Rokita, Todd 4% RAGA

pow

no merri

bad code format see bak

2010 TP wave, Koch pledge, beat in senate run --> AG ~ Baltimore

RAGA jan 6 ROLDF

10 yo BS pow primary 7 22

Rokita was sworn in as Attorney General in January 2021.^[12]In 2021, Rokita faced scrutiny for collecting tens of thousands of dollars in payments for advisory roles from various healthcare and pharmaceutical companies while holding public office

indiana? law school dean? looking to bring him up on ethics charges? msnbc; dr may sue for defamation; tells watters i shd not be here b/c i'm fighting border emergency and ----.

TARGET

Justice Department investigating fraud allegations in Black Lives Matter movement, AP sources say

, October 30, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is investigating whether leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement defrauded donors who contributed tens of millions of dollars during racial justice protests in 2020, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

In recent weeks, federal law enforcement officials have issued subpoenas and served at least one search warrant as part of an investigation into the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. and other Black-led organizations that helped spark a national reckoning on systemic racism, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss an ongoing criminal probe by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

From AP’s Standards and Stylebook teams:

The AP is using anonymous sourcing to provide information for this story. Click here to hear Washington Bureau Chief Anna Johnson explain AP’s policy on the use of anonymous sources.

It was not clear if the investigation would result in criminal charges, but its mere existence invites fresh scrutiny to a movement that in recent years has faced criticism about its public accounting of donations it has received. The recent burst of investigative activity is also unfolding at a time when civil rights organizations have raised concerns about the potential for the Trump administration to target a variety of progressive and left-leaning groups that have been critical of him, including those affiliated with BLM, the transgender rights movement and anti-ICE protesters.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department declined to comment on Thursday.

Right-wing media launched a migrant witch hunt in rural Indiana

Hate groups, a local politician, and the Heritage Foundation tried to take advantage of the misinformation-fueled panic

Written by Olivia Little

Published 12/05/24 MMA

Months after the Trump campaign’s flagrant lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, went viral, right-wing media continue to fuel fear of Haitian migration. In Indiana, a small city was the focus of a misinformation-fueled migrant witch hunt led by right-wing media that emboldened hate groups and is now being used as a case study to justify anti-immigrant policies.

Logansport is a rural city with a population of about 18,000 residents. In mid-September, Kayla Blakeslee, a right-wing talk radio host based out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, posted on Facebook screenshots of emails that claimed “20,000 plus Haitian immigrants” were “dropped off” in Logansport over the last six months. Blakeslee wrote, “Is Logansport, IN the new Springfield, OH???”

Blakeslee’s factually inaccuratepost — the mayor said the numbers originated from a social media satire page — was the first snowball in an avalanche of misinformation and hate that spread about Haitian migrants in Logansport.

Logansport's mayor acknowledged that there is an increased immigrant population, but noted that the community has been diverse for “a very long time.” According to census data, Logansport has about a 30 percent Latino population.

Story spreads through the right-wing ecosystem

Central Indiana’s Fox affiliate picked up the story on October 10, with the headline “Logansport officials say immigrant population growth is unsustainable.”

The report pointed to “strain on schools,” first quoting a county health department administrator who said she didn’t “think our school system can sustain what they are doing right now.” The district’s superintendent, the actual authority on the district’s capacity to handle new immigrant students, was optimistic, saying, “We can handle it.”

The report also pointed to strain on a local hospital because of increased births and emergency room visits, but the hospital responded by issuing a statement pointing in part to shuttered obstetrics departments at other area hospitals as a cause of increased births at Logansport Memorial Hospital.

Right-wing X account Libs of TikTok quickly shared the accompanying video segment.

A slew of other right-wing X accounts then amplified the story, including RNC Research and Jack Posobiec.

The day after the Fox affiliate’s report came out, Indiana’s now-newly elected lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith, posted false claims about Logansport’s migrant population, including a conspiracy theory that a “money trail” was responsible for “DUMPING double a town’s population in unassimilated migrants.” Beckwith also cited Blakeslee’s coverage of the story.

On October 14, Breitbart published a story about Haitians in Logansport, claiming that the town has been “targeted by the Biden regime” and that “Biden has dumped thousands of Haitians there.”

On October 16, Fox News’ Fox & Friends hosted a segment about Logansport’s “migrant influx” and The New York Post spotlighted the segment in a separate report.

The following day, Blakeslee interviewed Beckwith, who described the increased Haitian population as “an invasion” and argued that Logansport officials should deport legal Haitian immigrants.

Newsmax aired a segment about Logansport’s “immigrant influx” on October 19.

Education quickly became the focal point of the manufactured migrant crisis, even though the district’s superintendent stated that the system can handle the additional students.

The New York Post published two pieces attacking migrant students in Logansport, claiming in an editorial that migrants are “robbing Logansport kids of an education” and in a news report that “kids are being pushed out of schools.”

On the same day, the Daily Mail published a piece about the “tiny Midwestern town where ‘explosion’ of Haitian migrants is overwhelming schools,” writing that “locals … say students are being muscled out of public schools by an influx of thousands of foreign newcomers.” The Daily Mail quoted a retired teacher, who said that “the native born are now a minority in the local school system.”

The next day, Fox News’ America Reports hosted a segment about Logansport, which Libs of TikTok later posted on X.

Hate groups take advantage

On October 23, Logansport’s local newspaper, the Pharos-Tribune, reported that stickers recruiting for white nationalist hate group Patriot Front were found in the city.

Around the same time, at least one Logansport resident received a flyer from the “Trinity White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” reading “3RD WORLD IMMIGRANTS BRING 3RD WORLD CONSEQUENCES.”

Springfield residents faced a similar situation when hate groups swarmed the city after false claims about Haitian immigrants there went viral.

Indiana’s AG calls for investigation, and the Heritage Foundation uses Logansport to support anti-immigrant policies

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita responded by launching an investigation into the local health department, school system, and a Tysons Food plant (Logansport’s largest employer), seeking information about supposed human trafficking and other issues.

Rokita said the investigation is “focused on the coordinated efforts among international and local nonprofit ‘refugee resettlement’ organizations and employers, like Tyson Foods, to bring large numbers of migrants to Indiana.”

On November 19, the Heritage Foundation published commentary about Logansport, using the city to claim rural American towns are struggling due to an influx of immigrants.

Heritage proposed that Indiana and other states should “pass legislation prohibiting business licenses for organizations involved in facilitating illegal migration” and “prohibit the use of any state and local taxes from funding immigration [lawyers] and NGOs providing legal representation for aliens.”

President-elect Donald Trump has been emboldened by anti-migrant misinformation, threatening mass deportation and promising to end Temporary Protective Status, a program that allows people from select countries, including Haiti, to live and work in the United States. Ending TPS would likely force family separations and negatively impact communities, like Logansport, where TPS holders have lived and been employed for years.

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[vid]

State financial officers put Bank of America on notice for allegedly 'de-banking' conservatives

POLITICS April 18

State financial officers put Bank of America on notice for allegedly 'de-banking' conservatives

FIRST ON FOX: A group of 15 state financial officers penned a letter to Bank of America, warning it against discriminating against conservatives and religious Americans.

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very bad code

vid coming for your guns, climate...rokita BS

Embed

bank of America accused of discriminating against conservatives

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Timothy Two Project International founder Steve Curtis join "Fox & Friends First" to discuss the bombshell allegations and how the bank has responded to the accusations.

FIRST ON FOX: A group of 15 financial officers representing 13 states issued a warning to Bank of America over its alleged practices of "politicized de-banking" targeting conservatives.

In a letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, the officials said the bank's practices threaten its own financial health and reputation with customers while simultaneously harming the U.S. economy and Americans' civil liberties. They pointed to examples of Bank of America shuttering the accounts belonging to Christian groups and leaders and joining a net-zero climate alliance in addition to its poor viewpoint diversity rating.

