Spurned by GOP SPI, Rokita still ready to defend DeVos’ anti-public schools agenda
INDIANAPOLIS – While Democratic Attorney General Candidate Jonathan Weinzapfel is earning the support of Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick, it’s hard to find a louder cheerleader for dismantling and defunding traditional public education and a more hyper-partisan pol than Todd Rokita.
FACT: He called himself a “partner” and “ally” of Secretary DeVos and backed her 2017 plan to expand public funding of private schools in May 2017.
FACT: He boasted that conservatives like him don’t like early childhood education because, “we don’t like it because it is an institutionalization of children at an even earlier age”
FACT: Bloomberg BNA called a Rokita bill an effort to “transform charitable incentives into profit scheme.”
Rokita’s bill allowed for private investors and corporations to get tuition tax credits for making donations to fund private school vouchers, which would allow those investors to “turn a profit” with the tuition tax credits that they would receive for the voucher donations. Corporations could get a tax credit of up to $100,000.
Again, while Weinzapfel is earning bipartisan plaudits, Todd Rokita proudly touts his record as one of Indiana’s least bipartisan politicians and treats working across the aisle like a four-letter-word.
FACT: The late IndyStar columnist Matt Tully called Rokita “one of the most partisan politicians I’ve ever covered…”
FACT: Rokita has received a negative score for bipartisanship from the Lugar Center and ranked 333rd most bipartisan. He called seeking support and compromise from the other party, “a ham-handed way to measure whether someone acts bipartisan or not.”
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody wondered whether Rokita would rather have the support of Superintendent McCormick or Secretary DeVos.
“Todd Rokita treats public schools like a mark to be exploited and bipartisanship like receiving a root canal,” said Zody. “It’s no wonder a member of his own party broke ranks and supported a Democrat, because she knows Rokita would rather pump public school funding into the pockets of privatizers like Betsy DeVos.”
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