Former Hancock County Coroner Sues Brizzi For Malpractice

When Hancock Co. Coroner Tamara Vangundy accepted a guilty plea for official misconduct, a Class D felony and a misdemeanor drunk driving charge, she believed she could seek re-election as county coroner because her plea agreement provided for alternative sentencing as a misdemeanor. Advance Indiana was the first to point out the obvious misreading of the statute. By the end of the day, her attorney, former Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, agreed that he had misread the statute and Vangundy's guilty plea to a felony would bar her from seeking re-election to office. Now she's suing Brizzi for malpractice according to the Indiana Lawyer:

The suit filed May 16 in Marion Superior Court claims Vangundy paid Brizzi a flat fee of $10,000 for advice regarding election law and the implications for a public official pleading guilty to a felony.

“Carl Brizzi’s advice that Ms. Vangundy should plead guilty to official misconduct, a Class D felony, but receive misdemeanor sentencing, because she would be able to continue to serve as Hancock County coroner was flat wrong and caused Ms. Vangundy to forever lose her position as Hancock County coroner,” according to the complaint.

“After the plea agreement was accepted by the court, the Hancock County prosecutor emailed Carl Brizzi and threatened to prosecute Ms. Vangundy for impersonation of a public servant if she took a single coroner call from that day forward,” according to the complaint. Vangundy is represented by Cohen & Malad LLP.

Vangundy was advised to plead guilty to the charges, which she did Aug. 22. “When the judge read the plea of guilty to the felony charge, Ms. Vangundy specifically looked at Carl Brizzi and asked again, ‘Am I supposed to say yes to that?’” the complaint alleges.

“Brizzi advised Ms. Vangundy to say yes and to plea and again assured her that her position as Hancock County coroner was fine,” according to the complaint. Brizzi later told reporters that Vangundy wasn’t a convicted felon, but reversed himself that evening, telling the Greenfield Daily Reporter that Vangundy’s banishment from office was something attorneys on both sides hadn’t realized. “So shame on us for not considering it. There’s no excuse for it. It was a mistake, for sure,” Brizzi told the Daily Reporter.

The complaint alleges that when Vangundy asked for a refund over the bad advice, “Brizzi laughed and refused.” Vangundy claims her damages include the $10,000 fee, interest on a loan taken to pay the fee, lost salary and benefits, emotional pain and suffering, attorney fees and other relief.

“It is hard to believe that Mr. Brizzi would admit not even reading the statute he was hired to read and then (refuse) to give back the $10,000 he charged his client,” Cohen & Malad managing partner Irwin Levin said in a statement. “Ms. Vangundy was entitled to competent legal advice and Mr. Brizzi didn't give it. Ms. Vangundy's world has been turned upside down.”

Vangundy's lawsuit could bolster former Secretary of State Charlie White's petition for post-conviction relief. White blames his conviction on six felony charges related to allegations that he improperly served on the Fisher's Town Council and voted from an address at which he wasn't residing, in part, on Brizzi's decision not to put on a defense in his case. White's petition lays out that fact, among others, for contending that he received ineffective counsel during his trial.

Pence Ceremonial Signing Of $100 Million Bailout For Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Star photo

Gov. Mike Pence held a ceremonial signing of HB 1544 in his office today flanked by the bill's authors, State Rep. Eric Turner and State Sen. Brandt Hershman, and representatives of those counting the dollars the governor just took from your pockets and put in their pockets. IMS CEO Mark Miles has quite the smirk on his face thinking about how easy it is to tap public dollars to enrich one's self in Indiana. I even see Roger Harvey, former WTHR-TV investigative reporter turned influence peddler, standing in the back row behind the governor. Things are so bad in Indiana that even good journalists are corrupted by the system. This is not a moment that Gov. Pence should treasure. It flies in the face of the fiscal conservatism and personal responsibility he's spent the past few decades preaching to the rest of us, but it's good for campaign contributions and that seems to be all that matters to our elected officials anymore.