"Americans should never have to worry that their personal financial decisions will be weaponized against them," Kentucky State Auditor Allison Ball said in a statement. "This practice has become all too common, and banks must urgently course correct to uphold their fiduciary duty and safeguard the constitutional freedoms of Americans."

She blasted executives at financial institutions for taking advantage "of the divided political climate to engage in politicized de-banking."

CHRISTIAN NONPROFIT CLAIMS IT WAS 'DE-BANKED' BY BANK OF AMERICA OVER ITS RELIGIOUS VIEWS

A Bank of America store front

"Given the large number of nonprofits we serve that are affiliated with religious organizations, it’s absurd to think religious beliefs are a factor in any account closing decision," a Bank of America spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Very simply, they are not." (AP2013)

In one example highlighted by Ball and the other 14 officials, Bank of America in April 2023 shut down the bank account belonging to Indigenous Advance Ministries, a Christian charitable organization that assists at-risk children, prisoners and sex trafficking victims in Uganda. The bank further closed the accounts of a Memphis, Tennessee, church that donated to that group.

Bank of America explained the action was taken because of the group's "business type" and that its activities exceeded the "bank’s risk tolerance." After repeated requests for clarification from Indigenous Advance Ministries, Bank of America said the accounts were closed because a business affiliated with the group engaged in debt collection, the Christian Post newspaper reported.

GOP AGs PUT MAJOR US BANK ON NOTICE FOR ALLEGED 'DE-BANKING' OF CONSERVATIVES

According to the letter, in a similar action last year, Bank of America closed the account of Timothy Two Project International, which trains pastors in more than 65 countries. The bank reportedly informed Timothy Two Project International that it was "operating a business type we have chosen not to service."

And three years prior, Bank of America reportedly froze the accounts of Christian author and preacher Lance Wallnau for allegedly laundering money. It then unfroze his account after asking him "invasive" questions about his activities, the state officers wrote.

A photo of Brian Moynihan

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/File)

The letter stated that Bank of America's actions strongly suggest that "systemic drivers of religious and political bias may be at work within the company as a whole."

The bank, though, pushed back on those accusations.

"Given the large number of nonprofits we serve that are affiliated with religious organizations, it’s absurd to think religious beliefs are a factor in any account closing decision," Bank of America spokesperson Bill Halldin told Fox News Digital. "Very simply, they are not."

NIGEL FARAGE ON HIS EFFORTS TO EXPOSE 'DE-BANKING'

The state financial officers also said Bank of America's membership in the so-called Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a global group that coordinates actions taken by banks to push a green energy transition, may facilitate de-banking. They noted that commitments made by Bank of America through its membership could greatly harm farmers in their states since it will lead to higher prices.

Kentucky State Auditor Allison Ball

Kentucky State Auditor Allison Ball (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley/File)

And the letter pointed to Bank of America's low ranking on the Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index, a benchmark for measuring corporate respect for free speech and freedom of religion. The index found that Bank of America partners with left-wing groups like the Human Rights Campaign and the Center for American Progress when it comes to its gift-matching program but leaves out faith-based groups, instead citing its support for "homeless shelters, soup kitchens or other social service needs."

"This pattern of internal political and religious bias at Bank of America poses risks for public funds invested in the company as well as for the millions of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits who rely on its services," the letter to Moynihan states. "Bank of America’s de-banking policies and practices improperly subordinate financial well-being to other factors and place the company’s business interests at risk."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The letter concluded by asking Bank of America to take a number of good faith steps to address the concerns, including eliminating viewpoint discrimination and exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.

"Financial institutions like Bank of America should not be allowed to restrict Americans' access to capital based solely on their political or religious views. SFOF will continue to work with our members to fight for financial sanity, free of political agendas," said State Financial Officers Foundation CEO Derek Kreifels.

Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Conversation 469 Comments

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https://www.alternet.org/alternet-exclusives/t**hey-blew-up-my-life**/

no lnx docs

mARTINSVILLE, Ind. — It started April 12, right afterFox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime, one of the most-watched news programs in the country.

A phone call: “You stupid b*tch.”

Then an email: “Everyone you ever encounter … should spit in your face, fling their feces at you (with impeccable aim), punch you, knock you down, kick you, piss on you and hold you there for similar treatment by everyone waiting in line for their turn — you despicable sad excuse for a sub-human being.”

And that was just the first 11 minutes for Jenny Oakley, a mid-level public school administrator in Martinsville, Ind., who found herself depicted in a nationally televised secret camera video and thrust suddenly — and, she said, unfairly and inaccurately — into culture war cruelty.

It would get worse.

During sleepless nights, Oakley’s husband Justin took out his guns for the first time in 10 years. Police began patrols outside the Oakleys’ home after they reported harassment. The couple bought a Doberman named Zeus for added protection. Late on a Saturday night in their quiet neighborhood, a burst of sound — Pow-Pow-Pow — startled them and then a louder Boom.

Having previously enjoyed a quiet life, Jenny Oakley found herself in a debilitating new reality, breaking down when people merely asked how she was doing. She enjoyed reading, but now she couldn’t concentrate. She liked watching videos, but a video got her in this situation. Videos triggered dread.

Oakley describes herself as someone who wants to be liked, someone who has “always cared what people think, to a fault.” She said she avoids controversy and isn’t very political. Justin is the opposite. He works for an Indiana teachers union and ran for state Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2012 before dropping out of the race.

But on social media, strangers took off on Jenny’s character, including one who wrote, “I do not believe in any way that she is a good person.”

An email from the night of the program carried the subject line “God Bless You,” but what it said stung Oakley the most. She could handle the heinous screed of some kook. But this cut deep as an educator and mother of a middle schooler.

“You should never be near any children again, including your own…,” the email said.

That middle schooler helped her mother during the difficult days ahead.

Jenny Oakley and Zeus, her family's Doberman. Doug McSchooler / Raw Story

“I don't think she had ever seen me cry except at funerals,” Oakley said. “And I was walking around here like a zombie, basically. And she made out little Bible verses and stuck them all over the house, you know, trying to hold me up.”

And to what end are the Oakleys suffering through this ordeal?

“I just think it's just part of a bigger attack on public education,” Oakley said. “And, you know, that's the ultimate goal. I wasn't the target necessarily, but I'm definitely the collateral damage.”

Hidden camera, open wounds

In an exclusive interview with Raw Story, Oakley recounted her experience as one of seven public educators from different school districts in Indiana who Accuracy in Media recorded on a hidden camera. Fox News used the video for its April 12 segment on Jesse Watters Primetime.

Accuracy in Media, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit, and Fox News alleged that the educators were “stealthily” teaching “principles associated with Critical Race Theory,” a highly controversial front in the culture wars that, at its core, alleges systemic racism in America.

Raw Story last week requested an interview with Accuracy in Media President Adam Guillette. Accuracy in Media responded with an unsigned email requesting Raw Story submit written questions in advance. Raw Story declined to do so, and Accuracy in Media did not respond to subsequent interview requests. Accuracy in Media also did not respond to several emailed questions.

Fox News did not respond to requests for an interview.

The supposed deception of parents, Accuracy in Media argues, reinforces the need for public tax money to go to charter and private schools.

“Our goal is school choice where the money follows the child,” Guillette said on Fox News. “That is the only solution.”

Within the past few months, Accuracy in Media also published hidden-camera video of public educators in Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, and Nebraska. In those states — plus Indiana and several others — such recordings are legal because only one party to a conversation needs to consent.

ALSO READ: A neuroscientist warns: We're watching the largest and most dangerous 'cult' in American history

Educators were accused, as in Indiana, of sneaking CRT concepts into public school curriculum.

“After this happened, I was like, ‘How in the world did they align what I was talking about to CRT?’” Oakley said. “Because in fact, I couldn't even talk intelligently about CRT at that time.”

Through open records requests to the districts involved, Raw Story obtained Accuracy in Media’s lightly edited video from the Elkhart, Ind., public school district, plus hundreds of pages of emails from all of the districts.

