Todd Rokita

Early life, education and career

Rokita grew up in Munster, located in Lake County in Northwest Indiana. Rokita attended Munster High School. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he was an Eli Lilly Fellow. He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He has a law degree from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

Rokita was a practicing attorney. In 1997 he joined the secretary of state's office as general counsel. He later became deputy secretary of state.

Indiana Secretary of State

Rokita was elected by his peers nationally to serve on the nine-member federal executive board of the Election Assistance Commission. The commission is charged by law to address election reform issues on a nationwide basis. Rokita has testified about Indiana's voting reform efforts before the United States Congress.

As secretary of state, Rokita visited each of Indiana's ninety-two counties at least once per year. Rokita was named as one of the "40 under 40" by the Indianapolis Business Journal. Rokita was active in the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), and after serving as the elected treasurer, he became the President for the 2007–2008 term.

Rokita was a named defendant in the Hoosier State's voter identification case went before the U.S. Supreme Court on January 9, 2008; the combined cases of Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (07-21) and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita (07-25) involved the Indiana voting requirement laws that require voters display state-issued photo IDs before voting. In April 2008, the US Supreme Court upheld that law. Rokita also served as Indiana's chief securities fraud investigator.

In September 2009, Rokita outlined a plan to reform how Indiana's legislative districts are drawn to reduce gerrymandering. He proposed making it a felony for lawmakers to use political data or incumbents' addresses when drawing electoral maps. Indiana's congressional districts and districts for the Indiana Senate and Indiana House of Representatives will next be redrawn after the 2010 Census. Rokita says boundaries should follow existing county and township lines, and that each of the 50 senate districts should be divided into two house districts, claiming this will lead to more competitive legislative elections.

Committee assignments

Controversies

On Aug. 4, 2014, on an Indianapolis radio program, while discussing the 2014 American immigration crisis, Rokita expressed concerns about the ability of border patrol agents to properly process and screen individuals entering the country illegally. He stated that “from a public-health standpoint” that we “need to know the condition of these kids” while citing the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa as a news event that shows how rapidly diseases can spread. In response to reports stating that Rokita believed that illegal immigrants could be carrying Ebola, he clarified that “the sudden spread of Ebola in Africa is merely one example of how we must take deliberate care to prevent an outbreak of any type of disease inside our borders.” Rokita also cited news reports indicating that nationals from 75 different countries had been apprehended between 2010 and 2014 illegally crossing the Mexico–United States border.

In October 2013 during the American government shutdown, Rokita was interviewed by CNN journalist Carol Costello. Her pointed questions about Rokita's defense of the shutdown that furloughed hundreds of thousands of government employees without compensation while he continued to receive his paycheck, were eventually countered with his statement that she was "beautiful but you have to be honest" and that journalists were part of the problem. The Congressman's office issued a statement that he intended no offense by his comments.

In April 2007, Rokita was speaking at a Republican event, and encouraged Republicans to reach out to African-Americans. He mentioned 90 percent of African Americans vote Democratic, after which he asked, "How can that be? Ninety to ten. Who's the master and who's the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?" Four days after making those remarks, he apologized. Rokita also met privately with eleven members of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus to apologize for the comment. Representative Vernon Smith, D-Gary, told reporters, “He apologized to our satisfaction. We do believe he was sincere in his apology," Smith said. "I think there are greater issues – education, health, economics for the black community – that are more important than us spending all this time on a slip of the lip. I do believe that we all make mistakes (and) that if we expect to be forgiven, we need to forgive." During the course of the same private meeting Rokita was told his office should reflect the diversity of the state, at the time of his remarks 89% of the employees in Rokita's office were white.

2010

On February 1, 2010, three days after Congressman Steve Buyer of Indiana's 4th congressional district said that he would retire at the end of his term, Rokita posted an announcement on Facebook making clear his intentions to run for the open seat.

Buyer's announcement touched off a free-for-all among area Republicans to succeed him. Ultimately, thirteen candidates entered the Republican primary, including Rokita. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+14, the 4th is one of the most Republican districts in the Eastern Time Zone and tied for the second-most Republican in the state (behind the 5th District). It was taken for granted that whoever won the primary would be heavily favored to be the district's next congressman.

Rokita won the primary with 42 percent of the vote, and went on to win the general election with 68.6% of the vote.

Tenure

Rokita is against federal government regulation over farming. A representative of a heavy-farming district in Indiana, Rokita has voted in favor of deregulating farmer restrictions, earning him an "A" rating from the American Farm Bureau Federation. He co-sponsored the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act – passing the House in March 2011 – in order to prevent the "significant burden on small businesses for little obvious environmental benefit." Rokita also co-sponsored the Preserving America's Family Farms Act – which passed the House in July 2012 – citing Indiana's dependence on youth work on family farms.

Rokita opposes any Health Care regulation that increases the national debt, earning a "B" rating by the National Taxpayers Union 2011 Positions on Tax and Spending. He opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and was the key vote to repeal the health care law and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. His healthcare voting record has given him an extremely low approval ratings from care-related interest groups such as the Association of University Centers on Disabilities and the American Nurses Association.

Rokita is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, saying "I’m proud of my 'A' rating from the NRA. If we are going to keep up our traditions and pass them on to our children, we need leaders in Congress who understand, and will fight every day, to protect our 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms." Rokita voted in favor of a bill "Requiring State Reciprocity for Carrying Concealed Firearms" in November 2011.

In 2010 Rokita signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any Global Warming legislation that would raise taxes.

Legislation

On April 2, 2014, Rokita introduced the Strengthening Education through Research Act (H.R. 4366; 113th Congress). The bill would amend and reauthorize the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 and would authorize the appropriation of $615 million for fiscal year 2015 and $3.8 billion over the 2015–2019 period to support federal educational research, statistical analysis, and other activities.

Personal life

Rokita is a member of the Director's Circle of the Indiana Council for Economic Education, the state bar association, the Knights of Columbus, and the National Rifle Association. A commercial-rated pilot, Rokita volunteers his time by flying people in need of non-emergency medical care to hospitals and clinics throughout the Midwest for treatment and is a member of the Indiana chapter of the International Flying Farmers. Rokita has also served as Chair of NASS's New Millennium Young Voters Summit of 2004, chair of the standing Voter Participation Committee and vice chair of the Securities Regulation Committee.