Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, standing near the upper right of the photo, speaks to members of the current Kosciusko County Jail Chemical Addiction class on Friday, July 25. He visited before a lunch Kosciusko Council Councilwoman Kathy Groninger put on for the members for helping set up for Main Street Warsaw’s Le Diner En Blanc in June.

Text and Photos
By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The current Kosciusko County Jail Chemical Addiction Class had a special speaker on Friday, July 25: Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita.

Rokita talked briefly with the nine men in a training room at the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office. His visit came ahead of a lunch Kosciusko County Councilwoman Kathy Groninger organized to thank the men for helping set up for Main Street Warsaw’s Le Diner En Blanc in June.

She helped prepare lunch for them, and fellow Kosciusko County Councilwoman Rachael Rhoades, who helps with jail ministry, led the men in singing some worship songs.

The men are set to graduate at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15, in the Kosciusko County Courthouse’s Old Courtroom, and everyone is welcome to attend the ceremony.

The attorney general offered congratulations to the men. Through JCAP, the men are learning life skills as they are also being taught to deal with their addiction.

Rokita speaks with reporters during a brief question-and-answer session following his talk with the JCAP members.

“I wanted to motivate you on, knowing that you’re not there yet (to graduation),” said Rokita. “I’m here to say thank you, encourage you to graduate.”

“Society makes it hard on people like you to get back into society, and that’s not good for anyone,” he added. “It’s not good for society generally. It’s not good for individuals in society. It’s not good for you, so I’m here to present maybe an olive branch however you want to look at it, and say there’s a lot of us that do care and do understand.”

Rokita added the men were “part of 7% of the prison population that’s made the choices and the decisions and the determination that you have to get back into society rather than staying in that alternative terrible world, and I just want to give you that encouragement and I want to give you that support.”

“I want to give you that grace and that forgiveness on behalf of the people of the state of Indiana,” he said.

JCAP’s Importance, Slate Auto

During a brief question-and-answer session with media outlets following his talk with the JCAP members, Rokita said JCAP “gives me hope for society.”

“It’s so hard in today’s world, speaking as a father of two boys that are teenagers, right, the negative, bad influences that are put on our kids as part of society today,” he said. “These are grown men to be sure, but I am sure they had much harder lives than I did. It doesn’t excuse their behavior, which I understand was mostly drug-related.”

He added “so much of our society is just infiltrated with this terrible, evil drug influence … and (the men in the class) decided you know what, I’ve had it with that life.”

“They made a decision to come back. Now they have to have the discipline … to stay here with us, and my goal today was just to encourage that,” said Rokita. “I wanted to let them know again without preaching at them … to commiserate with them and to offer the grace of forgiveness, but really, come on back guys. It is better, and we look forward to seeing you as a productive member (of society).”

Rokita said he’s “learning more” about JCAP, which his predecessor Curtis Hill helped cement in the state. He said gaining knowledge about it was part of why he visited.

He said he gave Hill credit for helping establish it.

“I still very much support this mission (of JCAP),” he said. “The cost of society is going to go down measurably because of those … individuals that we just saw. You know the likelihood of them going back into a life of crime is very, very low, significantly lower than the population they were among, and you can quantify that. That’s a savings, and so if we can invest in programs like this, we’re actually going to save money in the long run.”

Rokita also talked about Slate Auto’s move to Warsaw, mentioning he had visited with representatives of the EV truck manufacturer and state politicians before stopping by the JCAP event.

He said his office was working to help with economic development in Indiana.

“I believe that every elected official, I don’t care if you’re governor down to the dogcatcher … down to the last locally elected official, we all should be involved in economic development,” said Rokita. “The fact of the matter is, we’re all cheerleaders, we’re all ambassadors for the state of Indiana. We all have different roles: I’m not saying I should be head of (the Indiana Economic Development Corp.) or anything like that.”

He added “all of us can do something to make sure business comes here and to make sure a better quality of life is here.”

Rokita said Slate’s truck and “business plan” could be revolutionary for the auto industry, and what a great next chapter to this long and beautiful Indiana automotive legacy/history that we have.”

He referenced the history of Duesenberg in Kokomo and AM General in South Bend, later adding that some of the world’s largest vehicle manufacturers “have their biggest plants in the U.S. right here in Indiana, so what a great addition to the legacy of Indiana’s automotive industry.”

Rokita said Slate has “some ideas for changing Indiana law, so we had some lawmakers in the room today as well.”

“As you know, I represent the lawmakers in terms of the constitutionality of the laws that they pass … so that was how I would be helpful, but the fact of the matter is, we have a new startup company who could have gone to 11 other states and they came here,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that they were welcome with open arms and they had an open door at their-now attorney general’s office, so that we can help work on their issues, because you know what, Slate and Indiana, they’re married now, and that marriage has to be successful and every elected official ought to be a part of that.”

Later on, in response to a question about the recently passed federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act taking away a tax credit for EVs, Rokita said that issue came up during the Slate Auto meeting Friday.

He said those concerned had communicated with federal lawmakers.

“From what I gather, this is my own observation, from what they told me about the business plan and their modus operandi and how they plan to sell a lot of cars at the entry-level market, I’m not sure that … their business model hinges on that tax credit,” he said. “Is it nice to have? Sure, why wouldn’t it be? It would be nice to have for any business, but I’ve found in what they were saying that they are going to produce a product that is going to be beneficial and liked by the market.”

He added “these tax credits are distortions to the market.”

Rokita said he believed Slate would still do well as they were trying to sell vehicles for a cheaper price than other manufacturers and at an entry level.