Oakley said she spoke to Raw Story to explain her side, advocate for the teaching profession and to show the human cost of rabid culture war fighting.

She appears for 24 seconds in the Accuracy in Media video.

“We’ve talked about, to our textbook companies that are coming in to do presentations — and I actually prep them a little because I’m like, “We want this in our curriculum, so if you could just not say specifically this, then it won’t cause a red flag with the community,’” Oakley says. “And I hate that we have to do that. But that way, it’s still there. And the community would support it if just the content was there. They just … it’s the title.”

The Fox News story started with a graphic over Watters’ shoulder showing children’s blocks with the letters CRT.

“Children are fed CRT propaganda,” it said on the lower-third of the screen.

Watters started the segment by asserting, “Schools are brainwashing our kids and then lying about it.”

Jenny Oakley is the first educator shown. The Fox News segment cut something Oakley sees as critical from the Accuracy in Media video — the part where she says, “And the community would support it …”

In an interview, Oakley said the red flag she meant was Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), which is sometimes mistakenly conflated with CRT. Teaching SEL is part of Indiana’s state academic standards and is promoted on a flyer from three state agencies.

It equates to skills such as building resiliency, communicating effectively, and goal setting. Indiana schools are required by law to teach SEL concepts, the Plainfield, Ind., school district explained in a Q&A strongly supportive of its administrator who appeared in the Accuracy in Media video.

CRT, however, is another matter. In June, the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville sued Accuracy in Media, saying it defamed the district and presented it in a false light by saying it teaches CRT. In July, the district withdrew its complaint.

The complaint alleged, “MSD of Martinsville believes that AIM has manipulated a surreptitious recording of a School District employee in an effort to falsely claim that the School District is teaching CRT and is lying to School District parents about it."

Superintendent Eric Bowlen declined comment for this story, including why the district dismissed the lawsuit it brought.

Oakley has not seen the unedited version of the video. The school district’s lawsuit said Accuracy in Media initially agreed to provide it and then went silent.

A day after the Fox News segment, a truck with a large screen on the side played the Accuracy in Media video as it rolled around downtown Indianapolis, with the city about to host the National Rifle Association’s annual convention.

It’s unclear who hired the truck, but Accuracy in Media’s tactics were generating attention.

‘Sydney Greenberg’

On a Thursday morning in February, two women who Oakley thought were in their 20s showed up at Martinsville’s administration building unannounced, saying they were looking for a school district for their child in first grade.

Their story, according to an email Oakley wrote later that day to district colleagues: They came from Texas, but Texas was too conservative and they wanted a new community and school. They expressed concern about censored curriculum and book banning.

It was more than two months before the Fox News story.

Oakley wouldn’t normally be the one to talk with school shoppers. That would be her boss, Suzie Lipps, assistant to the superintendent for curriculum, instruction and human resources. But Lipps was working on an issue outside the building, so Oakley, the director of e-learning and literacy, spoke with them. These opportunities are not taken lightly. That’s especially the case with Indiana’s legislature using tax money for a robust voucher program supporting private, usually faith-based, schools.

When Oakley asked the women what part of town they moved to, they named a local church. The conversation lasted five or 10 minutes, Oakley said. She later contacted the principal of the elementary school the child would be attending and suggested inviting the women to a cultural festival at the school that night.

Oakley got a name from one of the women, “Sydney Greenberg,” and a phone number.

Nobody returned the call inviting them to the cultural event. When Raw Story called the number this month, there was a generic message to leave a voicemail.

Martinsville is a conservative town in a red state. It’s not the place one would think of for a couple seeking a community aligned with their progressive politics.

ALSO READ: Why violent extremists get security clearances — but people of color must sometimes wait and wait

Nothing came of the women’s visit until an email at 2:39 p.m. on April 12 from Max Kiviat, associate producer for Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime. He addressed it to Lipps and copied Oakley.

“Tonight we will be covering a story about an undercover investigation involving your school district,” the email said. “Video shows administrators admitting that the schools are using misleading language to confuse parents into stealthily teaching students principles associated with Critical Race Theory. We wanted to offer the school district a chance to comment on the story. We are going live at 7:30pm ET.”

The email didn’t say what specifically the district was being asked to comment on. Oakley said during ensuing conversations, she, Lipps and Bowlen all wondered if they were the one being targeted.

A little after 5 p.m., after internal discussions and consulting with lawyers, Lipps emailed back to say the district would wait to see the story. Two minutes later, Kiviat sent a link to the video Accuracy in Media had posted.

In their living room at home, Jenny and Justin Oakley watched the video on a laptop. Then Jenny started to hear from friends that her face was being used on Fox News promotions for that night’s Jesse Watters Primetime show.

The attacks on her would start in a few hours.

Oakley did have supporters in the community. Some came to her defense on social media. She sought therapy.

Before a school board meeting, local pastors led a prayer circle outside the building for people with all points of view on the situation. One of the pastors invoked the Gospel of John: “Love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other. This is how all will know you for my disciples: your love for one another.”

A pastor led a prayer before a school board meeting at Martinsville High School the week after Fox News aired a story about Accuracy in Media video featuring a local school administrator. He invoked the gospel of John to love one another. Photo: Stacey Miers

About a week later, Justin learned his mother had brain cancer. This added to the pressure on their daughter who couldn’t have both of her parents in a prolonged dark place.

“So I had to snap out of it,” Jenny Oakley said. “I had to snap out of it for her, just being strong in the fact that I did not do anything wrong and that it'll be interpreted how it is no matter what.”

Unedited video

Accuracy in Media reported $908,000 in contributions and grants on its latest federal tax filing.

As a federally recognized nonprofit organization, it did not have to detail the source or sources of its money. Accuracy in Media says its mission is to “monitor the accuracy of news reporting activities by the media” and “promote accuracy, fairness and balance in news reporting.”

Guillette, the group’s president, makes $200,000, according to the document.

As part of a public records request, Raw Story obtained what Accuracy in Media described in an email to the Elkhart, Ind., school district as a lightly edited, 15-minute hidden-camera conversation with Brad Sheppard, assistant superintendent of instruction.

The edits, Guillette wrote, were to protect Accuracy in Media’s tactics during an “ongoing investigation.”

In the video, what sounds like a man and a woman gave Sheppard frequent affirmations of his answers — “right on,” “good,” “I love that.” The couple’s full pretense for showing up wasn’t part of the video, but what they said to Sheppard left little doubt about their supposed political views.

ALSO READ: A deafening silence from Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s Black football players

“In Texas, unfortunately, we banned anything that has to do with the 1619 Project,” the woman says, referring to the controversial New York Times project that put slavery at the center of America’s history.

“In Texas, they passed one of those stupid laws banning what they call Critical Race Theory,” the man says.

“We’re really hoping not to get a MAGA version of history, to put it bluntly,” the woman says.

Regarding what’s taught in the classroom, Sheppard emphasized the Indiana state academic standards.

“As long as (teachers) can tie it back to the standards, they’re covered,” he said. “That’s really the bottom line. Are you teaching the academic standards?”

Sheppard was shown in the Fox News video answering what educational material in the district needs to be “relabeled.”

“I think CRT, Social-Emotional Learning are the two biggies,” he says. “We just have to avoid the words. You know? The labels.”

An Accuracy in Media person says, “We can still do the content, just no labels.”

Sheppard says yes, to which the Accuracy in Media person says, “That’s cool.”

Sheppard was placed on paid administrative leave, returned to his same position and retired in June, according to a lawyer for the district.

ALSO READ: How the long 'arc of the moral universe' just landed in a New York City fire hall

Other records obtained by Raw Story show that Sheppard and another administrator in the Fox News story, Laura DelVecchio of the public school district in Plainfield, Ind., received the same email Oakley did suggesting a line of people punch her and urinate on her.

All of them arrived within 15 minutes after Jesse Watters Primetime ended. Attorney Jon Little, who represents the Oakleys, believes that indicates a connection to an organization with all-purpose, pre-written screeds for perceived political enemies.

