Democrat-Friendly Licensing Boards Target GOP Attorneys General

Democrat-friendly lawyer licensing boards are targeting two Republican attorneys general in an election year under the pretext of “grievances” filed by political opponents. The years-long government litigation against Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has racked up six-figure legal bills for taxpayers while punishing these elected officials for public speech on behalf of their voters’ priorities.

“Every minute I’m spending defending the AG from this is one minute I’m not spending suing the Biden administration or defending laws passed by the legislature,” Christian Corrigan, one of Knudsen’s lawyers as Montana’s solicitor general, told The Federalist. “This is starting with conservative AGs, but it’s not going to stop there.”

These two proceedings are among the most lengthy in a massive lawfare campaign to deprive right-leaning Americans of competent legal defense, bankrupt them with legal liabilities, and sandbag effective officials, many of which are lawyers. In another prolonged case, a faction of Texas Republicans attempted to defenestrate Attorney General Ken Paxton for fighting Big Tech and Big Pharma.

Republican attorneys general have been at the forefront of checking the Harris-Biden administration’s power abuses that include forcing girls and boys to shower together, seizing private property via environmental policies, pushing dangerous sex treatments on children, and banning Trump from speaking about the lawfare against him.

Knudsen and Rokita are up for re-election this year, and voting has already started in their states. The grievances that target their speech have boosted their political opponents, enabling a constant barrage of attacks and media coverage throughout an election year. In an attorney general debate that aired Sunday, moderator Dan Spehler noted Indiana’s Supreme Court could strip Rokita’s law license, denying voters their choice of attorney general.

Speech Complaints from Politically Invested Insiders

The Indiana Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission is investigating complaints against Rokita by Paula Cardoza-Jones and William Groth. Cardoza-Jones is a recently departed staff attorney for the commission investigating Rokita. She also filed complaints against three lawyers representing Rokita that are now dismissed. Groth is a longtime lawyer for labor unions and pro-abortion interests including the state Democratic Party who has opposed Rokita in court on numerous cases, including cases before the Supreme Court now investigating Groth’s grievance against Rokita.

While ethics complaints are supposed to remain confidential during the investigation to protect lawyers’ reputations from weaponized accusations, details about these have saturated state media since even before they were filed. Rokita lawyer Jim Ammeen said in an interview that reporters have several times asked for comment about new grievance developments before Rokita or his staff were aware of them.

Groth and Cardoza-Jones’ complaints both aim to punish Rokita for publicly defending robust pro-life policies. Groth accuses Rokita of malfeasance for issuing a legal opinion contending the state should continue releasing records that allow pro-lifers to ensure abortionists follow reporting laws. Groth also claimed that noticing his long career of advocating for far-left policies “could also be seen by a reasonable observer to be an attempt to intimidate myself and other critics of the attorney general.”

In a complaint she publicly outlined, Cardoza-Jones accuses Rokita of not expressing enough remorse over a plea deal he signed to quickly resolve an earlier grievance. That grievance targeted Rokita for accurately describing an abortionist who committed an abortion on a ten-year-old as “an abortion activist with a history of failing to report.”

Three attorneys experienced in Indiana’s grievance process told The Federalist that in the last two years the discipline commission has significantly increased the taxpayer resources it expends on investigating before filing charges. Investigations can include depositions and sifting through the work and personal emails and phones of the attorney and his or her staff. Such fishing expeditions can cost targeted attorneys tens of thousands of dollars even if the complaint is dismissed, and for an AG could allow proxies for campaign opponents to dig up and release to the media selectively quoted information entirely unrelated to the complaint that opened the door to the investigation.

Politically motivated legal ethics complaints are increasing, driven by Democrat organizations urging them as a form of political warfare. Even if the charges don’t stick, the process inflicts its own punishment.

Knudsen is being prosecuted for defending Montana’s legislature in court over a 2021 law, known as SB140, that gives the governor the ability to fill court vacancies without pre-selection of judges by an unelected commission. Montana’s left-leaning judiciary objected to more involvement from the first fully Republican government in 16 years, and the resulting constitutional crisis consumed state politics and courtrooms.

Emails the legislature subpoenaed showed Montana Supreme Court justices, judges, and judicial staff organizing against SB140. Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath previously ran for state attorney general as a Democrat.

