AG Rokita puts labor traffickers, hospitals & disciplinary commission on notice

On Thursday, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita invited representatives from several media outlets to his office to talk about his office’s priorities for the next four years. The three main areas he outlined were labor trafficking, healthcare costs, and integrity of the legal profession.

AG Rokita won his election with more votes than any other state office candidate, and at press time the totals show him within a small margin of the number of votes cast for U.S. Senator-elect Jim Banks. This newspaper finds that notable in part because Rokita did not run negative campaign ads.

“The voters rejected the division that my opponent tried to produce, and they appreciated a positive campaign,” Rokita said. “I didn’t run one negative ad. We talked about what this office did, and what we’re going to do for Hoosier, and I think that really resonated. I’d like to thank the people of the state, voters and taxpayers of the state, for everything that they’ve done, and their trust and confidence.”

Labor trafficking

AG Rokita said he will be investigating “labor trafficking” in Indiana.

The AG’s office has issued several Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) to businesses and nonprofit organizations in Evansville, Logansport, and Seymour.

“Those are like subpoenas, they have to be answered under oath and under law,” Rokita said. “What we suspect is that businesses, in conjunction with non-profit entities, are incentivizing – acting like magnets – for these illegal aliens as they come over the border to place them in low-paying work or otherwise engaged in labor trafficking. So we suspect the questions we ask and other initiatives we may have to take based on the answers to those questions will determine if that’s the case.”

According to AG Rokita, even if the current administration is misapplying or misinterpreting federal immigration law, that does not make illegal immigrants into legal ones.

“They are still illegal aliens who cross the border illegally,” Rokita said. “I look forward to working with President Trump to make that stop or even send them back to their home countries.”

Healthcare costs

AG Rokita said he is looking forward to working with Governor-elect Mike Braun on addressing the increase in healthcare costs across Indiana.

“It’s getting out of hand,” Rokita said. “Recently, the General Assembly, another client of mine, have given this office the authority to inspect – to review hospitals. We’ve already started on that because when you combine hospitals, the danger is that you get some antitrust or monopolistic behavior. And what this office does is enforce Indiana’s antitrust law. I can already see that we’re going to need to look at broadening that antitrust – that monopolistic enforcement authority – that we have and build on it.

The AG’s office is also looking into whether or not the healthcare provider for state employees is providing service in the most efficient and affordable way possible, especially since those costs are paid by Hoosier taxpayers.

“I haven’t been able to get that data from our own state government – from my own client – from this current administration,” Rokita said. “I would hope and expect, if our governor-elect really wants to focus on healthcare, and knowing that the state of Indiana, being one of the largest employers in the state and nation, we should be able to see our own healthcare numbers and I should be able to help determine if we’re getting a good deal or not.”

Integrity for the legal profession

Another area AG Rokita said he would focus on is integrity for the legal profession.

“Nine out of 51 former Indiana governors were attorneys,” Rokita said. “Fifteen percent of the General Assembly are lawyers. Ninety-one prosecutors around the state. We also have judges around the state – hundreds of them. And we have seen tremendous weaponization and lawfare being practiced out of the Attorney Disciplinary Commission and a similar commission that exists for judges, all run by the same staff. They meet in secret. They’re not accountable to anybody.”

Rokita has faced complaints from the Attorney Disciplinary Commission during his first term in office, which he says were filed by political opponents on that commission.

“One who filed three [complaints] literally got Democrat Activist of the Year, an award bestowed upon him in 2018, before I even became Attorney General,” Rokita said. “Do you think he’s got some bias in this? Yes, of course. And I want to ensure that Indiana’s legal professionals are safeguarded against these frivolous, politically driven complaints. So look for something in my second term to address some of those. Again, not necessarily for me or just for me, but we need to set a high standard.”

Rokita said he will take action to help ensure lawyers, when representing clients, and judges, when administering cases, are free to speak about political and controversial issues without potential repercussions.

“I was hindered from doing that in my first term because of a lawfare going on at the Indiana Disciplinary Commission,” Rokita said. “The chairman, while he was investigating me, literally endorsed my opponent, and the press never picked up on it. The chair of the Disciplinary Commission endorsed my opponent while he’s investigating me.”

Rokita also took a moment to thank voters and his staff.

“The people of this state in record number had the confidence in me to represent them again,” Rokita said. “So I thank them again, I thank them for that. I thank them for that vote of confidence and for putting me in office again. I want to thank the staff of this office. They’re amazing people. We are 400 in number with 200 attorneys. By several measures we are the state’s largest law firm. We are the most diverse law firm in terms of the issues that we’re able to tackle. The staff and the leadership office has done a great job in the last four years, and I look forward to just the same kind of thing in the next four years.”