Trustees from the Plainfield school district received a long, racist email suggesting, amid the talk of CRT, a “Thank You White People Day.” It said, “White people created the very high standard of living all races in the USA enjoy” and “many immigrants don’t want to assimilate.” It claimed discrimination against “heterosexual White males.”

In the weeks that followed,Indiana attorney general Todd Rokita got involved on social media, encouraging journalists to write about the Accuracy in Media video.

When DelVecchio received an interview request from Indiana Public Media, she echoed what Oakley said, although they have never met or communicated.

“The story really isn’t about me,” DelVecchio wrote, “it is about the fate of public education.”

A life, changed

Jenny Oakley recalled with a touch of disbelief how, years ago, her husband used to rave about being an eighth grade teacher.

“He would come home every day and say, ‘I just can't believe I get paid to do this as a job,’” she said. “He would come home. He was so excited about the impact that he was making on kids and his conversations every day and the light bulbs going on and all those things.”

For many, teaching is a calling. Pay is often low, but the rewards are supposed to be great. That perception seems to be changing. Indiana has a teacher shortage.

Young teachers, Oakley said, “turn on their TV or hop on Facebook, and all they're seeing are attacks on their profession. And it's hard to keep up the intrinsic motivation of teaching when you have so many of these negative external factors.”

Many of the attacks come from advocates for private and charter schools.

“I don't think that they're going to be happy until public education just completely crumbles,” Oakley said. “And then they're going to see what kind of pillars of the community we really are, and they'll have to build it back up.”

Among the administrators in the Accuracy in Media video, four are in the same job, one retired, and two districts (Monroe County and Fairfield) did not respond to Raw Story’s inquiry.

Oakley has continued to work. But she said she still can’t be certain about her future in the district.

Oakley still doesn’t know the identity of the women who came to Martinsville. They weren’t asked to sign in. Now the district office uses the same system as its schools, scanning the driver’s license of everyone who comes in.

“Thankfully, they didn't walk in here with a backpack that they left behind,” Oakley said, “but they blew up my life.”

2022

RAGA LEADERSHIP

Steve Marshall

STEVE MARSHALL

Alabama

Ashley Moody

ASHLEY MOODY

Florida

Todd Rokita

TODD ROKITA

Indiana

Daniel Cameron

DANIEL CAMERON

Kentucky

Jeff Landry

JEFF LANDRY

Louisiana

Eric Schmitt Immediate Past Chairman

ERIC SCHMITT

Missouri

Austin Knudsen Policy Chairman

AUSTIN KNUDSEN

Montana

Alan Wilson Chairman

ALAN WILSON

South Carolina

Sean Reyes

SEAN REYES

Utah

may 2022

Attorney General Todd Rokita is defending Hoosiers against an attempt by Baltimore to use parochial state courts to impose climate change policy in Indiana as well as every other state across the country.

Baltimore sued numerous fossil-fuel companies, claiming the companies’ activities contributed to global climate change and their activities constituted a public nuisance. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently ruled to send the case back to state court. This decision is now being challenged by Attorney General Rokita with an amicus brief asking the full court to rehear the case.

“No one state has the right to set policy in another state. By pushing this case back to state court, these federal judges are establishing a dangerous precedent,” Attorney General Rokita said. “This issue affects more than just Maryland—it affects all of us across the country. Hoosiers’ concerns and values are my first priority, and I refuse to allow Maryland’s state court to dictate how we do things here in Indiana.”

Attorney General Rokita also has led multistate coalitions against similar efforts by several U.S. cities to use their own state courts to exclude other states from the climate-change policymaking process. Those cities include Hoboken, in New Jersey, and the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California.

Attorney General Rokita will continue to fight for Hoosiers by backing the rule of law and preserving legal precedent.

Indiana’s amicus brief is attached.

A headshot of Attorney General Todd Rokita is available :{:{:{:{:{here:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}::(style="box-sizing:inherit;text-decoration-line:none"):}::(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}::(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}::(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}:.

:{Attorney General Todd Rokita protects and defends the unborn with U.S ...:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:

May 16, 2022Attorney General Todd Rokita is leading a 16-state coalition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to end a private challenge of a state policy preventing abortion clinics from receiving Medicaid funds. "Federal law has long prohibited Medicaid dollars from being used to fund abortions," Attorney General Rokita said.

https://www.americanoversight.org/entity/indiana-attorney-general/page/2

RECORDS REQUEST TO THE INDIANA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS WITH :{AMERICA FIRST LEGAL...Records request to the Indiana Office of the Attorney General seeking communications of Attorney General Todd Rokita and Solicitor General Thomas Fisher with America First Legal.:(style="background-color:#ff9900;"):}:

May 5, 2022

Records request to the Indiana Office of the Attorney General seeking communications of Attorney General Todd Rokita with associates of America First Legal.

RECORDS REQUEST TO INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS WITH SELECT HERITAGE FOUNDATION STAFF AND MEMBERS OF THE ELECTION LAW WORKING GROUP

March 7, 2022

Records request to Indiana Attorney General Rokita seeking communications with Heritage Foundation staffer Alexander Phipps and prominent members of the Election Law Working Group.

RECORDS REQUEST TO OFFICE OF THE INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL SEEKING AG ROKITA’S COMMUNICATIONS CONCERNING :{PROMINENT RAGA FUNDERS:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:

June 16, 2021

Records request to the Office of the Indiana Attorney General seeking Attorney General Todd Rokita's communications with and about prominent funders of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). Rokita was recently elected to serve on RAGA's Executive Committee.

RECORDS REQUEST TO THE OFFICE OF THE INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL SEEKING EMAILS WITH HERITAGE FOUNDATION AND ITS ELECTION LAW WORKING GROUP

June 4, 2021

Records request to the Office of the Indiana Attorney General seeking Attorney General Todd Rokita's email communications with the Heritage Foundation and its Election Law Working Group.

RECORDS REQUEST TO INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS CONCERNING STATE INVESTIGATION INTO BIG TECH

April 14, 2021

Records request to the Office of the Indiana Attorney General seeking communications with other state attorneys general and select external groups concerning a state investigation launched in April 2021 into the business practices of big tech companies.

RECORDS REQUEST TO INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS WITH ATTORNEYS WHO FORMULATED :{TEXAS’ ELECTION LAWSUIT PLAN:(style="background-color:#ff9900;"):}:

March 18, 2021

Request to the Indiana Attorney General seeking communications with the Trump campaign-affiliated attorneys who formulated the plan for Texas to sue states in an attempt to nullify their impending electoral votes. This request also seeks external communications concerning Texas' lawsuit.

RECORDS REQUEST TO INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR LEGAL ANALYSIS OF TEXAS LAWSUIT SEEKING TO OVERTURN 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS

February 16, 2021

Records request to the Indiana Attorney General seeking any legal analyses of the lawsuit Texas v. Pennsylvania, which sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Indiana signed on to a joint brief supporting TexasÕ position.

REQUEST TO THE INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL SEEKING COMMUNICATIONS WITH DOJ AND STATE AGS WHO BACKED TEXAS EFFORT TO OVERTURN ELECTION RESULTS, AND RELATED MEETING RECORDS

February 8, 2021

Request to the Indiana Attorney General seeking communications with the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general who backed Texas' effort to overturn the presidential election results in various states. We're also seeking any related meeting or call records.

RECORDS REQUEST TO IDAHO ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE FOR RECORDS RELATED TO RLDF’S INVOLVEMENT WITH JAN. 6 RALLY OR INSURRECTION

January 1, 2021

Request request to the Idaho Attorney General's Office seeking any investigative details and findings concerning the Rule of Law Defense Fund's involvement with the Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump rally or the ensuing Capitol riot.

