Dvorak Refuses To Recuse Himself From Democrats' Petition-Forging Scandal

St. Joseph Co. Prosecutor Michael Dvorak is refusing a request by Republican officials to recuse himself from the investigation of the 2008 Democratic presidential petition-forging scandal uncovered by a joint investigation by the South Bend Tribune and Howey Politics despite his close political relationship with the people he is investigating and the fact that his name was among those forged on the ballot petitions. Dvorak had asked the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, a Democrat, to take over the investigation of the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but that office turned down the investigation on orders from the Justice Department in Washington. Dvorak tells the South Bend Tribune he will continue working with Indiana State Police investigators on the case:

Dvorak said he'll continue to investigate the alleged 2008 primary petition fraud with Indiana State Police and where warranted, prosecute those responsible.

"My office has a long history of prosecuting elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans," he said in the written statement. "Serving as the prosecutor of this county, I have prosecuted a town clerk, town treasurer, town council member, county council member, and a county investment officer all in separate unrelated matters." . . . 

"The main [concern] is he's so close to the people involved and he's been involved in the Democratic Party and a leader in the party for years and years," said St. Joseph County Republican Party Chair Deb Fleming. "It's hard to investigate your own close friends and allies impartially. 

The fact that Dvorak is a victim - his name was apparently forged on at least one petition - should also prompt him to request a special prosecutor, Fleming added.

This is the way it always is. They expected and got the result in Hamilton Co. in the Charlie White investigation even though Sonia Leerkamp, the Republican prosecutor, had no conflict other than her party affiliation in investigating White. When the shoe is on the other foot, the Democrats scream bloody murder until the Republican prosecutor relents and appoints a special prosecutor. Democratic prosecutors always refuse to recuse themselves and typically ignore criminal activity engaged in by their political buddies. In a case like this, Republicans should petition the Indiana Supreme Court to intervene and order Dvorak to recuse himself since he obviously doesn't understand the Rules of Professional Conduct. Dvorak has an ethical obligation to recuse himself simply because he's one of the victims of the forgery, if not because of his close political ties to the people he is investigating.

WISH-TV Poll Good News For Ballard

A WISH-TV poll conducted by EPIC-MRA shows Mayor Greg Ballard with an 11% lead over Democrat Melina Kennedy. With less than a week before the election, the poll shows Ballard leading the Indianapolis mayor's race with 44% compared to just 33% expressing a preference for Kennedy. Only 2% expressed a preference for Libertarian Chris Bowen, while 21% of the voters are still undecided.

The only bad news in the poll for Ballard is the fact that he has not broken the 50% mark with just days left in the campaign. The poll, however, found that 65% of the voters viewed Ballard favorably,and 62% of the voters approve of the job he is doing. A majority, 55%, believe the city is headed in the right direction compared to just 33% who believe it is heading in the wrong direction, a number that matched Kennedy's support in the poll.

The polling sampling included 400 registered voters and has a margin of error rate of 4.9%. The sampling was made up of 47% identifying themselves as Democratic compared to 36% identifying themselves as Republican. The number of African-Americans included in the survey was 22%, a number that will draw criticism from some that it under samples black voters, who traditionally vote overwhelmingly Democratic. Other minority groups made up 2% of the polling sample.

One could make a mistake in putting too much stock in this poll. Four years ago, WISH-TV's poll showed Peterson garnering 52% of the vote despite a plurality of voters thinking the city was headed in the wrong direction compared to 39% for Ballard. Peterson wound up narrowly losing to Ballard. By contrast, Ballard's positives are much higher than Peterson's were four years ago, but he is polling well below 50% with one in five voters still undecided six days before the election. One very bright spot in the poll for Kennedy was its finding that Kennedy led Ballard 44% to 30% among those voters surveyed who said they had voted absentee already.

Mitch Harper Takes Stand Against The Silly Season

The Silly Season from M Harper on Vimeo.

Fort Wayne city council candidate Mitch Harper pitches his stand against negative campaigning in this video ad. I think everyone will breath a sigh of relief after next Tuesday knowing that we won't have to watch the non-stop negative ads that have blanked the local airwaves in the Indianapolis mayor's race the past several weeks.

Republicans Hit Back At Poulakidas' Illegal Mailing Attack Against Scales

The Republican Party hit back hard against the dirty direct mail pieces with which District 4 Democratic City-County Council candidate Kostas Poulakidas and the Democrats have been blanketing voters in their effort to unseat Republican Councilor Christine Scales. One mailer takes to task post cards mailed to the district voters that illegally impersonate Scales. It reads:

"Why would Kostas Poulakidas forge his opponent's name?

