Commissioner Who Took Free Flight From DLZ: "I Goofed"

A Porter County Commissioner who accepted a free plane ride from DLZ for herself and her husband to a Republican state fundraising dinner in Indianapolis featuring First Lady Cheri Daniels as the speaker is now admitting she made a mistake and will reimburse the politically-connected engineering/consulting firm for the cost of the trip. From the Northwest Indiana Times:

Porter County Commissioner Nancy Adams said she intends to reimburse the DLZ engineering firm for a flight she accepted last week to a Republican dinner in Indianapolis.


"I goofed, and I'm sorry," Adams said.

Adams confirmed for The Times earlier this week that she and her husband accepted the free flight May 12 with the intention it would save her time over driving and not interfere with several county-related meetings she had that day and Friday.

She said she thought she was avoiding any problems by paying for her own tickets to the dinner. She said Wednesday that DLZ had yet to provide her with a dollar amount for her share of the flight.

Adams said she was unaware the county personnel policy manual prohibits elected officials from accepting and donors from offering any gift, favor, service or entertainment under circumstances in which it can be reasonably inferred the gift would influence special consideration by the official.

She said it would be helpful if newly elected officials like herself were provided early on with these types of guidelines.

Adams is complaining that she wasn't provided guidance "early on" about accepting gifts from county countractors? It would be nice if elected officials had the common sense not to accept freebies from government contractors without having to be told. The Northwest Indiana Times pointed out that DLZ received the largest individual share of consulting fees from Porter County last year.