PRR TO THE INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS GENERAL ASSOCIATION OR THE RULE OF LAW DEFENSE FUND

April 21, 2020

Public records request to the Indiana Attorney General seeking communications between select senior officials and any representative of the Republican Attorneys General Association or the Rule of Law Defense Fund.

AG Rokita leads 19-state coalition to protect ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy from Biden’s usurping

Attorney General Todd Rokita today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to sustain the nation’s “Remain in Mexico” policy as a means of protecting states from the tidal wave of illegal immigrants flooding over the nation’s southern border.

He is leading a 19-state coalition fighting the Biden administration’s unlawful efforts to provide illegal immigrants free and easy entry into the United States.

“As I witnessed firsthand on behalf of all Hoosiers, we pay an enormous price for the Biden administration’s complete disregard of their duties at the southern border,” Attorney General Rokita said. “No one is above the law in America, and we are simply insisting that the Biden administration follow the law.”

On behalf of Hoosiers, Attorney General Rokita has traveled to the border twice during his administration to assess conditions and discuss policies with leaders from other states.

“The rule of law is the framework that enables American liberty to survive and thrive,” Attorney General Rokita said. “The situation at our southern border provides the perfect example of how going soft on the rule of law gives rise to anarchy, chaos, and ultimately the erosion of our freedom and safety.”

The Remain in Mexico rule — formally titled the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) — requires that immigrants without clear authorization to cross the southern border into the United States be required either to be detained or remain in Mexico while their cases are examined.

Implemented under President Donald Trump in January 2019, the rule successfully stemmed the tide of illegal immigrants pouring into the United States until the Biden administration illegally suspended the policy in January 2021.

From January 2019 through December 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) returned over 68,000 aliens to Mexico as part of MPP.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, DHS primarily used the public-health rule known as Title 42 (rather than MPP) to expel 102,234 aliens in 2020 and 111,174 in the beginning of 2021.

In January 2021, President Joe Biden illegally directed the DHS to ignore MPP. After MPP was suspended under Biden, border encounters surged from around 78,000 in January 2021 to about 178,000 in April 2021 and then to nearly 214,000 in July 2021.

In the last year, the federal government has released unprecedented numbers of aliens into the states — approximately 758,000 between January 2021 and February 2022.

Federal agencies are legally required to properly consider the consequences of their actions on states and their citizens before making policy changes. That consideration did not occur before DHS threw open the southern border to new hordes of illegal immigrants.

“The individual states and our taxpayers are the ones footing the bill for social services like health care, education and other government assistance for illegal immigrants,” Attorney General Rokita said. “The lawless crisis at the border makes every state a border state. We are the ones endangered by the rapid escalation of human trafficking, fentanyl, and other drugs and criminals sent by cartels to our communities.”

Former President Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy was designed to achieve greater compliance with longstanding immigration laws passed by Congress.

Those laws require that immigrants not clearly authorized to cross the Mexican border into the U.S. be either 1) detained, 2) required to stay in Mexico or 3) “paroled” into the United States based on narrowly defined case-by-case circumstances featuring “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

The federal government has no authority, however, to simply issue paroles en masse to permit illegal immigrants to reside in the United States.

U.S. district and appeals courts already ruled that MPP must be reinstated until the Biden administration follows proper legal procedures to change it, including consideration of alternative policies and the impact on states.

Attorney General Rokita last year led a successful multistate brief supporting the conclusion eventually reached by the appellate court. He and the other attorneys general are now asking the Supreme Court to uphold the earlier decisions.

The brief is linked here.

A headshot of Attorney General Rokita is available for download.

an 7 22

Indiana's Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita told Fox News anchor Jesse Watters on Wednesday evening that he intends to open a criminal investigation into the provider who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio that had to travel to The Hoosier State to obtain the procedure.

The girl was 45 days along and unable to terminate the forced pregnancy because The Buckeye State banned most abortions past six weeks – with no exceptions for rape or incest – immediately following the United States Supreme Court's right-wing majority decision retracting the constitutional right to abortion in its reversal of Roe versus Wade on June 24th.

Indiana allows abortions up until the 13th week as long as mandated conditions are met. Its rules are likely to tighten, however, when state lawmakers convene in an emergency session on July 25th to discuss post-*Roe*policy plans.

In Ohio, the restrictions are predicated on what legislators and anti-choice activists claim is the detection of a heartbeat. But that contention is not supported by empirical medical data.As an April 17th NBC News report noted, embryos have no structured heart at six weeks. Instead, there is "a tube that generates sporadic electrical impulses that eventually coordinate into rhythmic pulses."

Live Science also explained in detail last September that "after the detection of the flutter at six weeks, the heart muscle continues to develop over the next four to six weeks, undergoing the folding and bending that needs to happen for the heart to take its final shape."

On Tuesday, a 27-year-old suspect was taken into custody and confessed to twice assaulting the child. The arrest occurred while numerous Ohio Republicans – including Governor Mike DeWine, Attorney General Dave Yost, and Congressman Jim Jordan – were publicly suggesting that the story was a fabrication. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board called the account "a fanciful tale." None of them have issued a formal apology in light of the accused rapist's capture.

Incidentally, Yost had expressed his doubts on Monday's Jesse Watters Primetime.During Wednesday's broadcast, Rokita blamed President Joe Biden's immigration policies for the crime despite the alleged perpetrator having lived in Columbus, Ohio for seven years.

"I shouldn't be here. I mean, first of all, this is an illegal immigration issue because likely of Biden's lawlessness at the border and everything going on down there. That's why Indiana as a non-border state has actually filed several independent lawsuits on that," Rokita said.

While justice for the victim may be served in an Ohio courtroom, Rokita is taking a much different approach in neighboring Indiana.

"Then we have the rape, and then we have this abortion activist acting as a doctor with a history of failing to report," he continued as Fox displayed a picture of the doctor who aided the underaged victim. "So we're gathering the information, we're gathering the evidence as we speak, and we're gonna fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure. If she failed to report in Indiana, it's a crime to not report, to intentionally not report."

Next, Rokita fired off several conspiracy theories.

**"This is a horrible, horrible scene caused by Marxists and socialists and those in the White House who want lawlessness at the border. And then this girl was politicized – politicized – for the gain of killing more babies, alright? That was the goal,**" Rokita declared. "And this abortion **activist**is out there front and center. The**lame stream media – the fake news** – is right behind it and unfortunately in Indiana, the**paper of record is fake news** and they were right there jumping in on all this thinking that it was gonna be great for their abortionist movement when this girl has been so brutalized."

Watch below or at this link.

====

h ttps://www.exposedbycmd.org/**2021/11/**16/alec-academy-featured-a-whos-who-of-voter-suppression-leaders/

an “Academy” for state lawmakers on voter suppression strategies run by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in July featured a veritable who’s who of the right-wing leaders behind this year’s disinformation campaign about voter fraud and assaults on voting rights across the country, documents obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) show.

While the July 26-28 session was ostensibly led by the dark money group :{Honest Elections Project:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}:, it was organized, hosted, and bankrolled by :{ALEC:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}:, despite repeated claims by its CEO, Lisa Nelson, that the group does not work on voting issues.

Nelson provided the formal welcome at the conference’s opening session, ALEC staff organized turnout, and ALEC provided two nights of accommodations at the five-star Grand America Hotel, five meals, and a $450 travel reimbursement for attendees. ALEC’s annual meeting was held at the same hotel immediately after the Academy.

An invite published by CMD in July stated that “13 legislators from across the country” would be in attendance, but the materials acquired by CMD do not include an attendance list.

Rather than email materials to ALEC lawmakers that may be subject to open records laws, ALEC distributed hard copies of the agenda at registration along with a “zip drive containing a resources document and a one-pager on your state’s election policies,” according to an email from Sarah Wall, ALEC’s manager of legislative outreach and coalitions, obtained by CMD. Wall’s email also lists Michael Bowman, president of ALEC Action, as a key contact for the event.