"Because Kostas Poulakidas will say and do anything to try to get elected.  

Kostas Poulakidas fraudulently mailed a postcard to voters to try to smear his opponent for City-County Council.  He didn't just lie about her record. Kostas Poulakidas actually forged his opponent's name, committing a Class C felony.

It's true, it's illegal and it's disappointing.

Shouldn't we expect more?

Vote NO to Kostas Poulakidas for City County Council.

A second direct mail piece from the Republican Party hits Poulakidas for raising money for his campaign from Washington, D.C. lobbyists. It reads:

Why Has Kostas Poulakidas Taken Thousands of Dollars from Washington D.C Insiders?

Because Kostas Poulakidas is one of them.

Kostas Poulakidas spent years as a Washington D.C insider. Now his lobbyist and special interest group friends from Washington D.C want to buy him a seat on the Indianapolis City County Council.

Lobbyists spend millions of dollars each year trying to convince our elected officials to waste your tax money to help line their pockets.  They promote out-of-control spending that has put our country in the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression.  We can't afford to have a Councillor who wants to bring Washington D.C style spending to Indianapolis.

Let's tell Kostas and his lobbyist pals that your City-County Council seat is not for sale.

Vote NO to Kostas Poulakidas for City County Council.

Message sent.

Angie's List Losses Mount While Executives Pocket Millions

Everything that is wrong with American business today is epitomized by locally-based Angie's List. You have a company that always seems to get good buzz in the local media, and their founders are the darlings of the media who can do no wrong. The company has never made a dime in its 16 years of existence and its losses are piling up faster than the snow during a winter blizzard, but investors keep lining up to dump more money into the company. Governor Mitch Daniels and Mayor Greg Ballard gave their stamp of approval to it by announcing recently a $14 million economic development incentive package for a planned expansion of the company's downtown Indianapolis headquarters. The announcement came just one week before the company's executives announced that this great investment opportunity could be your's as it rolled out its plans for its initial public offering. Although it's never turned a profit, the latest filings with the SEC show its top two executives are receiving multi-million dollar compensation packages even as the company's losses are mounting at a record pace. The IBJ's Scott Olson has the numbers:

The provider of online consumer reviews reported Monday in its latest Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the company lost $43.2 million through the first nine months of 2011, pushing total losses since 2006 to $160.6 million.

Its loss through Sept. 30 represents a 59-percent increase from the same time frame last year, when losses totaled $27.2 million . . .

Its latest SEC filing does not provide a price at which company shares will be sold to raise the $75 million. No date has been set for the official offering, but the filing still indicates it will take place in 2011.

But it does give information on executive compensation. Angie’s List Chief Marketing Officer Angie Hicks earned a base salary in 2010 of $148,550, but her pay grew to nearly $4.2 million when including $3 million in stock awards and other compensation.

CEO and company co-founder Bill Oesterle earned a base salary of $254,995 last year and total compensation of $2 million when counting $1.4 million in stock awards and other compensation.

Aren't you just waiting with bated breath to learn whether the wise manager of your retirement fund will invest in Angie's List? Be sure and check out the comments section for Olson's story. Lots of good tidbits there.

Illinois' Most Powerful Political Deal Maker Guilty On Extortion And Bribery Charges

Sun-Times Photo of William Cellini

The most powerful behind-the-scenes political power broker in Illinois has been found guilty by a federal jury in Chicago on extortion and bribery charges. William Cellini stood accused of conspiring with political fixers Tony Rezko, Christopher Kelly and Stuart Levine to shake down the producer of the Oscar award-winning movie, "Million Dollar Baby," for campaign contributions for the campaign committee of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The group of political insiders told Thomas Rosenberg he would have to ante up campaign contributions for Blagojevich's campaign committee if his investment firm wanted to continue receiving its share of investments from the state's Teachers Retirement Fund. Rezko is behind bars for his earlier convictions. Kelly died from an apparent suicide following his conviction. Levine and Blagojevich are awaiting sentencing for their earlier convictions. And now Cellini has met the same fate after a jury found him guilty on charges of conspiracy to commit extortion and aiding in the solicitation of a bribe, while it found him not guilty of mail fraud and attempted extortion charges. From the Sun-Times:

Cellini, 76, was accused of trying to shake down investment firm owner Thomas Rosenberg, the producer of the Oscar-winning movie “Million Dollar Baby,” for a campaign contribution to then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, in exchange for continued state pension business.

The jury of 10 women and two men reached its verdict after about two days of deliberating evidence following a 3 ½ week trial.