Ballard Awards City Towing Contract To California Firm

As if we needed another example of how unethically Mayor Greg Ballard is administering the affairs of the City of Indianapolis, the IBJ is reporting that his administration just awarded a lucrative towing contract to a California firm, AutoReturn, to oversee all city-ordered towing. A Department of Code Enforcement spokesman, Adam Baker, couldn't tell the IBJ how much AutoReturn will earn under its contract that begins on July 1. The city is dropping it current contracts with three locally-owned towing firms. This part of Kathleen McLaughlin's story tells you all that you need to know:

City records show Brian Burdick of the law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP lobbied on behalf of AutoReturn in 2012 and 2013. Mayor Greg Ballard's chief of staff, Ryan Vaughn, is a former Barnes & Thornburg attorney.

Stratfor Leaked E-Mail Fingered Brennan For Witch Hunt Against Reporters

Breitbart's Kerry Picket has identified an e-mail included in a dump of global intelligence e-mails from the private intelligence service Stratfor that were released by Wikileaks a week after President Obama's re-election last year that identified Obama's then-counter terrorism adviser John Brennan as the person in the administration behind the witch hunt against journalist who reported unflattering information about the administration from leaked sources. The e-mail in question was first mentioned in a Twitter post by the Massachusetts ACLU on November 15, 2012 titled "war on whistle blowers."


Obama nominated Brennan as his choice to become CIA Director shortly after Gen. David Petraeus was forced out following disclosures the day after the election that he had an extramarital relationship with his biographer. Before joining the Obama administration, Brennan headed up the same private firm under contract with the State Department whose employees had been found to have illegally breached Obama's passport file to scrub it of damaging information. Brennan, a long-time CIA employee, also headed up the CIA post in Saudi Arabia that was responsible for issuing U.S. visas to 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers.

Only recently have we learned that the Justice Department had searched phone and e-mail records of the Associated Press and Fox News' Jim Rosen to learn the source of leaks. In a search warrant request, the Justice Department identified Rosen as “an aider, and abettor, and / or co-conspirator” in violating the Espionage Act, noting that the crime can be punished by ten years in prison. Although Rosen was never criminally charged, the implication of the government's statement in its search warrant filing was that a reporter could be charged with a federal crime for routine reporting.

Mayor Ballard's $400 Super Bowl Ring

I was just taking a gander at the statement of economic interest Mayor Greg Ballard filed earlier this month for the 2012 calendar year. He discloses receiving just two specific gifts: a watch with a Marine logo given to him by Steve and Kathy Brown on August 9, 2012 worth an undisclosed value; and a Super Bowl ring given to him by the Indianapolis Colts on October 18, 2012 with a listed of value of only $400.00. According to Wikipedia, the NFL purchases the gold and diamond rings for the winning team each year for about $5,000 a piece.  Assuming it's a genuine Super Bowl ring, its resale value would be considerably higher than the original purchase price. I'm assuming Jimmy "The Pill Popper" Irsay gave Ballard a genuine Super Bowl ring.

In addition to the free tickets he gets to all the home games of the Pacers and the Colts, Ballard disclosed receiving two Pacers tickets from IPL valued at $1,824.00. Ballard also accepts free country club memberships conservatively worth tens of thousands of dollars. He and his wife have taken at least eight overseas junkets paid by Develop Indy with money raised from pay-to-play contractors who have won public contracts or received tax and cash economic development incentives from the city worth tens of millions of dollars. I would value the cost of those trips for him and Winnie well in excess of $50,000. In other words, the kickbacks Greg Ballard gets from the pay-to-play pals and the billionaire sports team owners he helps with our tax dollars are far in excess of what Reginald Walton or John Hawkins allegedly received in the kickback scheme they were running in the city's Land Bank office. Just keeping it all in perspective. Perhaps Walton and Hawkins were only emulating the man in charge on the 25th floor.

