Rokita Embarrasses Indiana Yet Again

Indiana AG Todd Rokita
Photo: State of Indiana

Todd Rokita never should have been Attorney General of Indiana. 

But, here we are, Todd Rokita is Indiana's problem because every time he gets the national spotlight, he proves to be a colossal embarrassment to our state and to the Republican Party.

Today's Todd Rokita embarrassment story is that he's investigating the doctor who performed the abortion on a 10-year-old girl who was raped in Ohio and who then became pregnant. The procedure could not be performed in Ohio due to the law there, so she was brought to Indiana where, following the law, the doctor performed the procedure.

Rokita claimed his office was waiting for the documents to prove that the doctor acted under the law.  Fox 59 got the documents by an FOIA request.

Yep, that's our Todd. As my late but very Hoosier Grandma would say, "He's dumber than a box of rocks."

As social media circles cuss Indiana for being an embarrassment for electing Rokita, it's important to remember that even Republicans don't really like Todd Rokita. The only reason he is Attorney General is because his predecessor ran afoul of party bosses after multiple women levied accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior against him, and he wouldn't do the decent thing and resign. 

So, Todd Rokita was available when Republicans needed a replacement for Hill. Available because after giving up his safe seat in Indiana's 4th Congressional District, he pursued the GOP Senate nomination. He finished behind Mr. Blue Shirt, Mike Braun. 

Rokita eeked by the politically wounded Hill and the rest of the competition at the 2020 Republican convention to win the AG nomination despite having by far the most name recognition of any other candidates. I mean, it came down to a guy whose law license had been suspended for 30 days while he was AG or Todd Rokita. Rokita barely won. He raced to victory in November on the coattails of a strong GOP performance statewide.

Eric Holcomb has little use for Rokita who fought him tooth and nail on public health efforts during COVID-19. Rokita already has racked up quite a losing record in court on frivolous cases that have little chance of anything but bolstering his own credentials as an arch-conservative Trump loyalist.

Ultimately, Todd Rokita doesn't care about Indiana. He cares only about Todd Rokita, and it's dangerous to run the Attorney General's office like a crusader for all the arch-conservative causes. It's also expensive for taxpayers. The doctor in this abortion case has, through her lawyer, threatened legal action against Rokita for harming her reputation. I hope she wins. Doubt it will send a message to Rokita, but she deserves to be compensated for this mess when all she was doing was helping a girl who needed her.

More embarrassment from this embarrassment of a public official. I'd ask Todd Rokita to do everyone a favor and just resign and go away, but Rokita doesn't know when to quit. He'll never be Governor or Senator, as James Briggs so eloquently wrote in the Star, and he's either too dumb or too power drunk not to see it. He's still in a position to do a lot of harm to Hoosiers and our state's reputation.

Joe Kernan (1946-2020)

Joe Kernan
Photo: United States Naval Academy

There will never be another Joe Kernan.

Never. 

Indiana's 48th Governor, Kernan passed away today at the age of 74 after a battle with Alzheimer's Disease. The Indy Star's Justin L. Mack reports that there will be no public services due to COVID-19.

Born in Chicago on April 8, 1946, Kernan's father, Joseph E. Kernan, Jr. was a veteran of World War II and worked in government roles and so did Kernan's mother, Marian. The Kernan Family moved to South Bend when Joe was 10. He graduated from St. Joseph's High School in 1964. From there, he matriculated to Notre Dame and graduated four years later with a degree in government.

In 1969, Joe Kernan answered his country's call in Vietnam and joined the Navy. Shot down over North Vietnam in 1972, Lieutenant Kernan became a prisoner of war in Hanoi. For nearly a year, he was imprisoned there. The Indy Star's Jason Kelly wrote this touching piece about Kernan and detailed some of his time as a POW. For his service, Kernan was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts and the Navy Commendation Metal.

Kernan got married to his wife, Maggie, and returned to private life after the military in 1974. In 1980, the became South Bend city controller. He was elected Mayor of South Bend in 1987. Kernan served two terms as the Mayor of South Bend. He was in his third term when asked in 1996 to be Frank O'Bannon's running mate. The O'Bannon/Kernan ticket defeated Stephen Goldsmith and George Witwer in a tight race. He and O'Bannon enjoyed a productive four years in office, and they were reelectd in a landslide in 2000. The great economic conditions from their first term began to slow, and so did the Indiana economy. The state began to struggle. Tragedy then struck.

O'Bannon attended a trade conference in September 2003 in Chicago. On September 8, O'Bannon suffered a massive stroke in Chicago and died five days later. Kernan moved from Lieutenant Governor to Governor and comforted a grieving state through the loss of its popular leader. One of Kernan's first decisions as Governor was to name Kathy Davis as his Lieutenant Governor. Davis became the first woman to serve in that post.

In his short time on the job as Governor, Kernan did his best to help the Indiana economy, and things were beginning to turn around. In his only legislative session with the Indiana General Assembly, he championed educational reforms such as all-day kindergarten that ultimately did not pass.

