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An amendment to an Indiana bill could give an \u2062unelected, Democrat-dominated committee the power to control\u2063 the candidates for state attorney general that Hoosiers can vote for. <\/p>\n

This amendment\u2064 aims to prevent any attorney general candidate<\/a> who has been disbarred or suspended from appearing on the \u200bballot\u2064 within a \u2063year of the election. Democrats have\u200c been using law license\u200c challenges \u2062as a political tool \u2063to \u200chinder their opponents’ legal representation. <\/p>\n

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Groups like The 65 Project and Lawyers Defending Democracy have emerged to harass\u200c and intimidate their political opponents, burdening them with costly\u200c legal representation fees for \u200dexercising their constitutionally\u2062 protected\u2063 free speech. This means that any Republican attorney general\u200c is at risk\u200d of facing an ethics complaint unless they avoid challenging Democrat \u2063priorities. <\/p>\n

Several attorneys in Indiana and across the\u200c country have \u200balready faced ethics \u2064challenges \u200dsimply for representing Democrats in court.\u2063 Even sitting \u200dRepublican attorneys general, including Indiana AG\u200d Todd Rokita,\u2062 have been targeted with such charges. <\/p>\n

Rokita, known for his conservative stance, is \u2062part of a group of state attorneys general who are challenging President Joe\u200c Biden in significant\u200d constitutional cases. Interestingly,\u2062 the lawyer \u200brepresenting\u200b Rokita in \u200chis ethics complaint has also faced an ethics\u2064 complaint from\u2063 the same person who filed the complaint against Rokita, according to \u2063Rokita’s \u2064spokesman Benjamin Fearnow.<\/p>\n

The\u200c proposed Indiana amendment would grant an unelected state commission, which is supportive\u200c of abortion rights, the authority to determine \u2063the eligibility of attorney general candidates, effectively taking away the power \u2062from voters.\u2063 The chairman of the Senate Elections Committee, Republican\u200c Sen. Mike Gaskill, who added the amendment to House\u200d Bill\u200c 1265, has not disclosed the author of the amendment. \u200cRequests for comment\u2062 from\u2062 Gaskill’s \u2062spokeswoman \u2063have gone unanswered. <\/p>\n

