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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Senate Elections Committee on Monday added an amendment to a bill that could block some Hoosiers from running for state attorney general.
The amendment to House Bill 1265 would add a qualification to run for attorney general, saying the person can’t have been disbarred or suspended without automatic reinstatement within one year of the election.
The bill then passed the committee 6-2.
It wouldn’t currently apply to Attorney General Todd Rokita, who was reprimanded for misconduct in November. But new complaints were filed against Rokita, which are still working through the disciplinary process. If he were suspended without automatic reinstatement he would be ineligible to run under this amendment.
Former Attorney General Curtis Hill was suspended for 30 days in May 202o for groping four women but was automatically reinstated. Later that year, Rokita defeated Hill in a convention and snagged the Republican nomination for the office.
Pendleton Republican Sen. Mike Gaskill, who chairs the committee, refused to entertain several amendments filed on the same bill and another one. But he allowed this amendment to move. It was explained by an attorney for the Legislative Services Agency and Gaskill did not say who filed the amendment.
The panel also approved two other bills:
- House Bill 1264 passed 5-3. The bill creates new requirements for first-time voters, proof of citizenship and more. It also would allow state election officials to pay for commercially available data — likely Experian’s TrueTrace — and let county voter registration offices use the information for voter list maintenance. Supporters called it an election security bill while opponents said it adds unnecessary hoops for eligible voters.
- House Bill 1133 passed 7-1. The proposal requires disclaimers on political campaign communications including fabricated media depicting a candidate that a reasonable person wouldn’t know was fake. The panel amended the bill to add federal candidates alongside state candidates.
All three bills now move to the full Senate.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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The AG should be appointed by the governor.
Amen
except then the AG would serve at the pleasure of the governor. And if the AG were to start a civil or criminal investigation of the Governor or some crony of the Governor, the Governor would simply fire the AG and install an AG more compliant.
If you created an AG who was appointed by the Governor but could not be removed from office by the Governor, you’d have another Todd Rokita, who could do as they pleased and run a political show, but not be subject to removal.
I think the important thing will be that voters, who now see what an embarrsment an AG like Rokita can be, to giver consideration to that candidate and not just pull party levers. Maybe voters will have to do their homework, and not just vote for whatever genitalia nominated for the job by party insiders.
I’d hoped the Supreme Court would rule on Rokita’s glaring defiance of the Court by this time, but I wonder now if they’re waiting to see if the Indiana Republican Party replaces him on the ballot. If he’s no longer the AG, maybe they’ll just sweep the excrement from this circus parade come to town under the rug, and not bother with a proper clean up.
Compromise: either institute a “special counsel” statute for investigating any of the statewide elected officials, or make the AG appointment subject to State Senate approval AND removal by a supermajority (60 or 67%), and/or make it a 2 year term so the next governor can get rid of the next Hill or Rokita.
Another witch hunt by Republican Leadership to try to get rid of Rokita.
Yep. I couldn’t really stand Rokita as recently as 3-4 years ago. And although Indiana is much better through Rokita’s efforts to push out a corrupt doctor like Caitlin Bernard, Rokita also didn’t know when to leave well enough alone and should have ceased pursuing her once he improved the integrity of the state’s obstetrics community by having her flee to Illinois, where her sleaze-bag ethics are embraced.
That said, much as I don’t think I’d like Rokita if I had lunch with him and generally don’t agree with him on core issues (including abortion), it’s obvious he’s a thorn in the side to the Uniparty, which in Indiana is GOP led. And even if Holcomb is good at maintaining the optics of quiet dignity, let’s not forget that he was just as rigidly pro-life as Rokita–so for those of us who seek a more balanced approach to the abortion issue, Holcomb is no better. Plus Holcomb has all the baggage of The Establishment tethered to his ankle, a condition he fully embraces and seeks to enhance.
In a state with a GOP supermajority like Indiana, this amendment would ensure that the Establishment GOP can stop someone who might go renegade like Rokita, even if it’s clearly reflective of the will of the majority of Hoosiers. In other words, it’s the Deep State being the Deep State–the neocon/neolib slimeball alliance looking out for itself and reining in anything resembling populism…which they see as a greater threat than cartels streaming across our wide-open border. And the populism will only grow as the Deep State willfully and maliciously strives to make its constituents miserable through globalist initiatives that the globalist billionaires pay both parties dearly for doing. Rough times.
Just vote for a Democrat. You’re just enabling the behavior and bills you claim to hate.
Rokita a populist? More like a desperate man trying to revive a flailing political career. The last time he faced an opponent of the same party, he got drilled. It’s no accident he ran for an office where he had to get nominated by the insiders of … the establishment GOP that you claim hates him.
Maybe spend less time whining about where others get their news and more time upgrading the news you read.