If like me, you live in Northwest Indiana the first question that comes to mind when you look at this headline is: could this be a joke or possibly a parody?
GUEST COMMENTARY: Trust local officials to do what's right.
Then when your read it you find out that it was written by none other than Whiting Mayor Joe Stahura. To "trust local officials" in Northwest Indiana is an oxymoron in and of itself. No one shoulc be able to say this with a straight face.
Now it is true that Mayor Stahura is now also president of the Indiana Mayors Association. But it does not preclude this elected Democrat from recognizing that this is probably one of the most corrupt areas of the country and that there is no such an entity as a trustworthy politicians in NWI. They are all elected and almost all are Democrats.
As he not heard of the latest one Tom Philpot, and the over 50 local elected officials who have been sent to prison since just the year 2000?
"And federal prosecutors' run (of prosecutions) in the Northern District of Indiana has been impressive, nabbing the president of the County Council, the best friend of Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, nearly half the East Chicago City Council, the Gary chief of police, the Schererville town judge and a Merrillville clerk-treasurer office employee who stole $300,000." from the Chicago Tribune Newspaper.
Further: "It's the only place like it in the state that has that kind of history and systemic problems," said Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller. "There's a kind of denial or lack of appreciation. They don't seem to realize how they look to people on the outside."
The joke is that if you are an elected official, a Democrat, and in NWI, by definition you cannot be trusted. Where does this concept even come into Mayor Stahua's head: to trust NWI public officials? You are certifiable if you do think this. No one should allow any bill to pass that gives any more power to local officials. In NWI, elected officials by definitions are crooks. The only question that remains is, like all crooks, whether there is sufficient. legally acceptable evidence, to convict them. That is all.
I am still laughing that Whiting's Mayor came up with this idea. It would be the funniest line from a politician if it was not so offensive.
