Bangert: Rep. Todd Rokita vs. a ‘liberal scientist’s hunch’ – JConline – Journal and Courier

U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita(Photo: File photo)

U.S. Rep. Todd Rokitas unwavering conviction on climate change isnt particularly new.

The Brownsburg Republican will tell you as much. In fact, he once again told a legislative forum as much Weve had this discussion a number of times, publicly, Rokita said a little over a week ago, when constituents grilled him on the topic April 15 in Crawfordsville.

Rokitas defiance is just getting a fresh airing at a time when scientists take to the street to defend their work not to mention that the 4th District congressman is positioning himself among fellow Republicans for a shot at Joe Donnelly, Indianas first term senator, in 2018.

Over the weekend, as mop-up work continued behind various March for Science events including one that drew 400 people to Lafayettes Riehle Plaza a handful of Indiana bloggers picked up on the Cliffs Notes version of Rokitas comments the week before at Wabash College, letting them loose across social media over the weekend.

What those paraphrased references might have lacked in word-for-word transcription, they picked up the essence of what Rokita has touted through his years in Congress when it comes to the science chasing climate change and the financial price dealing with it could create.

Heres a baseline reference point: Bjorn Lomborg, president of an economic think tank called the Copenhagen Consensus Center and controversial author of The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World, raised hackles when Purdue President Mitch Daniels invited him to campus in March. But even Lomborg doesnt deny that climate change is a thing. A vast majority of scientists, Lomborg agreed, had shown proof of that. His point is that climate change isnt the most pressing issue or best use of global effort and cash to fix.

Rokitas point, by comparison: Hes open to science. Just not that liberal science. And anything that suggests climate change is liberal science.

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Hungry for a town hall Rokitas folks havent scheduled, constituents pressed him to elaborate that morning in Crawfordsville. Heres how the conversation went, just so everyones on the same page.

Stacy Bogan, a Lafayette artist, framed the question in terms of how the General Assembly this year trusted the early science on cervical cancer to move a bill calling for a state plan aimed at reducing the number of new cases. State Rep. Sharon Negele, an Attica Republican who authored House Bill 1278, was at the April 15 forum in Crawfordsville.

Bogan, who has chased Rokita on this in the past, asked: What threshold of proof do you require in order to listen to scientists worldwide rather than listening to a handful of lawyers who are funded by fossil fuels.

Heres Rokitas response:

Ill summarize, using actually one of your sentences from your opening remarks, and that is, We trust the scientists to do the research. In science, there is no trust. Thats why its called science. We use scientific methodology to review any question. And theres all kind of questions in regard to the liberal scientists who come up with their research. With regard to cervical cancer, there is conclusive evidence and proof there is no trust there. You said it yourself, we trust our scientists to do their research. I do not.

I do not take any kind of preliminary conclusion as a reason to change our entire economy and put thousands and thousands of people out of work, based on someones hunches. There is all kinds of discrepancy in the science that you quote. Im not going to vote for policies that could disrupt our entire economy and do things just because of someones liberal hunches.

Following up, Marc Hudson, a retired English professor at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, asked Rokita a Wabash College graduate to think about what hed actually said and whether he truly believed 99 percent of scientists are liberals.

In a few decades, Hudson suggested to Rokita, you are going to look back in your own lifetime and realize how absurd and how nearsighted your position is.

Rokita stayed the course.

Ninety-nine percent of the climate scientists havent been interviewed. Of the ones that have been polled, theyve come up with their opinion.

I have looked into this issue. I have studied it. Id be happy to be moved by evidence, but Im not going to be moved by liberal opinion.

Thats where things stand with the 4th District congressman as he lines up a Senate campaign.

And thats why they were marching for science on Saturday.

Reach columnist Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@gannett.com.

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Bangert: Rep. Todd Rokita vs. a 'liberal scientist's hunch' - JConline - Journal and Courier