Initially, Kernan decided not to pursue a term of his own as Indiana's Chief Executive, but he changed his mind and ran into the buzzsaw that was the 2004 election in Indiana. Led by George W. Bush at the top of the ticket, Mitch Daniels was elected Indiana Governor, and Kernan returned to South Bend.

In retirement, he became one of the owners of South Bend's minor league baseball team, and he served with Chief Justice Randall Shepard in authoring the Kernan-Shepard report on how to streamline and reform government in Indiana.

I met Kernan for the first time in 2004. I attended a fundraiser for the Governor's campaign that was geared toward young people. After he arrived, I watched as the Governor worked the room. I lost track of him because I was in conversation with other people at my table.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and it was the Governor.

"Hi, I'm Joe," he said.

"Of course you are!" I thought.

Joe Kernan embodied humility. He never became filled with the ego and self-importance to which some politicians at his level often fall victim. I talked with him a few more times over the years, and I always found him engaging and giving of his time.

Governor Kernan is survived by Maggie, and his siblings.

According to the Indianapolis Star, you can make memorial contributions to the Veterans Fund at the University of Notre Dame, Kernan's beloved alma mater.

This may be the understatement of the decade, but Indiana will miss Joe Kernan.

Lucas' Controversial Post on Social Media Draws Scrutiny

Stop me if you've heard this one before...

Barely two months after he was demoted from leadership posts by the Republican House caucus for what many considered to be a racially-charged Facebook post, Jim Lucas, the District 69 State Representative, has again posted something controversial.

Lucas, who has been a frequent critic of the state's pandemic response, took to Facebook to express his outrage over the mandate asking Hoosiers to wear a mask. This picture of the post is circulating on social media. 

Lucas met with almost immediate backlash and even some praise on the post. After the outrage began to outweigh the praise with many people seeing the post as a potential threat against Governor Eric Holcomb, Lucas added an addendum to the post:

For those that are blowing this out of proportion (again), this picture IS NOT a threat against anyone! 

It is a picture that I have used countless times for years that best exhibits our FREEDOM and Constitutional rights and IS NOT A THREAT!

History shows that the posts from yesterday were right in character for Lucas.

Lucas once posted a letter he wrote to an Indy Star reporter who had written a story about rape suggesting a follow-up story about women "learning how not to be a victim." Lucas apologized.

Another time, he also shared a meme with a picture of a woman in the trunk of a car with the caption, "Wanna know who loves you more: your wife or your dog? Lock them both in your trunk and see who's happy to see you when you let them out."

On WISH-TV's Facebook page, Lucas once shared a photo of two nooses under a story where a black man had confessed to raping three women in Indiana. Lucas claimed the photo posting had nothing to do with the race of the man who admitted to the rapes.

Then, that post I mentioned earlier in this post from last May that caused him to write this (ahem) apology

In almost every case, Lucas accuses those who take umbrage with his posts as making a mountain out of a molehill. He also has claimed multiple times that the pictures or memes he posts have been used by him in other ways before in trying to excuse the use. You can almost set your watch by it.

One has to truly wonder what Lucas' intentions were in this case. Does he think he can intimidate Governor Holcomb? Holcomb, who has polled strongly since taking office, is a longtime GOP insider and former Indiana Republican Party Chair with inside ties to Dan Coats, Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence. He's Donald Trump's honorary campaign chair in Indiana.

Lucas is a State Representative who has managed to get catty-wompus with his own party.

Holcomb's not intimidated. He's right on masks. He may have taken a little time to get there, but action had to be taken to help slow the spread. Masks don't violate anyone's rights. They protect your health.

One thing's for darn sure, Lucas' history shows that he's clearly not changing the way he goes about his social media activities. Some would say that it's been the minimal consequences that he's faced that emboldens him. He seems to believe he's untouchable politically. Perhaps he's too comfortable in his seat, but it's his seat until someone defeats him at the ballot box.

Just so you know, voters of District 69, Jeffery Prewitt is running against Lucas, and there's also an independent on the ballot named Katrina Hardwick. You have a choice.

For now, I'll mark the tape because I am quite sure there will be a new, controversial Lucas post sometime soon. When it happens, I'll even use the same headline.

Larrison Wins Spot on Council

Jason Larrison
Photo: Jason Larrison for Council Facebook

City-County Council candidate Jason Larrison described himself as a "failed" blogger and comedian to the Indy Star's Amelia Pak-Harvey in an apology for inflammatory old blog posts.

Now, he can describe himself as City-County Councillor.

By a social-media-reported margin of one vote, Larrison has been elected to the City-County Council in a caucus of 23 party precinct officials over Karla Lopez-Owens and Francine Lee.

Larrison will now serve out the unexpired term of Blake Johnson. The next Council election will be 2023 (barring some change at the state level to move municipal elections to an even year).