Nelson tipped her hand about ALEC’s voter suppression subterfuge in May at a meeting of the far-right Council for National Policy. of the event obtained by CMD shows Nelson speaking frankly about ALEC’s work on voting and revealing its plans to outsource model policy on the controversial topic to avert the spotlight. “We don’t have model policy. We will be developing that at the Honest Elections Project [Academy], through them,” Nelson said.

Honest Elections Project, the group ALEC chose to carry the ball on its voting agenda, is a dark money operation formed in February 2020 to push for voting restrictions and spread :{baseless and dangerous claims:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: about election fraud, laying the groundwork for Trump’s attempt to overturn the election. It is a project of The :{85 Fund:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}:, the new legal name for the Judicial Education Project, a group linked to :{Leonard Leo:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: that played a central role in Trump’s effort to pack the federal judiciary with right-wing judges.

Speakers at the Academy featured many of the key strategists and leaders on the Right spreading misinformation around voter fraud, promoting Trump’s lies around the 2020 election, and pushing sweeping new voting restrictions.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita gave the keynote address. A :{proponent:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: of Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen, Rokita recently :{testified:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: in front of the U.S. Senate against strengthening the federal Voting Rights Act.

Rokita was one of only four state attorneys general to not sign a National Association of Attorneys General :{letter:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: condemning the Jan. 6 violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and is a member of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). RAGA was a member of the “March to Save America” coalition that organized the Jan. 6 rally, and its policy arm, Rule of Law Defense Fund, sent out robocalls urging supporters to “march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal.”

Agenda Focused on Election Legislation

Most of the Academy sessions focused on legislation, giving legislators a chance to discuss bills to restrict voting that have already been introduced and passed in their states this year and hear from Republican-aligned leaders about what more they think needs to be done.

By the timeALEC held its voter suppression Academy in July, 18 states had already passed :{30 laws:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: this year making it harder to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

The Honest Elections Project’s Executive Director Jason Snead, who worked with ALEC to organize the event, laid out “priorities for election integrity across the states” and polling results in a breakfast session and appeared on another panel on how to “shore up” legislative control over election processes with Jason Torchinsky and Lee Goodman.

The Honest Elections Project has aggressively promoted a radical legal theory called the “independent state legislatures doctrine,” which holds that state courts don’t have the authority to review state election laws and would empower heavily gerrymandered state legislatures to determine election outcomes.

Republican legislators have already introduced and passed bills in 2021 “interfering with nonpartisan local election administration and consolidating power to administer and determine elections results themselves,” the Voting Rights Lab reported.

Snead is a former senior policy analyst with the Heritage Foundation where he developed its Election Fraud Database, which the Brennan Center for Justice says “grossly exaggerated” the extent of voter fraud.

Torchinsky is general counsel for the National Republican Redistricting Trust and has been defending ALEC against CMD’s state complaints alleging that ALEC illegally gave sophisticated voter management campaign software linked to the Republican National Committee to its legislative members.

Goodman is an elections attorney and a former Republican chairman and commissioner of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) between 2013 and 2018.

Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action, and Ken Blackwell, executive director of the :{MAGA voter suppression center:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: at America First Policy Instituteled another legislative session on “securing absentee ballots.”

Anderson bragged to Heritage donors in April that policies, “severely restricting mail ballot drop boxes” and “preventing election officials from sending absentee ballot request forms to voters” were among recommendations Heritage gave Georgia for its massive voter suppression bill.

Blackwell’s Center for Election Integrity recently published a “Top 25 Common-Sense State Election Integrity Reforms” fact sheet that includes these Heritage recommendations alongside other extreme voter suppression wish-list items, such as eliminating no-excuse absentee ballots and requiring an affidavit for absentee applications.

Blackwell also moderated a panel at the Academy with state legislators “discussing election challenges they’ve faced in their own states.”

Another panel over breakfast covered “things to consider with implementation of laws” related to election day voter registration, “election observer protections,” and organizing seniors to work the polls. Chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Donald Palmer, a Trump appointee, and :{Cleta Mitchell:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}:, chair of the Conservative Partnership Institute’s Election Integrity Network, led the session.

Mitchell is a Big Lie fueler and Trump legal advisor who lost her job at Foley & Lardner following news that she participated in a January call in which Trump asked Georgia election officials to “find” enough votes to make him the winner of the state’s electoral votes.

“On Dec. 30, Cleta Mitchell wrote to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and offered to send some 1,800 pages of documents purporting to support claims of election fraud,” The Washington Post Magazine:{reported:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}:. Meadows is now a colleague of Mitchell’s at the Conservative Partnership Institute.

Three Republican secretaries of state, Tennessee’s Tre Hargett, Kentucky’s Michael Adams, and West Virginia’s Mac Warner, spoke on a panel about “what policies the states need to employ to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.”

“Easier to vote and harder to cheat” has been a favored talking point of Republicans in recent years.

All three are active in the :{R**epublican Secretaries of State Committee**:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}:(RSSC), with Hargett serving as chair and Adams as vice chair. Republican secretaries of state produced a report on “Best Practices for Making It Easier to Vote and Harder to Cheat” for the Republican State Leadership Committee, obtained by CMD.

The RSSC holds monthly calls that Commissioner Palmer often attends. Secretary Warner and Palmer also participated in an “off-the-record” Election University session on June 21 as part of the U.S. House GOP’s “Faith in Elections Project,” as first :{reported:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: by CMD.

ALEC Lawmakers Consider Litigation

ALEC’s Academy featured two panels on litigation. The first dealt with “anticipating challenges to the Voting Rights Act in Arizona,” legal challenges mounted by Democratic voting rights attorney Marc Elias, and redistricting fights, and was led by with Republican lawyers Torchinsky, Michael Thielen, and Brian Barnes.

Thielen is the executive director of the Republican National Lawyers Association and served on the national board of Lawyers for Trump in 2020. Barnes was involved in legal challenges to changes in voting procedures in North Carolina and Pennsylvania last fall.

Goodman and Utah’s former Solicitor General Tyler Green led the second panel on “operationalizing litigation challenges.” Noted in the description of the panel are “ways to challenge the scope of litigation attacks on new election integrity legislation (defense) as well as advance the ball on election integrity (offense).”

As of Oct. 3, “at least 43 voting cases have been filed in 12 states, and Georgia and Texas lead the way with ten new lawsuits each in 2021,” the Brennan Center reports.

Training Sessions on “the Left”

Two trainings focused on “the Left” filled out the remaining agenda at the ALEC Academy. Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow and manager of the Heritage Foundation’s “Election Reform Initiative,” and Ken Cuccinelli, former Trump staffer and chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative, led a session focused on “the Left’s attack on our election system” through “state-level attacks on election integrity legislation” and HR 1, the sweeping voting rights and campaign reform bill pending in Congress....Spakovsky, who was appointed by Trump to his voter fraud myth from the Right for well over a decade.president of the Scott Walter gave the keynote for a “Mapping the Left Lunch.” Walter and CRC received funding from the Bradley Foundation... ;inspired by CMD’s SourceWatch, called “Influence Watch.” The site was “constructed in partnership with Berman and Company,” run by PR spin doctor Richard Berman, and in collaboration with ALEC.

