Todd Rokita-Luke Messer Primary Battle getting nasty Part II of II

                   

Luke Messer                            Todd Rokita 

As promised we are continuing our coverage of the Messer-Rokita brawl. Yesterday Congressman Luke Messer announced that he is running for the US Senate. So far no word from Congressman Todd Rokita on whether or not he will throw his hat into the ring for the Republican Senate nomination next year. Earlier this week Tony Cook of the Indianapolis Star reported here on some unusual activity that has been occurring on Luke Messer's Wikipedia page.

Cook reported:

A slew of recent edits to Rep. Luke Messer's Wikipedia page closely align with his likely primary opponent Todd Rokita's campaign attacks, setting off a new round of finger pointing in what is expected to be one of the most hotly contested U.S. Senate races in the country.

Over the past month, Messer's page has been edited to emphasize his work as a lobbyist, his decision to move his family to Washington, D.C., and a controversy involving his wife's lucrative part-time legal work for the city of Fishers.

The edits were made under user names that make it difficult to identify the person behind the changes. But Wikipedia editing logs show that Messer's page is the only one they've edited, suggesting they are more interested in influencing Messer's image than providing objective information.

The Rokita campaign has routinely criticized Messer in recent months as a "lobbyist turned politician" who left Indiana for "one of the wealthiest suburbs of Washington D.C."

Messer's campaign, meanwhile, has shot back, accusing Rokita of peddling negative stories and attacking Messer's family.  At one point, an official with the Messer campaign told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that “Rokita has a history of making unhinged comments."

In response to inquiries from IndyStar, the Rokita campaign denied editing Messer's page, suggesting instead that the Senate seat's current occupant, Democrat Joe Donnelly, was behind the changes. 

"Joe Donnelly and his allies are clearly good at editing websites ... ," Rokita campaign spokesman Tim Edson said. "That said, most of what they’ve posted about Luke Messer’s record seems accurate."

Donnelly campaign manager Peter Hanscom laughed at the assertion that Donnelly's campaign was behind the edits.

"We have absolutely nothing to do with it," he said. "It's childish behavior. This is not the way you win a United States Senate seat."

Indiana Democratic Party spokesman Will Baskin-Gerwitz also said party members were not behind the changes.

According to Cook's article the Messer campaign does not believe that Senator Donnelly's campaign is behind the editing of Messer's Wikipedia page. 

Tony Cook continues:

Messer's campaign said the edits — which include a new section about immigration intended to make Messer sound less conservative — are obviously geared toward a Republican primary audience.

 "Of course it's Rokita," Messer campaign spokesman Jason Kneeland said. "Typical of the level of ugliness we've seen from him. Nobody has declared in the Senate race, but Todd has already established he will say or do anything to get elected. I just don't think that works long-term here in Indiana."

Cook writes that their have been some edits to Todd Rokita's page as well. But Tony Cook states that the changes to Rokita's page have been "mostly positive". 

If the Wikipedia drama is not enough to pique people's interest. Another plot twist emerged today on the "Luke and Todd Show." Kaitlin Lange over at Indystar.com wrote a piece called "Trump and Pence camps at odds over best choice for U.S. Senate: Messer or Rokita?"

As Ms. Lange reports it appears that the President and Vice Presidents key Hoosier supporters are splitting over who to back for the Senate.

Lange writes:

Associates of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence appear to be at odds over the best candidate to run for a hotly contested U.S. Senate seat in Indiana.

For months, multiple people close to Pence, along with his brother Greg Pence, have thrown their support to Rep. Luke Messer, R-Shelbyville, as the Republican choice to run against Democrat Sen. Joe Donnelly in the 2018 election.

On Thursday, Rex Early, the Trump Indiana State Chairman, and Tony Samuel, the vice chairman, joined the fight, sending a letter suggesting support for Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Indianapolis. 

“Of the members of Indiana’s congressional delegation, Todd Rokita is the only one that actively and specifically campaigned for candidate Trump — never wavering and never jumping on and off the Trump Train,” the two said in the letter.

