers, and other wealthy individuals with outsized sway in their communities and at the state level. Many of these folks keep their far-right politics hidden behind philanthropy or operate in the shadows, shunning attention altogether. These are the small-scale oligarchs who own the politicians and REALLY make policy in the Hoosier State.
Why is he on this list?
Aside from the multi-millionaire candidate himself, Rose is the largest individual contributor to the gubernatorial campaign of former Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers, having given $250,000 at this point.
Lemme guess. Another rich kid who inherited his place in the hierarchy?
Say! You’ve read some of my previous profiles, haven’t you? Well, you’re right. Kinda. Our guy isn’t exactly a kid anymore, at 71. Rose is President of Indianapolis-based Irwin R. Rose & Co / Amalgamated Management Corp, which is not a super compelling business name, and probably why their website is myapartmenthome.com. The “about us” section of their website is as bland as the company name. So reads the entirety of their history:
Irwin R. Rose & Company, has been providing high quality apartment homes in convenient locations for 61 years.
That’s it? Tell me more. I have so many questions. So many of these family businesses I research go out of their way to tell their story. Why is it so hard for me to find yours? If this is an Indiana company, why are all their apartment communities in Texas? Do they still have properties in Indiana? I dug into Open Corporates a bit, and I would need an expert on business law to untangle it all.
What I can figure out is that the company appears to own and operate luxury apartment communities almost exclusively in Texas now. I think maybe I.R. Rose acquired Dallas-based Amalgamated at some point; usually you can find this stuff in a trade publication, but no luck in this case. There is remarkably little history of this outfit available online.
I can decipher that at one point, Rose & Co operated across five states, as Doug stated, “We specialize in multifamily housing, own and manage apartment communities across a five-state region,” during a 2004 appearance before a Congressional subcommittee chaired by former Indiana representative Dan Burton.
So, back to the real estate firm. If they continue to operate any apartment communities in Indiana, I’ll be damned if I can find them. They certainly do not use either the Rose & Co or the Amalgamated name to do so. At least one Indianapolis apartment finder site has a listing for IRR Rentals that directs to a townhome community outside Dallas.
The company was originally founded by Irwin Rothbard Rose, Doug’s father. The only available biography for the elder Rose comes from his 2021 obituary.
He lived his life as a proud Jew, a loving husband, father, grandfather and unapologetic American patriot. A man of stature and honor, Irwin Rose was known for his forthright honesty and integrity.
A lifelong Indianapolis resident, Rose attended IPS School 84 and graduated from Shortridge High School in 1945 and his beloved Ohio State University in 1949 where he was a member of the ZBT fraternity and the Ohio Air National Guard. He received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the newly established United States Air Force…
…In 1960, Rose established the Company which bears his name, and which is currently in the 62nd year of successful operations. Rose led the firm until his retirement, a few years ago. The Company is engaged in the ownership and management of apartment communities, currently employing 165 associates.
Irwin Rose spent his adult life in civic and philanthropic engagement. He was very proud of his beloved Indianapolis. He was a long time Board Member, Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, and the 1st President of the IHC endowment. He served for many years in leadership of The Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis.
Anyway, that’s where Rose’s money comes from. Sounds like a lovely enough family. But remember, nice people can prop up terrible systems; and especially remember, landlords are social parasites.
Besides Chambers, who else gets that sweet, sweet campaign cash?
No single individual has received as much as Chambers, but the younger Rose donates to a long, long list, almost exclusively Republicans, mostly state-level Indiana officials.
Eric Holcomb
Mike Pence
Mitch Daniels
Todd Huston
Indiana Republican State Cmte
Perhaps most famously, though, the Roses were big donors to long-time Indiana US Senator Richard Lugar. In 2012, as part of the Tea Party wave, Lugar got primaried by far-right r*pe apologist Richard Mourdock. Doug Rose, perhaps disgusted by Mourdock’s comments - or maybe seeing the writing on the wall and wanting access to the eventual winner - became a prominent fundraiser for the Democratic candidate, Joe Donnelly.