Prosecutors played secret FBI recordings of Cellini talking on the phone with Stuart Levine, a serial conman who was the government’s star witness and who testified for parts of six days.
Prosecutors said Cellini was a key member in a plot to shakedown Rosenberg. His motive, they said, was to please Blagojevich fundraisers Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly and thus, retain Cellini’s decades-long reach into the governor’s office. Prosecutors argued Cellini delivered an extortionate message to Rosenberg in May 2004 that his firm would lose Teachers’ Retirement System pension business if he didn’t donate to Blagojevich. Rosenberg testified he angrily balked at the request.

“I told Bill that I would not be shaken down,” Rosenberg testified last week. “I told him I would stand on the corner of State and Madison and discuss this. ... I screamed and cursed. I wanted him to pass on the full level of my fury to Rezko and Kelly.” . . .

While Cellini's political deals have largely been in the Land of Lincoln, he reached his influence into Indiana during the 1990s after Indiana legalized riverboat gambling. Cellini's Argosy Gaming, one of the first gaming companies to be awarded a riverboat gaming license in Illinois at Alton, won a gaming license for one of Indiana's first riverboat licenses at Lawrenceburg with the help of some of Indiana's big political insiders. Despite overwhelming evidence of corrupt activities surrounding the awarding of the Lawrenceburg license to Argosy, state and federal investigators under political pressure from the administration of Gov. Evan Bayh refused to pursue a criminal investigation. Cellini has profited more off politics in Illinois than any other man alive, earning hundreds of millions of dollars through his political insider deals mostly related to gaming and real estate investment deals, as well as the powerful lobbyist for the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association. His criminal conviction is a bigger deal in Illinois politics than the convictions of its two former governors because of the unprecedented political power he exercised within both political parties. Cellini arrogantly nicknamed himself "The Pope," a fact revealed during his trial that no doubt didn't play well with Catholic jurors. Jurors spent just two days deliberating before finding him guilty on two of the four charges.

The Springfield State Journal-Register has more on the conviction of the man the newspaper dubs the "King of Clout" here. "Outwardly affable, Cellini gained a reputation for his business savvy, hard work and sure-footedness - but also as someone to avoid crossing, someone who could make or break a person's career with a phone call," the newspaper writes. Cellini faces up to 30 years in prison. The Chicago Tribune has this reaction on Cellini's conviction from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald:

“In the quiet corridors in Chicago and Cook County and Springfield, a lot of backroom deals take place, and the fact that Bill Cellini was convicted today sends a very, very loud message,” Fitzgerald said.

The Terre Haute federal penitentiary will need to set up a dedicated wing at the prison to house convicted Illinois pols, including former Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich, a former powerful Chicago alderman, "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak, and now the King of Clout, William Cellini.

Barack Obama pictured with Stuart Levine, one of the conspirators in the shakedown of Rosenberg and a key witness in Cellini's trial. Levine admitted to a long-time drug problem that included all-night parties at Chicago's infamous Purple Hotel with young gay men he paid to have sex with him. On secretly-recorded conversations, Levine and Cellini snickered as they discussed shaking down Rosenberg for campaign contributions. At the end of the secretly-recorded call, the two men spoke of their love for the other. Both men are married with children, although Levine's wife divorced him after learning of his adulterous affairs with other men. Levine said he had amassed a fortune of nearly $80 million through corrupt insider political deals, all of which he subsequently lost. He now sells electronic cigarettes at a suburban Chicago shopping mall for a living.

FDIC Sues Directors Of Failed Bank With Ties To Obama And Rezko

The Mutual Bank of Harvey swept in to help Barack and Michelle Obama purchase their mansion on Chicago's south side in 2006 by loaning money to Rita Rezko, wife of convicted political fixer and close Obama political associate Tony Rezko, to purchase an adjacent lot being sold by the owner of the home, part of which was later sold to the Obamas at a reduced price. Federal regulators say that a lot of bad loan decisions made by the bank's board of directors led to its failure and losses totaling $775 million the FDIC had to pick up following its closure. Federal regulators have filed suit against the former bank's directors, charging that they wasted the banks assets through extravagant spending. The bank's executives also had sweetheart arrangements with former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his wife, Patti. The Sun-Times reports:

Federal regulators have alleged that directors of the once politically-connected Mutual Bank of Harvey “wasted corporate assets” and “drained bank capital” with extravagant and improper spending — including one director with ties to the Blagojevich family improperly using nearly half a million dollars to bankroll his wife’s criminal defense.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a lawsuit that the alleged improprieties — including spending $250,000 on a wedding and $300,000 on a Monte Carlo board meeting — helped plunge the bank into its 2009 failure.

