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News Friday, Feb 16 2018

Indiana Senate Candidate Todd Rokita Has Spent $3 Million In Taxpayer-Paid Self-Promotion   

Feb 16, 2018

A new report reveals that career politician Todd Rokita has a long history of using taxpayer money for political gain, spending millions on radio ads and mailers promoting himself — shattering his image as a fiscal conservative and raising serious ethical questions.

“Todd Rokita has a taxpayer-paid chauffeur who has to follow humiliatingly precise instructions or be berated by the congressman — and now Hoosiers are learning he has spent over $3 million in taxpayer dollars to further his political career,” said American Bridge spokesperson Joshua Karp. “Todd Rokita sees his taxpayer-paid job as nothing more than a slush fund for him to use to reach even higher office. Count on Hoosiers to stop this self-interested political climber at the ballot box.”

AP: Public money fuels Indiana Senate candidate Todd Rokita’s publicity bid

By Brian Slodysko | February 15, 2018

  • “Throughout his career in elected office, Indiana Senate candidate Todd Rokita has used apocalyptic language to warn of ‘out-of-control’ government spending… Yet whenever election season rolls around, the Republican congressman has been more than willing to shell out public dollars to tout his efforts in office, according to an analysis of public records by the Associated Press.”
  • “Over the past 12 years, Rokita has spent roughly $3 million in public money on media campaigns, mailers and other forms of mass communication, usually ramping up the spending before appearing on a ballot, the AP’s review found. That figure reflects spending by Rokita that occurred both when he was Indiana’s secretary of state and during his time in Congress.”
  • “Since joining Congress in 2011, Rokita has spent a minimum of $1.1 million in taxpayer money on mailers, radio ads and other forms of communication, the AP’s review found. That’s 10 times more than Donnelly spent in the same period as a congressman and then senator. It far surpasses the $304,000 Messer, one of Rokita’s primary opponents, has spent on such expenses since joining Congress in 2013.”
  • “But Rokita’s reputation for self-promotion predates his time in federal office. While still secretary of state, his use of nearly $1.9 million in public money on such expenses so angered fellow Republicans in the Legislature that they passed a 2010 law aimed at curtailing his appearances in TV and radio ads.”
  • “In the summer of 2016, Rokita unsuccessfully pursued the GOP nod for governor… His spending skyrocketed during that time, jumping from several thousand dollars in the months before, to $241,000 during the final six months of that year, records show. That placed Rokita among the top five spenders in Congress at the time, records show.”

Read the full article here.


Published: Feb 16, 2018

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