In 2021, California-residing attorney Clara Roberts filed a grievance against Knudsen for defending SB140. Defending state laws is a core duty of an attorney general. State records say Roberts has donated to Montana Democrats 13 times since 2000. The grievance has been expanded to 127 subcounts, which Knudsen’s legal team says is the highest in Montana history by a factor of at least eight.

The first special counsel in Knudsen’s case — a longtime Democrat donor appointed because the discipline commission’s top lawyer also previously ran for attorney general as a Democrat — recommended dismissing it. When the commission asked him to investigate further, he resigned.

Then the commission appointed a second special counsel, Tim Strauch, “a longtime Democrat donor and activist [who] is an active supporter of the Montana Supreme Court; he has contributed to 5 current members of the Court,” notes Montana Republican Chairman Don Kaltschmidt. “Strauch has made 27 contributions totaling over $5,500 to Democrat and liberal judicial candidates.”

Patricia Klanke represented a Supreme Court justice in SB140 litigation against Knudsen. The job of another panel member, Lois Menzies, was eliminated by SB140. Until one week ago, both sat on the panel threatening Knudsen’s license for now approximately three years.

Typically, punished ethics violations consist not of political speech by elected officials, but of obvious crimes and ethical breaches, such as in the recent case of an Indiana judge barred from the bench for 45 days for obtaining the assets of a deceased client. Knudsen’s defense argues that the Supreme Court threatening the license of an attorney general for doing his job unconstitutionally violates the separation of powers.

“While Attorney General Knudsen is subject to the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct as a member of the bar, the Montana Constitution creates a degree of constitutional independence for the Attorney General in discharging his official duties of that office,” a July court filing on behalf of Knudsen argues. “That need for that independence is sharpened when he represents the Legislature, another co-equal branch of government … Therefore, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel’s Complaint against the Attorney General for discharging his official duties violates the separation of powers enshrined in the Montana Constitution.”

Unelected Commissions Full of Democrats and Anti-Trump Republicans

The Supreme Courts of Indiana and Montana control state lawyer licensing and discipline through unelected commissions stacked with Democrat supporters and Never Trump Republicans. The AGs are also being prosecuted by the same entity that adjudicates the complaints against them and before which they regularly appear to defend state laws.

After The Federalist reported in February that every member of Indiana’s Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission with publicly available records had donated to Democrats, the commission’s membership has changed. In June, a prominent Democrat prosecutor who publicly supports Rokita’s opponent, Destiny Wells, left the commission’s chairmanship.

Newly elevated commission chairman Peter Rusthoven is a former Ronald Reagan speechwriter and Never Trumper who financially supported Joe Biden and Liz Cheney and endorsed Kamala Harris for president in 2024. In Politico in February, Rusthoven endorsed removing Trump from the ballot, a legal effort a unanimous Supreme Court voted against in March. Trump endorsed Rokita in June.

Rusthoven told an Indianapolis TV program he supports Harris over Trump due to “character, integrity, trustworthiness.” Harris, a serial liar and advocate of child sex mutilation and virtually unrestricted abortion, publicly admitted she advanced her career via sex with a corrupt politician. She later married a man who admits he left his first wife after impregnating their nanny and doesn’t deny allegations he slapped an ex-girlfriend.

New commission member David Roellgen has been a consistent Republican supporter, according to OpenSecrets.org, but he also donated to the campaign of Democrat former governor and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh. New member Holly Wojcik donated $10 in 2018 to Florida Republican Ron DeSantis and $50 in 2004 to a Michigan Republican candidate. She also has a lengthy history of 76 donations to Indiana’s trial lawyers PAC.

Trial lawyer lobbies are a well-known major backer of the Democrat Party. They and extreme-left bar associations typically control state and federal judiciaries, and are a key lever shifting the U.S. legal system against the Constitution even in red states.

The Indiana Law PAC is a longtime supporter of state Democrats, including contributions this election cycle to Democrat state Senate Minority Leader Greg Taylor, Democrat state Sen. David Vinzant, Democrat state Sen. David Niezgodski, Democrat state House Whip Justin Moed, and Assistant Democrat House Floor Leader Earl Harris. In red Indiana, the PAC also contributes to Republicans, especially those known for opposing their voters’ priorities.

Disciplinary Commission member Daniel Vinovich also contributed to the PAC, according to state campaign finance records.

This means the majority of Indiana’s commission still has donated to Democrats, even though two of the nine commission members’ political affiliations are not discernable through campaign donations.

