Northwest Indiana Comical Politics

Council must blow whistle on bad ethics in government

Oct. 20, 2005

By Maurice M. Eisenstein
Post-Tribune guest columnist

Two years ago I addressed the Northwest Indiana Quality of Life Council on ethics in public service. With the leaders of governmental units, universities and businesses in attendance, I told them that ethics is different from legality because an act is frequently unethical without necessarily being illegal. Ethics is enforced by public opinion and leadership. Ultimately, ethics depends on enforcement. It is a question of their leadership and acting as role models. No surprise, I was never invited back.

NWI is an ethical political wasteland because the political leadership, as represented in the Quality of Life Council, is not willing to call unethical behavior by its accusatory name — evil. (Dan Lowery’s efforts are of one person, and he is not a government official.)

In Gary, we have the Urban Enterprise Association confusing millions of dollars between personal and public use, and the School Board and the Library Board are misusing public funds for selfish private luxury, while borrowing funds to service the public. What critique have the so-called leaders who sit on the Quality of Life Council offered on this behavior? There is not a single peep — never mind a squeak. Are they too afraid or just unaware?

Then there is the ethically challenged family, the McDermotts. The Cabela’s deal crosses all possible ethical lines: financial conflict of interest, nepotism, cronyism and unethical manipulation of state power for personal gain. If there is to be any semblance of ethics in NWI public life, the same Quality of Life Council leaders should have the courage to confront these unethical shenanigans. But they have not.

Hammond has a strategically located beautiful piece of green space called the Woodmar Country Club. Where was the competition for the best offer to the club and to the city? There was none because McDermott Sr. was paid hourly to make sure this deal went through while the son as the city’s mayor wielded the two-by-four. This crosses all acceptable ethical lines.

Then when the one “option” was forced upon the public (no one knows the potential alternatives because none was sought), the commercial development of this 100 acres of green space was turned over to daddy’s other son.

The misleading claim was — this is for economic development. Retail development has never been economic development. By its nature, it provides low-paying jobs and takes money out of the community.It is not necessarily bad, but it is not economic development.

Despite the “pep rally” visit to Kansas City, Cabela’s did little for the economic development of that city. In 2002, when the store opened, Kansas City was already listed as 35th among the 268 top metro centers for the creative class by Richard Florida, the guru of economic development. According to the University of Kansas’ Policy Research Institute, educational attainment in public schools was improving steadily and had been before the store came in. Since 1990, people with college degrees have been steadily increasing to twice the national average. Before Cabela’s, Kansas City ranked third in the nation in the percentage of people with college degrees and third in the nation for job growth. Cabela’s has been irrelevant.

Now look at Hammond, where the McDermott family continues to appropriate personal gain from the public trust just as the boards in Gary have. Where are the ethics? The leadership in the Quality of Life Council needs to stand up and say enough is enough.

Joe Allegretti and McDermott, Sr

These two have been some of the biggest ethical abusers of public service in NWi.  Well beside the Pastrick family and the East Chicago Greek mafia (cappas and Panos).  Joe Allegratti was Dedelow's bagman.  It is amazing that the Democrats as voters and working people in Hammond will keep on taking this in the well let us say chin.

How dumb can they be?  All of these lawyers who could not make a living practicing law have been making a fortune at the public trough; under Mcdrmott, Sr. Dedelow, Jr. and now McDermott, Jr.  Nothing has changed except that McDermott, Sr. is doing a lot better financial.  It is good to see a newspaper delivery boy succeed as a grownup; even if it is a result of nepotism and theft.

The only possible savior for Hammond and NWI over the next five years is a new Democratic party or the rise of a successful Republican party in the City.  None of which do I believe is likely.  Therefore the middle class will go east and Lake County will start looking more and more like the south part of Chicago.

Kolintzas in Control

The Greek Mafia is back in town.  It seems that Cappas, the midnight mayor, and Mike Panos the former Democratic Chair in Indiana who continues to steal the money from the mouths of babes through the foundations of East Chicago, actually Cappas too, have now truely brought in the remaining Greek mafia straight from Greece.

This should be an embarrasment to any descent American of Greek descent.  These people should be disowned from the Greek benevelonat society.

From Greece we now have Frankie Kolintzas calling the East Chicago politicos to stir the local election in the favor of the Greek Mafia.  Only in NWI can this be done by a Federal fugitive and everyone keeps quite. 

The quite is defening because most of those who are quite have their own criminal activity to hide.

Fantasies, lies mark region’s doomed efforts at development

Oct. 10, 2005

By Prof. Maurice M. Eisenstein
Post-Tribune columnist

With rare exceptions the unprofessional leadership that is consumed with the goal of mediocrity is universal in NWI. One of the characteristics of mediocrity is lack of honesty with oneself and with others.

These leaders worked to bring Mittal Steel headquarters to NWI and the development of the RDA; both are riddled with lies and fantasies.

I used to say that there are two major lies/fantasies promoted by public officials in NWI: The Tom McDermott, Sr. fantasy and the state Legislatures’ lie. There is now a third, the RDA fantasy.