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Secret Proceedings Control Ballot\u200d Access<\/h2>\n
The proceedings of the Indiana Supreme Court \u200cDisciplinary Commission\u2063 are conducted in\u200d secret, although their conclusions are \u200dmade public. The commission’s recent \u200ddisciplinary action against\u2064 Rokita, for\u200b speaking truthfully and within legal ethics \u2064boundaries about an \u2063 abortion case involving<\/a>\u200b a 10-year-old rape victim, \u200cexposed its vulnerability to\u200d politicization, as\u2062 stated in\u2064 legal documents. <\/p>\n
Rokita settled the complaint by agreeing not to \u200dcontest it and paying a fine\u200b of $250. However, he\u200c was immediately hit with another pending\u200c complaint \u200bbecause leftists \u2064believed he\u2062 did not \u200dshow enough\u2063 remorse\u2064 for challenging the medical license of a woman who performs \u200cabortions. Rokita \u2062was the\u2062 only lawyer reprimanded by the commission for speech in 2023. <\/p>\n
Instead of supporting his fellow Republican\u200c against a board dominated \u2064by Democrats who often favor abortion rights, Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings announced his consideration of primarying\u2063 Rokita.\u2064 Cummings claimed that the disciplinary board could potentially remove Rokita \u2062from the\u200c ballot due to his opposition to\u2062 abortion. He \u200ccited the HB 1256 amendment \u200bas evidence\u200c of Indiana Republican legislative\u2062 leadership’s \u2062agreement with\u200b him.\u2064 <\/p>\n
When asked \u200babout the amendment author,\u200c whether he\u2062 believes unelected pro-abortion bureaucrats\u2064 should have the power to determine candidates, \u200cand his plan to address the issue of Democrats weaponizing the legal system \u2063against their political opponents and the rule of law, a\u2064 spokeswoman for Indiana Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray declined to comment. <\/p>\n
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State\u2062 lawmakers\u200d are well aware of the\u2064 potential to use ethics complaints as\u200d a means to intimidate their political adversaries. During a recent Senate committee hearing, Democrat \u2064Minority Leader \u200cGreg \u2064Taylor \u2063hinted that lawmakers who voted against Democrats could face ethics \u2064complaints, leveraging\u200c their legal backgrounds: “Have you\u200b ever had a disciplinary \u2062action\u2063 filed against you? We all\u200c know\u200c what happens.”<\/p>\n
Democrat Donors Decide \u2064Who Republicans Can \u2064Vote \u200dFor<\/h2>\n
The\u200c executive director of the \u200ddisciplinary commission has a \u2063long \u200dhistory of advocating for\u200c Marxist identity politics. She \u200dhas used\u2063 her \u200dposition to publicly\u2064 endorse judges \u2062who \u2064participated in\u200d Black Lives\u200c Matter protests in 2020. \u200bAccording to OpenSecrets.org records, every\u200b lawyer on the nine-member commission has\u2063 made campaign donations to \u200cDemocrats, \u2064with some also contributing to \u2063Republicans.<\/p>\n
Chairman \u200bBernard Carter, a Lake County prosecutor, has been an elected Democrat\u2064 official for over 30 years and has made \u200bnumerous \u2062donations to Democratic candidates. Among\u200c his contributions are donations\u2063 to pro-abortion Democrat Woody Myers’ campaign for Indiana governor in 2020, his local state Rep. Vernon\u2064 Smith, a supporter\u2063 of critical race theory<\/a>, and Gary, Indiana Mayor Eddie Melton, who\u2064 strongly supports a lawsuit that has jeopardized the privacy of gun owners.<\/p>\n
Other commission\u200c members have \u2063also made donations to \u200cDemocrats, including\u2064 attorney\u200b Daniel Vinovich, who supported a Democrat\u2062 candidate for state Senate in\u200d 2017, and\u2063 member\u200b Cara Weineke, who\u200c donated to the\u200b Indiana \u2063Senate Democratic Committee in 2006.\u2064 <\/p>\n
Abortion-Friendly \u2064Conflicts of Interest<\/h2>\n
The abortionist whom\u2063 Rokita\u2064 criticized, Caitlin Bernard, is \u2062employed by Indiana University Health as a doctor and professor. Rokita\u200b is currently suing IU Health, arguing that their public endorsement of Bernard’s actions, which he believes violated privacy laws, \u200bhas created confusion and threatens the privacy \u200bof Indiana \u2063patients.\u2062 Several members \u200bof \u200bthe disciplinary board have financial ties to IU and IU Health, creating\u2064 a significant conflict \u2064of interest in overseeing the law license\u200c of an attorney general who challenged the medical license of an IU Health employee and sued the institution for \u2062endorsing her alleged breach \u2062of the law.<\/p>\n
It is \u200bworth noting that the \u2064proposed amendment\u200b to House Bill 1265 \u200chas passed\u2062 the Senate\u200d Elections Committee and is awaiting a vote in the full \u200bIndiana Senate. It will then return for another \u200cHouse vote. The original bill sponsor, Rep. Timothy Wesco, a\u2062 Republican, has not provided further comments on the matter. \u2063 <\/p>\n
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\u2062 How does\u200d the \u200bamendment to the Indiana \u200dbill raise concerns about Democratic control over attorney general candidates?<\/h2>\n
An Amendment to Indiana Bill\u200c Raises \u2062Concerns about Democratic \u2063Control over Attorney \u200cGeneral \u200dCandidates<\/p>\n
An amendment to an Indiana bill has raised\u200b concerns about the \u2064potential for an unelected, Democrat-dominated committee to have control \u200cover the candidates for \u2062state attorney \u2064general that \u2063Hoosiers can vote \u2063for. The amendment \u2062aims to prevent any attorney general candidate who has been disbarred or suspended from appearing on \u200bthe ballot within a year of the \u200celection. However, this \u200camendment has been seen by many as a political tool\u200c used by \u200cDemocrats\u2064 to hinder their opponents’ legal representation.<\/p>\n
