Indiana Attorney General Quitting Role With Health Firm

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s newly elected attorney general is giving up his work with a health benefits consulting firm just days before the filing deadline for his state financial disclosure report.

Republican Todd Rokita’s continued role with Indianapolis-based Apex Benefits became public two weeks ago. His office described his role there as a "limited capacity” strategic policy adviser.

“I have concluded my limited involvement in Apex Benefits and am divesting my equity position so as to remove any potential concerns for the company and its clients,” Rokita said in a Twitter post Friday. His office declined additional comment.

Rokita, who began his term as state government’s top lawyer on Jan. 11, joined Apex as a top executive in 2019 following 10 years in Congress and an unsuccessful 2018 U.S. Senate campaign.

Rokita’s office said state ethics officials had cleared his ongoing involvement with the company while drawing his $107,000 attorney general salary but declined to release that advisory opinion.

The 60-day deadline for Rokita to file his financial disclosure form since taking office comes next week.

The state Democratic Party called Rokita’s action an attempt to “spin” his conflict of interest. “Todd Rokita simply got caught,” Democrats said in a statement. “He was wrong.”