The McDermott fantasy was tax reduction results in attracting businesses. This justified his salary from the NWI Forum and was repeated for years while study after study showed that taxes were a minimal factor in business’s location decision. McDermott was kicked out of the Forum, and we still don’t have new retail business in NWI.

The NWI legislators’ lie was “Indianapolis doesn’t love us; therefore we are helpless getting anything for NWI.”

NWI legislators gave their unanimous support to bills redefining business personal property tax and giving favorable reassessment to NWI’s largest businesses. They passed with unanimous support by all legislators because NWI’s legislative delegation asked for their support in spite of all the information they had that this would hurt the taxpayer financially.

With the support of the mayors, these legislators then proceeded to RDA.

The RDA’s fantasy and lie is economic development. There is nothing the RDA has ever proposed, or for that matter the local mayors, that leads to economic development.

Many individuals are making money repeating these words as though they are true.

It is an unsubstantiated fantasy that anyone will fly into Gary. Five airlines are bankrupt and are cutting back flights all around the country.

O’Hare airport’s expansion is larger than three Gary airports. The RDA has plans for bus lines for no one to ride.

Bus ridership around the country has been going down constantly since 2000. Finally, there is a plan for a train to nowhere that no one wants if they have to pay for it.

When taxpayers get the costs for these fantasies, don’t cry to me. Only the most unprofessional accepts these fantasies.

What is not a fantasy is that Mittal never would have placed its headquarters in NWI.

From an economic development point of view, NWI is an embarrassment. Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and Lake County are the nation’s most corrupt local governments.

Simultaneously they are the most inefficient; Lake County government and Hammond increased their budgets.

Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr. wanted to raise Hammond’s budget by more than $8 million after passing the cost of the health department to other county taxpayers. All the while, Gary, East Chicago and Hammond have the highest crime rates in the country.

Finally the work force in NWI is worthless. Even the mills cannot find people to hire.

How would new businesses?

And no leader is addressing that problem and being honest that the work force is so poor that economic development cannot occur. Ignoring the problem is a fact because the mayors and legislators left $50 million for NWI higher education on the table in Indianapolis.

Additionally much of the population of NWI is illiterate.

That means they cannot communicate and calculate simple additions. Of what good are they to a company?

Mittal knew there is no economic development happening in NWI. Why don’t the NWI leaders stop fantasizing by repeating the words like some kind of mantra? All that one can ask is what are these people smoking?

Prof. Maurice M. Eisenstein is associate professor of political science at Purdue University Calumet. Contact him at a 989-2688 or [email protected]

Unprofessional leadership stymies growth across NWI

Oct. 6, 2005

By Maurice M. Eisenstein
Post-Tribune guest columnist

Northwest Indiana is a basket case, quoting Sartre, “with no exit.”

For more than 10 years, I have been trying to determine why this is the case. Others implicitly are trying to answer the same question, even if they do not recognize it as such.

For example, my colleague Ed Charbonneau argues that accountability is lacking as it relates to the Gary Library Board. And U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen suggests that corruption is a major problem. Both, as I have stated previously, are correct analyses.

The problem is centered on the leadership in NWI, which is unprofessional and aspires to mediocrity.Aspiring is the critical term.I always believed that with the proper incentive, change could be implemented. But I have come to believe why individuals aspiring to public leadership roles have a goal of mediocrity.

This is, to understate it, an unprofessional goal. It is unprofessional because our political leadership continually ignores or miscomprehends policy data on which to make decisions. Their achievement goals are set to a standard that anyone can achieve, i.e., they achieve what is easy or they achieve the irrelevant — things that don’t matter.There is no ulterior motive for this lack of standards. It is the only vision on the horizon.

The Regional Development Authority is an example of this condition.At its inaugural meeting, one politically astute individual with experience in public office and tremendous insight characterized the public leadership at the meeting as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

He was right, except that the leaders aboard the Titanic were heroic and insightful. They knew their ultimate heroism was required because they were going down with the ship.

I am not attacking the new members of the RDA board; I am attacking the system and people that put them in place.

The RDA is going down with the ship, which is NWI, but few in the room knew that or had the capacity to figure it out. Two of the most important groups affecting NWI were not at the RDA table during that inaugural meeting — business and someone from education representing education.

I must excuse the governor and his appointee, John Clark. They are only cooperating with what NWI unanimously sought. Remember, this is the same unprofessional leadership that asked for special assessment of Lake County’s largest industries and rewrote the personal property tax provisions. Then, they compounded that by voting against the 2 percent cap because their goal was political mediocrity, Democratic unity, not NWI economic development.

The top of the unprofessional leadership must rest with Rep. Chester Dobis and Rep. John “summer home in Munster” Aguilera for voting against the 2 percent cap, which barely passed, and starting and supporting this mediocrity called the RDA.

The RDA is solely a public works project. A $41 million request for the Gary/Chicago International Airport doesn’t make sense at a time when five major airlines are in bankruptcy and there’s a $15 billion request pending to expand O’Hare. The only reason for its existence is to keep people employed and profiting from the public trough.

The only person who I suspect understood that, except for Clark, is Ned Ruff, who seemed to be saying to himself, “I just paid $3.5 million for a seat on a horse-drawn wagon.”

I hope I’m wrong.