IRS Villain Who Targeted Tea Party Groups Targeted Christian Coalition During The 1990s

Check out this Fox News report today. Terre Haute campaign finance lawyer Jim Bopp tells Fox News that Lois Lerner, the IRS villain who targeted the nonprofit applications of Tea Party groups, targeted his client, the Christian Coalition, as a top enforcement officer for the FEC back in the 1990s over a period of three election cycles, a case the FEC ultimately lost. The case was the largest campaign finance case brought by the FEC in its history at the time. Bopp claims Lerner was promoted by the Clinton administration for her hatchet work to the position at the IRS which she used to target conservative groups in the lead up to the 2012 election cycle. Lerner, who took the 5th Amendment when called to testify today before the House Ways & Means Committee, now heads up a unit at the IRS responsible for enforcement of the Affordable Care Act.

Hat tip to Gateway Pundit.

Friend Of Boston Bombing Suspect Shot And Killed By FBI Agent

Dead men can't talk. A friend of Tamerlan Tsarnov said he had nothing to do with the bombing, and he wanted to return to Chechnya after the FBI started questioning him. Now he's dead at the hands of an FBI agent. That's the news we're hearing out of Orlando, Florida this morning from local Fox affiliate, WOFL:

A man who was shot dead by an FBI agent late Tuesday night in Orlando knew one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings, a man identified as friend of the victim said Wednesday.

The agent encountered the man while conducting official duties, agent Dave Couvertier said in a statement.

A man at the scene on Peregrine Avenue near Kirkman and Vineland roads who identified himself as a friend of the victim said the man knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older brother suspected in the April 15 bombings that killed three and injured more than 260.

Khusen Taramov said he and his friend had no connection with the Boston bombings, but the FBI had been questioning them since then.

"He used to talk on the phone with him [Tsarnaev]," Taramov said of his friend. "They talked last time a month ago. After the bombing, I couldn't believe it," he said.

"The FBI kept asking, 'What's the connection?' But there is no connection... no connection."

Taramov said the victim had planned to return to Chechnya but had canceled his tickets.

"Me and him and my friends, we knew this was going to happen. That's why he wanted to leave the country," Taramov said. "But he canceled the tickets. The FBI's been pushing him, 'Don't leave, don't leave.' So he decided to stay," he said.

Taramov said the FBI had questioned him earlier Tuesday, but he was allowed to leave. When he returned, he said he found out his friend had been shot dead, he said.

"The FBI knows what happened," Taramov said.

There's a lot more to this story, folks. If you aren't in fear of what's happening in our government at the federal level, you should be.

UPDATE: The dead Russian friend of Tsarnaev has been identified as 27-year old Ibragim Todashev. A manufactured story of the circumstances of his death will be a work in progress in the coming hours and days. He had no gun, but we're now being told he suddenly became violent during a cooperative interview with the FBI agent and lunged at him with a knife. What, the police don't pat a suspect down first before interrogating him? The state-run media is now reporting that Todashev confessed to a role in a previously unsolved triple homicide allegedly involving the Tsarnaev brothers before he was shot and killed by the interrogating FBI agent. In other words, he wasn't giving the interrogator the answers he wanted to hear. NBC Pete Williams offers the latest government propaganda:

A man with ties to the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot and killed after attacking an FBI agent during questioning in Florida, law enforcement officials said on Wednesday.


The man who was shot, Ibragim Todashev, 27, allegedly attacked an agent with a knife. He was not suspected of having played any role in the bombing that killed three people and injured scores more in April, but he did confess to being involved in a brutal Boston-area slaying two years ago, investigators said.

Law enforcement officials said Todashev was being questioned as part of the FBI’s effort to find and talk to anyone who had any contact with Tsarnaev, the older bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police. 

“The agent, two Massachusetts State Police troopers, and other law enforcement personnel were interviewing an individual in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation when a violent confrontation was initiated by the individual,” the statement said.

“During the confrontation, the individual was killed and the agent sustained non-life threatening injuries,” according to the statement.

