Congressman Rokita still has plenty of questions to answer about his pay-for-play scandal with tribal gaming groups

INDIANAPOLIS – Questions continue to resonate in the wake of the Associated Press reporting last week that Congressman Rokita took $160,000 from tribal gaming groups in exchange for pushing legislation in Congress to strip protections for tribal gaming workers. The matter’s not helped by Congressman Rokita’s hiding behind his office’s initial statement and failing to say what he knows about the issue instead of coming clean and explaining why he took the money.

As one of the frontrunners in the GOP’s Senate primary, Congressman Rokita owes voters answers to basic questions about what appears to be a blatant display of pay-for-play politics. Anyone interested in digging into the story further could do worse than starting with these questions.

Five questions for Congressman Rokita about his pay-for-play scandal:

1. 1. How much did Congressman Rokita know about this pay-for-play scandal? Was he the one responsible for securing these donations, or did a member of his staff see an avenue for securing donations from the tribal gaming lobby?

1. 2. When Congressman Messer was accused of his own pay-for-play issues in October, Congressman Rokita remained uncharacteristically silent. Was that because he knew he had similar ethics issues of his own?

1. 3. How did Congressman Rokita become the biggest recipient of tribal gaming contributions in the House without a tribe in his district?

1. 4. In light of the Associated Press story, does Congressman Rokita regret his campaign videos showing cartoon lobbyists engaging in pay-for-play issues?
2. 5. Congressman Rokita has claimed to support President Trump’s calls to “drain the swamp,” but isn’t this type of unsavory pay-for-play politics what the President attacked in the first place?

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