GOP Questions Appointment Of Democratic Special Prosecutor With Ties To Charged Petition Forger

Stanley Levco

When Charlie White was being investigated for potential vote fraud violations, Democrats demanded that a Democratic special prosecutor be named. They got their wish. Dan Sigler and a Republican prosecutor shared the role as special prosecutors in his case. Republicans in St. Joseph County are now asking why a Democratic-elected judge chose a Democratic Party activist with ties to former St. Joseph County Democratic Chairman Butch Morgan to handle the prosecution of Morgan and three other Democratic party workers for their alleged roles in forging presidential primary ballot petitions for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008. Chief Superior Court Judge Michael Scopelitis tapped Stanley Levco, a former Democratic prosecutor for Vanderburgh County as a special prosecutor in the case. Levco served on Obama's Indiana leadership committee in 2008 and has attended the Democratic National Convention with Morgan as a delegate. As the South Bend Tribune reports, the ties don't end there:

The local GOP also highlighted that Catherine Fanello, a former South Bend controller and a Democratic candidate for the Indiana Senate in 2010, was a Vanderburgh County commissioner from 2001 to 2004 and might know Levco.

Fanello is married to Joseph Zwierzynski, who is chief operating officer at DLZ Indiana, an architectural and engineering firm where Morgan was vice president of marketing before resigning Monday.

Levco said he'll answer whether he knows Fanello if the question is asked in court, but he didn't want to answer it in a newspaper interview.

Fanello said the Republicans' insinuation is too ridiculous to warrant a response.

Scopelitis said he's not aware of any personal relationship between Levco and Morgan.

The judge said he knows Levco only by his reputation, which is that of a "straight shooter" and able attorney who has served as a special prosecutor in many other cases.

"He's been a very good prosecutor for 20-plus years," Scopelitis said, "and someone who has been sought out to be a special prosecutor around this state for different cases, because he has a reputation for being a straight shooter and having no agenda."

The GOP has every reason to distrust the appointment of Levco. The tentacles of DLZ seem to be never-ending. The minority engineering firm has established itself throughout this state and surrounding states with its pay to play ways. The firm lavishes more contributions on politicians of all political stripes than just about any other government contractor in Indiana. Its Illinois contracting activities caught the eye of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald while he was investigating public corruption within the Blagojevich and Daley administrations in Chicago. Levco is a committed party activist who would never do anything to harm his standing in the Democratic Party, and the fact that Levco has worked in politics with the spouse of one of Morgan's supervisors at DLZ, who just also happened to be a Democratic state senate candidate in the last election, is more than good reason to be concerned. He was a bad choice, pure and simple. These choices are not made by accident, folks. St. Joseph County is ruled by one party, and they want to keep it that way. The GOP has to hammer this issue until Scopelitis at least consents to appoint a Republican special prosecutor to work alongside Levco to ensure that this prosecution doesn't turn into a big time cover up.