Todashev, they say, had spent some time in the Boston area, where he was a mixed martial arts fighter, and knew Tsarnaev there. Investigators say he confessed to the agent in Florida that he played a role in a triple murder in 2011 in which three men were discovered slain in an apartment in Waltham, Mass.

Their throats had been cut, and their bodies were covered with marijuana. No suspects had been arrested in that case.

Officials say FBI agents were questioning Todashev on Tuesday. He was cooperative at first, they say, but later that night, he attacked the agent with a knife, who shot and killed him. Officials say Todashev became violent as he was about to sign a written statement based on his confession.

The officials say Todashev had some connections with radical Chechen rebels, but they say it's not clear whether he had any role in radicalizing Tsarnaev.

UPDATE (5/23/13): Check out this story discussing the fact that Todashev had tendon repair surgery only days before the bombing. I know someone who had that surgery recently. He was hobbling around for several months.

Ibragim “couldn’t take part” in the Boston Marathon bombings as he was undergoing a surgical operation on his tendons in Florida days before the bombings and “had to learn how to walk again,” the father said.

I'm betting there is no autopsy report that will note that little fact. He must have posed a real threat to the FBI agent while hobbling around and wielding a knife.

Ballard Administration Approved Third Gulen-Sponsored Charter School After Indiana Charter School Board Rejected Its Application

The Indiana Math & Science Academy is a Gulen-sponsored charter school operated by Concept Schools, Inc., a Chicago nonprofit organization affiliated with the Gulen Movement that operates more than 30 charter schools throughout the Midwest. Ball State University authorized the Math & Science Academy's first charter school in Indianapolis on the city's west side at 4575 W. 38th Street in 2007. Mayor Greg Ballard's charter schools office authorized its second charter school in Indianapolis on the city's north side at 7435 N. Keystone Avenue in 2010.

When Concept Schools applied for a third Math & Science Academy for the city's south side with the Indiana Charter School Board in May, 2012, their application was denied along with two other applications. A little more than six months after being rejected by the state charter school board, Concept Schools presented a new application to Ballard's charter schools office, it was approved along with five other new applications for charter schools. "Mayor Greg Ballard’s office has approved seven more charter schools for Indianapolis—more than half as many as he approved in his previous five years in office," the IBJ reported on December 6, 2012.

It should have come as little surprise that the Math & Science Academy's application with Ballard's charter school office would fare well. In March, 2012, Ballard announced the appointment of Jason Kloth to a new cabinet level position as Deputy Mayor of Education in charge of his charter school office. Kloth joined the Ballard administration after a seven-year stint with Teach For America, a nonprofit national education organization. When Kloth joined the Ballard administration, he had a reason to look favorably on a Gulen-sponsored school. After all, he was one of more than 400 public officials, education, community, religious and business leaders from Indiana who had accepted an invitation to travel on an all-expense paid trip to Turkey courtesy of the Niagara Foundation, yet another Gulen-backed nonprofit organization.

Yesterday, Advance Indiana told you just how deeply the Gulen Movement's efforts through the Niagara Foundation extended to influence opinion of key influence leaders on Turkey and Islam in the Hoosier State by offering them free trips to Turkey, special recognitions and honors, gifts. luncheons, dinners and State House events. Bilal Eksili is the front person for the Niagara Foundation's activities in Indiana. Eksili was instrumental in launching both schools of the Math & Science Academy in Indianapolis, on both of whose boards he sits. According to the Math & Science Academy South's application, Eskili will serve as its board president, along with Salim Ucan, a founding team member, David Holt, Vice-President of Connexus Indiana, Bulent Guler, associate professor at IU-Bloomington, Oznur Dundar, instructor at ELS Indiana, Jeanette Moody, consultant for Scholastic, Inc. and Virgil Madden, a former policy adviser for former Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and recipient of one of the Niagara Foundation's free trips to Turkey with Eksili.