Larrison had been backed by Mayor Joe Hogsett and his inner circle who spent a lot of political capital in defending Larrison. City-County Councillors and community members raised concerns about Larrison's fitness for office after the controversial blog posts resurfaced.

Those opposed to Larrison's candidacy rallied around Karla Lopez-Owens, a Mexican native, naturalized citizen and immigrant activist. The 12th District on the Council has the city's highest Latinx/Hispanic population of any Council district. Lopez-Owens would have been the only Latina on the Council had she won the caucus.

How we proceed from here will certainly be interesting to watch. There are people who are straight up mad about this, and it remains to be seen if that anger subsides. Twelve sitting Councillors had sent Hogsett a letter endorsing Lopez-Owens and asking for Larrison to leave the race. The Mayor needs to certainly smooth things over with them, if he can.

My feeling is that this will not go away for Larrison, and his margin for error on the Council will be extremely small. The Mayor also is in the middle of a dire time. He's receiving renewed pressure from those on the right and the last thing he needs is a fight from the left. He's brought this one on himself.

Never a dull moment in Indy!

District 12 Race May Be Inflicting Damage to Hogsett's Relationships with Council

Joe Hogsett
Photo: indy.gov

One of the rules of being a political leader is knowing when to punt.

Joe Hogsett is holding on to the ball on 4th and 15, and a near majority of the City-County Council is chasing after him.

Twelve members the Council Democratic Caucus sent Hogsett, his senior staff and candidate Jason Larrison a letter expressing support for Karla Lopez-Owens and asking Larrison to leave the race. Larrison, Lopez-Owens and Francine Lee are locked in a tight caucus battle to replace Blake Johnson on the Council in District 12.

Hogsett has backed Larrison and continues to back him despite Indy Star reporting from Amelia Pak-Harvey detailing blog posts Larrison penned several years ago. Blog posts that could conservatively be described as anti-immigrant, misogynistic and homophobic. Unbelievably, the blog still is live. You can read it here. Larrison apologized in the Pak-Harvey article calling his posts, "unacceptable."

So, if they were unacceptable, why is Hogsett continuing to back Larrison's candidacy? Why did he issue a defense in the Pak-Harvey article. I get that people change and that we aren't the people we were 10-15-20 years ago, but these posts were, in my opinion, so inflammatory that they would affect Larrison's ability to be a successful Councillor. It's also clear that the entire situation has the potential, whatever the outcome, to drive a wedge between the Mayor and his Council caucus as well as other community leaders. Why not just urge Larrison to step aside and allow Lopez-Owens or Lee to represent the district in the Council? If Larrison refused to step aside, at least the best thing politically for Hogsett would be to distance yourself from him more strongly.

The damage may already be done, though. I don't get it. I wonder what advice the Mayor is getting these days.

Larrison's Past Blog Posts Provide District 12 Caucus Eve Surprise

When Blake Johnson was elected to fill out the unexpired term of Dan Forestal, who resigned from his District 100 post in the Indiana House, it set off a race to replace him on the City-County Council

Many community leaders and several City-County Councillors have come out in support of Karla Lopez-Owens to replace Johnson. Mayor Joe Hogsett has backed former employee Jason Larrison for the spot. So, as you might imagine, the caucus has taken a turn and has become a bit of a proxy battle between the Council and the Mayor. Francine Lee, who has supporters of her own, is also in the race to become a Councillor as well.

Well, this race took a turn this evening. Call it a "Caucus Eve Surprise" if you will.

Tonight, the Indianapolis Star published an article by Amelia Pak-Harvey detailing blog posts written in 2006 and 2007 where Larrison had made insensitive remarks about undocumented immigrants, women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

For his part, Larrison apologized without any confusion. After explaining to the Pak-Harvey that he was unsuccessfully attempting to be a blogger and a comedian at the time he penned the posts, he said, "I made bad jokes that were completely unacceptable and I am not the sort of person to make excuses when I screw up."

That's a definitive apology, and I credit him for taking responsibility. He didn't go the wishy washy way of saying that he was apologizing if he offended someone. He said he was clearly wrong. 

The apology, though, in my opinion is not enough. The posts were unacceptable, as he stated, and they were disqualifying. Larrison should drop out of this race before the caucus on Tuesday. I believe that no matter his contrition, the posts were written and that will damage his ability to effectively serve his constituents. District 12 has, according to the Star, the highest percentage of Hispanic and Latinx individuals in our city.

That's not all, though. I'm also disappointed in Mayor Hogsett, who, according to the Star piece, condemned Larrison's past posts but continues to support his candidacy. I think that's incredibly unfortunate, and it has the potential to strain the relationships between the Mayor and the Latinx community in Indianapolis.

I agree with the Councillors and community leaders backing Karla Lopez-Owens. She should be given the opportunity to lead the 12th District on the Council. She appears qualified and ready to lead the district forward.

UPDATE: After having read some of the posts in question (found them on a Facebook post of a friend), I think Joe Hogsett needs to answer as to why he is continuing to support Larrison's campaign at all. The posts are definitely disqualifying.