DAGA Download – August 28
August 29, 2020
ON THE TRAIL
“THE ROKITA RULES” STRIKE AGAIN
Todd Rokita, the Republican nominee for Indiana Attorney General, is a corrupt politician who is more interested in following his own rules — so much so they’ve been coined “The Rokita Rules.” Throughout his career, Rokita doled out contracts to his friends and political allies, used campaign funds to rent a private plane from his own company, spent millions in taxpayers dollars to fund his own campaign ads, and was repeatedly accused of violating Indiana ethics laws. Unlike Rokita, Democratic AG candidate Jonathan Weinzapfel will work to find bipartisan solutions that put Hoosiers’ interests first and restore confidence and integrity to the Attorney General’s office. To learn more about Rokita’s corruption and exploitation, read the full blog post here.
ABOUT THE RNC…
On the second night of the Republican National Convention, anti-choice activist Abby Johnson, who has a history of spreading misinformation about abortion and reproductive health care, spoke in a primetime slot. On the night of her speech, DAGA Co-Chairs Massachusetts AG Maura Healey and Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum, released a statement ahead of her speech to reinforce the message that a majority of Americans, in fact, support access to abortion. “Democratic AGs will fight—not just to stop this political agenda to undermine Roe v. Wade—but to break down entrenched barriers to access safe, legal abortion. No one should be blocked from the basic health care they need,” the Co-Chairs said. “We must elect leaders up and down the ticket who will defend and expand reproductive rights. There is too much at stake to let the extremism go unchecked in November.”
Reminder: DAGA is the only national party committee dedicated to only supporting candidates who publicly support reproductive rights.
TOO EXTREME
Montana Republican AG nominee Austin Knudsen repeatedly aligns himself with groups like QAnon and the Oathkeepers. The latest example is when Knudsen held an event with Republican Public Service Commission candidate Jennifer Fielder and Republican State Senate candidate Theresa Manzella. Both candidates have “expressed dangerous anti-government views,” according to the Montana Post. The bottom line, whether it’s condoning conspiracy theories, taking health care away, cutting off access to public lands or supporting defunding the Montana DOJ, Austin Knudsen is too extreme for Montana. Read the full blog post here.
ENDORSEMENT CORNER
- MISSOURI: Democratic AG nominee Rich Finneran was endorsed by Cort VanOstran, MO-2 2018 Democratic Nominee.
- MONTANA: Democratic AG nominee Raph Graybill was endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana and Fort Peck Tribes.
LISTEN UP
- INDIANA: Democratic AG nominee Jonathan Weinzapfel appeared on Indy Politics’ Candidate Conversations to discuss his race for Indiana Attorney General, which is rated by Cook Political Report as a toss-up.
- NORTH CAROLINA: AG Josh Stein appeared on the podcast At The Table with former White House correspondent Jared Rizzi for a conversation on protecting the USPS, defending the ACA, and back-to-school challenges during COVID.
MULTISTATE MOMENTS
USPS UPDATE
A third coalition of Democratic AGs, led by New York AG Tish James, filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the 2020 Election. Every Democratic AG has now either taken legal action or denounced actions taken to hurt the USPS and voting-by-mail efforts.
BONUS: The judge for the Washington-led lawsuit to protect the USPS granted the coalition’s motion for expedited discovery, ordering the Trump administration to respond to questions with evidence and documents in 10 days.
PROTECTING THE PLANET
Led by California AG Xavier Becerra and Washington AG Bob Ferguson, a coalition of Democratic AGs filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for trying to gut the National Environmental Policy Act. AG Becerra tweeted, “The Trump Admin spent the last four years rolling back critical protections and undoing hard-fought progress, particularly for our environment. Now @RealDonaldTrump is gutting the National Environmental Policy Act—one of our bedrock environmental laws. We’re suing.”
BONUS: This case represents the 100th lawsuit filed by California AG Xavier Becerra against the Trump administration. WATCH the video released by AG Becerra’s team that takes a look at the lawsuits over the years.
AG SPOTLIGHT
New York AG Tish James took legal action against the Trump Organization this week. The lawsuit seeks testimony and documents from Eric Trump after the organization failed to comply with her office’s ongoing investigation into the company’s financial dealings. AG James’ office is “investigating whether President Trump’s company misled lenders and taxing authorities by improperly inflating the value of his assets,” according to The New York Times.
District of Columbia AG Karl Racine wrote a passionate op-ed in The Washington Post this week. In a piece that speaks openly about his mother’s connections to the previous civil rights movement, AG Racine deemed this current moment “the new civil rights era.” “Most important, we must continue raising our voices, as my mother did. In November, Americans can choose a government that heeds, rather than ignores, their calls for change. We can throw out state, local and federal elected officials who can’t or won’t work with us to create a new path for America.” Read the full op-ed here.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
The Indiana Democratic Party rightfully called out Republican AG candidate Todd Rokita for traveling to Georgia, a COVID-19 hotspot, to unnecessarily attend a glitzy fundraiser hosted by the Republican Attorneys General Association over the weekend. Despite traveling to the hotspot, Rokita does not appear to be participating in a CDC-recommended 14-day quarantine, canceling his campaign activities, or publicly releasing a negative COVID-19 test. Read Indiana Democrats and DAGA’s Twitter conversation about it here.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
After Democratic AGs filed lawsuits against Postmaster Louis DeJoy and the USPS, DAGA released a quick video to recap the great action Democratic AGs are taking to protect the USPS and ensure every vote is counted this November!