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/todd-rokita/summary?cid=N00031741&cycle=2022

lifetime

TOP INDUSTRY 2009 - 2018

Lawyers/Law Firms

$437,000

TOP CONTRIBUTOR 2009 - 2018

Kirkland & Ellis

$70,590

Campaign Committee Fundraising, 2009 - 2018

Raised:

$7,781,203

Spent:

$7,740,133

Cash on hand:

$1,315,564

Debts:

LAST REPORT: 03/31/2022

Top Contributors, 2009 - 2018

Contributor Total Individuals PACs

Kirkland & Ellis $70,590 $70,590 $0

Heritage Group $55,550 $55,550 $0

Barnes & Thornburg $48,175 $41,675 $6,500

Mayer Brown LLP $44,700 $44,700 $0

McColly Real Estate $43,950 $43,950 $0

Top Industries, 2009 - 2018

Industry Total Individuals PACs

Lawyers/Law Firms $437,000 $399,500 $37,500

Health Professionals $416,473 $269,473 $147,000

Real Estate $359,326 $300,926 $58,400

Leadership PACs $228,429 $0 $228,429

Securities & Investment $210,375 $162,875 $47,500

contributor Total Individuals PACs

Berkshire Hathaway $25,700 $20,700 $5,000

Crown Corr Inc $20,800 $20,800 $0

Kirkland & Ellis $20,790 $20,790 $0

Deloitte LLP $18,500 $13,500 $5,000

White Lodging Services $17,700 $17,700 $0

Top Industries, 2017 - 2018

Industry Total Individuals PACs

Real Estate $187,050 $179,850 $7,200

Securities & Investment $120,150 $110,150 $10,000

Health Professionals $113,981 $76,981 $37,000

Retired $106,816 $106,816 $0

Leadership PACs $104,300 $0 $104,300

===

brochure flag 7 22

Theodore Edward Rokita /:{roʊˈkiːtə:(style="border-bottom:1px dotted"):}:/ (born February 9, 1970) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 44th and current Attorney General of Indiana. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana's 4th congressional district from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served two terms as Secretary of State of Indiana from 2002 to 2010. When Rokita was elected to office in 2002 at age 32, he became the youngest secretary of state in the United States at the time.

Rokita was a candidate to replace Mike Pence in the 2016 Indiana gubernatorial election after Pence withdrew from the race to be Donald Trump's running mate in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He lost to Eric Holcomb, Pence's lieutenant governor.^[1] Rokita unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2018. In 2020, Rokita defeated incumbent Curtis Hill for the Republican nomination for Indiana Attorney General, and in November 2020, Rokita won the general election.

Early life and career[

Rokita grew up in Munster, Indiana and attended Munster High School.^[2] He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.^[3] He has a J.D. degree from IUPUI Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.^[4] Rokita was a practicing attorney. In 1997 he joined the secretary of state's office as general counsel. He later became deputy secretary of state.^[5] In 2000, Rokita served as legal counsel for seven Florida counties during the recount for the George W. Bush presidential campaign.^[6]

Indiana Secretary of State[

Rokita was Indiana Secretary of State from 2002 to 2010. Rokita was active in theNational Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), and after serving as the elected treasurer, he became the President for the 2007–08 term.^[7] He was elected by his peers nationally to serve on the nine-member federal executive board of the Election Assistance Commission.^[5]

Voting rights[

In 2005, Rokita helped craft and implement Indiana's voter photo identification law.^[8] The law required voters who cast their ballots at Indiana polling locations to show government issued photo identification. As one of the first states to require photo identification for voting, the Indiana law was viewed to be one of the strictest voter identification laws at the time.^[8]

Rokita was a named defendant when Indiana's voter identification case went before the U.S. Supreme Court on January 9, 2008; the combined cases of Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (07-21) and Indiana Democratic Partyv. Rokita (07-25). In April 2008, the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter photo ID law.^[9] Rokita noted as a result of the Supreme Court decision that "The Indiana case is still very much the law of the land and I don’t expect that to change."^[8]

U.S. House of Representatives[

Congressman Rokita sits with Vice President Mike Pence on Air Force Two.

Rokita was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019.

Attorney General of Indiana[

In 2020, Rokita challenged incumbent Attorney General of Indiana Curtis Hill for the Republican nomination. Rokita defeated Hill for re-nomination inmail-in voting at the Republican state convention, gaining 52% of the vote on the third round.^[10] In the general election, Rokita faced Democratic nominee Jonathan Weinzapfel, a former mayor of Evansville.^[10] Rokita defeated Weinzapfel in the November election.^[11]

Election reform[

Rokita led a letter signed by 20 Republican state attorneys general opposing the For the People Act, election reform legislation introduced by Democrats in the United States House of Representatives.^[15][16] In March 2021, Rokita testified in U.S. Senate Rules Committee in opposition to the legislation, threatening to sue if the bill became law.^[17] Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, responding to Rokita's statement, said he took exception to the notion "that public concern regarding the integrity of the recent election is born of anything but a deliberate and sustained misinformation campaign led by a vain former president unwilling to accept his own defeat" and that said he found it disturbing that state attorney general "would indulge in that kind of misinformation and spread those kinds of conspiracies."^[18]

Lawsuits against Biden administration[

Rokita joined other Republican state AGs in suing the Biden administration over an executive order on environmental protection and climate change.^[19]

Political positions[

Rokita discusses education policy with U.S. Secretary of Education Secretary, Betsy Devos

Abortion[

Rokita opposes abortion and has maintained a 100% anti-abortion voting record according to the National Right to Life Committee.^[20] He opposes all abortion from the moment of conception.^[21]

After a 10-year-old rape victim received a lawful^[22] abortion in Indiana, Rokita indicated that he planned to investigate the doctor that provided her care and was seeking to suspend her medical license.^[23] While Rokita falsely claimed that the doctor had not followed her reporting obligations under Indiana law, Indiana government records released through a public records request confirm that the doctor met her obligations.^[24]

Cannabis:{:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[e}:

Rokita has a "D" rating from NORML for his voting history on cannabis-related causes. He opposes recreational use of marijuana, citing concern that it is a "gateway drug" to more dangerous narcotics. He expressed willingness to support legalization of some medical uses for marijuana only if the THC is removed^[25]

Rokita is a supporter of industrial hemp, having voted to allow its production. In December 2018, he told a group of local Republicans that legalizing industrial hemp "could help the farming community."^[26][25]

Education[

Rokita supports charter schools, school choice, and reducing the role of the Department of Education in setting education policy.^[27] In 2015, Rokita and Senator Marco Rubio introduced the Education Opportunities Act, a bill to expand choice options through the use of tax credits.^[28]

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, he had an active role in crafting the Every Student Succeeds Act, which reauthorized the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act.^[29][30] In May, Rokita introduced bipartisan legislation with Alcee Hastings (D-FL) to help students and parents with student loan debt. His legislation would allow student loan borrowers to refinance loans and have access to lower market rate loans.^[31]

Environment[

He does not accept the scientific consensus that human activity is the driving factor of climate change,^[32][33] and at a 2013 town-hall event called the idea that climate change was caused by human activity "arrogant."^[33][34] Rokita has a 4% lifetime voting rating from the League of Conservation Voters, an environmentalist group.^[35]

Guns[

Rokita has stated: "I'm proud of my 'A' rating from the NRA" and has said that he will "protect our 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms."^[36][37]

Health care[

Rokita opposes the Affordable Care Act and voted dozens of times to repeal it during his time in Congress.^[38][39] While running for Indiana Attorney General in 2020, Rokita pledged to support a lawsuit to have the Affordable Care Act deemed unconstitutional.^[40]

In December 2021, Rokita appeared on station WSBT and appeared to suggest he did not trust statistics indicating that COVID-19 had killed Hoosiers, stating,"I don't believe any numbers anymore."^[41]Days later, in a series of tweets explaining the WSBT interview response, Rokita, without evidence, cited healthcare workers with financial motivations as the source of the allegedly misleading statistics and for recording deaths from other causes as COVID-19 fatalities. In the same series of tweets, Rokita thanked healthcare workers, stating they were heroes.^[42]

Immigration:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

In 2017, Rokita introduced the Stopping Lawless Actions of Politicians (SLAP) Act. The legislation would introduce fines and jail time for state and local politicians who implemented sanctuary city policies.^[43] The SLAP Act did not receive a vote and thus was not enacted into law.^[43]

Rokita supported President Trump's 2017 executive order temporarily banning citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.^[44]

Tribal lands:{:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[e}:

Rokita authored the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act. The bill would "make clear that the National Labor Relations Board has no jurisdiction over businesses owned and operated by an Indian tribe and located on tribal land." It cleared the House as of 2018, but has not been considered in the Senate.^[45]

