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Political Note #312   Jonathan Weinzapfel

2020                            General Election

Don’t forget the state races.  How we are governed in each state affects our lives and our future. Governors are, of course, the chiefs. I have written about a few Democratic candidates for Governor.  I have also written about candidates for state supreme court.

Two other state positions warrant attention – Attorneys General and Secretaries of State.  Secretaries of State manage elections in most states.  As Republicans have made the election process more and more political, we have to pay attention.  Attorneys General advise state public officials and act on their state’s behalf, filing law suits as appropriate.  As these actions have become more and more political and more and more national as state attorneys general join together to take positions, we have to pay attention.

Look at Indiana’s Attorney General race.   The Republicans had an unusual event.  The incumbent Republican Attorney General was defeated in the primary.

The incumbent is Curtis Hill.  Formerly the Elkhart County Prosecutor, he was elected Indiana’s first African American Attorney General in 2016.  In 2018, he was accused of groping four women at a party at the end of the legislature’s term.  A Superior Court judge appointed a special prosecutor who found the complaints credible, but insufficient evidence for a conviction of misdemeanor battery.  The prosecutor also found that Hill did not violate ethics laws in using public funds for his defense.

The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission filed a complaint and held a four-day hearing regarding Hill’s behavior at that party.  The Commission found Hill’s behavior “loathsome and demeaning” and suspended his license to practice law for 30 days. These processes left Hill vulnerable to a primary challenge which was won by former Member of Congress Todd Rokita.

The Democrats see this now open seat as an opportunity.  They have  nominated the former mayor of Evansville, Jonathan Weinzapfel https://www.weinzapfelforag.com for Attorney General.  As mayor, he focused on revitalizing the downtown and creating jobs.  He left the mayoralty, popular for the construction of a multi-purpose indoor arena and for public involvement in a conversation about improving education.  Amid speculation about him running for statewide office, he served from 2014 until he began his campaign for Attorney General as Chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College.  Before becoming mayor, he practiced law and served in the state House of Representatives where his major accomplishment was founding a Regional Development Commission.  At age 31, he had lost a race for Congress by a single point.

Jonathan Weinzapfel began his campaign for Attorney General promising to withdraw Indiana from the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.  He asked why the current Attorney General was attempting to take health care away from the people of Indiana in the middle of a pandemic.  His second issue is criminal justice reform – overflowing jails, understaffed mental health programs, and the opioid crisis.  He argues that prevention of crime is as important a responsibility of the Attorney General as punishing those who commit crimes.  Coming from Indiana’s minority party, he emphasizes his experience working in a bipartisan way

Indiana is a Republican and conservative state. Almost 7 million people live there.  Its population is a little larger than Missouri and Maryland, a little smaller than Tennessee and Massachusetts.  85% of Indianans are White.  10% are Black.  Population growth in Indiana has been in the suburbs – of Indianapolis and Cincinnati. It is not particularly prosperous – 35th in median household income among the states.  But it is religious.  Overwhelmingly Christian, mostly Protestant.

Indiana is also overwhelmingly Republican.  Democratic presidential candidates rarely carry Indiana.  Woodrow Wilson won with 43% of the vote.  FDR carried Indiana in 1932 and 1936.  Lyndon Johnson carried the state and Barack Obama beat John McCain by a point.  Republican presidential candidates carried Indiana in all other 20th and 21st century races.

Todd Rokita, the Republican candidate for Attorney General would not be likely to emphasize bipartisan efforts –because Indiana is so Republican and because bi-partisanship would not reflect his character.  Successful when he was young, Todd Rokita was elected Indiana Secretary of State at age 32, a position he held for 8 years.  After that he was elected to Congress, winning handily for four terms.

During his time in office, he was partisan and harsh.  As Secretary of State, he was helped draft and implemented one of the toughest voter ID requirements in the country – one of the first with a photo ID requirement. (By now, we should all understand that these laws discourage participation in democracy by the poor and have little to do with voter fraud.)   Rokita created the appearance of bipartisanship when he developed a proposal to prevent gerrymandering.  His characteristic harshness was visible with his recommendations that any use of political data or the incumbent’s address in drawing district lines should be a felony.

Todd Rokita was equally harsh in Congress.  It is not just that he took Republican positions like abolishing the Affordable Care Act.  In considering immigration issues, he proposed to fine or jail state and local politicians who would not cooperate with immigration officials like ICE.

Todd Rokita was unsuccessful in his last political venture. In 2018, he left the House to run for the Senate.  He lost in the primary to businessman Mike Braun who defeated the incumbent Democrat.  Rokita did not need a primary to run for Attorney General. Indiana Republicans had a convention instead. Rokita won that in a close vote – 52 to 48 percent of the delegates voting in the final round.  Too bad.  Rokita, with his emphasis on punishment, is not really suited to be an Attorney General.

Make a contribution to Jonathan Weinzapfel https://www.weinzapfelforag.com.  With your help, he will be competitive.  He is already prepared.  He had over $700,000 available for campaigning as of June 30.  He’ll need every dime. Even though Todd Rokita had less than $20,000 on that date, he will have a lot more now.  He has the connections to make himself competitive financially.

 2020 Attorney General Races

Democratic incumbents

North Carolina          Incumbent Josh Stein v. County District Attorney Jim O’Neill

Oregon                       Incumbent Ellen Rosenblum v. Activist Michael Cross

Pennsylvania            Incumbent Josh Shapiro v Trial Lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh

Vermont                     Incumbent TJ Donovan v. former Democrat H. Brooke Paige

Washington               Incumbent Bob Ferguson v. Former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and Business Developer Matt Larkin

Democratic challengers

Indiana                       Former Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel v former Member of Congress Todd Rokita for an Open Republican seat

Missouri                     Former Assistant US Attorney Rich Finneran v. Incumbent Eric Schmitt

Utah                            Former prosecutor and current defense attorney Greg Skorda v Incumbent Sean Reyes

West Virginia            Labor Lawyer Sam Petsonk v Incumbent Patrick Morrisey