While Indiana’s AG targeting involves a Republican Party power struggle between big business interests and its base, Montana’s AG targeting is a more direct case of blue on red. Members of Montana’s Commission on Practice, state GOP Chairman Kaltschmidt says, “have made over 200 political contributions to Democrat and liberal judicial candidates totaling more than $50,000.”

A public hearing over the matter was held last week, with a decision expected this week. The five members not recused for conflicts of interest by the latest hearing on Knudsen’s grievance Oct. 9 were Mike Lamb, Carey Matovich, Troy McGee, Elinor Nault, and Randy Ogle.

Commission chairman Mick Taleff has made 24 donations to Democrats over the years, according to state databases. That includes contributions totaling $250 to Knudsen’s 2024 Democrat opponent, Ben Alke, and to two Montana Supreme Court justices: Beth Baker and Dirk Sandefur. Democrat former governor and former state attorney general Steve Bullock has commissioned Taleff to defend Democrat officials.

Commission member Brad Belke donated $85 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Martz in 2000, and since then has donated small amounts to judges and a Democrat House candidate, according to state records. Commission member Jason Holden’s campaign contributions are all to Democrats or technically nonpartisan races. He donated to Democrat candidates for attorney general and state Supreme Court clerk, and every sitting Montana Supreme Court justice except Beth Baker, say state records.

Board members Cal Mendenhall, Patricia Klanke, Rich Ochsner, and Sheryl Wambsgans have donated only to technically nonpartisan races, state records say. Board member Kelly Gallinger’s donations include a total of $720 to 2020 Democrat attorney general candidate Kimberly Dudik. Of her 34 campaign donations in state records, all went to Democrats or nonpartisan races except for one Republican. She also contributed to the campaigns of state Supreme Court justices Rice, Baker, and McKinnon.

Ogle has donated to Republican, Democrat, and nonpartisan campaigns, according to state records, including $250 to Democrat former Gov. Steve Bullock’s campaign for attorney general in 2008. McGee has also donated to Republican, Democrat, and nonpartisan campaigns, including a total of $325 to Democrat attorney general candidate Pam Bucy in 2012 and a total of $350 to McGrath’s Democrat campaign for attorney general and successful bid for the state Supreme Court.

Matovich has also donated to Republican, technically nonpartisan, and Democrat races, including to five sitting Supreme Court justices, former Democrat attorney general candidate Bucy, and Democrat Supreme Court clerks. All this means that even with the recusals, a majority of the board threatening Knudsen’s law license are Democrat campaign donors.

Judges Overseeing This Circus on the Ballot

Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff dissented from Rokita’s first discipline agreement because they wanted to punish him more harshly for his truthful speech explaining his use of his office to constituents. Groth, the union lawyer who filed a grievance against Rokita, publicly praised Rush and Goff for siding against the Supreme Court’s more-conservative majority on several cases and advocated against revealing judges’ political affiliations to voters, a policy that helps judiciaries hew closer to the Constitution in red states.

Rush, Goff, and Justice Derek Molter are on Indiana ballots this year. Voting against retaining them would allow the next governor to appoint their replacements. If polls indicate the outcome, that governor will be Republican Mike Braun.

Rush was appointed by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, an economic conservative who proposed a “truce” on culture war issues, including abortion. Goff and Molter were appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb, Daniels’ hand-picked successor, who celebrated importing Afghans who did tens of millions of dollars in damage to an Indiana National Guard barracks. One week ago, the U.S. Justice Department announced one of this cohort of “vetted” refugees planned an election-day terror attack.

Holcomb also spoke at the World Economic Forum and attempted to ban Christians from taking communion during Covid while keeping liquor stores open. He didn’t attend this year’s state Republican convention after he was booed there in 2022.

Joy Pullmann is executive editor of The Federalist. Her new book with Regnery is “False Flag: Why Queer Politics Mean the End of America.” A happy wife and the mother of six children, her ebooks include “Classic Books For Young Children,” and “101 Strategies For Living Well Amid Inflation.” An 18-year education and politics reporter, Joy has testified before nearly two dozen legislatures on education policy and appeared on major media including Tucker Carlson, CNN, Fox News, OANN, NewsMax, Ben Shapiro, and Dennis Prager. Joy is a grateful graduate of the Hillsdale College honors and journalism programs who identifies as native American and gender natural. Joy is also the cofounder of a high-performing Christian classical school and the author and coauthor of classical curricula. Her traditionally published books also include “The Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids,” from Encounter Books.