Donald Trump[

During his time in Congress, Rokita voted in line with President Donald Trump 90.3% of the time.^[46] During the Republican primary for the 2018 United States Senate election in Indiana, Rokita earned the support of the chair and vice chair of 2016 Trump campaign in Indiana.^[47]

In May 2019, the Trump White House announced Trump would nominate Rokita to join the AMTRAK Board of Directors.^[48] The Senate did not act on the nomination, which expired on January 3, 2021, at the end of the 116th Congress.^[49]

Efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election[

Main article: Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

In 2020, after former Vice President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Rokita, as Attorney General-elect, endorsed a petition to the United States Supreme Court submitted by the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who sought to challenge the 2020 presidential election results.^[50][51] The Supreme Court rejected the petition.^[51]

After the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol in January 2021, Rokita declined to sign a National Association of Attorneys General letter condemning the attack. Instead, he issued his own statement with other Republican Attorneys General writing, "we can uphold the critical Constitutional right to freedom of speech as we oppose any attempt to hijack a protest to condemn violence."^[52][53][54]

Two days later, Rokita tweeted that "I will always be for our President." The next day he issued a statement saying that the tweets were an "experiment in free speech"; criticizing social media companies for "controlling the entire dialogue of a nation"; and said that "I also condemn the Capitol violence in the same way and terms that I have condemned the violence last summer."^[55] [WHATABOUTISM]

In February 2021, Rokita falsely implied on Twitter that the 2020 presidential election had been "stolen" from Trump.^[51][56] The platform initially restricted the distribution of Rokita's message, citing the risk of violence,^[51] but later found that the tweets in question did not violate policy.^[57]

Electoral history[

[flag]

2002

On June 15, 2002, Rokita won the Republican nomination for Indiana Secretary of State at the state convention over Mike Delph, then an aide to U.S. Representative Dan Burton, Marion County Coroner John McGodd, and then-Vanderburgh County Commissioner Richard Mourdock.^[58] Rokita went on to win the general election with 53.4% of the vote.^[59]

2006

Rokita received the Republican nomination again in 2006 and won the general election with 51.1% of the vote in a year when Democrats took five of Indiana's nine congressional seats.^[60]

2010

On February 1, 2010, three days after Congressman Steve Buyer of Indiana's 4th congressional district said that he would retire at the end of his term, Rokita posted an announcement on Facebook making clear his intentions to run for the open seat. Buyer's announcement touched off a free-for-all among area Republicans to succeed him. Ultimately, 13 candidates entered the Republican primary, including Rokita.^[citation ^needed]

With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+14, the 4th is one of the most Republican districts in the Eastern Time Zone and tied for the second-most Republican in the state (behind the 5th District). It was taken for granted that whoever won the primary would be heavily favored to be the district's next representative. Rokita won the primary with 42% of the vote and the general election with 68.6% of the vote.^[citation ^needed]

2012

Rokita won the general election in 2012 with 62% of the vote.^[61]

2014

Rokita won the Republican nomination in 2014 with 71% of the vote.^[62] He won the general election with 67% of the vote over John Dale, a teacher at Western Boone High School.^[63]

Rokita with President Donald Trump

2016

Rokita won the Republican nomination in 2016 with 60% of the vote. In the general election, he faced John Dale in a rematch from 2014. Rokita was reelected with 65% of the vote to Dale's 30%. Libertarian Steven M. Mayoras received 5%.^[64]

2018

Main article: 2018 United States Senate election in Indiana

On August 8, 2017, Rokita announced his intention to run for the U.S. Senate in 2018 against Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly.^[65] He lost the Republican primary election to Mike Braun, coming in second with 30% of the vote.^[66][67]

2020

Main article: 2020 Indiana Attorney General election

On July 10, 2020, Rokita defeated incumbent Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill during the Indiana Republican Party Convention.^{[68][69][70][71]} Rokita went onto win the November general election,^[72] securing 58.34% of the vote.

Date	Position	Status	Opponent	Result	Vote share	Top-opponent vote share
2002	Secretary of State of Indiana	Open-seat	John Fernandez (D)	Elected	53.41%^[73]	42.46%
2006	Secretary of State of Indiana	Incumbent	Joe Pearson (D)	Re-elected	51.06%^[73]	45.60%
2010	U.S. Representative	Open-seat	David Sanders (D)	Elected	68.57%^[73]	26.28%
2012	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	Tara Nelson (D)	Re-elected	61.96%^[73]	34.16%
2014	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	John Dale (D)	Re-elected	66.87%^[73]	33.13%
2016	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	John Dale (D)	Re-elected	64.60%^[73]	30.47%
2020	Attorney General of Indiana	Open-seat	Jonathan Weinzapfel (D)	Elected	58.34%^[73]	41.66%

Personal life and affiliations[

Rokita is a member of the Director's Circle of the Indiana Council for Economic Education, the state bar association, the Knights of Columbus, and the National Rifle Association. He has also served as Chair of NASS's New Millennium Young Voters Summit of 2004, chair of the standing Voter Participation Committee and vice chair of the Securities Regulation Committee.^[74] He is a member of the Indiana chapter of the International Flying Farmers,^[75] and member of the Saint Vincent Hospital Foundation Board of Directors.^[76]

Rokita's oldest son, Teddy, suffers from Angelman syndrome.^[77][78] Rokita is a commercial-rated pilot.^[79][80][81]

Rokita formerly lived in Clermont, an "included town" in Indianapolis under the Unigov system.^[82] The 2010 round of redistricting cut out the 4th's share of Indianapolis and Marion County, leaving Rokita's home 500 yards outside the new 4th's eastern border. Members of Congress are required to live only in the state they represent, but it is a strong convention that they live within their district's borders. In 2012 Rokita ran for reelection from his home in Clermont,^[83] but he later bought a home near Brownsburg, a western suburb of Indianapolis within the 4th district.^[74]

Reference

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Serving as Indiana's twice-elected Secretary of State and a Member of Congress, Todd Rokita always put Hoosiers first. A lifelong Indiana resident, an active father and husband, Todd believes in giving back to our communities. LEARN more Join Team Rokita in building our grassroots campaign DONATE $25 DONATE $50 DONATE $100 other

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1 day agoAmerican politician Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita went on Fox News Wednesday night to say he is looking into the Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist Caitlin Bernard, who provided a...

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1 day agoIndiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said Wednesday that his office is looking into Dr. C

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TodayTodd Rokita was born on 9 February 1970 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He is a famous and professional American lawyer and politician. He is working as the 44th and current Attorney General of Indiana. In 2018, Todd unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. He began his career at a very young age.

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If you wish to reach the Attorney General's office regarding official state matters, please contact Todd's official office here: Office of the Indiana Attorney General. Contact Our Campaign with this information or with the form below. Todd Rokita Election Committee 5868 E 71st Street, Suite E-372 Indianapolis, IN 46220

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1 day agoAttorney General Todd Rokita appeared more focused on the doctor than on the man accused of raping the child. By Nick Visser Jul 14, 2022, 07:26 AM EDT | Updated 3 hours ago Indiana's Republican attorney general said Wednesday his office would investigate a doctor who provided an abortion to a 10-year-old girl who was raped and became pregnant.

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1 day agoTodd Rokita, a Republican, said "we're gathering evidence" on the doctor who spoke about publicly about having to treat a rape victim from Ohio. Then-Republican attorney general candidate Todd...

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1 day agoAttorney General Todd Rokita today released the following statement: "Aside from the horror caused here by illegal immigration, we are investigating this situation and are waiting for the relevant documents to prove if the abortion and/or the abuse were reported, as Dr. Caitlin Bernard had requirements to do both under Indiana law.

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TodayTodd Rokita looking into Indiana doctor in 10-year-old abortion case. INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana doctor who provided an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio did report the procedure with a form filed with the Indiana Department of Health and the Department of Child Services, records show. The records, obtained by The Indianapolis ...