It was a clear jab against Messer. But Early and Samuel went on to say they weren’t endorsing a candidate yet, adding there are multiple qualified people considering running.

It is important to remember that Todd Rokita still has not yet officially entered the U.S. Senate race. So far only Luke Messer has. But all indications are that Rokita will enter the race eventually. We can't see any other reason why Rokita's people would be lining up the endorsements and fundraisers they are unless they plan to run for the senate. Kaitlin Lange goes onto report the following response from the Messer for Senate campaign quoting Vice President Pence's brother Greg Pence:

"I can say I know and like both Rex (Early) and Tony (Samuel). While, I respect them, there are some inconsistencies in this statement. In fact, Congressman Rokita endorsed Sen. (Marco) Rubio (for president),"  said Greg Pence, who is also the chair of Messer's finance committee. 

IR has previously reported on Greg Pence's possible run for congress here. Since then Indy Republican has heard conflicting stories about whether or not Greg Pence will run for his brothers former congressional seat. So at this point we are not sure what to think. Anyway getting back to Messer and Rokita.

Lange continues her report:

Messer's campaign also pointed out Rokita's recent opposition to Trump's Federal Aviation Administration reforms, as well as policies Messer supported that they say line up with Trump's agenda, such as finding funding for a Mexico border wall by eliminating tax credits for illegal immigrants. 

Messer supported Jeb Bush for president early in the primary and gave money to Rubio's campaign.

Trump's approval rating is low in general, but he still has a 86 percent approval rate among Republicans, according to Gallup. Rokita's campaign is trying to appeal to those Trump supporters.

While Rokita himself has been a Republican office holder since 2002, he may not have as much support from the party establishment. The Indiana Republican State Committee passed up Rokita when he attempted to become the party's gubernatorial candidate after Pence dropped out of the race last year. Instead they chose Gov. Eric Holcomb, whom Pence endorsed.

In 2011, Republicans rewrote congressional boundaries following the census and ultimately wrote Rokita out of his own district.

Lange also cites a political scientist for their take on whether being associated with Donald Trump will help a candidate running statewide next year or hinder their campaign.

Andy Downs, a political scientist at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, argued having the support of those with Trump ties may not be as helpful as it was during the election year. 

"Feelings about Trump change very rapidly, but there are still a fair number of people who like Pence," Downs said.

So far we have one candidate for senate and one probable candidate who have each lined up notable supporters and fundraisers. IR is not as yet ready to make an endorsement in next years GOP Senate Primary. We can say with great confidence that we will not support Todd Rokita should he decide to run. We have never really thought well of Congressman Rokita and the likely conduct of some of his supporters in throwing the kitchen sink at Luke Messer shows that there is good reason to believe Rokita is trying to keep others from looking into his past.

IR has in the past cited a blog post written by the late great Gary Welsh in which he cited allegations made by former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White about information he discovered about his predecessor Todd Rokita's conduct as Secretary of State. Welsh wrote:

I would be remiss if I didn't remind people that former Secretary of State Charlie White reported his predecessor, Todd Rokita, to the state's Inspector General and the Marion Co. Prosecutor, for similar violations after he and his staff uncovered campaign-related documents on the state's computers in his office when he took office. The spouse of one of the employees cited in the Inspector General's report on Bennett's office was at the center of those violations in the Secretary of State's office. Both the Inspector General and the Marion Co. Prosecutor's Office refused to investigate White's allegations. The State House media has refused to report on White's allegations because they don't like him and want him destroyed.

Gary Welsh was referring to how Todd Rokita is alleged to have used employees of the Indiana Secretary of State's office to perform campaign related work for his 2010 congressional run. Just like former Indiana Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett was alleged to have used some of his employees to due political work for him on government time. Something tells us that if Todd Rokita should pull the trigger on a run for the Senate this and other issues will pop up to bite him in the ass! At the very least they should!