AG’s focus: Building coalitions with other branches, levels of government
INDIANAPOLIS – Today Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller was sworn in to a second term in office and said his work will continue to build upon relationships and coalitions with other branches and levels of government to ensure that consumers and the public are protected.
Zoeller in his inaugural speech said that senior deputy AGs in the Attorney General’s Office will assist legislators, state agencies, courts and law enforcement officials as needed on complex legal issues that arise within state government and the criminal justice system.
“My office will endeavor to serve the three coequal branches of government and build bridges between their separate authorities by convening a coalition of our clients in common purpose. Many of our challenges require each of the separate branches to cooperate and support each other’s efforts to address complex issues. We will strive to become a ‘force multiplier’ within government,†Zoeller said in his speech.
Surrounded by his family – his wife Kerrie Zoeller and their children Gretchen, Katherine and Michael Zoeller – the Attorney General was administered the oath by Indiana Chief Justice Brent Dickson during a swearing-in ceremony on the west steps of the Statehouse during the inauguration of new Governor Mike Pence and new Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann.
A New Albany, Ind., native, Zoeller is a graduate of Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington and served as executive assistant to Dan Quayle in the 1980s when Quayle was U.S. Senator and U.S. vice president. After working in private practice and serving as chief deputy AG to then-Attorney General Steve Carter, Zoeller was elected to a term of his own as Indiana Attorney General in 2008. He was re-elected in November 2012. As the lawyer for state government and the state’s top consumer-protection official, Zoeller has focused on enforcing Indiana’s telephone privacy laws, combating frauds and scams against homeowners and senior citizens, initiating civil prosecution against public officials to recover misappropriated public funds, representing the prosecution on appeal and defending state statutes from legal challenges.
The Office of the Indiana Attorney General includes 152 deputy AGs who serve as lawyers for the state. They also take the oath of office again and will do so collectively as a group Tuesday at the Statehouse.