According to FireDogLake's Doug Martin, the Math & Science Academy, like other Gulen-sponsored charter schools, relies heavily on Turkish immigrants to fill the ranks of their teaching staff. Two years ago, Martin wrote that the schools had filed at least 17 visa applications for teaching and other personnel at its two Indianapolis charter schools. Martin's report also noted the gifts, dinners and trips the Niagara Foundation has lavished on Indiana officials. At the time of his report, he claimed an FBI investigation had been opened to look at the group's activities, although the local FBI office declined to confirm such an investigation when Martin inquired at the time.

Sharon Higgins of The Perimeter Primate blog recently discussed the use of all-expense guided trips to Turkey by Gulen Movement leaders as a means of influence peddling. As Higgins noted, persons who travel on those trips are not always aware of the intention of the persons sponsoring the trips. "As one photo journalist from Colorado noticed on the fourth day of travel, 'We are beginning to understand the reason for the cultural exchange; it is not simply to meet local leaders and learn about Turkish culture, but also to gain an understanding  of the Gulen Movement," Higgin writes, quoting the photo journalist. 'Gain an understanding' as in acquiring the perspective fed to them by members of the Gulen Movement over the coarse of nine of 10 straight  days of tightly controlled immersion.'"

News media in other states have questioned public officials accepting these junkets from the Gulen Movement. The Boise Guardian reacted sharply after learning that a group of its state's lawmakers were in Ankara, Turkey during a bomb blast there.

The local news outlets played it pretty straight yesterday when news was received that a delegation of Idaho legislators and their spouses was safe following a terrorist blast in Ankara, Turkey. This was nothing more than a junket paid for by the Turkish government in our opinion. It could be only a tourist promotion, but the Turks have been hustling public officials for several years. WHY? . . . There is also an Islamic group called the “Gulen movement” which may be using local officials as pawns in an international chess game centered around charter schools of all things.We got a call from one local official who said he turned down the offer for a free trip to Turkey–airfare was NOT covered–because it was simply against the law. The local guy told us there was so much value in the gift that it would have clearly violated the Idaho ethics law. He was invited solely based on his official position.

A South Carolina blog noted an unusual participant among eight state senators who took one of the junkets to Turkey, who had good reason to not report his all-expense paid trip as required by state ethics rules:

Two weeks ago, a local political blog broke the story of eight S.C. Senators who received an all-expenses paid trip to Turkey last October. We promptly picked up the scoop … although at this point no one seems to know the purpose of the trip, which was paid for by a little-known group called the “South Carolina Dialogue Foundation.”

Also unclear? Why one lawmaker – S.C. Sen. Mike Fair (RINO-Greenville) – failed to disclose this lavish gift on his statement of economic interest, as he is required to do by law.

What gives? Well, we may have picked up a scent …

Fair, one of the state’s most notorious panderers when it comes to social issues, has been the lead sponsor of legislation aimed at eradicating the nonexistent menace of sharia (i.e. traditional Islamic) law from South Carolina courtrooms. Is sharia law currently being used in South Carolina’s courtrooms? No. Is there a snowball’s chance in hell that it ever will be? No . . .

This group isn’t just sending State Senators to Turkey, it’s sending  South Carolina students, teachers and educrats there, too. In fact, the organization recently sponsored an “art and essay contest” which will send four high school students, their teachers and their superintendents on … wait for it … an “all expenses paid” trip to Turkey . . .

“The South Carolina Dialogue Foundation is one of the many organizations associated with the Gulen movement, a religious group which emerged in Turkey during the 1970s,” Higgins writes in the email. “Members follow the teachings of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric. Many people who know about the Gulen movement find its activities to be highly concerning and controversial. In some circles, the Gulen movement is viewed as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” . . .

Wow … and these guys have set up shop in South Carolina? And took the state’s preeminent Bible-thumping politician on an all-expenses paid trip? One which he failed to report?

Not only that, Gulen solicited donations to pay for these trips from Islamic donors with the promise that their money would go toward a “faithful” cause.

