Candidates for attorney general clash over advertising allegations • Indiana Capital Chronicle

Democratic candidate for attorney general Destiny Wells went on the attack in ads released last week, prompting a rebuke from Republican incumbent Todd Rokita.

In radio and television segments, Wells’ campaign team criticized Rokita’s support for the state’s abortion ban, noted that he was under investigation and alleged that he had misused public funds.

He hit Wells back.

“Destiny Wells is a failed politician who was just rejected by voters when she ran for secretary of state two years ago and who will now say anything to get her campaign out of the ditch,” it said in a statement Rokita’s campaign team told the Capital Chronicle.

Wells accused her opponent of spending about $3 million on unsolicited mass communications over a dozen years during his time as Indiana’s secretary of state and in Congress, citing a 2018 investigation by The Associated Press.

The practice is called franking. It is legal, but controversy has led to regulations. Rokita’s campaign team said he had followed the rules.

“Congressman Rokita’s communication of information to voters was then approved by the Bipartisan Franking Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives,” the campaign said. It did not address allegations stemming from his tenure as foreign minister.

In 2010, the Indiana Legislature banned the state’s elected officials from using their own name or likeness in publicly funded communications directed at Rokita, according to the AP.

Pay to Play

Wells also accused him of “wasting” public money on “pay-to-play” schemes that date back to his time as secretary of state.

Her campaign added via email that his campaign received nearly $75,000 from companies that received contracts worth about $20.7 million from the secretary of state’s office. The Wells campaign cited public campaign finance and contract documents.

Rokita’s campaign refuted the allegations.

“The idea that anyone would pay to play in the state of Indiana, or specifically the Attorney General’s office, is, on its face, simply silly,” the campaign said via email.

“All donor information is public in campaign finance reports, as required by law. All state contract information is also public,” it said. “It is shameful and revealing that someone running for the state’s top judicial officer would make criminal allegations without understanding basic legal concepts.”

Rokita, known for his combative communication style, did not mention his opponent in a national radio advertisement in late September.

Instead, he claimed to be “stopping bad ideas” from Washington, DC, fighting unauthorized immigration, pushing for a “parental rights agreement,” and suing abusive landlords, among other things.