Why Todd Rokita?

 Why is it Todd Rokita is rabid about chasing down medical records of Indiana citizens?

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita targets reproductive health care, diversity in latest letters:

In a letter he signed onto last month, Rokita opposed a draft federal privacy rule that would block state officials from accessing information on residents’ reproductive health care services — including abortions — obtained outside the state.

Rokita joined 18 other Republican attorneys general who signed onto the June 16 letter, opposing the change proposed in April by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to amend HIPAA, the federal law restricting release of medical information.

The rule change would block state authorities — like the attorney general — from obtaining protected information about reproductive health care services obtained lawfully out of state “for criminal, civil, or administrative investigations or proceedings” against those individuals or regulated entities.

The same article goes on to another letter Rokita joined in to Fortune 100 companies about hiring:

The July 13 letter, Rokita and a coalition of 12 other attorneys general put Fortune 100 companies on notice that they could be hit with legal action for violating the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, which put an end to using race as a basis for admitting students to college. The attorneys general targeted hiring and contracting, too.

The letter compares policies held by many Fortune 100 companies to slavery and racial segregation.

“In an inversion of the odious discriminatory practices of the distant past, today’s major companies adopt explicitly race-based initiatives which are similarly illegal,” the letter says, pointing to “racial quotas” in hiring, recruiting, retention, promotion and advancement. 

A program designed to alleviate the after-effects of slavery is being compared to slavery? Racial quotas were not the subject of the Harvard case.

This is same guy wants to keep his employees mouths shut about him.

Breaking a nondisclosure agreement from Todd Rokita's office could cost employees $25,000 

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s employees are signing nondisclosure agreements that could cost them $25,000 if they share personal information about the AG — an unusual policy for state office and one that sets him apart from almost all other attorneys general in the country.

The contract, which IndyStar obtained through a public records request, gives Rokita and his staff the power to decide what information counts as confidential. It covers “personal or private information” about the attorney general, his employees and their families.

State offices here and dozens of other states' attorney general offices told IndyStar they don't have their employees sign contracts like this. Rokita's office stands by it, however, and says its employees "understand this requirement" before they agree to work there.

The contract doesn't prevent employees from reporting unlawful behavior to state or federal authorities. But multiple experts who reviewed a copy said it raises concerns about constraints on free speech as well as the public’s right to know what goes on in the offices of elected officials.  

"The (NDA's) definition of 'confidential information' seems designed to shield public officials from scrutiny," contract law expert Michael Mattioli told IndyStar. "And that's an essential part of living in a well-functioning democracy."

So is he really doing what Indiana voters want? If not, why do we not get rid of him?

sch 7/20