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BY BILL DOLAN
bdolan@nwitimes.com
219.662.5328 | Wednesday, December 08, 2004 | (No comments posted.)
EAST CHICAGO -- A judge on Tuesday ordered Mayor Robert Pastrick to stop using city money to pay lawyers defending him and other local officials against public corruption allegations.
George Pabey, who is expected to win the mayor's office in a special election later this month, won a temporary restraining order to protect city taxpayers from any further expenditure of legal fees. A small army of defense lawyers has generated the fees defending Pastrick and others against a civil racketeering lawsuit and seven city officials against criminal charges.
Carmen Fernandez, an East Chicago lawyer representing Pabey, estimated the city has paid close to $2 million in such fees and more bills are expected between today and Dec. 28, when voters will elect a new mayor.
"Pastrick and (Timothy) Raykovich told me they weren't going to make any more payments, but we found out that wasn't true," Fernandez said.
Neither Pastrick nor city spokeswoman Myrna Maldonado could be reached late Tuesday for comment.
Lake Superior Court Judge William E. Davis signed a preliminary injunction Tuesday, stopping payments until a Dec. 16 hearing in his court in East Chicago.
The City Council passed an ordinance in June 2002 authorizing the payment of legal expenses incurred by elected officials accused of wrongdoing.
Since then, the U.S. attorney's office charged the following officials with misappropriation of federal money in the city's sidewalk fraud scandal: City Councilmen Frank Kollintzas, Joe De La Cruz, Randall "Blue" Artis and Adrian Santos; City Controller Edwardo Maldonado; City Parks Superintendent Jose Valdez; and former City Engineer Pedro Porras.
The government alleges they took part in a scheme to spend $24 million in public money on private driveways, patios and walkways to curry favor with voters prior to the 1999 East Chicago municipal election.
The Indiana attorney general filed a civil racketeering suit in August seeking monetary damages from the following people: Pastrick, James Fife and Timothy Raykovich, Pastrick's special assistants; Edwardo Maldonado; Kimberly Anderson, deputy controller; George Weems, finance director; and Frank Miskowski, vice president of the Board of Public Works. Kollintzas, Santos, De La Cruz, Valdez and Porras also were named as defendants.
Although Porras isn't billing the city for his legal expenses, others have. Fernandez said the bills for Kollintzas's defense team alone approach $1 million.
She said she will argue Dec. 16 those payments are illegal because the ordinance stipulates the city doesn't have to pay if the official eventually is found guilty of the wrongdoing.
Porras, Santos and Valdez pleaded guilty earlier this fall to fraud and conspiracy charges. A jury convicted Kollintzas, De La Cruz and Maldonado of misappropriation of funds. They plan lengthy appeals.
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