Having relatives there, he intended the move to be "temporary", and became the interim chief counsel in the office of then-Secretary of State Todd Rokita on November 15, 2005.
During the 2007 to 2010 primary and general election seasons, he served as the state's coordinator of polling day monitoring.
In 2009, for his work in representing victims of domestic violence, he was honored by the Indiana Protective Order Pro-Bono Project.
At the time, Bonnet was on the Comprehensive HIV Services Planning and Advisory Council, and the Indiana Code Revision Commission.
[1][5] On the eve of his ascension to the secretaryship, he was working on a doctorate in organizational leadership at Indiana Wesleyan University.