Underage Congressman Rokita arrested in 1990 while driving for illegal consumption of alcohol and possession of a fake ID
INDIANAPOLIS – Congressman Rokita failed to accept responsibility and blamed Congressman Messer instead after the Indy Star reported yesterday that he had been arrested while driving for illegally consuming alcohol and being in possession of a fake ID. Just over a week after breaking the news that Congressman Messer had failed to disclose two DUIs after replacing a lawmaker killed by a drunk driver, the Star wrote that Congressman Rokita had a previously unpublicized arrest of his own that involved being behind the wheel after drinking underage.
Instead, days after criticizing his opponent for not disclosing an alcohol-related arrest of his own, Congressman Rokita’s sole response was to blame Congressman Messer for planting a story about him. It’s one more example that Congressman Rokita believes the rules that ought to apply to everyone else don’t apply to him.
From the Indy Star: Indiana Senate race: Rokita had his own college indiscretion in same year as Messer’s DUI
U.S. Senate candidate Todd Rokita has attacked his Republican primary opponent, Luke Messer, for not disclosing a pair of DUIs from the 1990s.
But Rokita has his own alcohol-related indiscretion, though it wasn’t a DUI and he was not formally charged.
In 1990, the same year as Messer received his first DUI after driving his car into a ditch, Rokita was arrested in Bloomington after a police officer pulled him over for speeding.
“Upon stopping the vehicle, the officer did speak with the driver who seemed to be intoxicated and who also provided the officer with a false identification,” according to records from the Bloomington Police Department. “Theodore Rokita, 20, was arrested for illegal consumption and possession of false I.D.”
…“This is another desperate attempt by Luke Messer to distract from being a repeatedly convicted DUI driver who failed to disclose his reckless drunken conduct when seeking to replace an elected official killed by a drunk driver,” Brand said. “As a 20-year old, Todd Rokita was cited for speeding and everything else being alleged was dismissed. There is no comparison to Messer’s repeat convictions for reckless drunk driving, endangering himself and others.”
…“It says a lot about Todd Rokita’s character that he would throw stones at others when he’s made the same type of mistakes in the past,” said Messer campaign manager Chasen Bullock.
…Andy Downs, a political scientist at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne, said Rokita’s arrest “moves him somewhat off the moral high ground.”
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