Groups \u2064like The 65 \u200bProject and Lawyers Defending Democracy have emerged and have\u200c been \u200daccused\u200c of harassing\u2062 and intimidating their political opponents, burdening them\u200c with costly legal representation fees\u2062 for \u200dexercising their constitutionally \u200dprotected free speech. This means that any \u2062Republican attorney general\u2064 is at risk of facing an\u200d ethics complaint unless they avoid \u2064challenging Democrat priorities.<\/p>\n
Even attorneys across the country, including sitting\u2064 Republican attorneys general like Indiana AG Todd Rokita, \u2064have already faced ethics challenges\u2064 simply for\u200b representing Democrats in court. In fact, Rokita, known for his conservative stance, is part \u2062of a group of state attorneys general who are challenging President Joe Biden in\u200d significant constitutional cases. Interestingly, the lawyer representing Rokita in his ethics complaint \u2062has also faced an ethics\u2062 complaint from the same person who filed the complaint against \u2064Rokita, according to Rokita’s spokesman Benjamin Fearnow.<\/p>\n
The \u2064proposed Indiana amendment would grant\u200b an unelected state commission, which is supportive of abortion rights, the authority to determine\u2064 the eligibility of attorney \u200bgeneral candidates,\u2062 effectively taking away the\u200b power from voters. The chairman of the Senate Elections Committee, \u200bRepublican\u2062 Sen.\u2063 Mike Gaskill, who added the amendment to \u200dHouse \u200bBill 1265, has not disclosed the author of the amendment,\u200b and\u200b requests \u2063for comment\u2064 from\u2063 Gaskill’s spokeswoman have gone \u2062unanswered.<\/p>\n
One of the main concerns raised \u2063is the secret\u2062 proceedings of the \u2062Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.\u200d While their conclusions are made public, the proceedings themselves are conducted in secret.\u200d This recent disciplinary action<\/a> against Rokita\u200c has exposed the vulnerability of\u200c the commission to politicization, as \u2063stated in legal documents.\u200d Rokita \u200csettled the complaint by agreeing not \u200dto\u2064 contest\u2064 it and paying a fine of\u200b $250. However,\u200b he was immediately hit with another pending complaint because leftists believed he did\u2062 not show enough remorse for challenging the medical license of a\u2063 woman who\u200c performs abortions. Rokita was the only lawyer \u200dreprimanded by\u200c the commission for speech in 2023.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, instead of supporting his fellow Republican against a board dominated by Democrats who often \u200bfavor abortion rights, Madison County\u200b Prosecutor\u2064 Rodney Cummings announced his consideration of primarying Rokita. Cummings\u200d claimed that the disciplinary\u2062 board could \u200bpotentially remove Rokita from \u2062the ballot\u2062 due\u200b to \u2062his opposition to \u2063abortion, citing the HB 1256 amendment \u200bas evidence of Indiana Republican legislative leadership’s agreement with \u200dhim.<\/p>\n
When approached for comments\u200b on\u200b the amendment author, whether he believes unelected pro-abortion bureaucrats should have the power to determine\u200b candidates, and his plan to address the issue of Democrats weaponizing the legal \u200dsystem against their political opponents \u2062and the rule of law, a spokeswoman for Indiana Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray declined to comment.<\/p>\n
State lawmakers are well aware of the potential to use \u200dethics complaints as a means to intimidate their political adversaries. During a recent Senate committee hearing, Democrat Minority Leader Greg \u2063Taylor hinted that lawmakers who voted against Democrats could face ethics complaints,\u2062 leveraging \u2063their legal backgrounds.<\/p>\n
Another concern is \u200dthe composition of \u200dthe disciplinary commission.\u200b The executive director of the \u2064commission has\u200d a long\u2064 history of\u2064 advocating for Marxist identity politics and has used her position to publicly endorse judges \u2064who participated in Black Lives Matter protests in\u2062 2020.\u200b Additionally, according to OpenSecrets.org records, every lawyer on the\u200d nine-member commission has\u2062 made\u2063 campaign donations \u200cto Democrats, with some \u200balso contributing \u2064to Republicans.<\/p>\n
The\u200c amendment to the Indiana bill \u200draises\u2062 serious\u200d concerns \u2062about the \u200bpotential for Democratic control over attorney general candidates. The unelected committee’s power to determine the eligibility of candidates\u2063 and the history of using \u200cethics complaints as political tools are \u2062examples\u200b of attempts to manipulate \u200cthe legal system for political gain. The decision to grant such power to unelected pro-abortion bureaucrats undermines the power of voters and raises questions\u200c about fairness and democracy\u200c in the state of Indiana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Proposed Indiana bill amendment grants power to a secretive, Democrat-dominated committee to dictate eligible candidates for state attorney general. It prohibits disbarred or suspended individuals from appearing on Hoosier ballots within a year of the election<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":519,"featured_media":2186483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/52936964183_975027cccd_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2186482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/52936964183_975027cccd_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2186482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2186483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2186482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2186482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2186482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}