Hmmmm … is it becoming clear why Fair refused to follow the law and disclose his participation in this junket? We think so …

See also this recent report on the Turkey trip for Tennessee lawmakers. Is there anyone in the mainstream media in Indiana who will report on the Niagara Foundation's lavish spending on our public officials and business, education, religious and community leaders to influence their opinions who hasn't already been bought off with free trips, dinners and gifts? We'll see.

UPDATE: I missed this one. The Journal-Gazette's Karen Francisco had this story two years ago:

The blog Charter School Scandals has been posting for some time on the Gulen charter schools, founded by exiled Turkish iman Fethullah Gulen. Now the reports of the schools' unusual ties and operations are coming from sources like the Philadelphia Inquirer.

There are Indiana ties. Blogger Doug Martin pulls it all together here, with some fascinating connections outlined . . .

You won't find a direct reference to Gulen on the school web site, but you will see the connection fairly quickly if you check out the links on Doug Martin's post. The most interesting is the connection between the school and the Indiana chapter of the Niagara Foundation, which seems to enjoy giving awards to powerful political leaders like Gov. Mitch Daniels, Congressman Dan Burton and former Secretary of State Todd Rokita.

Hogsett Surprised By Extent Of Public Corruption? Not Hardly

U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett has been around Indiana politics for a long time now. He knows how things are done, and how those things are just considered a way of doing business, so to speak. Nonetheless, he tells Star political columnist Matt Tully during an interview this morning that he's surprised by the extent of public corruption he has turned up since taking office.

Question: Have you been surprised by the extent of the problem?

Hogsett: Yes.

Question: Why?

Hogsett:  It’s much broader than I could have imagined. I certainly had an inclination that there was real need for prosecution of these cases. ... It’s at all levels of government.

In case you were thinking that Hogsett is shocked by what he's finding, think again. Hogsett's comments elsewhere in the interview are more revealing of what he knew when he agreed to take the job.

What we are really doing is committing resources to public corruption cases that weren’t committed to that area in the past. That’s not a criticism of my predecessors. Every United States Attorney has their priorities. But I put two areas at the forefront: violent crime and public corruption.

Bingo. Virtually all of Hogsett's recent predecessors have engaged in the wholesale cover up of massive public corruption cases handed to them by the FBI, including federal prosecutors appointed by both parties. Evan Bayh's handpicked appointee during the Clinton years, Judith Stewart, swept corruption under the rug concerning the awarding of riverboat gaming licenses under the Bayh-run Gaming Commission. U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks, a Republican appointee during the George W. Bush administration, swept the theft of the Lawrence water company by cronies of former Lawrence Mayor Tom Schneider under the rug. A lengthy investigative report by the FBI leaked to the media was simply dumped in the trash cash without a single indictment. Apparently that didn't go unnoticed by at least one federal judge with whom Hogsett spoke during his nominating process.

It was not lost on me that the Southern District of Indiana had not seen a profiled public corruption prosecution in probably 15 to 20 years. I had a conversation during the vetting process leading up to my confirmation with a federal district court judge and we talked about this very issue. That judge observed to me there was only one of two possible explanations for that: One, we have the most honest, ethical, above-the-board public officials in the entire land. Or, two, somebody is asleep at the switch. That’s not a criticism. But clearly as an outside observer there sure seemed to be questions of legitimate public concerns that were being overlooked or not pursued.

Ballard Responds To Today's Indictments, Says He Takes Allegations "Seriously"

Mayor Greg Ballard released the following statement in response to today's indictments:

“I take these allegations very seriously and I will not tolerate abuse of the public trust. That’s why I initiated the toughest ethics and first whistleblower laws in the history of the city.

Mr. Walton and Mr. Hawkins are suspended without pay effective immediately.

I appreciate the work of federal officials in this matter and my team will continue to assist them in this investigation. The alleged acts of these two individuals do not reflect the dedication of the thousands of employees who work hard to improve our city every day.”

I would take issue with the Mayor's claim that he enacted the "toughest ethics" law in the history of the city. The current law his administration put forth is so intentionally weak it's a rather empty claim.