It appears Rose typically supports nominal moderates like Donnelly, Chambers, and others.
And, while I guess he’s to be commended for clearing the low bar of not going full MAGA, a dive into his contribution history suggests far-right extremism isn’t a deal-breaker, as he has still contributed to some of the worst offenders.
Election deniers Rick Scott, Josh Hawley (after 1/6/21)
Holocaust-denier-adjacent, fraud-committer Scott Baugh (candidate CA-CD47)
Christian nationalists Pence, Mourdock (pre-2012), Todd Rokita
It’s also important to remind you here that, as the Overton Window has moved drastically to the right in this country over the last 40+ years, what is now the center lane used to be the right lane. And what used to be the right lane veered off toward authoritarianism a few miles back.
One more thing. Open Secrets has compiled a complete list of all political contributions from Irwin R. Rose owners and employees going back to 1990. The vast majority of that $1.68 million has gone to Republicans.
Any other pet causes?
Doug Rose and family members have donated at least $50,000 to an organization called National Action Committee. Does NAC have a website to tell you what they do, what causes they support, what policies they advocate? Not that one can find easily. Open Secrets can tell you who received their contributions (over 60% Democratic), and lists their industry as “pro-Israel.”
That’s pretty vague. The Israel lobby in Washington is extremely influential, but “not entirely unified on policy decisions.” There is great diversity of opinion among Jewish-Americans. Most politically-aware folks have probably heard of the lobbyist organization, AIPAC, “the face of the pro-Israel movement”, but there are also liberal groups like JStreet, and explicitly conservative groups like Republican Jewish Coalition. But AIPAC remains the 800 lb. gorilla in the room. This piece from Foreign Policy explains how AIPAC works around campaign finance laws:
…while AIPAC itself could form its own political action committee, which would allow its members to either contribute to the PAC or use it as a means for delivering earmarked contributions directly to politicians, AIPAC has never done so, instead relying on an army of bundlers to funnel money to candidates and party committees. Campaigns have to disclose only registered lobbyists who gather contributions, a rule that doesn’t apply to AIPAC’s members. Some donors to AIPAC do make use of other pro-Israel organizations, like NORPAC, Citizens Organized PAC, or the National Action Committee, to give to members of Congress.
I’ll let another article, this one from Washington Report on Mideast Affairs, continue:
In the 1980s AIPAC tutored groups of donors on how to set up PACs, then issued secret directives based on sophisticated election analysis on how those PACs’ funds should be distributed. As revealed in the book Stealth PACs, How Israel’s American Lobby Seeks to Control U.S. Middle East Policy, by Richard H. Curtiss, among 30 PACs only 4 had names revealing their true agenda, such as World Alliance for Israel. The rest bore innocuous names like National Action Committee and Heartland PAC to conceal their foreign agenda and cloud their obviously tight coordination.
So, National Action Committee is one of these AIPAC shadow organizations. Rose has also been a big proponent of Israel Bonds, working with then Indiana State Treasurer and “known Christian Zionist” Mourdock to invest state funds in these bonds.
Traditionally, Israel Bonds had been seen as largely non-controversial, but in the last few decades, far-right evangelical state financial officers have used Israel Bonds as a pandering political statement. Given Israel’s ongoing atrocities in Gaza, these investments have become increasingly controversial. Given the recent statements of certain prominent and influential figures on the right, it makes one wonder what exactly Indiana taxpayers are supporting with their investment.
The Republicans and their donors are experts at hiding money, bodies and secrets. Thank you for uncovering some of this. I think you’ll need more than band-aids by the time this series ends.
To your last reference. Only Jared Kushner could look at the situation in Gaza and think of how much money he can make. His entire family has a VERY long history of being, as my mom might say, sheisters.