PLAYING BY “THE ROKITA RULES” OF CORRUPTION AND EXPLOITATION

After current Republican AG Curtis Hill was accused of sexual harassment and got his law license suspended for 30 days while still serving as AG, Hoosiers are ready to restore integrity to the Indiana Office of Attorney General.

Unfortunately, Republicans nominated Todd Rokita, who has a record of corruption and has shown time and again he is more interested in following his own rules — so much so they’ve been coined “The Rokita Rules.”

Throughout his career, Rokita doled out contracts to his friends and political allies and used campaign funds to rent a private plane from his own company.

• Rokita has a history of favoring his cronies when awarding state contracts, including rewarding his former campaign manager with a no-bid state contract.
• He paid for his private plane trips out of his campaign account.

Rokita cares more about rewarding his buddies, flying private, and furthering his own political career than protecting the people of Indiana.

Rokita spent over $3 million in taxpayer funds for ads to help his own political campaigns. Despite aggressively advocating against government spending throughout his career, during his tenure as secretary of state he spent significant public funding on ads.

1. In fact, his ad spending angered his Republican colleagues so much they “passed a 2010 law aimed at curtailing his appearances in TV and radio ads,” according to an Associated Press article.
2. Additionally, as a congressman, Rokita was “more than willing to shell out public dollars to tout his efforts in office,” according to an analysis of public records by the Associated Press.

• The public records also showed that whenever Rokita’s name appeared on a ballot, his taxpayer-funded ad spending increased.
• The article even states that, “Rokita’s spending on mass communications dwarfs that of every other member of Indiana’s federal delegation.”

His habit of exploiting Hoosiers continued through his failed 2018 bid for a Senate seat. “Career politician Todd Rokita is just doing what he’s done throughout his entire career in politics: using the taxpayer dollars of Hoosiers to promote himself and promote his political career,” said Josh Kelley, a spokesman for Republican Mike Braun, who beat Rokita in the primary.

As the secretary of state of Indiana, Todd Rokita was repeatedly accused of violating Indiana ethics laws.

• In 2018, Rokita violated ethics laws by “repeatedly accessing a Republican donor database from his own government office,” according to the Indianapolis Star.
• As a result of his devious actions, Republican Party officials temporarily locked him out of the database system until he complained enough that they restored his access.
• David Orentlicher, a law school professor who specializes in government ethics issues told the Associated Press, “using your government staff (for political business) during their work day, while they are using government resources … This is well across the line and not a hard call.”

Hoosiers deserve an Attorney General who is dedicated to creating opportunities for all Hoosiers, not exploiting their hard-earned tax dollars for his own political gain.

Come November, if elected, Democratic AG candidate Jonathan Weinzapfel will work to find bipartisan solutions that put Hoosiers’ interests first and restore confidence and integrity in the Attorney General’s office.