Will It Take A Harrisburg-Style Financial Collapse To Get Justice In Indiana?

Former Mayor Stephen Reed was popular with the voters and the media folks who covered him during his long tenure as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's mayor, where he easily won re-election to office every time he faced voters until the City found itself in financial ruins and was eventually forced to file bankruptcy. Last week, a state prosecutor brought 499 felony charges against the former mayor for what she described as corruption spanning decades. Among the charges Reed faces are allegations he diverted city funds intended for other projects to purchase millions of dollars worth of artifacts he planned to put in museums he planned to build, which he kept for himself after losing re-election in 2009. State prosecutors say Reed used his "gregarious" and "charming" ways to cajole and bribe members of the city council with jobs and other favors in exchange for approving increased borrowing through a series of bond issues that led the city to bankruptcy. State prosecutors say Reed's indictment is the first of many it plans to bring.