Amrish Mahajan was the bank’s president, chief executive officer and on the board of directors. Allegations in the lawsuit claim that Mahajan authorized $495,000 in a series of “advances” and “bonuses” to himself. The money was used to cover criminal defense costs of his wife, Anita Mahajan, who was indicted on Medicaid fraud charges in Cook County in 2007 after allegedly bilking taxpayers out of $2.1 million by overbilling on state contracts, the complaint says. When federal regulators learned of the Amrish Mahajan bank arrangement, according to the complaint, he returned $202,560 that came out of the bank’s holding company, leaving $292,440 unpaid.

“Directors and officers are not permitted to use their positions to profit personally at the bank’s expense,” the complaint said.

Anita Mahajan eventually pleaded guilty to a narrow charge and was given probation. Her husband had contributed $10,000 to Rod Blagojevich’s campaign fund, and the couple was involved in property deals in which the former governor’s wife, Patti Blagojevich, got $113,000 in real estate commissions.

Mutual was the same bank that financed the loan involving a piece of land abutting Barack Obama’s Kenwood home that was purchased by Rita Rezko, the wife of convicted businessman Tony Rezko.

You may recall that a former Mutual Bank official, Kenneth Connor, brought a whistleblower lawsuit against the bank claiming that he was fired after complaining that an appraisal for the Rezko/Obama lot had been overvalued by at least $125,000 at the time the loan was extended to Rezko to assist the Obamas with the purchase of their new home. The inflated purchase price for the lot allowed the Obamas to acquire the home at a discounted price from the original owner of the house and adjacent lot. Connor was questioned by FBI agents in 2008 about the land deal, but U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office refused to pursue a criminal investigation, instead focusing entirely on Rezko's corrupt relationship with Gov. Blagojevich, which resulted in his impeachment and removal from office and later conviction on public corruption charges. Fitzgerald's office has kept Rezko hidden away, refusing to allow him to testify at the trials of Blagojevich and another big-time Illinois political fixer, William Cellini. Blagojevich has always maintained that Obama was much closer and more involved with Rezko than he was. A federal jury in Chicago is currently deliberating the fate of Cellini after Fitzgerald's office wrapped up its case against him last week.

Meanwhile, the Omedia is focused on destroying the upstart presidential campaign of successful businessman Herman Cain over a decades-old sexual harassment charge dating back to his days as the CEO of the National Restaurant Association. The mainstream media dealt contemptuously towards all of the female accusers who lined up to accuse former President Bill Clinton of serial sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior towards women, but it's front-page, all-important news when the same type of issues are raised about a Republican African-American presidential candidate. As for the vetting of Barack Obama, the mainstream media has still not gotten around to doing that as he approaches his fourth year in office.

Early Voting Matches Last Year's Congressional Election

If early voting is any indication, turnout for this year's Indianapolis municipal election is going to be much better than it was four years ago. According to the Marion Co. Clerk's office, nearly twice as many people have voted early by absentee ballot or in person compared to one week out from the election four years ago when Greg Ballard upset incumbent Mayor Bart Peterson. As of Monday, 12,891 people have cast ballots compared to 6,826 four years ago, which is closer to the turnout in last year's congressional election. Some people might conclude that is good news for Democrat Melina Kennedy, but the get out the vote effort by Marion Co. Republicans is much better organized than it was four years ago. Unfortunately, the Star article doesn't offer a breakdown by township, which would give a better indication of which party is doing better thus far in turning out their voters.

Litebox Nightmare

Star editorial cartoonist Gary Varvel depicts what he calls the "Litebox Baggage" in today's newspaper, while an editorial describes last week's announcement by Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mayor Greg Ballard of a West Hollywood's plans to build a factory in Indianapolis that will create more than 1,000 jobs as a potential "nightmare." Here's some of what the editorial has to say:

Judging by the flock of red flags that have unfurled since last week's grand announcement, the governor and mayor may have been more valuable to Yanagihara than he will be to the Hoosier workforce . . .

The problem here is that respected leaders have attached their names to a highly questionable venture, encouraging confidence -- on the part of voters and potential investors -- that may well prove to be misspent.

Litebox would join a long line of state-backed jobs bonanzas that have failed to deliver. The burden should be on Yanagihara to show it's different this time. The mayor and governor should have held their applause until he did so. Now, the mayor should ask the same restraint from his audience. A city can't be run on dreams, and neither should an election.

As skepticism over the Litebox announcement grows, it looks like a high-vaulted economic development project for a company that produces electric batteries is turning sour. Enerdel has lost its Nasdaq listing due to it stock price trading too low. The U.S. Department of Energy put $118 million in the company, while the state offered the company more than $21 million in tax credits and job training for 1,400 new jobs in Indiana.